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Dib Dab Doo and Dilly too... A smarter safer way to search the Internet - Dibdabdoo.com
Grades
K to 7
2 Favorites
0 Comments
Here you will find a "kid-appropriate" search tool featuring countless general topics: Facts & Reference, Computers/The Internet, The Arts, Strange & Mysterious, Hot Topics, The World,...more
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Here you will find a "kid-appropriate" search tool featuring countless general topics: Facts & Reference, Computers/The Internet, The Arts, Strange & Mysterious, Hot Topics, The World, Science & Math, Reading, Writing, Speaking, Nature, and several others. Within each of the main topics are subtopics. For example, in the Classroom section you will find English, Foreign Langauges, Math, History, Reference Tools, Shapes, Woodwork, Colors, Art, Religion, Philosophy, Social Studies, and Homework Help. There is a ton here to explore! The information includes articles and images/photos.
tag(s): alphabet (51), animals (284), animation (62), clip art (11), colors (64), comics and cartoons (54), cooking (30), crafts (54), creative writing (119), cross cultural understanding (155), cultures (132), dance (26), dinosaurs (40), disabilities (29), diseases (67), drawing (60), fitness (38), flags (17), folktales (34), geometric shapes (136), grammar (133), homework (32), insects (69), journalism (72), measurement (125), museums (44), mysteries (20), numbers (119), nutrition (135), oceans (149), operations (71), origami (15), painting (55), photography (118), poetry (190), psychology (67), rainforests (18), religions (77), search engines (49), seasons (36), sign language (10), social networking (65), spelling (95), sports (77), trivia (18), vocabulary (236), weather (164)
In the Classroom
Help students learn about narrowing and refining research by demonstrating this site on a projector or interactive whiteboard. As you start a project, take the time to SHOW how to use this tool to save time and find appropriate resources. Allow students to explore this site on their own finding relevant information from the various topics. If time permits, have students research a specific topic and create 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.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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Dia de los ninos, Dia de los libros - American Library Association
Grades
K to 8
2 Favorites
0 Comments
Celebrate Children'sDay/Book Day for both Spanish and English speakers. Find resources for teachers, librarians, and families that include book lists, websites, information about partners,...more
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Celebrate Children'sDay/Book Day for both Spanish and English speakers. Find resources for teachers, librarians, and families that include book lists, websites, information about partners, webinars, and a collection of library stories from around the country. An interactive map gives access to celebrations occurring in your area, and a free registration entitles you to free stickers and buttons. The day is observed in April each year.
tag(s): book lists (162), cross cultural understanding (155), literature (218)
In the Classroom
Put this site on your calendar for Children's Day/Book Day in April. Use the book lists as reference for multi-cultural offerings. Have your own "in class" Children's Day/Book Day. Make it a themed affair: multicultural, non-fiction, science-fiction, or whatever relates to your language arts/reading classes. Challenge students to read a book and then share the story by creating 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. Ask older writers to create their own children's book using Bookemon, reviewed here, and read it with a younger reading buddy in honor of the day.
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Respondo! - Ian Byrdseed
Grades
4 to 12
4 Favorites
0 Comments
Bring some creativity into your literature lessons using this site that goes way beyond rote answers. Choose skills from drop boxes, identify one or two stories to analyze/compare,...more
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Bring some creativity into your literature lessons using this site that goes way beyond rote answers. Choose skills from drop boxes, identify one or two stories to analyze/compare, choose your thinking skills, and decide what the final product will be. For example, "Substitute The Giver's setting for A Wrinkle In Time's setting. Dramatize how this would affect A Wrinkle In Time's plot. Create a skit," or "Rearrange Oh The Places You Will Go's plot. Analyze how this would affect its tone. Create a photo essay ." Choose whatever book(s) are relevant to your class. Experiment with different ideas easily until coming up with the perfect response question for your class or individualize easily for different student responses. The creator of this site does admit that it is a rather new site with a few kinks. His email is provided if you see any issues. Our review team noticed nothing unusual, and all options were functioning properly, at the time of this review.
