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return to subject listingStory Jumper - storyjumper.com
Grades
2 to 8tag(s): digital storytelling (141), writing (315)
In the Classroom
Although the sentences and graphics available appear juvenile, the fact that writers can delete the text and add their own original text, photos, and drawings makes this site flexible enough to use with older students, as well. This activity would work well for individual or pairs of students in a lab or on laptops. Ask your students to visit the site and create an online book with their original writings, drawings, and photos. ESL and ELL students will be able to use the site easily, and will learn appropriate sentence structure and add to their vocabulary by selecting new items to put into the graphic. Older students can also create "little buddy" books for younger students to read and share.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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Old Man and the Sea - Alexander Petrov
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): literature (217)
In the Classroom
This resource may be used in several different ways, depending upon the teacher's needs and goals. Although no curriculum packet or guide is provided, this site is a good resource to enhance the study of The Old Man in the Sea, as well as to meet the needs of the Turkish speaking population. This animated film adapted version can serve as a starting point to acquaint students with Hemingway's well-known literary work and introduce imagery and other significant literary elements. It can also be used as an extension activity that lends itself to oral and written expression, or as a supplementary aid to understanding the text. The subtitles are valuable for bilingual-Turkish speaking, ELL, and ESL students. Use your imagination to spark interesting discussions about the passages that might be difficult to understand in the text, develop a compare-contrast learning activity by using an online tool such as Interactive Two Circle Venn Diagram (reviewed here), study the literary elements of the story, or interpret the artistic value.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Lexipedia - Vantage Linguistics
Grades
2 to 12tag(s): antonyms (14), dictionaries (48), mean (19), synonyms (17), vocabulary (237), vocabulary development (90), word clouds (13)
In the Classroom
Explore this site on interactive whiteboard or projector to show students how to improve writing with descriptive words. Consider allowing students to share a favorite word of the day for 30 seconds on your interactive whiteboard at the start of class. Use this in a word study unit by covering up the original word.Students will then try to discover the word based on the word relationships found around the word. Build understanding of parts of speech through this tool every time you look up a word. Reinforce these concepts for visual learners continuously by using the same colors every time you highlight on your interactive whiteboard. World language teachers can also type in words to demonstrate and expand vocabulary in Spanish, French, German, Dutch, and Italian. Special ed teachers, especially those in speech/language will love this tool to help students SEE relationships between words. Encourage your language-delayed students to look up words and build "word sense" even when they are familiar with the word's meaning. Make this site available as a reference on classroom computers and on your class web page.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Bestsellers - Shmoop Editors
Grades
4 to 12"Bestsellers" is free to use. Additionally, there is an option to create a free account which allows the advantage of using the tools like the online dictionary, "Stickies," and sharing on social networks. Creating an account requires an email address. You may want to create your own Gmail account with up to 20 subaccounts for each group of students (by code name or number) within your classes. If you plan to have students register individually, you may want to create your own Gmail account with up to 20 subaccounts for each group of students (by code name or number) within your classes. Here is a blog post that tells how to set up GMail subaccounts to use for any online membership service.
tag(s): book reports (27), literature (217), novels (31)
In the Classroom
Are you looking for a way to motivate your reluctant readers to pick up a book, or do you have some book hungry students who sneak to read their own book while you are teaching a lesson? The "Bestsellers" site provides a wealth of internet-based material for navigating the twists and turns of the plots and characters in books like Harry Potter and the Twilight series. The online learning guides have a table of contents that gives a quick view of what is included in each tab, which enables you to quickly find what you want without opening each section. This site provides more information than the standard textbook teacher's edition, and provides brilliant connections between some of the literary classics. There are photos, videos, and links galore. You might want to include a link to this site on your class web page, or if you prefer to control the amount of information that you want students to have before actually reading the book, then bookmark it in your favorites and dole out the information at your discretion.If looking for a different instructional method, share one of the slide shows on a projector or interactive whiteboard as you introduce a unit or allow students to use portions of the slide shows as part of their own presentations on a specific author or book on the bestsellers list.
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Taj Mahal Virtual Tour - Virtual Travel
Grades
6 to 12This site has "Downloadable Assets for Schools," and can be toured in English, French, Japanese, Hindi, or the Indian Native Language. There is inline text for the hearing impaired. The Taj Mahal tour includes 360'? panoramas, videos, narration, maps, music, text, and visits to areas that are off-limits to the public. Ancillary materials can be found at the bottom of the first page, and at the bottom of the tour page. A few of the titles are: Arches of the Taj Mahal, Calligrapy and Inscriptions, Islamic architecture, and The History of the Taj Mahal.
tag(s): india (25)
In the Classroom
Make world cultures or the study of India a visual experience using this site. Some English language learners can listen in their native language, and then listen and read in English summarizing the information they learned in English.Views of the Taj Mahal can be projected and navigated on an interactive whiteboard or projector. Before viewing, student groups can come up with impressions and questions about what they are going to see and annotate the images with the interactive feature of the whiteboard. Challenge small groups to focus on one area of the Taj Mahal and report to rest of the class. Using the interactive whiteboard students can simultaneously navigate the Taj Mahal tour and one of the ancillary sites. Older students can annotate the two views using an online tool such as Fine Tuna, reviewed here.
