TeachersFirst - Featured Sites: Week of Nov 8, 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
Tunes2Teach YouTube Playlist - Dana Lawrence Gillis and Ellie Rubenstein
Grades
K to 6
This site includes advertising.
tag(s): back to school (63), behavior (45), creative writing (121), descriptive writing (40), paragraph writing (15), scientific method (46)
In the Classroom
Use the Behavior Rules video as part of your Back to School activities. Challenge your class to create their own Behavior Rules video specific to your classroom, and then share them on a site such as TeacherTube, reviewed here. Share the other videos during appropriate English and science units. Be sure to create a link to these videos or your creations on your class website for viewing at home.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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Musanim - Music Animation Machine YouTube Channel - Stephen Malinowski
Grades
4 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): music theory (45), musical instruments (47), musical notation (33)
In the Classroom
Use this YouTube Channel as an excellent addition to any music class to help students "see" music in a new way. Play videos on your interactive whiteboard (or projector) during quiet times in your classroom. Stop videos during play to analyze and understand the representations created and view specific instrument families used at each moment.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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QuickRubric - Clever Prototypes, LLC
Grades
K to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): assessment (149), rubrics (35)
In the Classroom
Use this online tool to create original rubrics before introducing a new project. Be sure to review the rubric with your students on a projector or interactive whiteboard, to be certain that they understand your expectations. As you approach the project deadlines, consider reviewing the rubric again having students mark or highlight key terms in the rubric that will help them get a better evaluation. Have a question and answer period at this time. Rubrics can be created for any task or project. For example, prepare rubrics for silent reading time, science labs, skills tasks in physical education, and all presentations. Visit Rubrics to the Rescue to see examples of topics and wording.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Google Newspaper Archives - Google
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): cross cultural understanding (160), media literacy (102), news (227), newspapers (91)
In the Classroom
Share with students to show them different perspectives on historical events. This site would also provide contrasting texts for close reading as required by Common Core. Use an online tool such as Interactive Two Circle Venn Diagram, reviewed here, to compare and contrast information. After researching events in history, have students make a multimedia presentation using one of the many TeachersFirst Edge tools reviewed here. Build student awareness of the limited view provided by some publications, especially during times of international tension. Explore this site during Newspaper in Education Week or as part of a unit on the basics and nuances 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.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Brain Pump - brainpump.net
Grades
6 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): business (48), critical thinking (111), earth (185), financial literacy (92), fish (18), human body (94), marine biology (25), natural resources (38), plants (147), psychology (67), rivers (14), space (215), spanish (105), video (260)
In the Classroom
Use the short videos found at Brain Pump to introduce content and assess prior knowledge. Create a link to videos, or embed them, on your class website for student viewing at home. Use a video tool such as EdPuzzle, reviewed here, or ComentBubble, reviewed here, to have students answer questions, from home, on the content of the video. Back in the classroom, have students talk in small groups about any video and their questions and ideas about the topic. Have the student groups share out the important questions and thoughts with the whole class. After the class discussion, have the students write a group response, either on paper or on your class blog or wiki. Completing a group response now, could evolve into students writing journal entries at home or during class about the topic of a video. These videos make powerful writing prompts. After viewing a few videos in this manner, you may want to have older students select videos they want to watch (or you can assign them) and have the students respond.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Story Map - Read Write Think
Grades
1 to 8tag(s): digital storytelling (150), graphic organizers (50), writing (319)
In the Classroom
Substitute paper and pencil story mapping by introducing your class to Story Map and writing a class story. Use an interactive whiteboard or projector and be sure to point out the prompts to answer with each organizer. Bookmark Story Map on class computers as part of stations when developing a writing project. Put a link to this tool on your website or blog for students to access at home.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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History/Social Science Resources - Los Angeles Unified School District
Grades
K to 12tag(s): assessment (149), commoncore (75), professional development (402)
In the Classroom
Bookmark and save this site for use throughout the school year. Be sure to take advantage of the lesson plans and curriculum guides. Share with other teachers as you collaborate and plan together.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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