TeachersFirst - Featured Sites: Week of Sep 10, 2023
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
OK2Ask: Tech Made EZ with Adobe Express for Education - TeachersFirst
Grades
1 to 12Ignite creativity and learning with Adobe Express for Education. Provide challenging learning opportunities for your students by using media creation to engage them and deepen their content area knowledge. Students can create posters, presentations, images, animations, web pages, videos, and more that demonstrate their knowledge construction skills. Learn to use Adobe Express for classroom projects and personal productivity, and brainstorm with others about ways you and your students can use this tool to demonstrate learning. As a result of this session, teachers will: 1. Learn basic use of Adobe Express for Education; 2. Explore three different ways to use Adobe Express in the classroom; and 3. Plan for the use of Adobe Express in the classroom. This session is appropriate for teachers at all technology levels.
tag(s): professional development (530), assessment (239), creativity (186),
In the Classroom
The archive of this teacher-friendly, hands-on webinar will empower and inspire you to use learning technology in the classroom and for professional productivity. As appropriate, specific classroom examples and ideas have been shared. View the session with a few of your teaching colleagues to find and share new ideas. Find additional information and links to tools at the session resource page. Learn more about OK2Ask and upcoming sessions here.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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Twitter Chat: Inspire Creativity with Canva - TeachersFirst
Grades
K to 12tag(s): creativity (186), twitterchatarchive (176),
In the Classroom
Find resources and information about Canva. Share this chat with your colleagues looking for strategies and resources on Canva.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Digital Storytelling Resources - TeachersFirst
Grades
K to 12tag(s): writing (569), digital storytelling (300),
In the Classroom
Find an abundance of digital writing tools to use in your classroom. Share sites on your interactive whiteboard. Challenge students to create their own projects using tools on this list. Rather than a unit test, have students create a book demonstrating their understanding of concepts. Bring out creativity with these engaging tools!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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CoSpaces - Delightex GmbH
Grades
4 to 12tag(s): augmented reality (13), coding (129), digital storytelling (300), DAT device agnostic tool (247), creativity (186),
In the Classroom
Recreate scenes from books or use CoSpaces to retell any story with 3D images. Encourage creativity and ask students to develop virtual exhibitions of artwork, animal habitats, or landforms. Have older students create infographics featuring data collections, for example comparing availability of Internet in different American towns.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): cross cultural understanding (214), literature (387), creativity (186),
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 brainstorm and collaborate ways they can make their mark in the world. Celebrate by joining the International Dot Day Virtual Event on Monday, Sept. 16 at 10am ET 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 the Connect with Other Classrooms and sharing your Dot Day activities with your global friends. Consider following International Dot Day on Instagram, Facebook, and X (formerly 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): social media (75), social skills (41), social networking (179), cross cultural understanding (214), problem solving (407), enrichment (19), speaking (39), listening (143), gifted (159), Problem Based Learning (16), communication (166), sustainability (63),
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.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Creative Educator - Tech4Learning
Grades
1 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): addition (307), creativity (186), Teacher Utilities (201),
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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Educator Innovator - MacArthur Foundation
Grades
K to 12tag(s): professional development (530), grants (28),
In the Classroom
Dare to be different and engage your students in learning that is unique and meets their needs, designed by you! Share this site with a colleague and let your imaginations run wild. Do what teachers do best: engage, motivate, and inspire students to love learning.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Google Doodles - Google
Grades
3 to 12tag(s): creativity (186), drawing (135), STEM (353), artists (134), gifted (159),
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
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I Am an Artist - RTE and the National Centre for Technology in Education
Grades
K to 5tag(s): crafts (80), drawing (135), colors (114), creativity (186), sculpture (35), painting (104), design (159), makerspace (50),
In the Classroom
Become art smart with resources from the I Am an Artist site. Use the collection of videos to flip your art instruction. Search through the lesson plans and activity sheets to provide hands-on, minds-on activities for your students. Use the videos or the slide shows as an anticipatory set or "activator" to introduce a unit or lesson on a projector or interactive whiteboard. Have students or groups collect ideas and thoughts from the slides using Padlet, reviewed here. Use a visual blogging tool such as Telegra.ph, reviewed here, to upload the students art work - no registration required! If you are teaching younger students try using Seesaw, reviewed here. The students can blog about their work, upload their artwork, and even create an online portfolio. Browse through the resources to see what can be used in your makerspace. Host an art show at your school for families and the communities to showcase the students' creativity. Your students can describe their work as visitors explore the gallery. Use the activities as stations during your art show for participants to create their own art. Many of the lessons on the site are cross-curricular.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Respondo! - Ian Byrdseed
Grades
4 to 12tag(s): setting (11), plot (18), characterization (26), creative fluency (11), critical thinking (185), blooms taxonomy (13), literature (387), literary devices (16), debate (66), creativity (186), flexibility (9), stories and storytelling (72),
In the Classroom
Use this site to create unique lessons and literature responses that require critical thinking responses from your students. Share with students and allow them to create their own response at the end of a unit when comparing two books or reflecting on one book. Use this site as a resource for incorporating different levels of Blooms Taxonomy into your classroom and for differentiation among students. Have students make a multimedia presentation using one of the many TeachersFirst Edge tools reviewed here. Some tool suggestions are (click on the tool name to access the review): Adobe Creative Cloud Express for Education, Vevox, Animatron, Renderforest, and Canva Inforgraphic Maker.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Draw A Stickman - drawastickman.com
Grades
1 to 10tag(s): digital storytelling (300), interactive stories (57), creative writing (243), drawing (135), directions (26),
In the Classroom
Aside from just fun practice at following instructions, Draw a Stickman would be a great fictional story prompt. Students have the bones of a story and can fill in details, vivid verbs, adjectives, etc. to tell the story. This would be a good practice activity with writing sequences of "first, then, and next." Students can elaborate on their hero, the plot of the story, the details, the setting, etc. Students can write a moral for a story to add in the customized ending. These stories would be fun to share as a class...how wide a variety can come from the same basics? Share finished stories with a talking avatar using a photo or other image (legally permitted to be reproduced). The avatars can "read" the story. Use a site such as Blabberize, reviewed here. Teach story mapping easily with this activity: On an interactive whiteboard (or projector), students can go through the stick figure story together, labeling the different parts of the story (beginning, problem, climax, resolution, ending). This interactive can help students identify story elements, including setting, characters and plot. This site would also be perfect for ENL/ELL students for practice in reading and following directions or for speech/language students to practice retelling a story from the visual prompts. Another idea: use this activity for verb/vocabulary practice in a world language class.Comments
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Tux Paint - Bill Kendrick
Grades
K to 6tag(s): preK (423), painting (104), drawing (135), creativity (186),
In the Classroom
Introduce this fabulous site on your projector or interactive whiteboard. Have students take turns trying the program. Include a link to Tux Paint on your class website and encourage families to download Tux Paint onto their family computer. Elementary teachers will enjoy all the options Tux Paint provides for image making. Classroom teachers can have students draw a response to a class glyph, illustrate stories, label scientific images, write and illustrate word problems or create self-portraits. You will need headphones or speakers for the audio portions of this site. Dazzle parents at Open House or Back to School Night with a viewing of the slide show presentation or looping animation of student work. Save student work as a JPG and export images into a multimedia presentation with narration using My Storybook, reviewed here. Ask older students to design and submit new stamps to Tux Paint. Explain to them the premise behind Open Source software and how to participate in collaborative software development. Tux Paint is also a great way to teach young students how to control a mouse, type, drag, and cut or paste imagery. Stuck for lesson ideas on how to use Tux Paint, just ask the students!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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