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Visual Thesaurus Vocab Grabber - Thinkmap,Inc.
Grades
3 to 12There are additional features if you choose to subscribe, particularly the Visual Thesaurus interactive word maps, which can be saved and printed, and an online edition in multiple languages for English-speaking students learning other languages and ESL/ELL students.
tag(s): maps (207), reading comprehension (143), synonyms (17), vocabulary (237), writing (315)
In the Classroom
Teachers and students can use the VocabGrabber on an interactive whiteboard, projector, or individual computers to highlight vocabulary specific to a literary work or curricular subject area, to improve reading comprehension by choosing key concepts and literary terms, and to build background knowledge for a given text. As an added benefit, have students click on the VocabGrabber when typing their own assignments such as a poem or an essay, to avoid repeating the same word. They simply type in a word and generate a list of synonyms and more descriptive words. VocabGrabber enables students to see how words are used in context, instead of memorizing word lists. Additionally, VocabGrabber is extremely helpful for students preparing for standardized tests. Be sure to include this site on your class web page for students to access both in and outside of class for further practice.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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LearnEnglish Kids - British Council
Grades
3 to 12The categories on the site include "Play a game," "Print some activities to do," "Listen to a song," "Read a story," "Practice your writing," and "Find lots more activities." AND, each one of these categories is multi-leveled.
In the Classroom
This extensive site will make the life of the ESL, ELL, or remedial reading teacher so much easier! Though intended for ESL/ELL teachers, this site can be used by any teacher who is teaching elementary reading and writing. It would also be good for remedial readers. In some parts, i.e. the interactives, you may want to pair up a proficient reader with the ESL/ELL student or remedial reader. The reading of the stories could be done with a projector or interactive whiteboard for a small group or the whole class, and then small groups of students could brainstorm the writing prompts at the end on an interactive white board. Share some of the activities with parents, as well, for at home practice with ESL/ELL students and their family members. Be sure to include this link on your class website.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Free Magazines Online - James Hubbs
Grades
7 to 12tag(s): blogs (66), news (229), newspapers (91)
In the Classroom
For ESL/ELL students, use magazines at this site to teach vocabulary and American culture. For current events classes, display the latest news online on your projector or interactive whiteboard, finding it quickly with just a few clicks. Have groups explore current news headlines and compare coverage or create their own videos (news or infomercials) using a site such as Teachers.TV reviewed here. This may also be a link that you would want to list on your class website for both students and parents to use at home. If you require current events article summaries each week, your students can use this site to find the latest at no cost. Reading teachers can easily find passages to use for comprehension skills such as main idea, summarizing, inferencing and more, all from current articles and ready to project on your interactive whiteboard for underlining, highlighting and discussion.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Exam English - Steve Chadwick
Grades
9 to 12For those not familiar with these tests, one of them is usually required for admittance to colleges, universities, and post-high school training schools.
tag(s): vocabulary (237)
In the Classroom
Save this site in your favorites for high-school aged ESL and ELL students who are interested in going on to higher education in the U.S. Share the site with the college counselors in your schools. Provide this link on your class website for students to access both in and out of the classroom.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Memorize Now - Brad Haugaard
Grades
2 to 12tag(s): vocabulary (237)
In the Classroom
This site does far more than aid memorization. Reading teachers can also use it to teach comprehension skills, such as using context clues to determine meaning in a paragraph. Paste in the paragraph (perhaps a passage from a non-fiction science or social studies article) and use this tool on your interactive whiteboard for students to "figure out" the missing words. Do the same with world language texts to reverse match using subject verb agreement and to analyze missing content using inflected endings. In science class, use this site to remove clues from a paragraph explaining a concepts or terms, subtracting information and having students fill it back in as they review for test and quizzes. Learning support teachers will love this option! Enter passage students write that include new vocabulary words, letting students challenge each other by subtracting portions. Speech and language teachers can use this tool to provide practice with expressive language.For work with memorization, use this site with popular song lyrics in class. Listen to the song first and give the students the lyrics to be memorized. Or, go to YouLyrics (if district policy allows) to get the song and see a video of it and then have the students use this site to help them memorize the lyrics. ESL, ELL, and students of other languages will enjoy memorizing songs which helps them improve their vocabulary and accent. Use this site in a group by projecting the screen on a whiteboard or projector and systematically show fewer and fewer words on the screen. Have teams of students compete against each other by writing the text as quickly as possible on two boards in the classroom. Share this link on your class website for students to use both in and out of the class to memorize new information. Share it as a personal study skills tool, as well.
