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All About the Holidays - PBS Learning Media
Grades
K to 12
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Learn about the history and significance behind many holidays through this video collection from PBS Learning Media. Begin browsing by choosing from fall, winter, spring, or summer...more
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Learn about the history and significance behind many holidays through this video collection from PBS Learning Media. Begin browsing by choosing from fall, winter, spring, or summer holidays. Each section includes short videos explaining the history of the holiday. Learn about holidays such as Yom Kippur, Oktoberfest, Day of the Dead (Dia de los Muertos), Kwanzaa, Juneteenth, Father's Day, and many others! Each selection also includes links to standards along with additional links to supporting materials such as lesson plans or printable items. Not seeing a holiday you want such as 100 days of school? Use the search bar at the top!
tag(s): 100thday (9), back to school (63), chinese new year (5), christmas (37), cinco de mayo (10), easter (10), elections (80), fathers day (7), fire prevention (16), flag day (5), halloween (30), hanukkah (13), hispanic (28), holidays (163), july 4th (13), Juneteenth (22), kwanzaa (11), labor day (5), martin luther king (43), mothers day (13), new years (5), pi (26), presidents (121), rosh hashanah (8), st patricks day (11), thanksgiving (24), valentines day (12), veterans (20), womens suffrage (44), yom kippur (9)
In the Classroom
Bookmark this site to use as a resource for teaching material during holidays throughout the year. For each holiday use a bookmarking site such as Wakelet, reviewed here, to organize and share lesson materials, videos, and game sites for your students. Instead of worksheets or written reports, enhance student learning by asking them to create infographics sharing information about any holiday. Canva Infographic Maker, reviewed here, is a very easy to use tool that includes pre-made templates. Don't keep student learning to yourself, share their knowledge through holiday podcasts for your entire school and community to hear. Spotify for Podcastors (was Anchor), reviewed here, features many kid-friendly tools to get you started with creating and sharing podcasts.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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Humans of New York - Brandon Stanton
Grades
7 to 12
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Humans of New York was supposed to be a photography project; then it evolved into a vibrant blog featuring the individual stories and portraits of people around the world. Browse ...more
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Humans of New York was supposed to be a photography project; then it evolved into a vibrant blog featuring the individual stories and portraits of people around the world. Browse through the site to read stories of people from every walk of life in the United States. Choose the countries link to read featured stories from over 20 countries around the world. Don't forget to visit the "series" link to find poignant stories based on themes like pediatric cancer and refugee stories.
tag(s): cross cultural understanding (157), identity (28), new york (22)
In the Classroom
Each story included on this site is only about a paragraph long, perfect to use with reluctant readers or as a short introduction to lessons on a variety of social issues. Help students identify the key concepts found in each story by creating a word cloud using Wordsift, reviewed here. Use the keywords found in your word cloud as a starting point for students to begin researching the topic further - examples might be research into refugees, drug abuse, or childhood illness. As students become familiar with the site, use it as an example to create your own site as a class related to your curriculum. For science create a Humans of Chemistry, in social studies create a Humans of the American Revolution, or in language arts create a Humans of Shakespeare. At the beginning of the year use Humans of New York in a self identity and "getting to know you" lesson(s). In small groups or as a class analyze several of the stories and have stidents use the key concepts to create their own interview questions. Then have students interview each other or others on campus (adults included). Use a presentation tool like Sway, reviewed here, to share finished projects that include student writing, photographs or drawings, videos, and other multimedia. Use Sway for a variety of assignments in any classroom that is integrating technology as an enhancement, modification, or transformation. Have students work together to compare and contrast their findings as part of a discussion within ongoing podcasts. Spotify for Podcastors, reviewed here, is an augmentation tool offering free podcasting creation and sharing and many features for both new and experienced podcasting teams.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Bad News - Cambridge Social Decision-Making Lab and DROG
Grades
5 to 12
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How bad can you be? This game teaches you how fake news and disinformation spreads as players take on the role of the bad guy to acquire as many followers ...more
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How bad can you be? This game teaches you how fake news and disinformation spreads as players take on the role of the bad guy to acquire as many followers as possible while raising their credibility ratings. Follow the prompts and make selections on how to spread disinformation and take advantage of others' fears and emotions as you proceed through the game. As you make choices, watch how that affects the number of your followers and learn how to use celebrity and fear to influence others. Throughout the game, players earn up to six badges recognizing accomplishments such as impersonation and emotion.
