Web Connections for May 2006

The Web sites listed below were verified at the time of publication, but please check that they remain valid before using them in an educational setting.

From "Writing around the World"

“Braille Bug” at the American Foundation for the Blind’s Web site at http://www.afb.org/braillebug/ features a wide range of information and activities for kids, including a history of Braille, a biography of Louis Braille, a printable Braille alphabet, and many puzzles, projects, and games. Click on “Parents and Teachers” for a detailed list of Braille-related classroom projects and activities.
Visit the “Vikings” exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History at http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/vikings/write.html to see your name in runes and learn about runic history.
AncientScripts.com at http://www.ancientscripts.com, a well-designed personal site, has a wealth of information on the history of worldwide alphabets and an online Memory-style glyph game.
EDSITEment, sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities, features a curriculum unit called “The Alphabet Is Historic” at http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=517. This creative series of four multifaceted lessons for grades K–2 covers the Greek, Phoenician, and Roman alphabets, with downloadable handouts, projects, activities, and comprehensive resource lists.
Also, from EDSITEment, “Egyptian Symbols and Figures” at http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=348, from the National Endowment for the Humanities, is a two-lesson curriculum unit on hieroglyphs for grades K–2. Kids learn about picture writing, discover how to decipher Egyptian hieroglyphic symbols, and make a hieroglyph-based painting based on images from the ancient Book of the Dead.
National Geographic’s “Try This! Secret Codes” at www.nationalgeographic.com/ngkids/trythis/secretcodes/ shows how to create a range of secret codes, among them a Civil War “pigpen” code, a semaphore message, and a number switch cipher.
“CryptoKids” at http://www.nsa.gov/kids/home_html.cfm, from the National Security Agency/Central Security Service Web site, provides a wealth of information on codes, ciphers, and cryptanalysis, along with interactive games and activities and varied student resources.
Omniglot at http://www.omniglot.com/ is the personal site of a multilingual Web designer and provides a definition of writing and an introduction to more than 150 different writing systems. It also provides historical information on the origin of each of these alphabets. Of interest to many readers of fantasy, this site also includes Romulan, Vulcan, and Cirth. An additional category of interest is invented alphabets, which have been developed by individuals for their own use.
From the San Francisco Exploratorium, “The Secret Language” at http://www.exploratorium.edu/ronh/secret/secret.html provides an overview of cryptography for kids, along with downloadable cipher wheels that, once assembled, can be used for devising secret messages. Also included are a bibliography and list of related links.
From the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, see your name in hieroglyphics at “Write Like an Egyptian” at http://www.upennmuseum.com/hieroglyphsreal.cgi or in cunieiform at “Write Like a Babylonian” at http://www.upennmuseum.com/cuneiform.cgi.