TeachersFirst - Featured Sites: Week of Mar 22, 2015
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
Big Dayta - Tsai Hsing School
Grades
3 to 12tag(s): data (250), cross cultural understanding (214),
In the Classroom
Introduce Big Dayta in your world cultures, math, or writing class. If you team teach, work together with your computer, math, social studies, or English teacher to have students share dayta and then analyze and use it for your own class projects. Find specific curriculum activities for math, writing, and social studies classes on the site or ask your students what dayta they would like to compare and contrast in a "hands-on" experience with data. If they like learning about life in other places, your class may also want to join in #XW1W (Across the World Once a Week). Be sure to pass these projects along to other teachers! As a geography extension, have students create an electronic placemarker file using Google My Maps or MapHub, or an actual map poster of the places they learn about.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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Pear Deck - Pear Deck
Grades
K to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): gamification (122), differentiation (129), assessment (239), emotions (82), slides (103), social and emotional learning (106),
In the Classroom
Invite students to join. Students will not see your slides UNTIL you start the presentation. Use the presentation tools. Students' view of the presentation follows the changes you make. Be sure to become familiar with these tools before using the tools with students. As students join, their names appear in the dashboard view. Tools include Lock and Unlock Responses from students, Hide and Show Responses, Ask Again, and more. Answer the questions more than once if desired. Pear Deck maintains the results of both attempts.It may be a good idea to open both the Session Dashboard and the Projector View before using with the students. Keep each in separate tabs (or use a different device such as a tablet for one of these). Be sure to turn off student responses and lock responses UNTIL every student has responded (so students will not be swayed by other responses or change answers). With the draggable slide, insert an image that requires quick input such as where a basketball thrown at a hoop will land, where on a timeline image a specific event occurred, or where erosion would be deposited on a river bend picture. You might consider using Pear Deck as a check in or exit ticket using emojis for feelings or depth of understanding. This resource is invaluable for presenting questions for quick formative assessment of the content that students are to learn in any subject area!
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ASAP Science YouTube Channel - Mitchell Moffit and Gregory Brown
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): video (456), periodic table (71),
In the Classroom
Mark this one in your teacher favorites to find videos to use at the start of a science or health unit. Make science more appealing as a way to answer the questions we ponder every day. Do NOT turn students loose on this channel. Because of the popular "adult" videos on this channel -- not appropriate for the classroom, but perfectly appropriate for adults -- we recommend locating the specific video you want to share and placing the url or embed code for that one video on your class web page or wiki. You can also share on a projector or interactive whiteboard. To avoid any possibility of showing titles that may cause distraction, use a tool such as ViewPure, reviewed here to clear away all the YouTube clutter. Use an ASAP Science video as inspiration for students to create their own videos explaining a science concept or debunking a science myth. Make this an option for research projects to appeal to your musically talented or "poetic" science students.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Free Money Basics Tutorial - Goodwill Community Foundation
Grades
6 to 11tag(s): financial literacy (129), banks (12),
In the Classroom
Use these lessons when teaching financial literacy or consumer education courses. Include lessons as part of applied math activities such as balancing a budget, managing savings, or understanding debt. Have students explore on their own. If you are beginning the process of integrating technology, have students create blogs to describe ways to become a good consumer using edublogs, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Myths: Everything You Need - Scholastic Inc
Grades
K to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): myths and legends (33), enrichment (19), digital storytelling (300),
In the Classroom
After you choose your level, discover one or many of the lessons to integrate into your English Language Arts or Social Studies curriculum. Choose your objectives, and find the lessons that are appropriate. Some lessons can be shared on the interactive whiteboard or projector. Others are more appropriate alone as individual work. Materials are included so much of the prep work is already done for you. To conclude the myths unit, have students create a play featuring a unique culture and a hero they create. Students will need a detailed script containing; theme, plot, settings, and characters including a hero. Go as far as you want developing props, costumes, and accompanying sounds and music. Have students present using a live presentation, video, or digital storytelling. Choose from the TeachersFirst Digital Storytelling tools, reviewed here. This site is a great reference for an after-school enrichment program on writing, reading, book clubs, or even self esteem.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Big Brown Bear Software - Lightness Ltd.