tag(s): blooms taxonomy (7), characterization (16), creative fluency (5), creativity (91), critical thinking (112), debate (37), literary devices (13), literature (218), plot (9), setting (4), stories and storytelling (42)
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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Fuel Up - National Dairy Council, National Football League
Grades
2 to 12
6 Favorites
0 Comments
Encourage students to get sixty minutes of exercise daily by partnering school workers with this site's two sponsors: the Department of Agriculture and the National Football League....more
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Encourage students to get sixty minutes of exercise daily by partnering school workers with this site's two sponsors: the Department of Agriculture and the National Football League. You can join the program for free and see if your school qualifies to receive grants to help educate your students about exercise, nutrition, and healthy eating and also to increase student access to more physical education programs and better foods. Check with your school administrators to be sure it is acceptable to have your school join and to allow your students to individually register. "Quick Start Resources" help you learn how to use the program and set up their class as a team.
tag(s): DAT device agnostic tool (144), fitness (38), nutrition (135)
In the Classroom
Participate in the healthy eating challenge by creating your own class video entry for the Cooking Show Challenge! Use Adobe Express Video Maker, reviewed here. Share the videos using a tool such as TeacherTube reviewed here. Help your class members to apply to be student ambassadors. Help your students to sign up and start graphing their physical activity and nutritional changes, receive badges and prizes, see how their classmates are doing and encourage them by giving rewards, and finally, by viewing what other classes are doing. Share the information on this site with parents so they can support the lifestyle changes encouraged here at home.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Young Scientist Lab - Discovery Education & 3MYoung Scientist Lab
Grades
K to 8
3 Favorites
0 Comments
Explore science in everyday life to understand the impact of science and technology. Find information for students, educators, and families as well as lesson plans and activities. Lesson...more
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Explore science in everyday life to understand the impact of science and technology. Find information for students, educators, and families as well as lesson plans and activities. Lesson plans are standards based and divided into age groupings. View lessons and interactives to make science come alive. The videos even include the grade range! View the family section for great online labs and family activities. This site can make science accessible and interesting even to middle school girls who may begin to shy away from anything scientific.
tag(s): inventors and inventions (71)
In the Classroom
This is also a fabulous link to share on your class website for students to access both in and out of the classroom. Use the many great activities to bring home basic science concepts such as collisions and motion in the activity "Cushion It!" Help students make real world connections that may interest them in a science career. Use the innovation activities as part of a unit in inventors and inventions. This site has something for every age level. This is a fabulous site to save in your class favorites for students to explore on their own in a blended classroom or for distance learning. Enhance learning by challenging cooperative learning groups to research a specific science topic and create a multimedia presentation to share with the class about their topic. Give students a choice of tools to use! 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. Alternatively, have students create a simple online posters using PicLits, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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GLOBE at Night - The GLOBE Program
Grades
6 to 10
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Globe at Night shares resources that encourage citizen scientists to submit and share observations of the night sky to compile information on the impact of light pollution. To guide...more
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Globe at Night shares resources that encourage citizen scientists to submit and share observations of the night sky to compile information on the impact of light pollution. To guide citizen scientists, information on the site includes guides to assist in locating constellations that summarize the mythology behind each constellation's name. Additional links contain information on light pollution, links to educational standards, and interactive maps with observation details.
tag(s): citizen science (27), earth (184), globe (12), moon (71), space (214), stars (68), STEM (265)
In the Classroom
Include Globe at Night with your lessons about stars and constellations to teach students about the different star formations and the impact of light pollution on our ability to view stars. If you and your students are unsure about what you are seeing in your location, use Neave Planetarium's < a href="/single.cfm?id=10137">reviewed here app to view and learn about objects observable from your location. As an extension activity, ask students to write a new mythological story about one of the constellations observed. Share stories as a comic strip using Free Comic Strip Maker, < a href="/single.cfm?id=16999">reviewed here or as an interactive story created with Elementari < a href="/single.cfm?id=18507">reviewed here.
