The Internet is a vast resource, so vast that it can sometimes be overwhelming. Locating partners for collaboration and communication can involve a daunting and time-consuming search. You'd like to have your own Web page, making yourself accessible to other teachers, students, parents, and administrators; but building and maintaining a Web page can become a fulltime occupation. Don't despair! There are solutions. The Internet in Action looks at two unique ventures designed by Scholastic with busy teachers in mind: Classport and Class Homepage Builder. Communicating with other classes Scholastic's Global Classport is a free, secure online environment that joins teachers and classrooms around the world, enabling them to meet, communicate, and collaborate across the curriculum and across the barrier of language. Classport features an instant translation service for many world languages, making this part of the Web truly worldwide. Scholastic Classport also makes use of Scholastic's extensive teacher resources, including lesson plans and projects. In The Internet in Action, Maria Bellarosa's science class uses a Scholastic science project, Dirtmeister. Then, in conjunction with technology coordinator Carolyn Grignon, Maria Bellarosa's students use Classport to collaborate with students from around the world. The Dirtmeister project has an extensive teacher guide, that includes correlations to National Standards, as well as tips and strategies for collaborative activities based on the project. Maria Bellarosa's class works through the project's hands-on activities and then communicates results to class partners around the world. QuickTime Required Maria Bellarosa  I THINK THEY WERE REALLY EXCITED BY USING CLASSPORT BECAUSE THEY WERE ABLE TO TRANSLATE WHAT THEY WROTE IN ENGLISH INTO VIRTUALLY ANY LANGUAGE. THE STUDENTS REALLY, REALLY LIKED IT. AND I THINK IT OPENED UP ANOTHER DOORWAY FOR THE STUDENTS TO BE ABLE TO SEND THIS INFORMATION TO STUDENTS ALL OVER THE WORLD. You can access Scholastic Global Classport at http://www.epals.com/scholastic You can find links to Dirtmeister and other Scholastic projects at http://www.scholastic.com/toolkit/classport/projects.asp Communicating with the rest of the world Scholastic's Class Homepage Builder is a free, interactive online tool that enables teachers to point and click their way to a personalized class homepage. You can use your homepage to make announcements show homework assignments display students' work link to important Web resources (including Scholastic projects) Class Homepages are password protected so that only you can make changes and additions to the page. When you create your page you will choose a password that you can distribute to students, parents, and others with whom you'd like to share your page. QuickTime Required Carolyn Grignon  MY GOAL IS TO SEE EVERY TEACHER WITH A CLASS PAGE, POST ON THEIR CLASS PAGE ALL OF THE DIFFERENT SITES THAT LINK TO SCHOLASTIC. WHETHER IT'S RELATED TO SOCIAL STUDIES, MATH, LANGUAGE ARTS OR SCIENCE, THEY HAVE IT RIGHT THERE AT THEIR FINGERTIPS. IT MAKES LEARNING EASY AND IT JUST MAKES THE TEACHER ACCESSIBLE TO PARENTS AND THAT'S WHERE THE DISTRICT IS GOING WITH IT BECAUSE THEY WANT TEACHERS TO BE ACCESSIBLE TO PARENTS. You can access the Class Homepage Builder at http://homepage.scholastic.com/classpages/start_hp.cfm