TeachersFirst - Featured Sites: Week of Apr 19, 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
Math Antics YouTube Channel - mathantics.com
Grades
3 to 12
4 Favorites
1 Comments
Learn math through simple, yet engaging videos at Math Antics' YouTube Channel. Choose from several different math topics such as working with fractions, multi-digit numbers, and factoring....more
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Learn math through simple, yet engaging videos at Math Antics' YouTube Channel. Choose from several different math topics such as working with fractions, multi-digit numbers, and factoring. Most videos run less than 10 minutes, making them perfect for use in many different situations. If your district blocks YouTube, then they may not be viewable. Avoid YouTube issues by viewing videos directly on the Math Antics website located here
tag(s): addition (128), decimals (84), division (98), equations (119), factors (29), fractions (159), geometric shapes (136), mixed numbers (8), multiplication (122), subtraction (109)
In the Classroom
Share these videos on your interactive whiteboard or projector. FLIP your classroom and have students view the videos at home to discuss and apply the next day in class. (This is a great option if YouTube is blocked in your school.) Use the videos to introduce or practice any math topic and assign others in the series for homework. Be sure to provide this link on your class website for students (and their families) to access at home for additional Math practice.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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Free Online Stopwatch - Ummay
Grades
K to 12
1 Favorites
0 Comments
Free Online Stopwatch offers an assortment of popular clock tools - all ad free, simple, and easy to share! Choose from the Stopwatch, Alarm Clock, Current Time, Timer, or Date ...more
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Free Online Stopwatch offers an assortment of popular clock tools - all ad free, simple, and easy to share! Choose from the Stopwatch, Alarm Clock, Current Time, Timer, or Date Countdown. Also, find emoticons for social media and email at the bottom of the page. Click on any of the social media links at the top to easily share your countdown. Download the program to begin.
tag(s): classroom management (128), organizational skills (90)
In the Classroom
There are many uses for this practical online tool. At the beginning of the school year, display on your interactive whiteboard or projector to time or count down any classroom activity. This will get the students in the habit of checking how much time they have left. Project the Stopwatch or Timer while students take a test, solve a drag and drop, practice speeches, rotate between learning centers, or join cooperative learning groups. When rotating between centers or taking turns in a cooperative learning group, schedule the time sequence to keep everyone on track. Use the Date Countdown to share days until any important event via social media. Share this tool on your class website for students to use at home (to practice taking timed math practice tests, practice for a speech, and more).Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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The Battle of Appomattox - Civil War Trust
Grades
6 to 12
2 Favorites
0 Comments
The 150th anniversary of the Battle of Appomattox commemorates the final battle of the American Civil War and the surrender of General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. You'll...more
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The 150th anniversary of the Battle of Appomattox commemorates the final battle of the American Civil War and the surrender of General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. You'll find important facts about the battle, maps, videos, and images useful in highlighting this important event. Download the Appomattox Battle App for iOs or Google Play.
tag(s): 1800s (72), civil war (134), DAT device agnostic tool (143)
In the Classroom
Use one of the short videos hosted by National Park Service historians to give students the context and details about the Battle of Appomattox and Lee's surrender. Share the video clips on your projector or interactive whiteboard. Some nice graphics give a summary of the battle, a map shows troop movements, and a gallery of photos can give students a look at the battlefield today.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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The Triangle Factory Fire - Cornell University Kheel Center
Grades
8 to 12
0 Favorites
0 Comments
The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in 1911 represents a turning point in the history of labor relations and workers' rights to a safe work environment. In commemoration of the 100th...more
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The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in 1911 represents a turning point in the history of labor relations and workers' rights to a safe work environment. In commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the fire, and in tribute to the 146 young, immigrant workers who lost their lives largely due to unsafe working conditions, you'll find an overview of the fire and the circumstances that led up to it. There are a large number of historical images of the building itself, primary documents related to the event, newspaper accounts of the investigation and trial, brief biographies of the victims, as well as interviews with survivors (19 were women). Audio recordings of oral histories from three survivors, and transcripts of those interviews are a valuable resource.