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H.S.I. - Historical Scene Investigation - College of William & Mary School of Education
Grades
5 to 12
7 Favorites
0 Comments
H.S.I. or Historical Scene Investigation takes the work out of locating primary sources, and provides you with an interesting way for students to "investigate" history. This site presents...more
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H.S.I. or Historical Scene Investigation takes the work out of locating primary sources, and provides you with an interesting way for students to "investigate" history. This site presents "case histories" for "Dropping the Bomb," "Antonio the Slave," "Children in the Civil War," "The Boston Massacre" and many others. For each "case" there is a student view and a teacher view. The teacher view is a lesson plan with a list of objectives, additional contextual information and resources as well as instructional strategies, and suggestions for such things as age group and further questions to explore. The Student View includes links to 13 cases with primary documents, images, videos, and secondary documents to use as evidence along the way. The student view is set up as a mystery to solve. Students are presented with the situation and given a question to guide their inquiry. There are three steps for students to follow "Investigating the Evidence" where students are provided links to appropriate digital primary sources, "Searching for Clues" where students are provided with a set of questions to guide their analysis of the evidence, and "Cracking the Case" when students give their answers and cite the evidence they found to support their answers. This site is definitely the C.S.I for history!
tag(s): american revolution (83), atomic bomb (9), civil rights (198), civil war (135), constitution (88), jamestown (7), mysteries (20), primary sources (117), slavery (76)
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.
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Big Huge Labs - Big Huge Labs
Grades
K to 12
3 Favorites
0 Comments
Check Teachers First reviews for specific fun and creative tools from this expansive site. As Big Huge Labs continues to add to their offerings, be sure to check back to ...more
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Check Teachers First reviews for specific fun and creative tools from this expansive site. As Big Huge Labs continues to add to their offerings, be sure to check back to the main page of the site to find what is new. For now check out the Trading Card Maker, reviewed here, the CD Cover Maker, reviewed here, The Big Huge Thesaurus, reviewed here, Mosaic Maker, reviewed here, Magazine Cover Maker, reviewed here, Guess the Title, reviewed here, Captioner, reviewed here, Map Maker, reviewed here, Movie Poster, Badge Maker, Billboard, and Calender. In addition they have many photo editing/photo enchancing tools: Bead Art, Jigsaw, FX, Mat, Wallpaper, Cube, Lolcat Generator, Framer, Color Palette, Pocket Album Hockneyizer, Photobooth, and Pop Art Poster. Some of these tools are more suitable for play, but if you are beginning the process of integrating technology, these will be engaging to your students. Take time to look over some of these tools before sharing the site with students.
Big Huge labs also has some other free services you may want to use such as a ranked list of the Top 100 Digital Camera Makers and Models that is updated weekly. There is also Scout to help you find your photos on Flickr Explore, Random Photo Browser, On Black, Sunset, Favorite Surfer, Flicker DNA, Photo Fortune, Profile Widget, and Writer, reviewed here.
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This site includes advertising.
tag(s): collages (17), editing (90), images (256), maps (207), multimedia (43), photography (118), posters (42), thesaurus (22)
In the Classroom
You can choose images from Flickr, Instagram, Dropbox, your files or provide a URL. This tool is so simple with very few steps for creating. Simply upload your photo, select from a few options, and then create.Check out the Big Huge Labs educator account. Easily pre-register students to avoid creating logins, view and download their creations; view the site advertisement free. You will find information about the education.php">Educator Account here.
Options here are endless. Find out what students understand about a concept by creating a 6 word story. Students find a suitable picture and sum up the concept in 6 words. Students can use the Motivator tool, reviewed here, to create. Place their creation on a blog, wiki, or web site and have students write about how their understandings of the concept have changed throughout the study of it. Create Badges for field trips and other activities. Use the Trading Card Maker, reviewed here, to identify what a student understands about a concept. Create trading cards of the many species that exist in the world or of places to visit, past leaders of nations, or states and other countries. Create vocabulary trading cards. Use social networking in the classroom? Create an Avatar to use on these spaces. Reading a book or viewing documentaries? Create Movie Posters to share information or to inform others about various times in history. Whatever you use this tool for, it is powerful for students to use a great image and word captions to display their knowledge.
