TeachersFirst - Featured Sites: Week of Sep 9, 2018
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
Twitter Chat: Technology and the 4Cs - TeachersFirst
Grades
K to 12tag(s): collaboration (85), communication (136), creativity (92), critical thinking (112), twitterchatarchive (172)
In the Classroom
Are you looking for new ideas and tools for using the 4Cs in your class? View this archive with your team or colleagues looking for sites and information about using the 4Cs in the classroom. Explore the various tools that are shared by our edtech coaches.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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Adobe Express for Education - Adobe
Grades
K to 12tag(s): communication (136), creative writing (122), multimedia (43), posters (47)
In the Classroom
Use Adobe Express for Education to create posters, flyers, or instagrams stories for student presentations for any subject. Enhance student learning by asking students to create infographics explaining facts and information about states, countries, planets, and more. Have students create interactive posters, book report covers, invitations, and flyers to promote school events. Express for Education offers many possibilities for graphics, redefining student technoolgy use, and extending student learning by having students create multimedia presentations in all classrooms.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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OK Go Sandbox - University of St Thomas and Dr. AnnMarie Thomas
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): gravity (42), mass (19), motion (49), sound (74), STEM (259)
In the Classroom
Delight your students with the videos and activities provided on the site to include with your current science lessons. Place students in groups to complete the challenges offered. Have students replace paper and pen and take collaborative, digital notes using Webnote, reviewed here; tell students to be sure to save the URL to share their notes and questions with you and their peers. Ask students to record their work images and video. Redefine learning and challenge students to share their final projects including the digital research notes, images, and videos using a multimedia presentation tool like Sway, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Renderforest - Renderforest
Grades
K to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Use Renderforest for any number of video creation projects in your classroom. Use the intro video tools to add professional looking introductions to your YouTube creations. The animated video tool is a great resource for creating animated video explanations of science projects, world history events, or discussions of characters in novels. Use the slideshow creation tool to share classroom events and pictures from field trips. Have students use Renderforest to create a video, then include their video with other information in a multimedia project using Adobe Creative Cloud Express for Education, reviewed here.Comments
wonderful resource.Babalola, IN, Grades: 7 - 12
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Animaker - Srinivasa Raghavan
Grades
6 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): animation (61), creativity (92), movies (51), video (256)
In the Classroom
Animaker now allows 2 teachers to share 25 students, 3 groups, and has an in app messenger. Use this tool easily in your Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) or blended classroom since all students will be able to access it for free, no matter what device they have, using the internet and their is no downloading apps. Students will need the basic understanding of how to create using this tool. Work together on your interactive whiteboard to create a class video before assigning to students. Use Animaker to extend student learning and technology use by making commercials, science fair previews, infographics, and animated shorts in any content area. Have students make "advertisements" for an organism or a literary character. Make a travel commercial for a country being studied or for cultural sites in a world language class. Be sure to share the presentations on your projector or interactive whiteboard.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Girls Garage (Project H) - Project H Design - Emily Pilloton
Grades
3 to 12tag(s): architecture (64), creativity (92), design (82), gifted (64), STEM (259)
In the Classroom
Share Project H with students as a resource for group projects or enrichment. The ideas on Project H are perfect when considering ideas for math, science, or art Fairs. Create a link on your class website for students to use at home. After completing a project, have students take a photo. Then, show them how to embed media transforming their work by uploading it to Thinglink, reviewed here. Students can then annotate the photo with text boxes, related links, and video to explain the process of how they created their product.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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International Dot Day - Reynolds Center for Teaching Learning & Creativity
Grades
K to 12tag(s): creativity (92), cross cultural understanding (156), literature (217)
In the Classroom
Although the official International Dot Day is in September, use ideas from the site to inspire creativity and collaboration throughout the year. Read The Dot to students and encourage them to collaborate ways they can make their mark in the world. Celebrate by joining the Fllip, reviewed here community with a live stream featuring the author and his twin brother. Challenge older students to explore their place in the world through the use of a blog. If you are beginning the process of integrating technology, have students create blogs sharing their learning and understanding using Penzu, reviewed here, with Penzu you can add images or your own artwork as illustrations. Or, use Webnode, reviewed here. Take this a step further by joining ePals, reviewed here, and sharing your Dot Day activities with your global friends. Consider following International Dot Day on Facebook and Twitter to stay in touch with all of the latest updates from around the world.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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The Wonderment - Kidnected World
Grades
3 to 9tag(s): communication (136), cross cultural understanding (156), enrichment (9), gifted (64), listening (68), Problem Based Learning (13), problem solving (225), social media (53), social networking (68), social skills (22), speaking (22), sustainability (44)
In the Classroom