tag(s): 20th century (59), immigrants (33), immigration (64), industrial revolution (20), industrialization (11), labor day (5), safety (71), women (137)
In the Classroom
A particularly rich source of primary documents, photographs, and interviews with survivors, add this to your resources for lessons on the labor movement, stories of early 20th century immigration, and women's history. There is a helpful section for students on using primary documents and resources, and an excellent bibliography. During Women's History Month challenge students to compare women's labor issues in 1911 with the labor issues women have today. Use an online tool such as Lucidchart, reviewed here, or the Interactive Two Circle Venn Diagram, reviewed here. Be sure and include this information as a resource for Women in History Month or National History Day projects.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Once Upon a Roof - Virtual Museum of Canada/ Societe d'histoire du Lac-Saint-Jea
Grades
4 to 12
0 Favorites
0 Comments
Learn about the history of house structures in Eastern Canada, with connections to home building in general. See how homes adapt to the settings in the Living in the New ...more
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Learn about the history of house structures in Eastern Canada, with connections to home building in general. See how homes adapt to the settings in the Living in the New World section. See a timeline of homes in Canada (similar to homes history in some portions of the U.S.). Learn about the skilled builder trades on the Youthzone. The architectural Glossary is great for learning the names of all those things that stick out or hold up your house! The Homo Renovus section is all about terms and techniques in home renovation.
tag(s): architecture (64), homes (4), structures (18)
In the Classroom
Include this resource during an elementary social studies unit on homes (Homes in the New World). The Prozone includes Teacher materials for Canadian elementary social studies lessons. Include it during an Art or drafting lesson on home design. If you teach about career explorations, this site would be of interest to budding architects and builders from elementary on up. Have students draw or annotate an image of a home, complete with architectural terms, and explain why it fits the location where it is built. In upper level classes, compare the homes found on this site with newer, green designs. Have physics or science students annotate a home image to show the forces upon it and the underlying structures used to keep the home standing. Share the images in a "home show" on your class wiki!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Virtual Pan Flute
Grades
1 to 8
0 Favorites
0 Comments
Enjoy improvising on the virtual pan flute. Use your cursor to click the pipes to play the different notes or you can use your keyboard. Create songs or melodies. Practice ...more
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Enjoy improvising on the virtual pan flute. Use your cursor to click the pipes to play the different notes or you can use your keyboard. Create songs or melodies. Practice rhythm and learning the beat.
tag(s): music theory (45), musical instruments (46)
In the Classroom
Let your composers go on the pan flute. Teach (and practice) rhythm using this tool. Create a melody for your story and create a mood. Use the pan flute to improve your students' short-term memory. Combine with vocabulary or spelling words to create rhythms to aid memorization. Use the pipe to make a melody for each character in a story. Add a melody to a text to create excitement and suspense. Have your students create different melodies to represent themselves and write to explain.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Presentious - Presentious
Grades
2 to 12
1 Favorites
0 Comments
Create a presentation that has the familiar slides of PowerPoint with the commentary of a screencast. With this tool, you have the control. You can determine whether to see the ...more
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Create a presentation that has the familiar slides of PowerPoint with the commentary of a screencast. With this tool, you have the control. You can determine whether to see the presentation as created or browse slides and listen to only the portions that you want. Upload your content from Google Drive or a computer. Click "Present" to begin making your presentation. Be sure to approve the tool to access your device's sound and camera. Create your presentation and then share the link to the recording. Share by using Gmail, Google+, Google Drive, Facebook, Twitter, Dropbox, and other social media. You can also embed the link on your blog or wiki. You may need to manage the size of the slides and images before uploading. If they are too large, you may have difficulty moving to the Present phase (this problem may be a temporary one). Find several tutorials for using Presentious by scrolling down the Support page.