Edge Features:
Includes an education-only area for teachers and students
Parent permission advised before posting student work created using this tool
Requires registration/log-in (WITH email)
Requires registration/log in (NO email)
Products can be embedded
Products can be shared by URL
Includes teacher tools for registering and/or monitoring students
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CNN 10 - Journalists and Educators at CNN
Grades
5 to 12
17 Favorites
0 Comments
The CNN Student News WEB site is the companion to the daily CNN Student News show and is offered free of charge with no subscription. These ten-minute programs and commercial-free ...more
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The CNN Student News WEB site is the companion to the daily CNN Student News show and is offered free of charge with no subscription. These ten-minute programs and commercial-free streamed videos produced by journalists and educators at CNN provide a great alternative to YouTube. A wealth of teacher materials accompanies each video, such as transcripts for each show, discussion questions, the Media Literacy Question of the Day, detailed learning activities, downloadable maps, and additional support materials to help students understand the news. A selection of documentaries is also accessible, with discussion guides for educators. You can sign up for emails to receive Daily Education Alerts to see what information and major stories are being covered that day or choose from previous dates and news stories from the archives. Remember to preview the program before showing it to your class.
In the Classroom
Choose whatever fits your curriculum or as a daily warm-up for current events. This provides a great alternative to reading news articles and is especially motivating for visual learners and students who struggle with reading comprehension. After your class views the video, use the daily discussion activities designed to promote critical thinking. You are also able to print the learning activities to assign as group work or for homework. There is even a news quiz. You may want to distribute copies of the transcripts for ESL students to refer to, for use as a research source, or to use for practicing reading comprehension for state exams and other assessments. Enhance learning by challenging cooperative learning groups to research one topic at this site and share their findings with the class by creating an interactive online poster (infographic) using Canva Infographic Maker, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Do Something.org - Do Something.org Team
Grades
7 to 12
5 Favorites
0 Comments
Do Something.org is one of the largest organizations in the United States that helps young people take action to promote causes they care about and motivates them with realistic,...more
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Do Something.org is one of the largest organizations in the United States that helps young people take action to promote causes they care about and motivates them with realistic, creative inspiration to establish a culture of volunteerism. By tapping into the web, television, mobile devices, and popular media, Do Something.org empowers and celebrates today's youth as the "Do Something" generation: teenagers who recognize the need to do something, believe in their ability to get it done, and then take action. Explore this site for ideas for starting your own project and browse the many causes and volunteer opportunities already in your own area and beyond. Help students discover ways to make a difference. The rules are simple: No Money, No Car, and No Adults permitted for putting your plans into action.
There are suggestions, resources, and support to empower young people and give them the energy to take action and make a difference. Whether their passion is to feed the homeless, end bullying, help even the playing field of educational inequalities, or many more needy causes, this website is chock full of easy to access information and strategies that encourage teenagers to decide for themselves how they can contribute their time and desire to make a difference.
There are suggestions, resources, and support to empower young people and give them the energy to take action and make a difference. Whether their passion is to feed the homeless, end bullying, help even the playing field of educational inequalities, or many more needy causes, this website is chock full of easy to access information and strategies that encourage teenagers to decide for themselves how they can contribute their time and desire to make a difference.
tag(s): character education (75), Project Based Learning (24), service projects (17)
In the Classroom
Do you believe that kids can change the world? What are you doing about that? If you have been thinking about involving your class in some type of community service and project based learning, but need some direction, DoSomething.org is a phenomenal place to "shop" around for ideas. Perhaps you may want to start by showing the film, Pay It Forward, or with a writing prompt, "If you were given time in school to come up with one idea that could be put into action right now by people your age that would make this school or this community a better place, what would it be and how would you put your plan into action?" Have students share ideas in small groups, then introduce them to DoSomething.org by projecting it on your classroom whiteboard or projector, viewing some of the short videos, and using the power of the internet to empower them to act now. Challenge students to collect Internet resources for their cause using Wakelet, reviewed here, where they can add a cover image, background, collaborate with others, and chose the layout they prefer. Next, enhance learning by asking your students to create an interactive infographic using Canva Infographic Maker, reviewed here, to explain their ideas about their cause and how they would put their plan into action. Club advisers, school counselors, and teachers of gifted can use the empowering resources of this site to inspire students to ACT.