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DLTK's Custom Chore Chart - DLTK
Grades
K to 6tag(s): behavior (43), charts and graphs (169), preK (255)
In the Classroom
Create charts for a variety of needs. Charts always come in handy for students who struggle to stay on task or to complete assignments. Charts are a fun and tactile way for students to monitor their success and stay on target with responsibilities. Use a chart system to teach organization and self monitoring for things such as homework, chores or daily jobs, morning or end of day tasks and behavior, backpack organization, reading books, math skills, and whatever else you or your students can "chart." Use this tool in the beginning of a new school year to help with expectations or recording. Special ed and gifted teachers will want to have students create their own charts to take ownership for individual goals. This is also a great tool for students to use to record their success for specific New Year's resolutions. This is definitely a link you want to list on your class website for parents to use at home.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Teacher Training Videos - Russell Stannard
Grades
K to 12tag(s): professional development (395), spelling (95), tutorials (51), vocabulary (237)
In the Classroom
Use the links on the left hand side to find videos on how to use some of the most popular and useful classroom sites around. Find something of use in the vast array available for viewing. The screencasts of the web 2.0 sites offer step by step instructions to help novice and intermediate users in their use in the classroom. Videos are organized into topics with multiple tools showcased in the segment. Find quick videos at the bottom of the page which highlight just one tool. Even teachers of very young students will find many of the tools explained helpful for their own use in creating learning materials, centers, etc.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Wonder of Words - wordinfo.info
Grades
8 to 12tag(s): test prep (66), vocabulary (237)
In the Classroom
If individual computers aren't available, this site would work on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Make it a class challenge. Put this site in a PSAT, SAT, or ACT preparation pamphlet/web page to help students maximize their vocabulary knowledge. It is fast and easy to use. For the most advanced second language learners, this quiz would also be helpful for preparing for the TOEFL test. This is a site you want to list on your class website. As part of your regular vocabulary study, consider having student create their own "Image Quizzes" using their personal vocabulary words, then challenge their classmates! Use a simple tool such as Powerpoint to make the quiz slides (uploadable to Thinglink, reviewed here, or other slide sharing tools) or create them online on a class wiki.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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FluxNow - fluxnow.com
Grades
8 to 12tag(s): literature (217)
In the Classroom
Offer this site only to your most discriminating readers. Look at this site frequently since its offerings change weekly. Offer this site only to your most discriminating readers. Look at this site frequently since its offerings change weekly. Share selections on a projector or interactive whiteboard for "quicky" book talks or take a screen shot (with credit, of course) to display a selected review on a digital picture frame in your library/media center. Set the frame to cycle through a slide show of new book selections! Other options for cycling book reviews would be to paste them into PowerPoint slides to run in a looped show on selected media center computers or to run the screenshots as screensaver images.Now sure how to take a screen shot? Press the PrtScrn button on a Windows computer (sometimes combined with SHIFT or Ctrl key, depending on the computer), then CONTROL+V to PASTE the screen image into an image program such as Paint so you can save it. Screenshots are even easier in Vista using the Snip tool. On a Mac, the screen shot function is Command+Shift+4 (the number 4), and the "picture" (a png image file) gets saved to your chosen location, usually your desktop. Be sure to copy the URL of the page you are "shooting" to give proper credit and place a label with your frame providing this information.
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Caldecott Winners - American Library Association
Grades
K to 10tag(s): book lists (161)
In the Classroom
Save this site on your classroom favorite's on your computer to assist students in finding books to read and sample illustrations for art class and students' own stories. This is a great link to provide on your class website for students to access at home. Within the classroom, have students choose a former Caldecott winner to read and create a multimedia presentation. Use a tool such as bubbl.us (reviewed here) to create and share concept maps about the books.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Think Math! - Education Development Center, Inc.
