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ESL Reader- Online Reading Help - ESLdesk.com
Grades
2 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): dictionaries (48), guided reading (33), thesaurus (22), vocabulary development (89)
In the Classroom
Provide a link to this site on classroom computers, and use it like a dictionary. Share this link with parents and students on your class web site to have as a resource any time.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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Stick Figure Hamlet - Dan Carroll
Grades
9 to 12tag(s): comics and cartoons (54), hamlet (8), literature (218), shakespeare (93)
In the Classroom
Add Stick Figure Hamlet to your arsenal of tools when reading Shakespeare. Share images from the site throughout your class reading of Hamlet on your interactive whiteboard. Invite students to interpret what is happening in the comics. Challenge students to find omissions in the retelling or to draw their own, better versions. Share the link for students to view at home. The images may be very helpful to visual learners in understanding the content of this work. Browse the TeachersFirst Shakespearean collection for other ideas to use with Hamlet. Use this site as inspiration and have students create their own comics for any piece of literature. Find many ideas at TeachersFirst's Comics Collection.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Famous People Lessons - Sean Banville
Grades
6 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): biographies (95), fluency (24), parts of speech (40), reading comprehension (142), spelling (95), summarizing (22), word choice (14)
In the Classroom
This is an excellent site to use as part of a biography unit to match biographies to individual student interests. Allow students to choose a person, then print activities for them to complete. Use this site to practice reading fluency, informational texts, and comprehension with any student, Use this site in your substitute folder. Choose several biographies and print accompanying activities for students to complete. Enhance student learning by having them create an annotated image of a biographical character including text boxes and related links using a tool such as Google Drawings, reviewed here. Google Drawings allows you to annotate an image with links to videos, text, websites, and more. Not familiar with Google Drawings? Watch an archived OK2Ask session to learn how to use: OK2Ask Google Drawings, here. Share with learning support teachers as well as ENL/ELL teachers to use as a high interest activity for older students.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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If It Were My Home - Andy Lintner
Grades
3 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): africa (139), asia (69), australia (27), canada (23), cross cultural understanding (155), diseases (67), europe (75), globe (12), hiv/aids (16), south america (36), statistics (116)
In the Classroom
Ask each student to choose a country to compare to their country of origin. Have students pair up with a partner and compare their chosen countries to the country of origin. Tie in a creative writing project, and have students imagine that they are moving from their country of origin to their chosen country. Students can use the information and comparison as inspiration for their fictional story about what life would be like in their new home. Use the statistical data in If it Were My Home for some real world mathematical comparison between countries. Create infographics to compare the two countries using a tool such as Venngage, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Going Deep with Award Winning Books: Close reading and text-dependent questions - TeachersFirst
Grades
K to 6tag(s): commoncore (75)
In the Classroom
If you are fortunate enough to have a library/media specialist to partner with you, try these ideas together during read-alouds both in the library/media center and in your classroom. Mark this article in your favorites and refer back to it as you move forward with Common Core.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Snow Fall: The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek - John Branch, New York Times
Grades
8 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): descriptive writing (38), disasters (36), journalism (72), snow (16)
In the Classroom
Include this story (or portions of it) during your science study of motion, gravity, or weather with secondary students. (Our check of reading level found it to be approximately 8th grade). Experience the text on a projector or interactive whiteboard to annotate figures of speech that tell us even more than some of the images. Read and analyze it as an informational text in English class. (it's viewable on tablets, too!). Discuss how the author uses media as part of the writing instead of as an add-on. For journalism and other writing classes, you may want to have your students read the accompanying article How We Made Snow Fall to analyze how the interactive and graphics departments at the New York Times worked with the text of the story to make the graphics and video a seamless part of the "reading". Challenge student groups to investigate a true story of a weather event or other actual occurrence through a combination of media and writing, explaining the science concepts along the way. Share their projects using one of the multimedia tools available from the TeachersFirst Edge. Expecting a snow day? Share this on your class web page for your literature or science class as a productive way to spend the day. Teachers of gifted can share this as an example of a project that can draw on a student's interests in science, art, and writing. Challenge students to try one. If you teach journalism, you could make the two articles an entire unit as you discuss the changing role of print vs. web-based writing in the 21st century.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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360Cities - 360 Cities s.r.o.
