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return to subject listingMap Treasure Hunt - Class Tools
Grades
5 to 12tag(s): game based learning (171), map skills (56), maps (209)
In the Classroom
Add virtual treasure hunts to many classroom lessons. Share treasure hunts on your projector or interactive whiteboard, perhaps for students to do as a center. Create treasure hunts to announce field trips, locate areas of interest for social studies lessons, or point out locations in novels and other reading material. Have students create their own virtual treasure hunt for a favorite location, where they were born, or to begin a biography of a famous person or series of historic events such as the civil rights movement. In science class, have students create a treasure hunt of habitats or environmental disaster sites. Create student-made mapquests for math skill practice as students calculate distances, map scale, and trip costs using a treasure hunt.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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American Presidents: Life Portraits - C-Span
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): presidents (121)
In the Classroom
Use American Presidents: Life Portraits as a great starting point for lessons relating to any presidency or period in American History. Share with students to use when researching presidents for any type of report or presentation. Have students extend their learning using Fakebook, reviewed here, to create a "fake" page similar in style to Facebook about any of the presidents. You could also extend student learning by having them create a newspaper detailing events from any period of American History or any president's tenure using a site such as Printing Press, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Intel Education Units - Intel
Grades
K to 12tag(s): literacy (107)
In the Classroom
Begin your curriculum planning here. After reviewing exemplary units, use as they are, or modify to fit the needs of your students, content, or even resources adding your own personal touch. They will inspire you to dig deeper and go further with Common Core! Be sure to bookmark this site (or save in your favorites) as your go to resource for Common Core.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Who Was Lee Harvey Oswald? - PBS - Frontline
Grades
7 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): kennedy (19), presidents (121)
In the Classroom
Students are often fascinated by conspiracy theories, and the mystery of whether Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone or was part of a larger plot to kill the President represents one of US history's most enduring. Certainly the site will be useful in a discussion of the event itself. However, it can be used more generally as a springboard for discussion of conspiracy theories themselves. See the lesson ideas in the Teachers Guide section. What evidence do we require to decide if something is true or not? Who can be trusted to tell the story of an emotional event? Is "seeing" always "believing"? How can resolve the fact that eyewitnesses do not all have the same recollection of the event? Have your gifted and highly able students do a special project investigating conspiracy theories in history and sharing them as a role play or video for the rest of the class.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Engaging Students With Primary Sources - Smithsonian National Museum of American History
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): primary sources (115)
In the Classroom
Bookmark and save this site for use throughout the year as a guide for using primary sources. Use some of the lesson strategies with other primary source collectionsAdd your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Beyond The Bubble - Stanford History Education Group
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): 1920s (15), assessment (147), civil rights (194), civil war (134), cold war (30), colonial america (95), immigrants (33), immigration (64), racism (76), rubrics (33), slavery (75), thanksgiving (24), war of 1812 (14), womens suffrage (44)
In the Classroom
Bookmark and save this excellent site as a resource for Common Core social studies literacy assessments. Many of these activities (and videos) are ideal for your interactive whiteboard or projector. Share the interactive rubric BEFORE the lesson, so students are aware of exactly what is expected. Use activities and materials provided on the site to teach lessons in character education, bias, and racism. Create your own similiar activities. Explore this site during professional development sessions for ideas for rubrics and lesson planning. Click on tags for "same assessment type" to find additional assessments not in the main list.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Pulitzer Center Lesson Plans - Pulitzer Center
Grades
3 to 12tag(s): africa (137), careers (139), china (62), debate (37), earthquakes (44), ethics (23), food chains (17), hiv/aids (16), india (25), journalism (72), media literacy (102), water (101), women (137)
In the Classroom
Use the lesson plans on the site as a resource for discussing and debating global issues. If there is no time to complete a full unit, explore resources from each topic for ideas to use in your classroom. For example, try the ideas on interviewing individuals who migrated to the United States offered in the How Did I Become the Person That I Am unit. Share this site with students interested in journalism careers as a resource for learning more about the profession and some of its members.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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History Labs - A Guided Approach to Historical Inquiry in the K-12 Classroom - UMBC Center for History Education
Grades
5 to 12tag(s): african american (109), american revolution (81), civil rights (194), civil war (134), colonial america (95), colonization (20), great depression (28), iran (8), jefferson (18), kennedy (19), native americans (91), roosevelt (12), slavery (75), washington (25), womens suffrage (44), world war 2 (149)
In the Classroom
Bookmark and save this site for use with any American History topic as a complete lesson or to offer another angle on current lessons. Enhance learning by having students create a simple infographic sharing their findings using Venngage reviewed here. Before beginning a unit, have students brainstorm or collect ideas on a collaborative bulletin board like Scrumblr, reviewed here (quick start- no membership required!).Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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The Bean Game - Jana Darrington Utah State University Extension
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): financial literacy (92), game based learning (171)
In the Classroom