Grades
K to 3This site includes advertising.
tag(s): maps (415), keyboarding (48), literacy (184), preK (423), numbers (259), verbs (52), prefixes (22), suffixes (21),
In the Classroom
Introduce the literacy concepts to your entire class using your interactive whiteboard or projector. Continue with a review at center time on student computers. Add to your class website for further practice at home. Set up the keyboarding activity on a class computer for students to practice keyboarding skills in order to use technology easily.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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World Geography Games - World Geography Games
Grades
2 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): atmosphere (38), capitals (30), earth (344), flags (30), countries (116), states (202), rivers (32), mountains (23), deserts (20), volcanoes (100), landforms (56), oceans (243), continents (66), game based learning (255),
In the Classroom
Use this site as a learning station or center. Share the activities on your projector or interactive whiteboard. Divide up your class and make it a class challenge! Include a link to these activities on your class website or newsletter for students to try at home and review for geography tests. Younger students can learn to identify the continents on the interactive maps. Use this resource together to review and reinforce concepts about continents, oceans, and landforms. Older students can use the higher level challenges. Challenge students to use a mapping tool such as MapHub, reviewed here, to create a map of local landforms or information about oceans and continents. With MapHub students can to add points of interest with display markers featuring text, photos, and videos.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Canva for Education - Canva.com
Grades
K to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): DAT device agnostic tool (247), graphic design (81), posters (71), slides (103), images (487),
In the Classroom
This site is perfect for enhancing, modifying, or transforming classroom technology in the classroom depending on the requirements of the assignments. Create a slideshow, invitations, or photo collages for any classroom presentation. Share what you created on your website or blog for students to review or for students who were absent. Deliver blended or flipped lessons using Canva Edu by adding links to videos, assessment information, and other learning activities. In the younger grades, teachers would be the ones creating the project. However, older students could easily create their own Canva presentations. Have students use this online tool as they would any presentation tool or image enhancing site. Use this site for research projects about famous people from the past and present. Have cooperative learning groups create presentations about science or math topics. Have students create presentations to "introduce" themselves to the class during the first week of school. Link or embed the introduction presentations on your class wiki or website and have others guess who they are. Use this tool with your 1:1 art class for students to practice design principles and techniques. Create 2 to 5 circle Venn Diagrams. Share student projects with parents and others via URL. Be sure to demonstrate HOW to use this tool on your interactive whiteboard or projector.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Create Your Visited States Map - Jeremy Nixon
Grades
3 to 12tag(s): north america (25), maps (415), states (202),
In the Classroom
Creating this would make an interesting map to create as a class project when learning about the 50 states. Go through the states list on your interactive whiteboard and create your class map to print or share as a digital image on your class website. Do a map as a class to see which states MOST students have visited. If you feel students may be embarrassed at their lack of travel, this may be better done on individual computers or on a personal response form given to you to input privately. For a whole class activity, divide your class into groups to create separate maps. Compare and contrast states visited. Send home a link to the website for students to create a map with their families. For older students, use the map for content and reassign colors as needed. For example, create a map showing the birthplace of U.S. Presidents: assign red to states without a president, yellow with one president, and green with two or more. This same format could be used in nearly any subject while studying differences in states (democrat or republican, most popular agriculture product, how many - if any - NFL teams, teen pregnancy rate, and much more).Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Witty Comics - WittyComics.com
Grades
K to 12tag(s): comics and cartoons (113), communication (166), summarizing (28),
In the Classroom
Create dialogues that introduce new content topics in your classroom. Students can use this "witty" tool to introduce topics from research or to practice a speech to be given in class. Use comics to create a dialogue discussing misconceptions in the content and a discussion of the actual facts to dispel the misunderstandings. To view more comic creator tools and ideas view this collection. Some suggested comic creators are Printable Comic Strip Templates, reviewed here, ToonyTool, reviewed here, Make Beliefs Comix, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Hungry for English - Learn English Series
Grades
1 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): multilingual (72), video (456), grammar (310), verbs (52), pronunciation (49),
In the Classroom
Use one of these videos each time you introduce a new ENL/ELL lesson. Share the video on your projector or interactive whiteboard. Share this link on your class website or wiki for new English language learners to use together with their families. Challenge your ENL/ELL students to create their own videos using moovly, reviewed here to teach others English. What better way to learn, than teach? Share the videos on a site such as TeacherTube reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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