Grades
K to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): images (256), landforms (37), landmarks (18), virtual field trips (80)
In the Classroom
The 360Cities panoramic pictures provide a vivid visual experience to enhance any lesson. Students can search and view the panoramic setting of a reading passage or novel. Need to paint a picture for students about a historical topic? View the image on 360Cities. Activate schema with these vivid images. Bring Science to life as you explore the many natural wonders of our world and even space. Explore these exciting worlds through the panoramic pictures. Visit businesses and famous landmarks around the world for a free virtual tour. Looking for creative writing prompts? Use the images for poems or story starters. Teaching geometry? Have students locate geometric figures in the pictures. Provide students an image and challenge them to create a virtual tour as they explore the image. Use web 2.0 tools or the students' artistic talents to create travel brochures for the panoramic pictures. You or students can also create your own guided tours. Learn how to embed a tour on your blog. Record the tours as a screencast or present orally. Use the "how-to" section to have your students create their own panoramic pictures. Take a panoramic shot of your classroom to post on your website or blog. Use DSLR cameras or cell phones to create your panoramic pictures.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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America in Class - The National Humanities Center
Grades
5 to 12tag(s): abolition (7), american revolution (83), civil war (135), colonial america (95), colonization (20), democracy (19), native americans (91), primary sources (117), religions (77), slavery (76), women (138)
In the Classroom
Use your interactive whiteboard or projector to help your class learn the background information and read the material through once. Work through the lesson together; then consider assigning groups of four students to go through the readings again, discovering the answers to the essential questions. Have students post the group's answers on a back channel chat program such as YoTeach!, reviewed here, so all groups can see all answers. Where answers differ, have students go back into the reading and cite evidence to support their answer on Today's Meet for all to see.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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MindMup: Zero-friction online mind mapping - Gojko Adzic, Damjan Vujnovic, David de Florinier
Grades
K to 12tag(s): concept mapping (17), graphic organizers (50), mind map (27), organizational skills (89)
In the Classroom
This free organizational tool can be used in classrooms at every level. Use this tool to help organize learning units and share the organization on screen so students see how pieces fit together. Share the unit map with other teachers, students, or parents. Highlight goals, objectives, learning tasks, assessments, and resources. Share before your unit, and expectations become very clear. Use as a yearly overview for parents at the beginning of the year at Open House. Let parents see the multiple ways their child will be assessed through the year. Have students use this tool for direction in problem based learning situations. Use this tool in science for collecting data, experiments, or science fair outlines. Use the tool in writing class to make writing guides for narrative or expository writing. In reading use for predictions, sequencing of stories, inferences, or organizing genres of books each student has read. Have students map multiple ways to solve a single problem in math class. Have students keep daily requirements or schedules with readily available resources as links. Let students enjoy taking notes from content based classes. Have a student scribe create the notes each day and share with the class. Have student groups map the current unit before the test as a review activity. Or use an ongoing map as a whole class visual diagram of concepts learned, adding new knowledge throughout a unit. Don't miss the chance to color code to "sort" ideas and concepts!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Learn American English Online - Learn American English Online
Grades
2 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): dictionaries (48), grammar (133), grammar review (31), listening (73), pronunciation (33)
In the Classroom
Check this site if you need a quick grammar review of any topic. Share this site on your interactive whiteboard/projector. Provide a link to this site on your class webpage. Many of these lessons would be useful with non-ESL/ELL students, as well. It is easy to scroll through the lessons in each color-coded level. Put a link to this site on classroom computers and send it home with ESL/ELL students in school newsletters to share with their parents.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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TV411 - Reading - Education Development Center, Inc.
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): context clues (5), maps (207), news (229), newspapers (91), poetry (190), point of view (7), summarizing (22), word study (58)
In the Classroom
View videos on your interactive whiteboard as part of your reading comprehension or study skills unit. Use on an as-needed basis to address classroom deficiencies in particular areas. Have students complete the web lessons on their own during computer center time. Create links to certain videos on your class website or blog for students to view at home. Check out the Teachers portion of the site to find activities for improving or introducing skills along with ideas for using the videos in the classroom. Challenge students to create a talking avatar using a photo or other image (legally permitted to be reproduced). The avatars can be used to provide suggestions for study skills and improving reading comprehension. Use a site such as Phrase.it, reviewed here.Comments
This is an excellent site with a variety of short videos for concept instruction.Patricia, NJ, Grades: 6 - 12
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Caillou - 2011 Cookie Jar Entertainment & PBS
Grades
K to 1This site includes advertising.
