With this easy-to-use reference, you can access more than 38,000 up-to-date articles, plus photos and illustrations, hundreds of videos, animations, and audios. Features include:

• Update Encarta: Encarta adds timely and accurate articles as news happens, and automatically revises existing content so that you have current reference material.
• Engaging Multimedia: Interact with your encyclopedia! Images, videos, animations, and audios make learning more enjoyable.
• Online Links: Thousands of Web links within articles help you take your research further.
• Searches: Every search puts comprehensive, insightful content at your fingertips.
• Copy to Hard Drive: This feature enables you to copy the entire encyclopedia to your hard drive, eliminating the need to swap CDs.

  Encarta Support Center from Microsoft
  http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;EN-US;enc

  Encarta Language Learning Homepage
  http://language.msn.com/

  Encarta, U.S.A.
  http://encarta.msn.com/

  Encarta, U.K.
  http://encarta.msn.co.uk/reference/default.asp

Encyclopedia Teaching Tips and Resources

Encarta Schoolhouse Lesson Plans
http://encarta.msn.com/guide/newschoolhouse.asp

Microsoft Education
http://microsoft.com/education/?ID=LessonPlans

Columbia Education Center Lesson Plans
http://www.col-ed.org/cur/
Columbia Education Center (CEC) has arranged with Microsoft to list some of their lesson plans with Encarta. They have many others besides.

AskEric Lesson Plans
http://askeric.org/Virtual/Lessons/
Use the search tool at the bottom of the page with "encyclopedia" as the keyword; select all or some of the grade levels, as needed. At last count about 100 lesson plans were available that incorporate the use of encyclopedias in class projects.

Discovery Lesson Plans
http://school.discovery.com/lessonplans/
Use the search tool at the top of the page with "encyclopedia" as the keyword. For example, "Cultures that Live on the Equator" http://school.discovery.com/lessonplans/programs/flightovertheequator/

Extended Activities and Resources

Create an Alphabet Book
http://askeric.org/cgi-bin/printlessons.cgi/Virtual/Lessons/Interdisciplinary/INT0012.html

Create a Class Encyclopedia
http://www.mcps.k12.md.us/departments/isa/elit/el/structures_lp.htm

Bartleby, Free Online Encyclopedia
http://www.bartleby.com/

Encyclopedia.com, Free Online Encyclopedia
http://www.encyclopedia.com/

Informationsphere, Free Online Encyclopedia
http://www.informationsphere.com/

iTools, Free Online Encyclopedia and Other Tools
http://www.itools.com/