tag(s): digital citizenship (89), game based learning (170), internet safety (113), media literacy (102), social media (53)
In the Classroom
This game is perfect for use as an introduction to lessons on digital citizenship, media literacy, and social media. Share the site with your students to explore on their own and encourage them to play several different times using the different options provided. Your students won't mind playing over and over; it is easy to get hooked on trying to find the best way to gain as many followers as possible! Once students become familiar with the game and the different options presented for spreading misinformation, ask them to apply their findings to online content. Have them do some online research to find sites or information using tactics such as emotion and the others featured in Bad News. As they research sites and online information, have them add links to the sites they find on a class Padlet. Padlet, reviewed here, offers an option to create columns, use this option then label a column for each badge found in the game and ask students to share a link to their sites in the appropriate column. In addition to adding a link, have students include a comment providing information on why their site belongs in the category. Instead of assessing learning with quizzes or a written report, enhance learning and transform your assessment by having students create infographics to share information learned. Canva Infographic Maker, reviewed here, provides easy to use templates to create interesting and informative infographics. Extend leaning and ask students to become the teacher using Symbaloo Learning Paths, reviewed here, to create an online learning activity teaching others on how to recognize and avoid disinformation found online. Be sure to share your assessment rubric with students as part of your assignment. Find many ideas for implementing rubrics for assessment along with examples and online tools at TeachersFirst Rubrics to the Rescue, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Civic Online Reasoning - Stanford University
Grades
6 to 12
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This series of assessments offers students a selection of online content and asks them to evaluate and judge the credibility of information. Using digital resources like Wikipedia,...more
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This series of assessments offers students a selection of online content and asks them to evaluate and judge the credibility of information. Using digital resources like Wikipedia, Twitter, and news websites students view information then respond to the provided questions. Competencies evaluated through the activities include student ability to understand who is giving information, identifying evidence, and comparing the content studied to that shared by other sources. Find Curriculum, Lessons, Videos, and more. You must sign in with a free account to access the free materials.
tag(s): journalism (72), news (229), social media (53)
In the Classroom
Include activities from this site as part of any online safety lesson. Use these lessons at the beginning of the school year to teach students how to evaluate online information and as an assessment for the understanding of the ability to judge the credibility of information and sources. Student responses from this site are created through Google Forms, use these responses as a template to create your own Google Forms for personalized content such as local news articles or T.V. news. Instead of creating a table to compare and contrast various sources of information, replace paper and pencil by using an online tool such as Interactive Two Circle Venn Diagram, reviewed here, for students to evaluate similarities and differences between news sources. Have students enhance their learning by creating an infographic using Canva Infographic Maker, reviewed here, to share with their peers. Challenge students to include facts, comparisons, and images to create the infographics.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Online Teen Safety - StaySafe.org
Grades
5 to 12
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This guide shares online safety suggestions for teens and parents by providing basic facts and advice. Starting with tips for protecting hardware and devices from viruses and malware...more
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This guide shares online safety suggestions for teens and parents by providing basic facts and advice. Starting with tips for protecting hardware and devices from viruses and malware the site guides readers through a variety of valuable information. Additional topics include social media, scams and online shopping, and online bullying. Although the site lacks a lot of bells and whistles, it offers a great deal of information related to online safety and provides a starting point for further research.
tag(s): cyberbullying (41), internet safety (113), social media (53)
In the Classroom
Include the information from this site with your other resources for teaching about online safety. Instead of creating a list of links for students, share safety tips with students by replacing the list using a bookmarking tool like Padlet, reviewed here, to share all resources including videos, websites, and more in one place. Invite students to add their own resources to the Padlet as a collaborative activity on internet safety. Create quizzes using Baamboozle, reviewed here, as a formative assessment during your online safety unit. Baamboozle is a quick and easy quiz creation tool to replace paper and pencil. Divide the class into groups to research the different topics found on this site then let them create their own Baamboozle quizzes for their classmates. Instead of teaching online safety in individual lessons, consider using Symbaloo Learning Paths, reviewed here, to create a learning path including all of your lessons. Have students follow at their own pace and use tools with the Learning Paths to offer differentiation for the abilities and interests of your students. To modify learning and further challenge students, have them create their own internet safety Learning Paths for classmates to complete.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Read. Inquire. Write. - University of Michigan
Grades
6 to 10
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Read. Inquire. Write. is a free curriculum using investigations to support middle school social studies learning through inquiry-based lessons; also, this site provides many supports...more
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Read. Inquire. Write. is a free curriculum using investigations to support middle school social studies learning through inquiry-based lessons; also, this site provides many supports for English Language Learners within the activities. Use the provided literacy tools to guide students in analytical reasoning and argument writing within the 5-day investigations. Each investigation includes all materials needed including teacher's guides, student packets, rubrics, student models, and a PowerPoint presentation. Also, all activities provide video models demonstrating methods to encourage student thinking and investigative responses. Each lesson includes correlation to Common Core Standards. Registration is required to download materials from this site. Videos reside on YouTube. If your school blocks YouTube, they may not be viewable.