Use the Bean Game as part of your financial literacy unit as a center activity. When finished, have students create blogs. If you are beginning the process of integrating technology, have students create blogs sharing their learning and understanding using Tumblr, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Documentary Tube - DocumentaryTube.com
Grades
4 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): video (257)
In the Classroom
Discover the power of documentaries while studying point of view, primary and secondary resources, and debate skills. Examine the aspects shown in documentaries and help students find structure to provide an unbiased research project. Challenge existing knowledge in many areas. Help students become active thinkers and become involved in current events. Sharpen your own understandings.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Documentary Storm - 2013 DocumentaryStorm
Grades
4 to 12tag(s): video (257)
In the Classroom
With documentaries challenge your students' understanding of food, history, politics, or people. Use to provide another point of view which might not be available in traditional text books. Use to explain primary and secondary sources, as well as an example of a way to extend thinking. Provide a documentary as an example for your students to do an in depth research project. Use documentaries to challenge knowledge, create new knowledge, and learn.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Every Second on the Internet - designly.com
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): internet safety (113), social networking (68)
In the Classroom
This site is perfect for use on your interactive whiteboard (or projector) during lessons on computer use or Internet safety. Have students predict the number of Google searches, emails sent, etc. each second before displaying the actual number. Use information on this site as part of a lesson on comparisons, fractions, or number sense with large numbers. Share with parents during your Open House to offer an understanding of the impact of computers and social networks on their students lives.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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UCAR - Center for Science Education - The National Center for Atmospheric Research
Grades
4 to 12tag(s): atmosphere (23), climate (80), climate change (87), glaciers (17), hurricanes (35), snow (16), solar energy (34), sun (69), tornadoes (15), weather (163)
In the Classroom
UCAR is a must bookmark site for any teacher of atmospheric science. Create links to activities on student computers for students to explore and play. Search and use the activities for hands-on lesson ideas, all aligned to National Science Education Standards. Challenge students to create a presentation using Prezi, reviewed here to demonstrate information learned at Spark. Have students create a word cloud of the important terms they learn from this site using a tool such as WordItOut, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Weird Road Signs - TODAY; Paul A. Eisenstein
Grades
6 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): creative writing (122), figurative language (15)
In the Classroom
These signs can spark writing, geography, and visual communication lessons. Project selected signs on the interactive whiteboard as ideas for students to use for creative writing pieces. Have the students create a fictional scavenger hunt of several signs around the world. Have students use a mapping tool such as MapHub, reviewed here, to create a map showing the sign locations (with stories and pictures about what happened when people encountered the sign)! Use the locations offered in some of the descriptions for geography lessons to integrate geography with writing. Use the images on a bulletin board and have students write captions for the signs. Have student editors find grammatical errors on the signs. Students could create an annotated image including text boxes with captions and related links using a tool such as Thinglink, reviewed here. Have students upload a sign image and add voice bubbles with narration using a tool such as Phrase.it, reviewed here. Use the signs for ESL/ELL students to teach about the nuances of text translation.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Cyber Safety - Internet Safety Tips - Open Colleges, Ltd
Grades
4 to 12tag(s): cyberbullying (41), internet safety (113)
In the Classroom
This site is an excellent resource for teaching and reinforcing online safety lessons. View on your interactive whiteboard as a class either in one session or several smaller sessions/lessons. Assign students to become experts on one safety concern and share an explanation about it with the class. Enhance learning and transform classroom technology use (depending on teacher requirements) by asking students to create a simple or multimedia infographic sharing what they learn using Venngage, reviewed here. Be sure to share with parents at an Open House or through your classroom website.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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National Forensic League - National Forensic League
Grades
6 to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Use the downloadable PDF documents as a resource for students who are developing their public speaking or debate skills, learning to analyze literary characters, understanding the use of humor in speech, or similar topics. Recommend this site to students who may be entering speech competitions, or who may be preparing to give a formal presentation. If you are trying to stage a debate on any topic for your classroom, consider the resources on how formal debate is organized and evaluated.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Newsela - Matthew Gross
Grades
2 to 12Incase you're wondering - Newsela features current events stories tailor-made for classroom use. Click "Products" on the top menu and slide down to browse content in subject areas (social studies, science, etc.). Stories are student-friendly and can be accessed in different formats by reading level. Use Newsela to differentiate nonfiction reading. Newspaper writers rewrite a story four times for a total of five Lexile levels per story. All articles have embedded Common Core-aligned quizzes that conform to the reading levels for checking comprehension, customizable assignments, writing prompts, and annotations. An account is required to use Newsela, both for teachers and for students, but students sign up using a teacher or parent-provided code rather than an email address. Click the Resources tab at the top to find guides and short webinars. Teachers can create classes and assign reading-level specific articles to individual students or download printable PDF copies of the article in any of its reading-level versions. There is no outside advertising.
