TeachersFirst - Featured Sites: Week of Dec 8, 2019
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
Primary Sources Resources - TeachersFirst
Grades
K to 12tag(s): primary sources (113), Research (83)
In the Classroom
Use these tools to help students to understand primary sources, research, and more. Find tools for students to use to research when doing projects or studying for an exam.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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That's Your Right - Annenberg Classroom
Grades
5 to 12tag(s): bill of rights (28), branches of government (62), constitution (86), game based learning (171)
In the Classroom
Include this game with any lessons on the Bill of Rights. Challenge students to compete against each other and move up through the different levels of difficulty. Include the site with your other resources on a bookmarking site like Papaly, reviewed here. Papaly includes the option to add and share notes with bookmarks, add teaching notes for your future use or if sharing with students, ask them to add tips into the comments section. Upon completion of your unit, enhance learning by having students create animated videos using Powtoon, reviewed here, to share their understanding of the Bill of Rights.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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The Wright Brothers - Who Were Wilbur & Orville? - Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum
Grades
K to 12tag(s): aviation (38), flight (31), wright brothers (15)
In the Classroom
What a perfect addition to a lesson about the Wright brothers or a science unit about aviation (physics and more)! Have students work in cooperative learning groups and research a specific topic found at this site. Enhance learning by having students use Fakebook, reviewed here, to create a "fake" page similar in style to Facebook about one of the Wright brothers or as a spectator viewing one of the first flying machines. Be sure to take advantage of the free experiments and activities available on the site.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Highlighting Our History: American Revolution Read-alouds PLUS for the Common Core - TeachersFirst
Grades
K to 6tag(s): american revolution (80), book lists (159), commoncore (75), writing prompts (57)
In the Classroom
Mark this article in your Favorites and take the book suggestions with you to the school library (or search for interlibrary loans). Consider using this as part of a "Then and Now" or "Past and Present" focus in kindergarten or first grade, or with middle elementary students as part of a unit related to the Revolutionary War. Take a look at the suggestions for connecting the read-alouds to CCSS-aligned writing prompts or for short, focused research projects to include as follow-up.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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CurriConnects Booklist: By the People - TeachersFirst
Grades
K to 12tag(s): book lists (159), branches of government (62), congress (39), constitution (86), presidents (120)
In the Classroom
Encourage students to select independent reading from this list as part of a citizenship unit, as a focus for Constitution Day, or in a civics/government class.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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History for Kids - history-for-kids.com
Grades
K to 6This site includes advertising.
tag(s): boston (10), california (16), dinosaurs (38), england (50), gold rush (15), greece (26), landmarks (18), myths and legends (21), olympics (40), romans (33), vikings (10)
In the Classroom
Make history (and mythology) come alive in your classroom with a little rhythm and rhyme! Use the poems to supplement your instruction while even adding tambourines, clapping, tapping, or toe tapping reaching all learners. Share the actual poem on your projector or interactive whiteboard. If you want students to have a hard copy of the poem (to use as a study guide), print it out. Otherwise, save paper and share the link on your class website. If you can't find the history or mythology topic you are studying, it is time for your students to make their own rhymes. Enhance learning by having students use the formate for one of the History for Kids poems and create their own poems with photos and images using Elementari, reviewed here. This tool allows adding audio and text to a picture. To find Creative Commons images for student poems (with credit, of course), try Pikwizard, reviewed here. Have a poetry day featuring what you have studied in history. Be sure to add your students' projects to your class website or blog. Gifted students will enjoy the challenge while struggling learners will enjoy the reinforcement of the main ideas.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Mission US - Thirteen
Grades
4 to 8tag(s): 1800s (72), abolition (7), american revolution (80), evolution (85), great depression (28), immigrants (33), immigration (64), slavery (75), westward expansion (38), world war 2 (149)
In the Classroom
This is a must for any social studies or US History class. If you are remote or hybrid teaching, besure to read the section for usng Mission US while learning at home. Start by checking out the teachers area so you can follow the progress of your students. Use the demo game on an interactive whiteboard or with a projector to introduce it to your students. Once classes are set up have your students work in cooperative groups and work their way through the activities. There are wonderful teacher resources available including models for instruction, tips, instructions and student handouts. Resources are available in both PDF and Word so you can customize the worksheets for your students. This feature is great for differentiating materials for various student levels. When all students are done with a Mission, enhance student learning and have a class discussion about what side they chose and why? Consider using a backchanneling tool such as Yo!Teach, reviewed here, which allows all students a chance to voice their opinions (even the shyest and quiet ones). If your class is remote learning, for the discussion, extend learning by using Flip, reviewed here; require them to comment (politely) on their peers choices and reflections.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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H.S.I. - Historical Scene Investigation - College of William & Mary School of Education
Grades
5 to 12tag(s): american revolution (80), atomic bomb (9), civil rights (193), civil war (133), constitution (86), jamestown (7), mysteries (19), primary sources (113), slavery (75)
In the Classroom
You might want to do the first investigation as a class using your projector or interactive whiteboard. Have students help analyze and annotate the information they are learning from the primary sources, using Fiskkit, reviewed here. This way you can also point out different points of view on the topic so students will know to look for this in other investigations. In your blended or flipped classroom, have students complete investigations before beginning any complementary unit. You, your gifted, or more technology inclined students could use these investigations as a model to enhance learning and create inquiries into any unit of study. Use a tool like Site123, reviewed here, a free and easy web maker, to share a project such as this. Have students "become one of the people" in the historical event and put together a online poster or another mutimedia tool of their choice using a site such as Genially, reviewed here, portraying that person and justifying their point of view. This could be done in small groups where each student, or partners, portrays a different (or opposing) character in the event and tells the story from their point of view, citing the evidence to justify that point of view.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Man Soars Into Flight - Resources - TeachersFirst
Grades
1 to 12tag(s): famous people (21), flight (31), inventors and inventions (71), wright brothers (15)
In the Classroom
Use this collection as a starting point for flight-related investigations by student groups. This project could also be an option during a broader unit on invention or the lives of scientists or famous Americans. Ask students to create a multimedia "poster" depicting some aspect of the Wright Brothers' work or a principle of aerodynamics that made it all possible. Use a simple software tool such as PowerPoint or a rich, online tool such as Sway, reviewed here, to create and share the projects.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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The First Amendment: What's Fair in a Free Country? - National Endowment for the Humanities
Grades
3 to 6tag(s): bill of rights (28), freedom of speech (13), speech (66)
In the Classroom
Take advantage of this free lesson plan about the First Amendment and the Bill of Rights! To help ELL students, consider using a guided reading activity and vocabulary tools found at Read Ahead, reviewed here, share the vocabulary with them beforehand, OR make and print out easy to understand definitions of words that these students may have trouble with. Be sure to save this site as a favorite to allow for easy retrieval later on.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Wright Brothers Aeroplane Company
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): 1800s (72), 1900s (73), aviation (38), flight (31), wright brothers (15)
In the Classroom
Share this site on an interactive whiteboard or projector as an introduction to a lesson on the Wright Brothers and their impact on flight. Then have students explore this site independently or in small groups. Assign each group a "wing" or subsection to read and research with the intent being for them to present their findings to their peers. Enhance learning by having students create a multimedia presentation using PowerPoint Online, reviewed here. This site allows you to narrate a picture. Challenge students to find a photo (legally permitted to be reproduced), and then narrate the photo as if it is a news report that their classmates know virtually nothing about. To find Creative Commons images for student projects (with credit, of course), try Pikwizard, reviewed here. This makes the most sense if the reports and presented chronologically so students can piece together the history of the Wright brothers.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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