tag(s): civil war (134), colonial america (95), concept mapping (17), debate (37), democracy (19), evaluating sources (28), greece (27), inquiry (24), maps (207), mexico (29), middle east (43), native americans (91)
In the Classroom
Instead of using paper documents, scan the included PDF or Word documents into Google Classroom or your school student/teacher platform to share and assign to students. Be sure to include mentor texts for student use. Enhance student learning by asking students to use highlighting and note-taking tools within their word document to provide documentation for their responses. Although this site includes many high-quality graphic organizers, create your own and using Diagramo, reviewed here to engage students and personalize for your classroom use. Have students use a digital portfolio tool to share their investigations. Spaces, reviewed here includes many resources for creating online portfolios and web pages. Consider sharing the activities found on this site with your peers as a model for redesigning lessons you already use in your classroom. Use Padlet, reviewed here to collaborate and share ideas, activities, and resources as you work toward incorporating inquiry lessons into your classrooms.
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Engaging Congress - Indiana University
Grades
5 to 12
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Engaging Congress is an interactive game that uses primary sources to help students evaluate information as they learn about the United States government. Download the app from Google...more
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Engaging Congress is an interactive game that uses primary sources to help students evaluate information as they learn about the United States government. Download the app from Google Play or the iTunes store, or select the webGL link to play on the web. Begin play by choosing a story, primary source, or pick a trivia challenge or practice. Use the Teacher Toolbox to find documents by era or topic, learning objectives matched to Common Core Standards, and compelling questions for use with each issue and story. Be sure to scroll down to the bottom of the home page to find the link to request classroom giveaways to encourage play!
tag(s): branches of government (62), congress (39), DAT device agnostic tool (143), evaluating sources (28), primary sources (117)
In the Classroom
Take advantage of the free games and materials on this site to use as a supplement to your current resources for teaching history and government. Instead of written notes, strengthen learning by having students use an online tool such as Holt Interactive Graphic Organizers, reviewed here, to create diagrams, mindmaps, and other visual graphic organizers. To compare and contrast information found in different primary sources, create a Venn Diagram. As students prepare to share their findings and summarize their learning, have them modify their learning by creating infographics using Canva Infographic Maker, reviewed here, to visually represent facts and information. As a final assessment for your unit using these materials, ask students to form teams to debate different sides of the issues presented. Share their debates as a podcast using Spotify for Podcasters, reviewed here. Spotify for Podcasters is a simple to use podcasting tool offering several free options for creating, hosting, and sharing podcasts. As an alternative, ask other students redefine their learning and to create multimedia presentations using Sway, reviewed here to share text, videos, images, and more.
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Eagle Eye Citizen - Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media
Grades
5 to 12
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Develop civic understanding and historical thinking skills through interactive challenges found on Eagle Eye Citizen. These activities, geared toward middle and high school students,...more
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Develop civic understanding and historical thinking skills through interactive challenges found on Eagle Eye Citizen. These activities, geared toward middle and high school students, teach about American History using primary sources from the Library of Congress. The Solve link provides challenge puzzles to learn about historical events, the big picture, and sorting information into categories. Use the Teach link to find ideas for lessons and units based on this site's components, assessment ideas, and quick activities for use at any time. This link also includes several rubrics for use with the Challenge activities.