tag(s): multimedia (43), slides (45)
In the Classroom
Looking for an easy to use tool that gives even the viewer more functionality? Encourage your students to use this tool for projects and reports. Use this tool for analysis of a lab report, a culminating project for literature circles, book reviews, discussion of various historical figures or periods, or a digital portfolio for work completed in class (not just art or music). Students could illustrate a short story they wrote, using the audio to record the story as the illustrations slide past. Use this program when you have to be away from the classroom instead of writing out all the directions for a sub. Use it for absent students to stay on top of what has been discussed, assigned, or completed in class. Consider having students explain how to solve a math problem and posting it on the class website for students to refer to at home. This tool would be useful for blended or flipped learning, giving students time to internalize information about content they have to present, and leaving class time for individualized learning. This tool would be a great one for gifted students to use when reporting on research. Students will love the ability to move through portions easily.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Save the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus - Lyle Zapato
Grades
6 to 12
0 Favorites
1 Comments
This site is the perfect example of false information that you can find on the Internet! Learn all about the endangered tree octopus and efforts to keep them from extinction ...more
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This site is the perfect example of false information that you can find on the Internet! Learn all about the endangered tree octopus and efforts to keep them from extinction at this very realistic "fake" site. Read all about the characteristics of the tree octopus including habitat, reproduction, and why it has become endangered. View some of the activities such as a trick or treat box to collect candy to hang in trees for the octopus. Peruse pictures of rare sightings of the octopus. The falsehoods shown on the site, such as the inclusion of other hoax species and organizations (mixed with links to pages about real species and organizations) are sure to give you a chuckle!
This site includes advertising.
This site includes advertising.
tag(s): creative writing (122), evaluating sources (28), internet safety (113), literacy (107), media literacy (102), satire (5)
In the Classroom
Use this site as an anticipatory set or "activator" to introduce a unit or lesson on finding credible sources. Share this tool on a projector or interactive whiteboard. If you are beginning the process of integrating technology, have students create blogs sharing their learning about analyzing Internet resources (and even fake news) using Telegra.ph, reviewed here. This blog creator requires no registration. You may want to share the Wikipedia and Snopes articles about the Tree Octopus. What a great creative writing idea this is! Have your students try their hand at something like this. Use one of the web page making tools reviewed by TeachersFirst here, to publish the creative writing assignments. Invite other classes to vote on the one they think is true.Comments
I have used this site for years. It is well made and, once the students catch on, it provides the basis for great discussions and a lot of laughter. I also use the Dehydrated Water website where you, too can buy dehydrated water or, even buy a franchise to sell dehydrated water. My other favorite is Dog Island Free Forever where your dog can live stress free with other dogs without the stress that comes from living with humans.Sharon, PA, Grades: 0 - 8
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Change Gamer - Mike Farley
Grades
6 to 12
0 Favorites
0 Comments
Find interactives to cover many environmental and science topics as well as economics and history. Explore and learn about environmental and political issues through a gaming process....more
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Find interactives to cover many environmental and science topics as well as economics and history. Explore and learn about environmental and political issues through a gaming process. Before dismissing the thought of games in education, check out the About Us section of this site. The activities here are vetted by educators as part of an educational grant. These (mostly) free, browser-based interactives also include answer keys and have been field tested in middle and high school classes. Hover over the Games and Activities tab to choose from the subjects in the drop down menu. Each subject page outlines the activity and includes an informational paragraph and links to the documents. Some interactives require a download to your computer.
This site includes advertising.
This site includes advertising.
tag(s): animals (280), earth (185), ecology (100), energy (130), environment (240), financial literacy (92), fish (18), game based learning (171), human body (93), map skills (56), migration (44), natural disasters (16), planets (111), plants (144), politics (112), problem solving (226), stars (65)
In the Classroom
Use these interactives to review concepts learned during a unit of study. Consider using the interactives at the start of a unit to teach concepts as the material is being learned. Be sure to download the student activity document. Use the pre-questions to identify misconceptions and activate prior knowledge. Directions in the document alert you to the basics of using the interactive. Provide the post-questions to the students as they play the interactive to be aware of what they will be learning. Replace paper and pen and use a blogging tool such as Telegra.ph, reviewed here. This blog creator requires no registration; be sure to have students save the URL to share with you. Students can answer the questions individually, as groups, or as a class to review the concepts learned during the interactive and connect it to class. As a class, discuss how the scenario presented in the interactive is or is not like actual environmental issues of today. Enhance learning and get the shyest of students involved in the discussion by using a backchannel chat such as YoTeach!, reviewed here. Change Gamer would also be an excellent activity for gifted students or for those who are ahead in their work in a differentiated classroom.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Factile - (was Jeopardy Rocks) - Solis Creative LLC
Grades
3 to 12
5 Favorites
0 Comments
This tool is an online Jeopardy game builder. Click support on the top right to find video tutorials to help you get started. Sign up for a free account, enter ...more
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This tool is an online Jeopardy game builder. Click support on the top right to find video tutorials to help you get started. Sign up for a free account, enter the information, and you are ready to play! Use the "create game" button and enter your title. Then, start building your game. Enter your email address so you can edit the game later. Enter your series of questions and answers under difficulty levels. It's that easy. Up to four teams or individuals can play at one time. Play the demo history game and choose one of the vegetable icons to get started. Clicking the check mark for correct will reveal the answer.