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Activity TV - activitytv.com
Grades
K to 8
3 Favorites
0 Comments
This site contains how-to videos for kids. Topics include science, paper airplanes, cooking, origami, cartooning, puppets, music, dance, math, and holidays. A summary next to the activity...more
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This site contains how-to videos for kids. Topics include science, paper airplanes, cooking, origami, cartooning, puppets, music, dance, math, and holidays. A summary next to the activity title gives the appropriate level, the number of views, and a starred evaluation of the demonstration. Craft ideas and demos finish up the educational portion of the offerings. If your district blocks YouTube, the videos may not be viewable.
tag(s): air (105), comics and cartoons (54), cooking (30), dance (26), easter (10), origami (15), preK (258), thanksgiving (24)
In the Classroom
Share the video clips on your interactive whiteboard or projector to accompany curriculum topics in science, art, physical education, language arts, health, or family/consumer science. Or show the videos to a class as examples for writing how-to (demonstration) speeches and/or videos done in language arts classes. Challenge students to create their own videos using a site such as Adobe Creative Cloud Express Video Maker, reviewed here. Look here also for ideas of holiday craft projects. Share the link on your class web page for students to try activities at home during breaks.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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eGFI Magazine Online - American Society for Engineering Education
Grades
K to 12
2 Favorites
0 Comments
eGFI Online Magazine is great nonfiction reading in science and math. It is completely portable as it is online. It can be shared to your Delicious or Diigo site or ...more
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eGFI Online Magazine is great nonfiction reading in science and math. It is completely portable as it is online. It can be shared to your Delicious or Diigo site or other social networking sites. Use this site to enhance cross curricular teaching and learning of reading and interpreting nonfiction text. Plus, this is current and exciting stuff to read for students who are even vaguely interested in science. There are also video links throughout the magazine connecting the text to different, relevant videos. There are lesson plans and activities for grades K-5, 6-8, and 9-12. Some of the recent entries (at the time of this review) included the topics of velocity, Earth Day, robots, sports physics,
tag(s): engineering (120), tornadoes (15), watersheds (8)
In the Classroom
Share the link to this magazine with your students via your delicious or diigo links that can be posted on your wiki or website. Then have students sign up for an article to read on their own time using your wiki as a sign up location. Then have students share what they have read in class discussion or on an online discussion board or blog post. Modify learning and challenge students to create a multimedia presentation to share their topic. Have your students create an interactive online infographic using Canva Infographic Maker, reviewed here.
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Anne Frank in the World - Utah Education Network
Grades
3 to 12
0 Favorites
0 Comments
Anne Frank in the World 1929-1945 is an online critical thinking unit designed to use the story of a young girl as a catalyst to understand the themes of discrimination, ...more
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Anne Frank in the World 1929-1945 is an online critical thinking unit designed to use the story of a young girl as a catalyst to understand the themes of discrimination, diversity, peace, and justice. It includes several worksheets, readings, images, lessons and objectives delineated for various grade levels, and exposes students to vocabulary and concepts related to the cruel realities that Anne and other victims of the Holocaust endured. What distinguishes this site from many of the others is the sensitivity to Anne's story from her viewpoint, which is invaluable because she was a teenager during the Nazi period and had many similar interests and concerns as today's teenagers.