tag(s): branches of government (62), civil rights (194), congress (39), elections (80), immigrants (33), inquiry (24), presidents (121), primary sources (117), Research (83), womens suffrage (44)
In the Classroom
Share activities from this site to introduce civics and government lessons; be sure to point out links with additional resources included after problem-solving activities. Share a link to this site on your class website for students to use at home. Replace written notes and help students organize information using a mind mapping tool like Coggle, reviewed here. Use Coggle to create and share colorful diagrams with included text and images. As students continue through the unit, have them enhance their learning by including their diagram on a website sharing their knowledge of civics concepts or discussing the historical event studied. Webnode, reviewed here, is a free website creator offering premade templates and easy to use tools. Transform student learning at the next level and ask them to create a book for younger students to teach them about the event studied using Book Creator, reviewed here. For example, when learning about the three branches of government ask students to create a digital book explaining the functions of the three branches. Book Creator allows you to include videos, images, audio recordings, and more.
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Fake It To Make It Game - Amanda Warner
Grades
7 to 12
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Learn about how and why fake news is created and distributed with this game where players earn money by spreading false news. Begin by selecting a guide for the game ...more
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Learn about how and why fake news is created and distributed with this game where players earn money by spreading false news. Begin by selecting a guide for the game and choosing a financial goal. Follow the game to create your site and choose from different payment and options for monetizing information, while at the same time working toward optimum credibility. As the game continues, players select options for sharing their fake news to gain the maximum number of shares and likes. Throughout the game, follow your progress to your financial goal chosen at the beginning of the activity.
tag(s): journalism (72), news (229), newspapers (91), problem solving (226)
In the Classroom
More than ever, understanding the use of media to manipulate readers is a critical skill. Use this game as a supplement to lessons on verifying news sources and fact-checking. Help students discover trigger words found in fake news articles by creating lists of sensational words. Replace word lists with a word cloud creator like Wordsift, reviewed here, to help visualize the use of trigger words found in online news. Have students find fake news online to analyze for misrepresentations of facts. Instead of doing this as a pencil and paper project, ask students to transform their learning and use Image Annotator, reviewed here, to share an image of the article and add links, images, and videos to "debunk" false information. As students become more familiar with recognizing fake news, have them use a comic creation tool like ToonyTool, reviewed here, to modify their learning by creating single frame cartoons with tips for avoiding false information then share these comics on your class or school webpage.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Project Look Sharp - Project Look Sharp, Ithaca College
Grades
K to 12
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Project Look Sharp promotes media literacy education and critical thinking skills through the offering of curriculum kits for classrooms in grades K-12; to find the kits click the Free...more
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Project Look Sharp promotes media literacy education and critical thinking skills through the offering of curriculum kits for classrooms in grades K-12; to find the kits click the Free Classroom Materials button. The free kits include teacher guides, handouts, assessments, and correlating digital media. Browse through all available kits, or filter by grade level or Common Core Standard. Each kit is available for download in its entirety or download individual lessons as desired; registration is required. Lesson contents cover a variety of topics including Global Warming, Presidential Campaigns, and Social Justice. Be sure to look through other sections of the site including professional development information and links to handouts from Project Look Sharp's presentations.
tag(s): american revolution (82), climate change (87), critical thinking (112), environment (240), martin luther king (43), media literacy (102), middle east (43), nutrition (134), OER (43), presidents (121), russia (33), social media (53)
In the Classroom
Become acquainted with these free curriculum kits and lessons to integrate media literacy within content already taught in the classroom. As you teach lessons found on the site, incorporate technology to enhance learning and build student understanding by using Word Ahead, reviewed here, or WordSift, reviewed here, to introduce and develop vocabulary as a prereading strategy or older students can use either as they are reading. Incorporate images with annotations to help students understand "big picture" ideas using Image Annotator, reviewed here. For younger students create a Image Annotator as a class to add text, video, and more to images. Ask older students to create their own Image Annotator sharing information learned throughout your lessons. Be sure to share all of your images on your class website for students to view at any time. To transform classroom technology use and as a culminating activity, use a digital book creation tool like Book Creator, reviewed here, as an alternative assessment to quizzes or tests. Include student-created writing, Annotated images, and add videos with student commentary within each book. Be sure to provide students with your rubric to use as a guide before turning in digital books. Find many ideas for implementing rubrics for assessment along with examples and online tools at TeachersFirst Rubrics to the Rescue, reviewed here. Whether students work individually or in groups, be sure to share your new digital library related to your lesson topic with students to review and revisit at any time!
