Teachers use Learning Management Systems (LMS) to organize classes. These are a few that come to mind:

There are many more. Some schools mandate exactly which management system you can use so that there is uniformity. Other schools and districts leave it up to individual instructors to use whatever meets their needs. Inside these programs teachers can provide links to all the resources used throughout the year, such as files, announcements, discussion boards, calendars, and Web 2.0 tools.

Teachers are beginning to use Web 2.0 tools more and more. Students need a way to get to these sites easily and teachers need to remember where they are. Some Web 2.0 tools that I am thinking of might be, for instance:

A nice feature of many of the Web 2.0 tools is that they can be embedded. Students can see the embedded object, such as YouTube movies, right within the LMS, if you choose to embed instead of link.

Give out the web page address of your LMS the first week of school. Your life will be simpler, your students and possibly their parents will be happier, and any substitutes you need during the year will thank you. Putting links in one place for students, usually the LMS, makes it easy for everyone. No more frantic searching!