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Geography Awareness Week - National Geographic
Grades
5 to 12tag(s): globe (12), map skills (59), maps (215)
In the Classroom
Have older students pair up with a younger classroom to create and share events for Geography Awareness Week. Celebrate Geography Awareness Week in your classroom or school using supplies and resources provided on the website. View all of TeachersFirst's Editor's Choices for Geography Awareness Week here.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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Red Ribbon Campaign - National Family Partnership
Grades
K to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): drugs and alcohol (28), red ribbon week (9)
In the Classroom
Be sure to take advantage of printables and information from this site. Have students sign Red Ribbon pledges and display them on a classroom bulletin board. Challenge students to participate in the Red Ribbon photo contest (if using this site during the yearly contest). Be sure to share a link to the adult pledge with parents through your class website to make them a part of Red Ribbon week too!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Wall Street Survivor - Greg Isenberg and Rory Olson
Grades
8 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): business (52), financial literacy (91), money (114)
In the Classroom
Introduce this site on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Share articles on personal finance, investing, and more. Challenge students (or groups) to create their own Stock Market Leagues to learn about investing and trading. Use Wall Street Survivor as an after-school program for students to learn about finances and investing. Share this link on your class website for students to explore on their own. Your math-savvy gifted students and finance aficionados will love this one.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Voting America: United States Politics 1840-2008 - University of Richmond
Grades
7 to 12tag(s): congress (40), elections (83), electoral college (23), maps (215), presidents (135), timelines (54)
In the Classroom
These maps, powerful when projected on an interactive whiteboard (or projector), make the impact of changes in population demographics and distribution visual. The maps might also provide a good resource for students studying a particular President or time period. Challenge students to create a newspaper about what they have learned (about the President or time period). Use a tool such as Zinepal (reviewed here). Click to "Start with a blank e-Book."Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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National Geographic and the Common Core - National Geographic
Grades
K to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): charts and graphs (170), guided reading (33), reading comprehension (149)
In the Classroom
Use this National Geographic site to find high quality, high interest, non-fiction reading material for your students. Ask students to visit sites found through your search. Challenge students to share what they learned by creating multimedia presentations using one of many TeachersFirst Edge tools reviewed here. Use this site as an anticipatory set to introduce a unit or lesson on a projector or interactive whiteboard.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Start.me - Arjen Robijn
Grades
K to 12tag(s): bookmarks (43)
In the Classroom
Create a classroom Start.me with frequently used websites and resources for classroom computers. Add pages for specific subjects or topics such as math and science, or for curriculum topics like explorers. If you work with students in several different grade levels or subjects, Start.me is the perfect organization tool for your online resources. Share login information with students for access at home and school. Students working on a group project could put the resources they find on Start.me so everyone in the group can access them. Encourage your gifted students to use this tool to curate and collect resources for extensions of the curriculum beyond the classroom, such as articles and connections with real world applications of science or resources about current events. World language teachers can collect a home page filled with cultural sites and publications in the new language so students can immerse themselves.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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The Free Dictionary - Farlex, Inc
Grades
4 to 12tag(s): dictionaries (48), quotations (18), thesaurus (22), vocabulary development (94), word choice (14)
In the Classroom
Set this site as the home page on classroom computers for students to read and find interesting articles and games. Create an account to customize the page to display information to suit class needs. Use information found on this site for quotes, interesting trivia, and much more. Display on your interactive whiteboard (or projector) and discuss articles and information with your class.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Created Equal - National Endowment for the Humanities
Grades
9 to 12tag(s): bill of rights (31), black history (130), civil rights (201), civil war (138), cultures (172), emancipation proclamation (12), segregation (18)
In the Classroom
The documentaries, or the excerpts presented, are all available to stream from the site. While they may be too lengthy to show in their entirety during one class period, they have also been divided into clips according to themes. For example, Equality is part of the full video about Law and the Strategy of Nonviolence. This makes them more adaptable for classroom use. Share the videos on your interactive whiteboard or projector, or flip your class using edpuzzle, reviewed here, and have students watch clips at home and come back to class ready to discuss. eduzzle is a great way to take sections of videos and add your own voice or add questions within the video. Alternatively, you could use VideoAnt, reviewed here, to enhance student learning with students asking questions about the parts where they need clarification. The issues raised by these Created Equal documentaries may be easily incorporated into lessons related to the Civil Rights Movement, modern U.S. history, Black History Month, or civics and government. Use these videos as conversation starters in the classroom.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Totally History - totallyhistory.com