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Fiskkit - John Pettus
Grades
6 to 12
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Think of Fiskkit as a social media tool for sharing, discussing, and evaluating online articles similar to marking up a paper with a red pen. Copy and paste the URL ...more
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Think of Fiskkit as a social media tool for sharing, discussing, and evaluating online articles similar to marking up a paper with a red pen. Copy and paste the URL for a news story into Fiskkit to input into the site. Once available, click on any sentence to rate or tag information as true/false, descriptive, or complimentary. Share the article with others to evaluate then view the graph showing tag distribution. After sharing the article with your class use your account to see student names that read the article, organize comments, and open individual sentences for classroom discussion. At the time of this review, Fiskkit works best in Edge and FireFox browsers.
tag(s): critical thinking (112), journalism (72), media literacy (102), news (229), newspapers (91)
In the Classroom
Use Fiskkit in your classroom to teach students critical thinking and analysis skills. Share current news articles weekly with students to evaluate and discuss. After students provide their input, share the results on your interactive whiteboard, or with a projector, to review and discuss the reactions as a group. As students evaluate articles, replace paper note cards and suggest they use an online note-taking tool similar to Webnote, reviewed here, to justify their answers on Fiskkit. Webnote allows you to add sticky notes on the computer workspace and share with others using the URL created. Challenge students to find articles they would like to discuss, save, and collaborate on using Raindrop,io, reviewed here. Raindrop.io offers you tools to bookmark and save websites, with the additional feature of allowing participants to add comments to saved information. Raindrop.io can be used for a variety of assignments in any classroom that is integrating technology as an enhancement. Instead of a written report, as students become more comfortable with evaluating online tools, ask them to use a multimedia presentation tool like Sway, reviewed here, to modify technology use and to discuss media bias and offer tips for evaluating online information.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Moment Zero - Pilot
Grades
6 to 12
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Moment Zero is an immersive experience for viewing seismic activity around the world since 1970. View information in 360 degrees using computers and mobile devices, or in VR with a...more
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Moment Zero is an immersive experience for viewing seismic activity around the world since 1970. View information in 360 degrees using computers and mobile devices, or in VR with a headset and mobile phone. Use the options on the site to explore the yearly timeline and view annual statistics.
tag(s): earthquakes (44)
In the Classroom
There is a learning curve to using this site, be sure to take some time to explore the options on how to find different areas and information that is available. Consider choosing a couple of "tech-savvy" students to become experts on using the site. Ask them to use Free Screen Recorder Online, reviewed here, to record instructions about finding information, share these tutorials on your class website for student use. As students gather information and statistics from the site, use this as part of a larger activity as you learn about earthquakes. Create a class account for Google My Maps, reviewed here, and enhance student learning by recording earthquake activity around the world as they occur. Have students add images, videos, and vital statistics to this ongoing project.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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History Tech - Glenn Wiebe
Grades
7 to 12
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History Tech is an outstanding blog for history and social studies teachers created by curriculum and technology integration consultant Glenn Wiebe. Wiebe shares resources and lesson...more
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History Tech is an outstanding blog for history and social studies teachers created by curriculum and technology integration consultant Glenn Wiebe. Wiebe shares resources and lesson ideas with a focus on game-based learning and technology integration. Browse through the blog's feed to view the latest posts, use the search box to search by keyword, or click on commonly used tagged words. To find specific topic content scroll down to the bottom of the home page and use the drop box featuring History Tech Topics. Be sure to sign up with your email address to receive the most recent posts directly to your inbox and follow the site on Twitter @glennw98.
tag(s): back to school (63), branches of government (62), digital storytelling (141), maps (207), politics (112), primary sources (117), social media (53), teaching strategies (41)
In the Classroom
Bookmark this site to reference throughout the school year. Use the keyword search option to find ideas for specific units or technology tools to use. Use a bookmarking tool like Wakelet, reviewed here, to collect and share information from this blog along with your other resources. As you gather lesson ideas and create your unit, use Symbaloo Learning Paths, reviewed here, to create differentiated lesson activities for your students.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Aquation - Smithsonian Science Education Center
Grades
7 to 12
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Play this game to solve the world's water crisis through careful management of resources and responses to global events. Before playing, be sure to check out the tutorial to understand...more
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Play this game to solve the world's water crisis through careful management of resources and responses to global events. Before playing, be sure to check out the tutorial to understand the available options. Your mission is to make water available to all regions through a series of decisions based on cost and research. Be sure to check out the text alternative short story to the game sharing a tale of the importance of water within a small community.