tag(s): anne frank (10), holocaust (41), jews (23), nazis (8), remembrance day (5), women (138), world war 2 (151)
In the Classroom
Use the activities and resources on this site to help students connect global and individual events, and realize that a positive attitude is possible despite terrible misfortune. Use the online resources to help you select the topics, activities, and articles that center around the themes you want to emphasize as a preview or follow up to reading The Diary of Anne Frank. Let the students collect and save their information on a class set of computers, (groups of three students work well.) Work toward one or several of the suggested final products, such as creating a wall poster, collage, or mosaic by using one of the online tools reviewed by TeachersFirst. Have students create an interactive online poster using Adobe Creative Cloud Express for Education, reviewed here. Challenge students to use Mosaic Maker, reviewed here. You might want to start by having students brainstorm a list of past or present acts of discrimination of which they are aware. Develop their brainstorming list on an interactive whiteboard or projector using bubbl.us, reviewed here, and ask students to think about and associate feelings of the victims of these acts. How might those feelings look in graphic form? Have each student or groups of students choose one example from the list, along with a few words about the feelings that accompany the acts of discrimination, and select online images that reflect those emotions. When students express their feelings onto visual media, it helps them relate to what Anne did by writing in her diary. For more adventurous technology users, all individual or group work can be merged to create an online scrapbook that can be shared with the entire class and families, using Smilebox, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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CD Cover Maker - Big Huge Labs
Grades
6 to 12
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0 Comments
Use digital photographs or images to create an authentic-looking CD or DVD cover. Follow the illustrated step-by-step instructions to upload your own photos or images from other sites...more
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Use digital photographs or images to create an authentic-looking CD or DVD cover. Follow the illustrated step-by-step instructions to upload your own photos or images from other sites such as Facebook or Flickr, (be sure to instruct students on copyright laws regarding the use of photos from the World Wide Web and follow your school's internet security policies). You can then add a title, which will appear on the back flap, and text which will appear just below it. Easy to follow instructions are provided for printing, cutting, and folding your customized CD cover.
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tag(s): book reports (28), collages (17)
In the Classroom
Students can use this cover to hold a music CD or DVD movie that relates to a literary work, but there are a lot of other great extensions you can implement as a means to assess critical thinking skills, especially when it comes to synthesizing and assimilating concepts. Rather than assigning a book review, literary essay, or standard research paper, adventurous technology users could burn a CD of PowerPoint slides or use the CD cover to hold a DVD slideshow of narrated photographs. Slightly less adventurous technology users could use it to house a written assignment related to plot, theme, or character study, or to illustrate a poem or narrative. Big Huge Labs offers other similar tools, such as Magazine Cover Maker reviewed here and Mosaic Maker reviewed here, which could be used in conjunction with the CD Cover Maker to make your projects even more amazing. Check out the Big Huge Labs educator account. Easily pre-register students to avoid creating logins, view and download their creations, and view the site advertisement free. You will find information about the education.php">Educator Account here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Mosaic Maker - Big Huge Labs
Grades
6 to 12
2 Favorites
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Use digital photographs or online images to quickly and easily create a collage that you can download and print. You can search for photos for a particular theme or browse ...more
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Use digital photographs or online images to quickly and easily create a collage that you can download and print. You can search for photos for a particular theme or browse your own collections. Then, select a layout, colors for the background and border, how many images you want to include, and start choosing your photos or entering the URL of the image you want to use. Next, simply scroll to the bottom of the page to click Create. It's that simple!
This site includes advertising.
This site includes advertising.
tag(s): back to school (63), book reports (28), collages (17)
In the Classroom
For security and safety, be sure to instruct students about copyright laws regarding the use of photos from the World Wide Web, and follow your school's internet security policies for use of social networking sites, such as Facebook and Flickr albums that are available from this web page. Students can use this tool to organize photos and images for numerous creative photo projects, such as report covers, to illustrate their interpretation of a theme, to analyze a character's traits, or to visually represent a topic or concept. For adventurous technology users, try pairing the Mosaic Maker together with another one of Big Huge Labs free photo projects, such as The CD Cover Maker reviewed here for designing an amazing way to "package" a book report, research project, or other assignment. In lower grades, use mosaic maker for teacher-made collages of words that start with a certain letter or of animal classifications and hang them on bulletin boards for students to guess. Check out the Big Huge Labs educator account. Easily pre-register students to avoid creating logins, view and download their creations, and view the site advertisement free. You will find information about the education.php">Educator Account here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Abduzeedo - Fabio Sasso
Grades
6 to 12
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Abduzeedo is a blog to inspire designers on a daily basis. It is a perfect resource for artists to share their work and receive quick web tutorials for applications such ...more
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Abduzeedo is a blog to inspire designers on a daily basis. It is a perfect resource for artists to share their work and receive quick web tutorials for applications such as Photoshop, Illustrator, Pixelmaker, and Fireworks. Some tips will also work with free online photo editor tools such as Pixlr, reviewed here. The site originates in Brazil but now draws artists from all across the world. Illustration, logo design, photography, architecture, and typography are the primary areas of interest. Artists can submit work for possible inclusion in their daily gallery posting. There are also interviews with top designers that contain examples of their work.