The Wonderment is a problem based learning adventure for each student around the world to communicate and collaborate with other students. This venue allows great lesson ideas for digital citizenship and digital footprints. Begin by choosing a path for the entire class and feature on an interactive whiteboard or with a projector. Have students work in small groups to choose their best response. Discussions can focus on creativity, problem solving, and collaboration between the group and others from around the world. In a gifted class, use as a way to challenge kids to break through the "right answer" and find the "best answer." Use this as a model for finding authentic needs in your community. Be sure to share a link to this tool on your class blog, website, or learning management system (LMS). Use this tool as the answer for the parents who always want more challenge and enrichment for their students at home. Be sure to share at a staff meeting to spread the wonder for other students and adults.Edge Features:
Parent permission advised before posting student work created using this tool
Includes Interaction w general public/ public galleries with unmoderated content
Includes social features, such as "friends," comments, ratings by others
Requires registration/log-in (WITH email)
Multiple users can collaborate on the same project
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Creative Educator - Tech4Learning
Grades
1 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): addition (128), creativity (92), Teacher Utilities (146)
In the Classroom
Creative Educator, designed for teachers, helps you move past stale worksheets to get inspired! Be sure to look at this site to help you discover ways to integrate technology and creativity into lessons. Work with a partner to make the lessons fit in your situation. Share at staff meetings and offer new ideas. Look for ways to bring a new focus to your gifted students. Give as a resource to students, so they can choose a multimedia product to share the content knowledge they are learning. Once you and your students are familiar with the site use Padlet, reviewed here, to list out student interests. Then use Symbaloo Learning Paths, reviewed here, to assign lessons to groups with the same or similar interests. Older students, once they have determined their interests, can select their projects/lessons and create their own Symbaloo Learning Paths. After several selections, ask older students to choose the topic they were most interested in, find resources to learn more about the topic, then extend their learning by presenting their findings using a multimedia tool such as (click on the tool name to access the review): Canva Infographic Maker, Marq (formerly Lucidpress), Powtoon, and FlexClip.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Google Doodles - Google
Grades
3 to 12tag(s): artists (77), creativity (92), drawing (60), gifted (64), STEM (259)
In the Classroom
This amazing collection of Doodles can be used to spark thinking in a variety of classes. Use the Doodles to teach a little history. View the resources about the event, person, or country that inspired the Doodle. Encourage thinking with your gifted kids by sharing the whole gallery for exploration or a specific Doodle. Use these Doodles to spark a new project idea or challenge kids to create a simple "doodle" as a new way to report on a historic figure or a content idea. Think your students will be intimidated making a computer Doodle? Consider creating a Doodle using any computer art software or simply creating one on paper. Use these ideas in Science to show the scientific inventions or concepts. In social studies, use Doodles to showcase specific events here and around the World. When looking at perspectives of people around the world, create doodles that can show more than one point of view. Write paragraphs or stories based on Google Doodles. Use Google Doodles in STEM initiatives at your school. Don't forget Art or Gifted programs! Get your students excited about the making of the Doodles and what code writing can do! Use tools such as Scratch, reviewed here, or Tynker, reviewed here, to practice coding.Comments
Nice to have past "Google Doodles" in one website to go back and look at.David, AK, Grades: 9 - 12
Great ideas for short, informative paragraphs to practice this type of writing. Let kids find a google idea for a day, for their particular world/setting/priorities...FUN! Archives are instructive.Patricia, NJ, Grades: 6 - 12
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Smilebox - Smilebox, Inc.
Grades
5 to 12tag(s): blogs (66), images (270), movies (51), photography (131), slides (45)
In the Classroom
Upload images from your computer. You can save web images or use screen shots, as well, to be used in your creations. Watch copyright! Check out Awesome Screenshot, reviewed here, for details for a screen shot taker. From there, it is easy to simply click and follow the on screen instructions. The program is simple to navigate and very user friendly for those who are accustomed to web tools.With the variety of formats, Smilebox has a wide variety of applications in any type of classroom! For basic technology integration extend learning with this tool. Use in history class to have students create collages of different periods of time such as the American Civil War. Create topics such as the Lincoln's Election, the Gettysburg Address, Battle of Antietam, Emancipation Proclamation, Battle of Gettysburg, and Lee's Surrender. Have pairs or groups of three select topics at random, and then have them create a collage or "scrapbook" of the event. Try having students choose a role from which to create their assignment such as a Rebel soldier, a Union Soldier, a volunteer nurse, a mother or father of children fighting on different sides of the war, etc. Have students collect copyright free images online for their use or create their own by reenacting and creating visuals to take pictures for their productions. Unleash student creativity by showing them this tool as resource in creating presentations and projects for your class and others. What a fabulous tool to use on the first day of school (as a welcome), beginning of a new unit, or back to school night with the parents! Elementary classes could create whole-class scrapbooks of curriculum projects, such as their science garden or Colonial Days celebration.
Edge Features:
Parent permission advised before posting student work created using this tool
Includes Interaction w general public/ public galleries with unmoderated content
Requires registration/log-in (WITH email)
Premium version (not free) includes additional features or storage
Products can be embedded
Products can be shared by URL
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