tag(s): conservation (83), DAT device agnostic tool (143), game based learning (170), recycling (46), water (102), weather (164)
In the Classroom
Include this activity with any unit on the environment, water cycles, or weather. Extend this activity further to learn more about water conservation in your community. Ask students to take pictures around the school or at home showing the inefficient use of water. Use PhotoCollage, reviewed here, and have students create a collage of their images to use as a starting point for research. Ask students to enhance their learning and upload their collage to a blog and write analyzing and sharing ideas for water conversation based on their collage. Use a blog tool such as edublog, reviewed here. Use Symbaloo Learning Paths, reviewed here, to create a learning path for your students for your entire unit. Add videos, quizzes, embed this game and add all the information for students to follow. Symbaloo Learning Paths also includes options for differentiation for different interests or ability levels of your students. Ask older students to enhance their learning and create their own Learning Path to demonstrate and share learning throughout the unit.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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One World Education Student Writing - Eric Goldstein and Emily Chiariello
Grades
5 to 12
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The Student Writing portal of One World Education shares exemplary writing examples from One World Student Ambassadors. Each piece models grade-level writing and includes a reflection...more
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The Student Writing portal of One World Education shares exemplary writing examples from One World Student Ambassadors. Each piece models grade-level writing and includes a reflection experience. Based on the One World Program, articles feature information based on student research of a social justice issue important to them. In addition to the featured student writing, the site also includes a research portal for students categorized by grade levels and issues. Sign up to become a partner and access curriculum materials based on Common Core Standards.
tag(s): persuasive writing (55), sociology (22), writing (315)
In the Classroom
Share the student writing samples with your class to model grade-level writing and research skills. On your interactive writing board upload an example and use highlighting and drawing tools to point out examples of good writing including use of specific examples, text structure, and vocabulary. Ask students to share their first draft on a site like Peergrade, reviewed here. This site allows teachers to create an assignment with a rubric and automatically distributes uploaded assignments to peers for review. As a follow-up, after students complete their writing project, ask them to create podcasts sharing additional information and reflections on the social justice issue they researched. Buzzsprout, reviewed here, is an excellent tool for creating and sharing podcasts.
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Global Problem Solvers - Cisco
Grades
4 to 8
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Global Problem Solvers is a free program designed as a supplemental resource for grades 4-8 to teach global social responsibility. The program features two seasons of materials with...more
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Global Problem Solvers is a free program designed as a supplemental resource for grades 4-8 to teach global social responsibility. The program features two seasons of materials with seven episodes per season. Within each episode, Global Problem Solvers travels the world through videos solving problems while encouraging participants to become problem-solvers and critical thinkers. The series includes teacher's guides for both seasons, storyboards, and scripts.
tag(s): character education (76), critical thinking (112), cross cultural understanding (157), Problem Based Learning (13), problem solving (226), sociology (22), sustainability (44)
In the Classroom
Include the videos and materials with your current lessons using problem-solving skills. View videos together as a class and have students work in groups to discuss questions found in the teacher's guide. This resource lends itself to problem based learning: Have students find an image of a current global problem and use Image Annotator, reviewed here, to add text and videos to discuss the problem and address possible solutions. Explore global issues further in depth with Google My Maps, reviewed here. Add pins onto Google Maps to share specific problems around the world and have students post their ideas for helping those in need.
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MSN Kids - MSN Worldwide
Grades
K to 8
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MSN Kids features content and search features geared toward elementary and middle-school aged kids. In addition to news stories around the world of interest to kids, the site also includes...more
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MSN Kids features content and search features geared toward elementary and middle-school aged kids. In addition to news stories around the world of interest to kids, the site also includes crafts and videos that appeal to students. Use the links to different categories including animals, science and tech, and more to narrow down features. One very nice feature for classrooms is that this site does not include any advertising or sponsored content.
tag(s): bookmarks (47), cross cultural understanding (157), search engines (50)
In the Classroom
Set the home page on classroom computers to MSN Kids for students to explore and learn about current events around the world. Have students choose an article and use it as a basis for a research project. Challenge students to create an infographic using Canva, reviewed here, to share information learned from the site. After researching information using MSN Kids, ask students to create an explainer video using Typito, reviewed here, to provide facts, background information, and discuss any topic.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Instant Street View - Nick Nicholaou
Grades
4 to 12
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If you use Google Maps you know they offer a street view for locations; Instant Street View saves a step and takes you directly there. Type in any address to ...more
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If you use Google Maps you know they offer a street view for locations; Instant Street View saves a step and takes you directly there. Type in any address to browse any location. Some locations don't offer street view, in that instance Instant Street View shares the Google Map view.