Grades
4 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): american revolution (82), art history (99), civil war (138), presidents (135), religions (90), vietnam (38), world war 1 (77), world war 2 (160)
In the Classroom
Totally History offers a starting point to find basic facts and information on many topics. Use material from the site to introduce any topic such as presidents or events in World or American History. Share with students to use as a resource for classroom projects and reports. Have students create timelines using Timeline JS, reviewed here. Timeline JS also offers the option to upload and add photos, videos, audio, Tweets, and Google Maps making it interactive. Have students use Fakebook, reviewed here, to create a "fake" page similar in style to Facebook about a president or any person or event in history.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Legislative Explorer - Center for American Politics and Public Policy
Grades
9 to 12tag(s): advanced placement (26), branches of government (64), congress (40)
In the Classroom
Despite being fairly wonky (political geeks will LOVE this site!), Legislative Explorer will also help civics and government teachers present the overall picture of how a bill makes its way (or doesn't) through the legislative branch. On an interactive whiteboard (or projector), the visual impact of how many bills are proposed in a session is stunning. Once past that, however, students can research the activities of their local legislators, by name or by state. What issues matter enough to them to result in bill sponsorship? Alternatively, divide students into groups and have each group research a specific committee. What bills come to that committee? How successful is that committee in moving bills to the President's desk? How does the activity in the most recent Congress compare to that from 40 years ago? Have the issues changed?Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Numbeo - Numbeo
Grades
9 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): consumers (14), statistics (120)
In the Classroom
Send students to this site to research quality of life factors across the globe. How does the price of gas in Indonesia compare to the price of gas in their hometown? What income is required to rent an apartment in New York City? At another level of inquiry, WHY is the cost of living higher in some parts of the world than it is in others? What factors contribute to the quality of life? In a math class, use this data as "meat" to learn about comparing and displaying data. Your students will find the data interesting enough to pay attention.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Fracking Across the United States - Earth Justice Org.
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): disasters (37), energy (131), environment (246), geology (61), natural resources (37), oil (22), resources (83)
In the Classroom
Introduce this site on an interactive whiteboard or projector during a study of fossil fuels, geology, or energy and government policy. Show students an overview of the interactive map and the states listed below it. Have partners select a state, click on the skull and crossbones, and read about the "fraccidents" that have happened. Have students record the state and the facts about the "fraccident" using an online bulletin board and stickies such as Lino reviewed here. At this point, have students research the positive side of fracking and/or alternative versions of what happened in this "fraccident." Students could then write argument/persuasive papers. Math students could determine the frequency of accidents from fracking over the years and predict what might happen in the states targeted for fracking in the future (listed below the map). Students could view the video at the bottom of the page and discuss the steps taken to stop fracking in Williamsport, PA.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Finding Dulcinea Online Guides and Resources - Mark Moran
Grades
5 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): careers (141), cultures (172), financial literacy (91), mental health (32), news (228), newspapers (92), religions (90), sports (81)
In the Classroom
Share articles from Finding Dulcinea with students on your interactive whiteboard when discussing current events. Create a link on classroom computers for students to read on their own. Have students create a simple infographic sharing their findings from any article using Snappa, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Planet Nutshell - Joshua Gunn
Grades
4 to 12tag(s): climate change (94), financial aid (12), internet safety (113)
In the Classroom
Include videos during your Internet safety or climate change unit and view on your interactive whiteboard. Embed on your class website or blog and have students create animated movies online using CapCut, reviewed here. Consider sharing one of the short Internet safety videos with parents during an Open House or Meet the Teacher night.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Stanford University's Entrepreneurship Corner - Stanford Technology Ventures Program
Grades
8 to 12tag(s): creativity (86), engineering (127), speeches (23)
In the Classroom
Lead students to excellence through incredible virtual guest speakers in economics, engineering, science, marketing, and leadership classes. Use this program as an example to inspire and ignite passion in all students and fellow faculty. There is an excellent model for speech presentations. Study and define the elements of the successful presenter. Model and begin a Socratic Seminar on any given topic. Feature the speakers of a globalization initiative, a creativity fair, and engineering evening. Inspire gifted students to dive further into science projects, marketing, and economics.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Great Lakes Echo - MSU Department of Telecommunications, Info Studies, and Media
