TeachersFirst - Featured Sites: Week of Feb 9, 2014
Here are this week's features. Clicking the tags in the description area of each listing will present a list of other resources with this topic. | Click here to return to the Featured Sites Archive
ParrMr - Mr. Parr
Grades
4 to 9
0 Favorites
0 Comments
Explore this rich collection of clever YouTube videos of songs with on-screen lyrics to learn important science concepts! Be sure to check out some pretty clever songs including The...more
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Explore this rich collection of clever YouTube videos of songs with on-screen lyrics to learn important science concepts! Be sure to check out some pretty clever songs including The Rock Cycle, Chemical Compounds in Cells, and the DNA song. The lyrics to the song are shown below the video on each YouTube page to easily copy and paste for students to follow along. Even if your students roll their eyes at the videos/songs, the concepts (and tunes) will definitely stick in their minds! If your district blocks YouTube, the videos may not be viewable.
tag(s): animals (281), atoms (42), cells (80), climate (80), dna (44), energy (130), human body (93), matter (47), molecules (40), moon (70), motion (49), rock cycle (12), water cycle (22), weather (164)
In the Classroom
Play songs on an Interactive Whiteboard or Projector for the entire class. Embed videos on your teacher page for review by students. Use these songs as an introduction to units. After viewing a video, brainstorm to identify words students know or are not familiar with. Copy the lyrics into a document and, as you discuss the material in class, encourage students to annotate the lyrics with notes about the content. Be sure to play the video often throughout the unit to reconnect with material. Challenge your more musical students to team up with a class poet to write your own songs-- for extra credit and extra fun! They could use Soundtrap, reviewed here, for this musical endeavor.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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Mighty Book - Mighty Book
Grades
K to 3
2 Favorites
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Engage young children in this colorful site, packed with songs, interactive audio books, art and music interactives, and emergent reading activities. Reaching a wide range of grades,...more
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Engage young children in this colorful site, packed with songs, interactive audio books, art and music interactives, and emergent reading activities. Reaching a wide range of grades, this site offers over 50 different engaging activities. Visit the stories made by children. The free part of this site includes a great variety of topics: Boston Tea Party, alphabet, making mistakes, metamorphosis, Mars, a variety of popular children's songs, nouns, upper case and lower case, Beatrix Potter, jokes, Bach & Van Gogh, Mona and Beethoven, and much more! Some of the activities are also available in Spanish. Check out Teachers at the bottom of the page for Lesson Plans.
This site includes advertising.
This site includes advertising.
tag(s): alphabet (51), independent reading (85), preK (255), sight words (23), songs (44), video (258)
In the Classroom
Use this site for learning as a whole group, learning centers, or individual laptops for reinforcement or enrichment. First, introduce Mighty Book on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Since there are extensive ads, you may want to bookmark or create shortcuts directly to the activity you want children to use and avoid having them get "lost" in the many links that take you off the site. Share the songs and discuss the lyrics and what they are teaching. Use this site in art class to introduce famous artists to even the youngest of learners. After listening to the jokes, have students make up their own jokes. Poems with activities offer a kinesthetic approach to poetry. Songs about colors and the days of the week catch your auditory learners. Share this link on your class website for students to explore (and enjoy) both in and out of the classroom.
This resource requires PDF reader software like Adobe Acrobat.
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One Big Photo - Joao Martins
Grades
6 to 12
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Explore amazing photography from around the world at One Big Photo. Photos are user-submitted and shown via a selection process. They are not for sale. Choose from several different...more
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Explore amazing photography from around the world at One Big Photo. Photos are user-submitted and shown via a selection process. They are not for sale. Choose from several different categories such as animals, black and white, landscape, and people. You can also click to view a random photo. Other search options include browsing top rated images or galleries. Click any image to view the large, high quality image. Note that right-clicking does not offer options to download images. The intent is that you will view images ON this site. Although this site does include a lot of advertisements, it is worth taking a look! This site does have social features such as "likes" and links to external sites.
This site includes advertising.
This site includes advertising.
tag(s): photography (126), writing prompts (58)
In the Classroom
Find interesting photographs to use as creative writing prompts and for daily journal writing. Be sure to explore the site on your own before sharing with students who will be distracted by ads as this site is heavy with unfiltered advertising. Project the image full screen to avoid seeing as many distractions. Art and photography teachers will enjoy using this site for sharing interesting examples of design principles on the fly. It is not easy to "find" a photo from another session easily, so open the site and keep it open if you want to keep a certain photo on your screen. Alternatively, open the image to the large view and copy the url for the photo (or mark in Favorites) to revisit it later. Assign students (those who can ignore ads) to "collect" urls for a curated collection of images illustrating a design principle or demonstrating a photographic style they would like to present to the class.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Calendly - calendly.com
Grades
K to 12
2 Favorites
0 Comments
Calendly is an appointment scheduling tool that syncs with your Google Calendar. Sign in with your Google login and set up scheduling pages with your availability preferences. Choose...more
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Calendly is an appointment scheduling tool that syncs with your Google Calendar. Sign in with your Google login and set up scheduling pages with your availability preferences. Choose from several options for length of appointments. Next, describe your event and even add additional questions for invitees if desired. Advanced options allow for making events public, limiting the number of participants, and minimizing schedule notice time. You can add buffer time before and after appointments. Share the link with anyone needing to schedule an appointment with you. They simply visit your calendar to schedule an appointment, and it appears automatically on your calendar. Invitees receive a confirmation screen upon completion of scheduling that includes a link to add the event to their own calendar.