tag(s): gamification (74), quiz (67), quizzes (90)
In the Classroom
Jeopardy games are a great way to review all types of information, in any subject, with your students. As part of the review, have small groups of students take a category and create the Jeopardy game. Have students create a Jeopardy quiz for their classmates to take after they give a presentation. Learning support teachers may want to have small groups create the review quizzes since creating the quiz is a great way to reinforce content. Share a link to any Jeopardy Rocks activity on your class website or blog for student use at home.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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MyScrapNook - Mindspark Interactive Network, Inc.
Grades
7 to 12
0 Favorites
0 Comments
This tool is a Chrome browser extension that allows you to create scrapbooks, collages, family trees, business cards, invitations, calendars, flyers, resumes, and more. Find hundreds...more
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This tool is a Chrome browser extension that allows you to create scrapbooks, collages, family trees, business cards, invitations, calendars, flyers, resumes, and more. Find hundreds of templates free to use. Add text, upload photos and videos, or choose from their images and use the free photo editor for interesting effects. Sharing your creation is as easy as saving the URL, sending it in an email, saving it with your Facebook account, or saving it on your computer. Note: If you do not want to use Ask as your search engine, disable MyScrapNook when you are not using it.
tag(s): calendars (40), collages (20), posters (47), themes (11)
In the Classroom
This tool is quick and easy to use. Share it on an interactive whiteboard or projector. Find images ahead of time and demonstrate its use in a history class by creating a collage of different time periods such as the Medieval or Renaissance periods. Build a collage of topics such as the Battle of Hastings, the first crusade, the murder of Thomas Beckett, Joan of Arc, the Battle of Agincourt, and the Guttenberg Press. Then, have pairs or groups of three select topics at random, and have them create a collage or "scrapbook" of the event. Try having students choose a role from which to create their assignment such as a peasant, a knight, one of the Medici family, etc. In language arts class, literature circle teams can create a scrapbook about the novel they read and its characters, setting, and events. Elementary classes could create whole-class scrapbooks of curriculum projects, such as their science garden or Colonial Days celebration. Have students collect images online for their use. To find Creative Commons images for student projects (with credit, of course), try Vecteezy, reviewed here. Unleash student creativity by showing them this tool as a resource for creating presentations and projects for your class and others.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Seterra Online Free Map Quiz Games - Seterra Online
Grades
3 to 12
3 Favorites
0 Comments
Seterra Online is a challenging educational geography activity with more than 100 different exercises. Learn about countries, capitals, oceans, flags and cities in Africa, Europe, South...more
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Seterra Online is a challenging educational geography activity with more than 100 different exercises. Learn about countries, capitals, oceans, flags and cities in Africa, Europe, South America, North America, Asia and Australia using outline map exercises! Explore the 50 states of the USA and even the capitals. Choose from quizzes sorted by continent or the entire world. Once the map loads, follow the prompts to click on the correct area of the map. After a few incorrect tries, the right area will flash in red. Correct responses on the first try appear in white, yellow indicates a right answer on the second attempt, and the red areas indicate incorrect responses. When complete, view the percentage correct and time it took to finish the activity.
This site includes advertising.
This site includes advertising.
tag(s): cities (17), continents (32), countries (69), game based learning (171), maps (209), quizzes (90), states (122)
In the Classroom
Share this link on your class projector or interactive whiteboard. This is a perfect addition if your students are learning the 50 states, capitals, or even countries throughout the world. Be sure to include this site on your class web page for students to access both in and outside of class for further practice. Share this tool as an excellent study guide for learning locations around the world. Challenge students to increase time and accuracy in completing these map activities.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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