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

 

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A Year of Picture Prompts - New York Times

Grades
5 to 12
3 Favorites 0  Comments
Do you need some ideas for writing projects? The New York Times offers a school year of prompts and images as inspiration for writing across many genres. Scroll through the ...more
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Do you need some ideas for writing projects? The New York Times offers a school year of prompts and images as inspiration for writing across many genres. Scroll through the site to find categories for images based on the form of writing encouraged for students. Also, a lesson idea bank inspires using pictures and writing in the classroom.

tag(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.

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Write - Krish Dholakiya

Grades
5 to 12
2 Favorites 0  Comments
Write. That is all you do with this minimalistic program. This is a great tool for timed writing at the beginning of any class! Choose a length of time to ...more
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Write. That is all you do with this minimalistic program. This is a great tool for timed writing at the beginning of any class! Choose a length of time to write from options on the screen, then start writing. Stop for more than 5 seconds, and your writing disappears. When time runs out, your writing saves with an option to download as a text file to your computer, or upload to a file of your choice.

tag(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.

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Copy Edit This! - New York Times and Philip B. Corbett

Grades
6 to 12
2 Favorites 0  Comments
Here is your chance to be an editor for the New York Times. This 10 question quiz includes passages from New York Times articles with one grammatical error each. Click ...more
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Here is your chance to be an editor for the New York Times. This 10 question quiz includes passages from New York Times articles with one grammatical error each. Click on the word you believe to be incorrect; if you choose the correct word, the reason for the error appears. Choose the wrong word, then try again. After three incorrect attempts, opt to select Give Up to see the correct response and explanation.
This 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.

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Little Shop of Writers - Maria Anderson

Grades
4 to 12
3 Favorites 0  Comments
  
Check out this channel on YouTube to find short videos about all aspects of writing. The videos cover special punctuation (ellipse, dash, colon, Commas, semi-colon). Also, find tricky...more
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Check out this channel on YouTube to find short videos about all aspects of writing. The videos cover special punctuation (ellipse, dash, colon, Commas, semi-colon). Also, find tricky words (who, whose, whom, which, that), Story Elements (3 parts), Five Story Spices, and Thesis and the 5 Paragraph Essay Outline. These videos are colorful with plainly spoken explanations. If your district blocks YouTube, then they may not be viewable.

tag(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.

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Quill - Empirical

Grades
2 to 12
13 Favorites 1  Comments
   
Quill is an interactive grammar program with over 150 Common Core, grade level aligned, lessons. Sign up to use the program by entering your name, username, password, and (optional)...more
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Quill is an interactive grammar program with over 150 Common Core, grade level aligned, lessons. Sign up to use the program by entering your name, username, password, and (optional) email. Create a class and track progress, assess, and assign what individuals have not mastered. The program has color-coded "heat maps" to track progress easily. This tool individualizes grammar and writing for ALL learning levels. There are exercises revising interesting passages. There are also practice questions that require the writing of complete sentences.

tag(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 12
14 Favorites 1  Comments
 
Students will have fun while improving their writing and grammar. At the time of this review, noredink's grammatical categories include apostrophes, subject-verb agreement, comma issues,...more
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Students will have fun while improving their writing and grammar. At the time of this review, noredink's grammatical categories include apostrophes, subject-verb agreement, comma issues, sentence fragments, run-on sentences commonly confused words, phrases and clauses, and a lot more! The program provides differentiated instruction based on the questions students answer right or wrong. Click the "Product" tab on the top menu to read about more features. There are interactive tutorials to help students correct mistakes. Sign up with name, username, email address, gender, school name, and a password.

So, 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 12
1 Favorites 0  Comments
 
This humorous interactive challenges students to place punctuation correctly into sentences. Semicolons have been abused for years and now they are fighting back! Head over to Punctuation...more
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This humorous interactive challenges students to place punctuation correctly into sentences. Semicolons have been abused for years and now they are fighting back! Head over to Punctuation Island to help semicolons fight the abuse they have suffered from periods, commas and colons. Students will be able to practice all forms of punctuation. Place punctuation correctly into sentences to win this game.

tag(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.

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Vocabulary Web Games - Sheppard Software

Grades
2 to 12
4 Favorites 0  Comments
 
Enjoy language arts interactives suited for elementary students through adult learners at Vocabulary Web Games. Elementary activities offer review of grammar and punctuation...more
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Enjoy language arts interactives suited for elementary students through adult learners at Vocabulary Web Games. Elementary activities offer review of grammar and punctuation concepts. Activities include Magical Capitals, Comma Chameleon, Adjective Adventure, and more. More advanced (secondary+) activities include practice SAT and GRE prep vocabulary, medical vocabulary, and computer vocabulary using a flash card format. Play word games such as word scramble and hangman by using the other interactive games on this site.
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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.

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