tag(s): DAT device agnostic tool (143), differentiation (84), guided reading (32), independent reading (85), news (229), reading comprehension (141), remote learning (61)
In the Classroom
Achieve two goals here: help students improve their reading comprehension and keep them current with what is happening in our nation and the world. When assigning articles, choose to have the class read at one reading level, or choose individuals and set the reading level for them. There are five categories from which to choose. You may want to set up different articles at different learning stations on the computers in your room. Have the students rotate daily through the stations, completing one or two a day until they have completed all five articles. Since Newsela is cloud based, even absent students can complete the missed work easily. If you and your students are teaching and learning remotely, or you have a blended classroom, Newsela will work perfectly for those! Teachers of gifted students can use this site to accelerate or enrich reading for students. Find each student's individual levels for reading nonfiction. Teachers of Learning Support and ENL//ESL students will love this alternate way for their students to meet nonfiction/current events requirements.Comments
This is an excellent article. Thanks for sharing this information. Please keep sharing content like this.Cassandra, IL, Grades: 0 - 12
This is an excellent site and allows differentiation while everyone is reading the same text.Renee, NC, Grades: 0 - 5
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Nulu - nulu.com
Grades
7 to 12In the Classroom
Encourage ESL/ELL students and Spanish learners to increase their fluency by selecting news articles that appear interesting. Have one student prepare a story each week by having him or her preview the reading, prepare the flash cards, and also write additional comprehension questions. If permitted by your administration, students can log in with Facebook (or email) and make comments about the site and/or the stories there. Be sure to review good Netiquette about online commenting.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Newspaper Map - newspapermap.com
Grades
5 to 12tag(s): arabic (13), cross cultural understanding (157), french (74), german (48), japanese (47), media literacy (102), newspapers (91), portuguese (22), russian (24), spanish (105)
In the Classroom
Newspaper Map is a great resource for locating news and culture from around the world. Share with your students to show them different perspectives on world events. Use an online tool such as Interactive Two Circle Venn Diagram, reviewed here, to compare and contrast coverage between two newspapers. After reading and comparing many different articles, have students make a multimedia presentation using one of the many TeachersFirst Edge tools. Some tool suggestions are (click on the tool name to access the review): Adobe Creative Cloud Express for Education, Acast, Animatron, Renderforest, and Presentious. Explore this site during Newspaper in Education week or as part of a unit on the basics of journalistic writing. World language teachers can use newspapers to teach about both language and culture. Have world cultures or social studies students learn about local culture through advertisements and articles and share their findings using a screencast (or screenshots) of the newspaper and talking about their discoveries. A free tool like Screencast-o-matic, reviewed here, or Screencastify (Chrome app), reviewed here, works well for screencasts.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Problem-Attic - EducAide Software
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): assessment (147), Teacher Utilities (146), test prep (66)
In the Classroom
Save this site as an excellent practice for end of year testing, state tests, and national tests. Use Problem-Attic to personalize learning for students. Share this tool on your class website for students to use both in and out of the classroom to prepare for state testing. Challenge your students to create (and print) practice tests for other students. Coaches for academic competitions can use this site for team practice. Teachers of gifted can use it for students to practice for out-of-level testing used to screen students for special gifted opportunities.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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