General Tips and Reminders: There are ads along the top center that may interfere with the sites content. Be sure to thoroughly review the site before using it with students.
General Tips and Reminders: There are ads along the top center that may interfere with the sites content. Be sure to thoroughly review the site before using it with students.
tag(s): design (79)
In the Classroom
Teachers of design tools such as Photoshop and Illustrator will want to take advantage of the site's free web tutorials. The systematic directions are perfect to use on an interactive whiteboard for whole class instruction. Create a resource library full of links to Abduzeedo's design tutorials for students to practice with both in and outside of class.To show what they have learned from this site, challenge students to create an online graphic to share using Adobe Creative Cloud Express for Education, reviewed here, or Genially, reviewed here. Art teachers may want to take advantage of the sponsored ads on the right side of the page. These can lead to wonderful additional sites such as the "art house co-op" that is full of global art projects such as the "Sketch Book Project." Some of the other links contain valuable excursions, but could lead to inappropriate material.Obtain parent permission before posting any student work on this sharing site. There is also an accompanying app for Mac users available for free on iTunes.
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iCivics - iCivics Inc.
Grades
5 to 10
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iCivics is a web-based education project designed to teach students civics and encourage them to participate in the democratic process. The project is spearheaded by Justice Sandra...more
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iCivics is a web-based education project designed to teach students civics and encourage them to participate in the democratic process. The project is spearheaded by Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and includes law professors and educators from around the country. iCivics.org provides detailed lessons designed for very specific judicial and constitutional concepts as well as for the executive and legislative branches. Some of the lessons have videos and links to other relevant websites. In addition to the lessons, iCivics features several engaging interactives on civics topics, democracy, branches of government, citizenship, elections and campaigns, and the constitution. Several include full teacher manuals (PDF) and a detailed report of student game performance -- very useful for assessment. There are webquests on civics topics, as well. In addition, iCivics.org has a useful feature that helps locate other websites with resources specifically correlated to your state standards. You can also search using grade level. The site continues to grow and add new materials and activities on an ongoing basis. Don't miss the interactive called "Cast Your Vote" to prioritize issues and evaluate candidates! Videos from iCivics reside on YouTube. If your district blocks YouTube, the videos may not be viewable.
tag(s): bill of rights (28), branches of government (62), congress (39), constitution (88), courts (19), democracy (19), elections (80), game based learning (173), presidents (122), supreme court (27)
In the Classroom
As you study the Constitution or U.S. government, have students participate in the activities, stopping to write blog entries as their legal character discussing the results they have achieved in court or in their role within other interactive simulations. Students can work individually or with a partner. Be sure to demonstrate the activities on an interactive whiteboard or projector so students understand how they work. Another option is to enhance student learning and modify classroom technology use by having students create a multimedia guide to one of the constitutional rights learned in the games. Use a tool such as Canva Infographic Maker, reviewed here, to make an interactive poster or infographic on each right. If your class is remote learning, try using Zoom, reviewed here, or another video conferencing tool, to demonstrate or introduce your class to iCivics and the individual activities.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Magazine Cover Maker - Big Huge Labs
Grades
3 to 12
21 Favorites
0 Comments
Create authentic-looking magazine covers sure to attract double-takes. Simply upload a photo to create your cover. If you do not need to SAVE the photo for online access later, you...more
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Create authentic-looking magazine covers sure to attract double-takes. Simply upload a photo to create your cover. If you do not need to SAVE the photo for online access later, you do not even need to join the site. Covers you create can be downloaded as completed images or sent via email and other sharing tools (Facebook, etc). Photos can be uploaded from your files, Flickr, your website, or other photosharing sites. Fill in your desired text for the titles and sub-titles and choose colors for them. It's that simple. Click 'Create' at the bottom and you have a magazine cover that will leave others in awe. For more creative ideas using Big Huge Labs, go to the top of the page and click on Big Huge Labs Blog or Forum. Big Huge Labs offers MANY similar tools, such as Mapmaker, reviewed here. Of course, this site offers advanced options for a fee or with free registration, but neither is necessary.