This site includes advertising.
This site includes advertising.
tag(s): maps (207), virtual field trips (79)
In the Classroom
Bookmark this site on computers for quick use at any time. During current events discussions, share a street view of locations with students to provide context for the area. When discussing famous buildings, or locations, share a street view to provide students with a 360-degree view of the actual area. Find an interesting location and use street view as a starter for a creative writing project. Extend student learning by having students share their stories using a website creator like Hashify, reviewed here. Hashify is a simple website creator that offers options for adding links and images to the site.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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The Inflation Calculator - Morgan Friedman
Grades
5 to 12
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Compare the adjusted amount of money from its value in any year, from 1800-2022, using The Inflation Calculator. Enter the dollar amount, the initial year, and the final year for ...more
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Compare the adjusted amount of money from its value in any year, from 1800-2022, using The Inflation Calculator. Enter the dollar amount, the initial year, and the final year for comparison to view the adjusted amount. For example, enter $100 in the year 1900 and compare to the 2017 value to find that the same item would cost $2988.86 in 2017!
This site includes advertising.
This site includes advertising.
tag(s): 1900s (73), 20th century (59), calculators (37), financial literacy (92)
In the Classroom
Although this calculator seems relatively simple, use it for many purposes in your classroom. When reading stories set in different times throughout the 1900's use the calculator to compare costs in the story to 21st-century costs. Use the calculator for student writing projects set in the past to add authenticity to information included. Take student learning a step further and ask them to create an infographic comparing prices, technology, populations, workforce, or other important indicators of two different eras. Canva Infographic Maker, reviewed here, will modify student learning and is a very easy to use tool for creating infographics using their many available templates. Challenge math or economics students to enhance learning and create an inflation calculator based on different sets of statistics using Microsoft Excel or Google Forms. Work together with a history teacher to include those statistics on a history timeline with a tool like Time Graphics Timeline Maker, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Case Maker - Bean Creative
Grades
6 to 8
2 Favorites
1 Comments
Case Maker is a collection of 20 civics challenges for middle school students. Share individual challenges with students using the provided Challenge Code. Once students access the...more
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Case Maker is a collection of 20 civics challenges for middle school students. Share individual challenges with students using the provided Challenge Code. Once students access the challenge, the site offers tools for adding annotations and creating case folders. Once complete, students use information as a reference for other assignments or share their work using the site's presentation mode feature. Use your free Case Maker account to modify text and associated primary sources within challenges and follow student progress. Be sure to watch the introductory videos for teachers and students.
tag(s): black history (124), civil rights (194), constitution (87), democracy (19), elections (80), freedom of speech (13), immigrants (33), immigration (64), inquiry (24), media literacy (102), politics (112), racism (76), Research (83), world war 2 (149)
In the Classroom
Take advantage of the free materials on this site to encourage debate and discussion within your current civics lessons and lessons on civil rights and racism. Introduce Case Maker by showing the class the student introductory video. Each lesson includes primary sources to use when responding to prompts; ask students to find and share additional primary sources to include in their response to each question. Instead of just creating a list of additional resources, engage students and augment classroom technology use by sharing additional resources using Padlet, reviewed here. Padlet offers features for adding comments; ask students to use this feature to indicate important information found on the document. Enhance learning by finding and sharing videos that support the topic being discussed. Use Edpuzzle, reviewed here, to add comments and question prompts for students. Upon completing student projects, extend learning by having stidents share their thoughts through a podcast featuring students' challenge solutions. Be sure to include a group of students in each podcast featuring various points of view and their backup documentation. Try using Acast, reviewed here, to create student podcasts.Comments
Great variety of resources!Toni, , Grades: 5 - 8
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