tag(s): matching (8), preK (258), puzzles (143), video (260)
In the Classroom
After reading some of the Calliou adventures to your preschoolers, bring him to life on the PBS kids website. Be sure to check out the Meet the Characters area (under About) to introduce this resource. Use the activities on your interactive whiteboard, or use at center time. Recommend this site to parents as a resource for school readiness. Depending on the age of the child, activities can be played with an adult or without an adult.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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The Hunger Games Challenge - Educurious - Educurious
Grades
8 to 12tag(s): essays (21), expository writing (31), novels (31), persuasive writing (55), politics (113), posters (42), reading strategies (98), social networking (65)
In the Classroom
You could use this unit with the entire class reading The Hunger Games, or, with some fine tuning of ideas and materials, possibly use it with other dystopian novels in literature circles. A couple that come to mind are The Giver and The Maze Runner. This unit suggests Glogster, but you can also use a program like Webnode, reviewed here, or Sway, reviewed here. They will do just about everything Glogster will do, and they have more free features.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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WyzAnt English Lessons & Help - WyzAnt Tutoring
Grades
5 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): citations (34), essays (21), grammar (133), grammar review (31), parts of speech (40), plagiarism (34), punctuation (25), vocabulary (236), vocabulary development (89)
In the Classroom
Share links to specific lessons on your class website or blog for students to use at home for review. Even the ESL Lessons could be used with all students. Use lessons as models; then have students write their own lessons on other English topics to share with the class. Have students create blogs throughout the year with Grammar tips. If you are beginning the process of integrating technology, have students create blogs sharing their learning and understanding using Tumblr, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Energy Kids - US Energy Information Administration
Grades
K to 8tag(s): conservation (86), energy (130), natural resources (38)
In the Classroom
Share the resources found here on your projector or interactive whiteboard. Use this site as part of your wiki on energy, renewable resources, and conservation. Add to a center to improve reading skills as well as new literacies in technology. Find excellent information to include for your Prezi, Powerpoint, or Live Binders on energy. Enhance your ESL/ELL students understanding of your energy unit using the visuals and reinforcement of basic concepts.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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CurriConnects Booklist: Bridges and Structures - Teachersfirst
Grades
K to 12tag(s): bridges (11), engineering (120), independent reading (86), structures (18)
In the Classroom
Make STEM a reading challenge. Share this list with students during your study of physics of structures, design, or basic concepts such as gravity. Have students choose a book they can connect to concepts you are studying in science class or have them choose a book of interest and generate a list of the questions they would like to learn about after reading the book. The non-fiction selections offer possible informational texts to practice Common Core science literacy skills.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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For the Sake of Argument: Another Common Core Shift - TeachersFirst
Grades
K to 6tag(s): commoncore (75), expository writing (31), letter writing (18), persuasive writing (55), writing (317)
In the Classroom
If you are fortunate enough to have a library/media specialist to partner with you, try these ideas together, including read-alouds and writing activities to follow up. Mark this article in your favorites and refer back to it for ideas to integrate writing into science or social studies activities, especially for opportunities to have students write and/or read opinion/argument pieces.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Chart Jungle - Wendy Shepherd
Grades
K to 4This site includes advertising.
tag(s): charts and graphs (169), classroom management (126), flash cards (41), handwriting (16), homework (32), organizational skills (89), presidents (122), printables (37), time (92)
In the Classroom
Use Chart Jungle as a resource for charts for use throughout the school year. Familiarize yourself with this site at the beginning of the school year. Use the reading chart for students to record the minutes spent reading at home. Use the homework charts to help your students stay organized. Share the flash cards link with parents to use at home.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Money As You Grow - President's Advisory Council on Financial Capability
Grades
K to 12tag(s): financial literacy (92), money (119), preK (258)
In the Classroom
View suggestions offered on the site on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Share this information with parents to explore at home together. Try one of the suggested activities for math lessons in your classroom. For example: 6-10 year olds should begin learning how to shop and compare. Bring in local newspapers for students to compare prices on advertised items. Whatever age level you teach, explore the activities for that level. Assign cooperative learning groups to explore one of the specific lessons/activities. Ask middle school groups to "teach" a class based on one of the lessons. Challenge middle and high school groups to share what they learned by creating a simple infographic using Canva Infographic Maker, reviewed here or Venngage reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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ESL Games World - eslgamesworld.com
Grades
1 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): grammar (133), grammar review (31), verbs (27), vocabulary (236)
In the Classroom
This website contains many ads, demonstrate avoiding the advertisements with your students before assigning or using any of the activities. Find ways to assist your ESL/ELL students in an engaging way! You can also use many of the games to reinforce basic skills with native speakers. Customize some of the activities for the content areas you are studying. Use as a whole class activity on your projector (or interactive whiteboard) to practice vocabulary, grammar, and content. Add as a resource for ESL/ELL learning or even struggling readers. Ideas and materials are gathered in one spot to help you reduce the time you need to meet your ESL/ELL students' differentiated needs. Add this link to your class website or share it with parents as a resource.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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