Imagine the pride your students will feel writing for print or online publications.  Here are some resources for authentic, real-world writing that will give your students the opportunity to be published beyond the classroom.  

Be sure to read the submission guidelines for each, as they differ and are critical for consideration of student work.  Also remember that students should have parent permission to submit work for print or online publication.

• Stone Soup--Print magazine.  Creative writing by children 8-13.  "The New Yorker of the 8-13 set." --Ms. Magazine.  Writing samples available online.  Send submissions by postal service.
• Young Writer--"The magazine for young people with something to say"  Published in the UK.  Accepts email submissions of stories and book reviews.
• Amazing Kids!--"A not-for-profit organization and online magazine for kids"  Contests throughout the year.  Accepts writing for regular columns and special themes.  Online submission.
• KidsBookshelf--Publishes original book reviews, poems, and stories online by children ages 17 and under.  Also information about writing to authors.
• Scholastic--Guides student writers through the steps of genre writing online.  Final steps allow students to publish to their website.
• Bookworm--"A magazine for and by kids"  Submit for print stories, poems, essays, book reviews, puzzles and artwork by email or by postal service.  Students ages 6-15.
• The Writing Conference, Inc.--Online magazine published semi-annually.  Submissions by postal service.
• Write Source--Requests paragraphs, journal writings, letters, book reviews, newspaper stories, tall tales, short stories, poems, and classroom reports grades 1-12.  Submissions by postal service or by fax must include a completed Write Source Permission Agreement.  Includes writing models.
• Carus Publishing Company--Spider, Cricket, Ask, and Muse (print) magazines have writing contests each month.  For themes and deadlines, see the current issues.
• Kidscribe--"A bilingual site for kid authors"  Offers a writing prompt for publication to their website.
• KIdsWWwrite--"The e-zine for young authors and readers"  Submit stories or poems online for online publication.  Students 16 and under.

Happy writing!

Sometimes it's hard to find a good educational website that gives you the comfortable feeling that you can just let your students explore, knowing that they're bound to learn something in the process.  Voila!  I have the perfect spot for you--Lincoln Park Zoo, Z.E.B.R.A Online.  Start with the Students' Home Room where students in grades 3-5 have a variety of options, all of them dealing with animals in some way.  But wait!  This isn't your usual encyclopedic information source.  This one deals with adaptations, ecosystems, and generally shows the ways that we are interconnected with all of nature.  Students can play games that aren't just edutainment, listen to interviews with zoo experts, and check out the animal stories that make students read, think, and make choices.  Everything is interactive and engaging.  I also visited their list of links to other sites—all informative and safe.  Take a look at this great website and make a note to use it in your upcoming lesson plans!

My first year of teaching was a struggle, I student taught in the mornings and had special certification to teach classes in the afternoon. What a year! When April rolled around and I thought that my learning curve was finally becoming manageable, I was called into the principal's office. It seems that teachers were required to have a certain number of professional development hours per year, and I being a newbie who didn't begin the school year with other teachers, wasn't aware. But the principal did have an idea; a new computer store was offering an introduction to basic computer use. So I found myself on an April Saturday morning earning professional development credit and learning how to use an Apple IIe. This was my first time--April 1982.