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SoundCloud - SoundCloud Ltd.
Grades
K to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): creative writing (124), descriptive writing (42), expository writing (31), songs (44), sound (72), sounds (43)
In the Classroom
Add the dimension of sound into your language arts classes with SoundCloud! Turn written stories or poetry into works of spoken art. Use SoundCloud recordings of places such as; the city, the forest, the beach, or a cafeteria to bring settings to life. Make and share audio writing prompts. Challenge students to create their own story using sounds. Add sound into projects such as webquests, PowerPoints, podcasts, or blogging to hear the results! Emphasize important messages to your parent or student emails using sound. What a practical solution for ENL/ELL learners. Record and share poetry readings during Poetry Month. Save quarterly recordings of speech articulation students s they can hear their own progress (and you can share it with parents). Check school policies, of course, before uploading any student recordings to the web. Instrumental music teachers can share clips of musical pieces for students to emulate during at-home practice.Edge Features:
Includes an education-only area for teachers and students
Parent permission advised before posting student work created using this tool
Includes Interaction w general public/ public galleries with unmoderated content
Includes social features, such as "friends," comments, ratings by others
Requires registration/log-in (WITH email)
Premium version (not free) includes additional features or storage
Products can be embedded
Products can be shared by URL
Multiple users can collaborate on the same project
Requires download/installation of software
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Infographics Archive - Infographics Archive
Grades
7 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): charts and graphs (170), data (151), graphic design (49), infographics (56)
In the Classroom
Use as an introduction to a lesson or unit. Use Think-Pair-Share to list and share information provided by the graphic. Develop questions to be answered to understand the information or questions that they just wonder. Allow students or groups of students to choose an Infographic that interests them and report on the information given. Consider assigning the creation of an Infographic as an assignment to understand content and connect it with the real world, such as showing the many ways electricity is used in the world or the impact of slavery on an economy. Or have them explain an experiment and report the results with graphical information to provide meaning. Since infographics are often key to understanding an article, reading teachers will appreciate this large collection to use in teaching/practicing how to interpret informational graphics within a text. Share one each day for students to practice telling you the "main idea" of the graphic.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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FORA.tv - FORA.tv
Grades
9 to 12Please preview anything before you share it with your students. At the time of this review there was a subcategory "Sex" which may not be appropriate for most classrooms. But always preview! Teachers may want to share ONLY specific video links.
This site includes advertising.
tag(s): business (52), cultures (172), elections (82), energy (131), environment (246), evolution (88), genetics (81), investing (8), news (228), politics (117), psychology (65), religions (90), sexuality (15), stock market (11), sustainability (45), video (264)
In the Classroom
Search to find videos relevant to the subjects that you are teaching. Videos are thought provoking and suggest different viewpoints. Once you select a video, show it as an inepth look into a topic you are already studying. Share the video and start a class discussion about the viewpoints of the video and the students' own viewpoints. From here, students could write a position paper from their own side or do further research for a class debate. Challenge your students to create their own video about topics being discussed/learned in class. Share the videos using a tool such as SchoolTube reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Spent - McKinney and Urban Ministries of Durham
Grades
8 to 12tag(s): financial literacy (91), money (114)
In the Classroom
Use this site when you are teaching budgeting or learning about poverty in America. Business classes or courses on "life in the real world" will benefit from trying the entire simulation. Challenge students to work this site individually and keep notes of the choices/consequences they discovered on their path. Have them write blog entries based on their experiences. If individual computers aren't available, share this site on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Have cooperative learning groups create online "how to" books on surviving the challenges learned about on the website using a tool such as Bookemon, reviewed here.Comments
Great game! The students at our alternative school LOVED it!Nonya, NC, Grades: 9 - 12
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Big Think - Big Think
Grades
7 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): brain (56), business (52), cross cultural understanding (172), environment (246), news (228), politics (117), psychology (65)
In the Classroom
Choose a story that relates to your topic that you are teaching such as science or even music with a story such as "How Music is Good for Your Brain." Share the story with your students. Discuss the writings, and then use it as a platform on how students should approach the things that they are learning in class. This way they develop critical thinking skills and extract the most important information and leave the accessory facts to the side. Assign specific articles to cooperative learning groups to read and explore together. Then have students create a multimedia project to share with the class 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 Microsoft PowerPoint Online.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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NobelPrize.org - Nobel Media AB 2011
Grades
4 to 12tag(s): creativity (86), literature (220), medicine (56)
In the Classroom
Inspire your students to strive for excellence! Show students original, creative, thinking. Let students know they can understand the ideas awarded by trying the educational activities offered. Follow each year's announcements and award ceremonies. Use as an inspiration when beginning your own Nobel Prize winning awards competitions. Encourage students to use critical thinking skills to form opinions based on facts. Substitute pen and paper in your class by having students blog about what they are learning and understanding using Telegra.ph, reviewed here. This blog creator requires no registration. Extend learning by inviting pairs or small groups to use a tool like NoteJoy, reviewed here, to take notes and share links, documents, and images to organize for an interactive poster. Use Adobe Creative Cloud Express for Education, reviewed here, for the poster. Gifted programs can easily incorporate many of the ideas into the curriculum. Lead your students to Nobel Award winning thinking.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Safety Education - U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
Grades
9 to 12In the Classroom