tag(s): calendars (40), organizational skills (90)
In the Classroom
Use Calendly to schedule parent or student conferences that meet mutual scheduling needs. Create events for professional development sessions. Have participants choose a time for attending or presenting at sessions. Share with your school's Parent Teacher Organization as an excellent scheduling tool for any event. Link this up with your Google Calendar and save time, emails, phone calls, and more!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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cym@th - Cymath.com
Grades
7 to 12
1 Favorites
0 Comments
Solve Calculus and Algebra problems step by step using cym@ath's problem solver. Begin by choosing an action from the drop-down box: solve equation, simplify, or other choices. Then...more
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Solve Calculus and Algebra problems step by step using cym@ath's problem solver. Begin by choosing an action from the drop-down box: solve equation, simplify, or other choices. Then enter the problem. Problems automatically format as you enter them. Click Solve to view the step by step process to obtain the answer along with rules used, if applicable. Click on the rule to view an explanation and example. Scroll through links to all reference material. Never before has "solve for X" been so instantaneous! You can even copy a direct link to the solution to share it with others.
tag(s): equations (119), factoring (25), fractions (159), problem solving (226), quadratics (26), quotations (20)
In the Classroom
This site is perfect for use on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Use with practice problems or when comparing different processes for obtaining solutions. Create a link on classroom computers for students to use when checking work. Share a link on your class website for students to use at home. Have students provide their attempts at problem solving. Print the solution using cym@th. Have students share where they were stuck or having problems in finding a correct answer. How do you prevent this from becoming an instant homework "cheat"? Always start with actual word problems, not equations, so students must first generate their own equations. Require students to "show their work" on paper as they solve, including the explanation of each step. Even if they are copying from the web site, they are still copying down the explanations. If they use their own words, that will show comprehension. How else could you prevent using this tool as a "cheat"? Feel free to add a comment!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Your Brain Map: 84 Strategies for Accelerated Learning - Open Colleges
Grades
6 to 12
1 Favorites
0 Comments
Explore the different portions of the brain and find strategies for improving brain function with this enlightening interactive. Click on any portion of the brain to view its description...more
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Explore the different portions of the brain and find strategies for improving brain function with this enlightening interactive. Click on any portion of the brain to view its description and function. Choose links on the right side of the page to view the limbic system and neuron information. The neuron section includes information about studies and strategies to improve function.
tag(s): body systems (40), brain (54), human body (93)
In the Classroom
This site is perfect for use on your interactive whiteboard or with a projector. View together to explore and learn about different portions of the brain. Discuss various strategies that are shared at this site. Have students create a word cloud of the important terms they learn from this site using a tool such as WordItOut, reviewed here. Have students create a simple infographic sharing their findings using Venngage, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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PollCode - Boardhost.com
Grades
3 to 12
1 Favorites
0 Comments
Looking for a way to quickly collect answers or opinions? Use PollCode to quickly create and embed a poll on your website. You can also share it using a simple ...more
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Looking for a way to quickly collect answers or opinions? Use PollCode to quickly create and embed a poll on your website. You can also share it using a simple link. Receive a breakdown of responses. Fill in the question along with up to 30 answer options. Use the code provided to embed the poll on any website. Share the poll also using social media share buttons. Sharing the poll by link allows users to also leave comments. Polls stay online until they have received no responses for 30 days.
In the Classroom
Share polls on a projector or interactive whiteboard to discuss and informally assess prior knowledge as you start a new unit, asking questions about the material. Discuss in groups why students would choose a particular answer to uncover misconceptions. Use for Daily quiz questions to check student understanding as a means of formative assessment. Use a class account to have student groups alternate to create a new poll for the next day. Place a poll on your teacher web page as a homework inspiration or to ask questions to increase parent involvement. Older students may want to include polls on their student blogs to increase reader involvement. Have students create polls to use at the start of project presentations. Use polls to generate data for math class (graphing), during elections, or for critical thinking activities dealing with the interpretation of statistics. Use "real" data to engage students on issues and current events that matter to them.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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100Reporters - 100 Reporters
Grades
8 to 12
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One hundred of the World's top reporters have joined forces to take aim at corruption around the World. View news stories include various topics such as Agriculture, Business, Government,...more
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One hundred of the World's top reporters have joined forces to take aim at corruption around the World. View news stories include various topics such as Agriculture, Business, Government, and more. Be sure to click on the World tab to view articles by region. Build your own critical thinking as you read these articles and compare them with typical media sources. Although all articles appear perfectly appropriate for older students, we still suggest previewing this site before you share with students. Some of the topics are sensitive and/or graphic.
This site includes advertising.
This site includes advertising.
tag(s): media literacy (102), persuasive writing (55)
In the Classroom
In discussions of current events, find great news articles that get to the heart of the story. Compare them with other news outlets to discuss how money and the viewpoints of business owners can cloud the actual reporting. Be sure to discuss how to find parent websites by investigating the shortened address (url) of sites as well as the advertisements found on pages. Compare and contrast news stories found on a variety of news pages. Use an online tool such as Interactive Two Circle Venn Diagram (reviewed here) to compare two news stories. In world language or world cultures classes, discover what the "hot topics" are by looking at news stories from the region being studied. In writing classes, use these articles compared with those on the same topic from other sources for students to collect supporting evidence to use in essay writing.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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