TeachersFirst - Featured Sites: Week of Sep 17, 2017
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
A Year of Picture Prompts - New York Times
Grades
5 to 12tag(s): creative writing (122), descriptive writing (38), journals (15), writing prompts (57)
In the Classroom
Save this website to your favorites or link from your class web page. These inspirational ideas are perfect for journals, quick writes, or to develop into a full story or essay. There are plenty of unusual ideas to give even your most reluctant writer or artist an inspirational nudge. ENL/ELL students can be motivated easily with picture prompts. Share these prompts with your gifted students for some "out of the box" writing ideas. Keep these creative ideas in your "emergency" lesson plan folder for substitutes, or for your own spontaneous writing needs. Extend student learning and challenge them to share writing aloud in a podcast format using a site such as Buzzsprout, reviewed here.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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Write - Krish Dholakiya
Grades
5 to 12tag(s): process writing (38), writers workshop (31), writing (315)
In the Classroom
If you have students who struggle with putting words down due to distractions or other reasons, Write is a good option for developing stamina. This tool allows writers to just write without worrying about content, grammar, or spelling. Stress that the editing process allows writers to go back and rework basic thoughts. If you do journals in content areas such as math or science, Write is a perfect tool to strongly encourage students to get their thoughts down in a short amount time. Have students save their work to include with their final writing projects.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Copy Edit This! - New York Times and Philip B. Corbett
Grades
6 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): editing (93), grammar (133), grammar review (31), journalism (71), proofreading (21)
In the Classroom
As part of on-going grammar and editing instruction, share Copy Edit This! with a projector or on an interactive whiteboard and edit sentences together. Discuss the author's explanation for errors. Ask students to find their own examples of incorrect grammar in online publications. If you are beginning the process of integrating technology, have students create blogs sharing their learning and understanding using Penzu, reviewed here. Share a link to Copy Edit This! on your class web page as a resource for student use when editing work.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Little Shop of Writers - Maria Anderson
Grades
4 to 12tag(s): creative writing (122), essays (20), expository writing (31), homonyms (8), homophones (6), punctuation (25), spelling (95), writing (315)
In the Classroom
Share these videos on your interactive whiteboard or projector with students when you want to introduce or review one of the writing skills addressed. Put a link to the videos on your class website for students and parents to use at home. Bookmark collections of favorite videos (and other tools) for writing and grammar instruction for quick access using a tool like Papaly, reviewed here. Challenge students to create their own writing videos to "teach" the class, using Powtoon, reviewed here. Share the videos on a tool such as SchoolTube, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Quill - Empirical
Grades
2 to 12tag(s): assessment (147), capitalization (9), grammar (133), homonyms (8), homophones (6), punctuation (25), sentences (21), verbs (27)
In the Classroom
There are two ways for students to sign up. Give them the code to join the class, and they sign up themselves, or you enter them manually making the student username a combination of their name and the class code. Challenge (and excel) your gifted students with the concepts practiced at this site. Since student assignments are at their level, students can experience significant acceleration in practicing these necessary skills. ESL/ELL students will undoubtedly benefit from the practice using correct English, in their writing, over a continuous period. Use this site as part of your rotation during learning stations or centers. Inspire every student in the class to become a proficient writer by using Quill at least weekly. Be sure to share this tool on your class website so that students can practice at home, too.Comments
Excellent self checking quiz format. Great resource to show why or why not the answer is correct.Kevin, SC, Grades: 0 - 5
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noredink - Jeff Scheur
Grades
3 to 12So, what's fun about learning this type of grammar? noredink asks students to pick their interests from Sports, TV shows, Musicians, and Miscellaneous. They will also be asked if they want them to use your friends from Facebook. When students are practicing or are taking quizzes, the program will use their interests and friends, and generate the questions around their interests and friends. The hope is that the content will be more interesting by including sentences with favorite celebrities, hobbies, TV shows, or even personal friends. Be sure to watch the introductory video. The program works on iPads as well as your regular computer.
This site includes advertising.
tag(s): assessment (147), capitalization (9), classroom management (128), differentiation (83), grammar (133), homonyms (8), homophones (6), punctuation (25), quiz (67), quizzes (90), sentences (21), Teacher Utilities (146), verbs (27)
In the Classroom
Teachers sign up and create a class. You will receive a class code for your students to use (optional). With the class code you will be able to track student's progress, differentiate, assign quizzes and assignments, and see class trends. The program has color-coded "heat maps" to track progress easily. Your assignments and quizzes will be uniquely generated according to each student's interests. Also, students don't have to wait for you to give them an assignment. With their account, they can practice at any time. A student does NOT have to provide an email address to create an account. It will work without it! Since students are providing some personal information about interests, etc., we strongly advise parent permission.Challenge (and excel) your gifted students with the concepts practiced at this site. Since student assignments are at their own level, students can find great acceleration in practicing these necessary skills. ENL/ELL students will especially benefit from the practice using correct English, in their writing, over a continuous time period. Student assignments are at their own level. You can also create your own quizzes. Use this site as part of your rotation during learning stations. Put your class' URL on your website so students can practice at home, too.
Comments
Any website that doesn't let you try it before creating an account is instantly uninteresting to me.Kristi, , Grades: 0 - 12
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Semicolon Wars - Mr Nussbaum
Grades
3 to 12tag(s): punctuation (25)
In the Classroom
Try this activity as a class on your interactive whiteboard or projector. You could print out sentences for students to complete, or use a tool such as Wizer.me, reviewed here, and enter the sentences on an interactive worksheet for student use. Then check together on the interactive whiteboard or with a projector. Use as review before a quiz on semicolons. Share this link on your class website for students to use both in and out of class.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Vocabulary Web Games - Sheppard Software
Grades
2 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): capitalization (9), grammar (133), parts of speech (40), puzzles (143), test prep (66), verbs (27), vocabulary (235), vocabulary development (90)
In the Classroom
Create links to games and practice vocabulary on classroom computers for students to practice language arts skills. Have students preparing for the SAT/ACT or GRE take vocabulary quizzes to find unknown words. Complement this site by creating your own vocabulary flash cards using an online flashcard maker, like Flashcard Stash, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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