Grades
K to 7tag(s): data (147), measurement (126), money (119), numbers (119), probability (96), statistics (114), time (92)
In the Classroom
If you teach math to grades K-5 (or beyond), you will want to save this site in your favorites. Use the interactive tutorials as review activities, to introduce concepts, or for students to learn as groups. Use the activities as exciting drill and practice that provides feedback on right and wrong answers. For example, use "Comparing numbers" tutorials and activities to learn and practice identifying the hundreds and tens places. Each example gives immediate feedback on right and wrong answers. Use as an individual activity or in groups to provide great examples and practice with math concepts. Be sure to list this link on your class website so students can access (and practice) both in and out of the classroom.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Movieclips - movieclips.com
Grades
2 to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Use the clips for vocabulary with ESL or ELL students. Introduce other curriculum topics or lessons using the clips on this site. For example, use video clips to get students thinking about concepts such as tornadoes, animals, feelings, or decision-making. As you teach about characterization in literature or creative writing, use movie clips to illustrate how a writer can "show not tell" about a characters personality or motivations. Have students observe the outward signs the actor uses to SHOW what he/she is feeling, then use these signs in writing their own stories: the way the eyebrows move, the body language, etc. Emotional support and autistic support teachers can use the clips to help students learn to "read" human feelings.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Blabberize - Mobouy Inc.
Grades
1 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): animation (62), back to school (63), communication (136), firstday (22), images (262), photography (126)
In the Classroom
If your students have never tried to make a Blabber, select Browse to share the an introduction blab on the home page on a projector or interactive whiteboard. You may want to create one of your own to share, and then have the class create one, all projected on your whiteboard. Browse a few examples first to get ideas on how to make a mouth on your photo to move and "talk." Be sure to turn up your sound! Have a student demonstrate uploading an image from a safe and legal source. You may want to use a single, whole-class account you create with your "extra" email account. Be sure to spell out consequences of inappropriate use/content of blabs. Have students enter the site through the "Make" page link provided in this review to steer clear of the "latest" blabs. You may want your students to make their blabs "private" so they do not show on the public areas, depending on school policies. If you are implementing technology in your classroom, this is an augmentation tool.Blab the homework directions on your teacher web page. Have your students use photos or digital drawings to "blab"! Have students draw in a paint program, save the file, and then make it "speak." Spice up research projects about historic figures or important scientists. Have literary characters tell about themselves. This tool is great for gifted students to go above and beyond the basics with an independent project. Create entire conversation sequences of blabs between people in world language or ENL/ESL classes (with students speaking in the language, of course), then embed them in a wiki. Have speech/language students make blabs to practice articulation and document progress over time. Promote oral reading fluency with student-read blabs. Create book "commercials." Have students blab what the author may have been thinking as he/she wrote a poem or literary selection or as an artist painted. Blab politicians' major platform planks during campaigns for current events. Blab the steps to math problem solving. Even primary students can make an animal blab about his habitat if you set up the blab as a center. Make visual vocabulary/terminology sentences with an appropriate character using the term in context (a beaker explaining how it is different from a flask?) Students could also take pictures of themselves doing a lab and then blab the pictures to explain the concepts. This would be a great first day project (introducing yourself and breaking the ice). Share the class blabs on your class web page or wiki! Give directions to your class (for when a substitute is there). Use at back to school night to grab parents' attention for important information.
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Big Huge Thesaurus - Big Huge Labs
Grades
1 to 12tag(s): rhymes (21), thesaurus (22), vocabulary (237), word study (58), writing (315), writing prompts (58)
In the Classroom
Keep this link handy among the resources on your class web page or wiki, and be sure to bring it up on your screen or interactive whiteboard to remind students of the rich tools it offers as you teach grammar, revision, poetry, essay-writing, or even letter and resume writing. With primary grades, share the rhyming words to help teach spelling and phonics! As students share in revising a passage or writing a poem on the interactive whiteboard, have this thesaurus available on another window to model their search for just the right word. Encourage students to look up any new vocabulary or terminology at the start of new science or social studies units so they can gain a broader "sense" of the words themselves through a constellation of synonyms and related words. Help students refine vocabulary by having them rank the various synonyms offered for a certain word, deciding which has the most positive or negative connotations. Offer the writing prompts for student journal or blog posts or creative stories. ESL/ELL students can explore new words with this tool, even practicing the rhyming sounds and noticing their varied spellings. Check out the Big Huge Labs educator account. Easily pre-register students to avoid creating logins, view and download their creations, and view the site advertisement free. You will find information about the Educator Account here.NOTE: If students enter an inappropriate word, they WILL find classroom-inappropriate terms. As with use of any reference, your students need to know your classroom's consequences of such activity. The options are no different from students looking up body parts or pornographic terms in a print dictionary or on Google.
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IXL Math - IXL
Grades
K to 7tag(s): addition (128), decimals (84), fractions (159), mixed numbers (8), money (119), multiplication (122), numbers (119), percent (58), preK (255), probability (96), subtraction (109)
In the Classroom
Create student groups to work on various games for speed and accuracy. Strengthen your students' ability to use and understand math concepts with the vast variety of activities and skills on this site. These games would be exceptional on a projector or interactive whiteboard for class team activity. List this site on your class website for students to use both in and out of the classroom.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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