Grades
6 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): animals (295), fish (18), insects (68), plants (147), pollution (52), water (101), watersheds (8), weather (160)
In the Classroom
Use this resource in a science or environmental science classroom to identify and learn about various problems affecting the Great Lakes. Many of the concerns are representative of watersheds and freshwater bodies in other locations, as well. These articles are also valuable to examine current events in a social studies or civics classroom, identifying the impact of current environmental challenges on society and of society on the environment. Use these articles to provide experience with reading informational texts. Annotate an article using one of many annotation tools such as Scrible or Crocodoc, as part of "close reading." Compare the environmental issues of the Great Lakes with those of other water areas. Add this link to a bank of resources for students to use in research of issues affecting waterways.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Science News Explores - Society for Science and the Public
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): news (228), science fairs (20), scientific method (48), scientists (63)
In the Classroom
Be sure to check the Educators section to find articles by curriculum topic. Use this site as a resource for current events projects or to relate classroom material to students lives and the world around them. Use the articles by finding an interesting tidbit of information to capture student attention before the start of a new content unit or chapter. Be sure to point out that science discoveries have led to the information about the natural world that we presently have today. Challenge cooperative learning groups to investigate one of the topics and create a multimedia presentation using one of the many TeachersFirst Edge tools reviewed here. Be sure to include this link on your class page for students to find interesting articles and information about Atoms and Forces, Earth and Sky, Humans and Health, and more. Add the RSS feed from this site to your class Flipboard account.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Top Documentary Films - topdocumentaryfilms.com
Grades
7 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): advanced placement (26), animals (295), artists (83), biographies (93), drugs and alcohol (28), environment (246), evolution (88), hiv/aids (15), humor (16), media literacy (107), mental health (32), money (114), politics (117), psychology (65), religions (90), sports (81), vietnam (38)
In the Classroom
Use this site to find videos in a wide range of topics to share on your interactive whiteboard, on a projector, or as a link on your class web page. Use videos to demonstrate different points of view. Then use an online tool such as Interactive Two Circle Venn Diagram, reviewed here. to compare and contrast information. Have students create a word cloud of the important terms they learn from any film using a tool such as WordItOut, reviewed here. Want to engage students WHILE they watch a video? Why not set up a backchannel chat using GoSoapBox, reviewed here. Be sure to ask your class if there could have been any bias in the video you watch together. What film techniques influence our thinking?Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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OECD Better Life Index - OECD Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development
Grades
8 to 12tag(s): communities (33), cross cultural understanding (172), environment (246), politics (117), safety (68)
In the Classroom
A great classroom discussion starter, and perfect for displaying on an interactive whiteboard, the Better Life Index allows students to consider and debate what makes for a "better life." And once (or if) they can reach a consensus on those factors, where could that life be found in the world? Of course, once you discover that people are healthiest, for example, in Australia, what does that mean? Why are they healthy there? What community, government, and institutional factors make Australia healthy? Do they make choices other countries don't? This is a wonderful tool for guiding discussion about the public policy decisions made by citizens and governments, and how those decisions affect the quality of life. It would also provide powerful information for persuasive writing or debates. If you talk about utopias and dystopias, this is another way for students to decide what the criteria are for each. If you study world cultures, this site can provide a whole different lens to promote crosscultural understanding. Assign students to compare and contrast factors that matter most to them across multiple countries. Gifted students who are designing an "ideal civilization" can find meaningful data here to use as part of their plans.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Foodopoly - Food and Water Watch
Grades
5 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): nutrition (137)
In the Classroom
Begin with the quiz to see what students know. Share the quiz on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Have students take the quiz independently in a BYOD classroom (or computer lab/laptops). As they take the quiz, students can note items that interest or disturb them. Begin a class discussion with the most interesting or shocking items they learned from taking the quiz. Research the history of the Farm Bill, the FDA, or the USDA. Compare diets of today and of the past, and identify differences and medical issues (good or bad.) Create a debate about monopolies in food production and lack of oversight in the food industry. Have students investigate one food aisle and share what they learn.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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