This site includes advertising.
This site includes advertising.
tag(s): bulletin boards (14), collages (17), firstday (22), flickr (2), images (256), posters (42)
In the Classroom
Enhance classroom technology use by using this tool with your students. They will need to know how to locate your photos on your computer or photo sharing site. Click the little white boxes to change text colors, etc. as you enter desired text. SAVE your completed cover when done. Be sure to give it a meaningful name if you are creating several covers on the same computer!Check out the Big Huge Labs educator account. Easily pre-register students to avoid creating logins, view and download their creations, and view the site advertisement free. You will find information about the education.php">Educator Account here. If you and your students simply use the tool without joining the site, there are no problems with email, profiles, etc. You do need to demonstrate the tool and specifically explain which links students should NOT use, including ads and links to social networking sites that are prohibited in your school. These may be blocked, anyway. Make sure you watch and teach copyright issues in snatching photos from the web.
Have students create magazine covers of themselves as a getting to know you activity and classroom bulletin board. Print and laminate magazine covers to make them appear even more authentic. Or share the images (WITHOUT student names) on your class wiki or web page. When doing reports for any subject, have students create magazine covers that mimic the real thing instead of boring plain covers. Make covers about famous Americans, scientists, or historic figures. Make covers about objects, as well. Assign students to research a vegetable and create a cover about its nutrients, recipes, and more as part of your nutrition unit! Guidance teachers or principals can feature exemplary students using this tool. Bulletin board creativity will skyrocket using Big Huge Labs Magazine Cover. Why not offer a rotating PowerPoint slide show of student-made magazine covers for parents to view as they wait in the hallway for conferences?
Edge Features:
Includes an education-only area for teachers and students
Parent permission advised before posting student work created using this tool
Requires registration/log-in (WITH email)
Requires registration/log in (NO email)
Premium version (not free) includes additional features or storage
Products can be embedded
Products can be shared by URL
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Big Huge Labs: Map Maker - John Watson: Big Huge Labs
Grades
2 to 12
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Create maps -- for multiple reasons -- with ease. As you 'travel' through your geography or history course, create an ongoing map of the places you've visited and embed/post it ...more
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Create maps -- for multiple reasons -- with ease. As you 'travel' through your geography or history course, create an ongoing map of the places you've visited and embed/post it on your blog or any webpage. Simply type in the title of your map, choose the land masses you wish to include, and then click on the correct boxes for your particular locations. When finished, click the You're Ready box at the bottom of the screen. Now scroll to the top to see what your map will look like. The embed code (geek-speak term for computer gobble-dee-gook that tells your computer how to find and display the map you have made) for your map is ready to copy and paste into your webpage. You can find the embed code to the right of the map. There is also a button to Reset and Start Over.
tag(s): maps (207)
In the Classroom
Create a map to track where your students went on summer vacation (or have ever traveled). Create a map of places you have visited in a work of literature, or where students have written about going on fantasy vacations. Share the maps on an interactive whiteboard or projector. Have cooperative learning groups work together to create maps related to lessons in your social studies, history, or literature classes. Embed multiple student project maps in your class wiki along with student writings that accompany the maps. Check out the Big Huge Labs educator account. Easily pre-register students to avoid creating logins, view and download their creations, and view the site advertisement free. You will find information about the education.php">Educator Account here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Shoemaker and the Elves - StoryNory
Grades
K to 3
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This interactive site provides the story of the "Shoemaker and the Elves" to listen to and read along. You may read the story or play several games (not all games ...more
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This interactive site provides the story of the "Shoemaker and the Elves" to listen to and read along. You may read the story or play several games (not all games relate to the story and some are more for fun than education). The story does include some entertaining pictures.
tag(s): air (105), audio books (23), folktales (34)
In the Classroom
Share this story on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Have your students take turns reading the pages to the class. Challenge your students to write new endings for the story. Use the story to teach students about plot, characters, conflict, setting, and other key elements in a story. Create a story map on your interactive whiteboard, pausing to switch between the interactive version and your story map as the story plays aloud!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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