Use this site as the starting point for individual or group projects. Have the students write mock-up reports of defective products they have had experience with. Then they can compare their write-ups with the entries in the database. Students can also learn data base searching while looking for objects of particular interest to them. Have students create online posters on paper or do it together as a class using a tool such as Web Poster Wizard (reviewed here) or PicLits (reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Mathematical Chronology - School of Mathematics & Statistics, University of St Andrews
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): biographies (93), cross cultural understanding (172), timelines (53)
In the Classroom
Use this site as a resource when studying different time periods in history to understand math concepts and famous mathematicians of the time. Share this site on your interactive whiteboard (or projector) to provide background on the development of math concepts over time. Share this site with students to use when researching mathematicians. Allow students to explore the site for information relating to certain countries and their contributions to mathematics.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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YouTube Copyright School - YouTube
Grades
4 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): copyright (44), multimedia (51), plagiarism (33)
In the Classroom
Use this site on a projector or interactive whiteboard to discuss and informally assess prior knowledge as you start your study of plagiarism on writing projects or copyright in general. Use it in art or music classes when discussing the use of "derivative works" or performance rights on music. Include this site on your class webpage for students and parents to access as a reference. To show what they have learned from this site, enhance or transform (depending on teacher requirements) class room technology use by challenging students to create an online infographic about copyright to share using Canva Infographic Maker, reviewed here.Comments
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Mind42 - IRIAN Solutions Vienna
Grades
1 to 12tag(s): concept mapping (15), mind map (27)
In the Classroom
This free organizational tool can be used in classrooms at every level. Teachers can use this tool to help organize learning units and share the orgnanization on screen so students see how pieces fit together. Share the unit map with other teachers, students, or parents, to highlight goals, objectives, learning tasks, assessments, and resources. Share before your unit and expectations become very clear. Use as a yearly overview for parents showing units with resources at the beginning of the year at Open House. Let parents see the multiple ways their child will be assessed through the year. Students can 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.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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izzit.org - Izzit.org
Grades
5 to 12tag(s): critical thinking (122), news (228), vocabulary (238)
In the Classroom
Choose one current events lesson as a Problem of the Week for class discussion along with some of the questions provided in the lesson. Challenge students to create their own lesson with local newspaper or magazine articles. Search the archives for articles that relate to lessons taught in class. Display the article on your interactive whiteboard (or projector) and discuss, use whiteboard tools to highlight vocabulary and search for context clues in finding definitions.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Compare & Contrast Map - Read, Write, Think - International Reading Association
Grades
3 to 12tag(s): charts and graphs (170), concept mapping (15), graphic organizers (48)
In the Classroom
Use this site to introduce comparisons to your students on your interactive whiteboard or projector. After demonstrating how to use the site, create a link on classroom computers for students to make their own comparisons to be printed and shared. Divide students into 3 groups - one for each type of comparison essay - and have them create comparisons for their type, then share and compare with other students. Change student learning by having them create "annotated pictures" to illustrate the different types of comparisons using Annotely, reviewed here. Use this site with gifted students as a way for them to explore subjects more deeply than discussed in class. Use this site with ENL/ELL students to help organize information easily and as a visual representation of class material.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Slavery Footprint - How Many Slaves Work For You? - MUH-TAY-ZIK HOF-FER
Grades
7 to 12tag(s): cross cultural understanding (172), ecology (102), slavery (78)
In the Classroom
Have students complete individual surveys and graph results, use the information for a basis of class discussions on economy and each individual's impact on the environment. Complete one survey for the entire class on your interactive whiteboard (or projector) using average information found from students. Show the impact of changes in lifestyle by completing new surveys by making lifestyle changes. Have students use a tool such as Buzzsprout, reviewed here, to create a fictitious radio news story from information they learn at this site. Have students use a mapping tool such as Google Earth, reviewed here, to create an audio (and visual) tour of countries included on the survey.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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DOGOnews - Meera Dolasia
Grades
2 to 12tag(s): journalism (73), news (228), reading comprehension (149), sports (81)
In the Classroom
Non-fiction reading and background knowledge have found a new emphasis with The Common Core State Standards. It is more important now than ever to help connect students with quality, non-fiction reading and viewing material. Find great news resources and videos of the week to create assignments for your class at DOGOnews. You may want to create a class page and load several news articles. Have students choose from the articles, and email it to themselves. Have students print out the article and complete a "close reading" of the article by annotating it. Then have students who chose the same article get together in groups to discuss their reactions about the article, create a summary together, and create four or five open-ended questions about the article. Lastly, create groups of four, with each student having a different article, and have them present their article to the others in the group and ask them their open-ended questions to trigger a discussion. Create a class magazine from the articles. Or better yet, have students create a multimedia presentation using Microsoft PowerPoint Online, reviewed here. This site allows you to narrate a picture. Challenge students to find a photo (legally permitted to be reproduced), and then narrate the photo as if it is a news report. Strengthen reading comprehension by having an 'article du jour' on your interactive whiteboard or projector as students arrive. Link this site on your homepage.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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YoungZine - Deepa Gopal
Grades
3 to 10Besure to check out Climate360 for Weather and Climate Basics, What Actions Can We Take, What are the Solutions, and several others.
tag(s): communities (33), news (228), service projects (17), sustainability (45)
In the Classroom
Have your students make comments on articles (public comments), take quizzes, rate articles, and participate in contests. You can create custom assignments and have students respond and discuss, right on Youngzine! This is a great way to assess student's understanding and create an arena for a discussion/debate between class students. Or, ask your students to summarize an article, as a way to encourage them to think and write.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Business Insider Chart of the Day - Business Insider
Grades
7 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): charts and graphs (170), cultures (172), data (151), financial literacy (91), infographics (56), sociology (23), sports (81)
In the Classroom
Share a daily chart on your interactive whiteboard or projector and have students recreate the chart into a different format (bar chart to pie chart or line graph). Have students use a tool such as Hohli reviewed here. Ask students to analyze information included on the daily chart as a math journal entry. Create a class chart comparing student information to the daily chart provided. Use the daily chart as a class warm-up - discuss trends, information provided, information not included that might be useful, etc. Social Studies teachers may want to use the charts as a tie-in to current events. Reading teachers charged with teaching about charts as part of informational texts will find a treasure trove of examples here, especially as prep for BIG reading tests.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Understanding Taxes - Student - IRS
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): financial literacy (91), money (114)
In the Classroom
Use the lesson plans at the Teachers site to teach the financial literary concepts. Then use a projector or your interactive whiteboard to show students how to navigate the student site. Allow students to explore the online activities on their own at a center, in the computer lab, or at home by putting the URL on your website. After completing the worksheets provided with the lessons, have students create their own worksheets for other classmates to complete. Challenge students to create their own financial literacy newsletter using Revue, reviewed here, for students in their school including money-saving suggestions, job ideas for students, and tips for creating a budget. Have students create posters sharing their newsletter using a site such as Padlet, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Documentary Heaven - Documentary Heaven
Grades
6 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): archeology (28), biographies (93), bullying (48), disabilities (31), psychology (65), senses (20), sexuality (15), tsunamis (15)
In the Classroom
View videos on your interactive whiteboard or projector to correspond with classroom lessons. Be sure to discuss the source and possible bias of any documentary. "Documentary" does not necessarily mean "trustworthy" or "unbiased"! Link to specific videos on your classroom computer, website, or blog for students to view on their own. Assign different topics and allow students to choose a documentary to use as part of their research. 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): PBWorks (wiki), Site123 (blog), Renderforest (newscast video), and Genial.ly (poster/bulletin board).Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Coal Cares Site a Brilliant Hoax - Fast Company
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): consumers (14), energy (131), environment (246), propaganda (8)
In the Classroom
Use this site as an example of how important it is to question what we find on the internet. Who is the author? What is the author's perspective? How believable is the information on the site? Is it influenced by a particular point of view? Help students question the information they find online and become good information consumers.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Coal Cares - Coal Cares
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): consumers (14), energy (131), environment (246), propaganda (8)
In the Classroom
Consider using this site to teach students to read carefully and evaluate the claims made on websites. You might divide the class into teams and have each group examine one of the page links from the site. One link provides paper and pencil games for kids. What can they find in these games that is ironic or reveals that the site is a spoof? (Hint: look for words in the word search that are not listed in the word bank!). Another link offers free inhalers for kids. Where do the links lead? Do students find anything strange about "baby's first inhaler"? After students have dissected the site and discovered all the misleading statements and "propaganda," encourage them to read the blog post at Coal Cares Site a Brilliant Hoax, for more information about the hoax, and how it was devised. Then, discuss the implications of this example. How can it make them better internet consumers? Challenge groups to create multimedia projects sharing their finding. Have students use one of the many TeachersFirst Edge tools.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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