2874 language-arts results | sort by:
return to subject listingNutcracker Study Guide - Inland Pacific Ballet
Grades
4 to 8tag(s): christmas (37)
In the Classroom
Use this site as a resource during a historic examination of Christmas. Have students re-write their own version of the story using a different setting, time period, or both be sure that they consider how costumes, sets, characters, folk dances, music, landmarks, locations, events, and animals might be different. Have students consider the Dance of the Snowflakes scene in The Nutcracker. Discuss what animals they might find living in this kind of habitat? What else would you likely find living in this habitat (plants, trees, insects, etc.)? Have students record their ideas on a graphic organizer and draw pictures to go along with it, or replace the pencil and paper with a blog tool like Penzu, reviewed here. With Penzu you can add images or your own artwork as illustrations.Have students compare or contrast The Nutcracker with another folk tale, fairy tale or story they have read or are familiar with.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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Aspects of the Antebellum Christmas - Tim Crumrin
Grades
7 to 9In the Classroom
Use this website as a resource during a unit on Christmas, or while looking at the differences in American life before and after the Civil War. Extend learning and challenge students to create a Venn diagram using an online tool like 2 and 3 Circle Interactive Venn Diagrams, reviewed here, and then writing about their learning and understanding using Telegra.ph, reviewed here. With Telegra.ph you just click on an icon to upload images from your computer, add a YouTube or Vimeo, or Twitter links. This blog creator requires no registration.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Dickens and Christmas - David Perdue
Grades
7 to 12In the Classroom
Use this website as a tool during a unit on Christmas or Charles Dickens. Divide students into small groups or pairs to read the information on this page. The text might be challenging for some students. Pair weak readers with a strong reader. Exchange paper and pencil and instruct students to use Webnote, reviewed here, to take online "sticky notes" for the important information they learn. If some of the passages are difficult, even for the strong reader, have them use Rewordify, reviewed here, to replace the difficult text shown with easier to understand words. Be sure to tell students to use Webnote (mentioned above) to make a sticky for the difficult word or phrase and it's definition, or easier wording. Allow ESL/ELL students to try using Text to Speech Reader, reviewed here, which will allow these students to follow the highlighted text as the article or passage is read to them.Redefine learning and challenge students to create a multimedia presentation around a theme from Dickens using one of the TeachersFirst Edge reviewed multimedia tools. Some tool suggestions are (click on the tool name to access the review): Canva Infographic, Lucidpress, Powtoon, and MoocNote.
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A Victorian Christmas - Malcolm Warrington
Grades
4 to 8In the Classroom
Use this website during a unit on Christmas or Victorian history. Enhance learning and allow ESL/ELL students to try using Text to Speech Reader, reviewed here, which will allow these students to follow the highlighted text as the article or passage is read to them. Consider extending learning by having students create their own online Victorian "albums" using a tool such as MyScrapNook, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Video: Social Media - Common Craft
Grades
K to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): blogs (66), podcasts (74), social media (54), video (258)
In the Classroom
If you are looking to learn more about various social media, check out this short video. Learn more about the "flavors" you could use in your own classoom. For research projects have students create a blog, wiki, or even a podcast and compare the pros/cons of each regarding communication and safety. Create podcasts using a tool such as podOmatic, explained here. If you use "centers" in your classroom, put the video on a "center" computer, do a "right click" on the video, select "save as" and save to the "center" computer.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Harry Potter's Page - Scholastic Books
Grades
4 to 12tag(s): harry potter (9)
In the Classroom
See even more Harry Potter resources at Pottermore, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Jackie French Koller - Privately Published
Grades
1 to 8tag(s): book lists (161), french (74)
In the Classroom
Use the menu bar on the left of the page and explore the Teachers Pages to find books with excerpts and activity pages. Also, look at the tab labeled Freebies and find free downloadable books!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Webquest 101 - TeachersFirst
Grades
1 to 12In the Classroom
Mark this in your Favorites as a professional reference. You may even want to assign students to create their own webquests following these guidelines. If you mentor new teachers, share this resource when they are designing their first web-based projects.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Questioning Toolkit - From Now On
Grades
K to 12tag(s): critical thinking (110), questioning (32)
In the Classroom
Use this site as a guide when lesson planning. Demonstrate to older students how different types of questions will lead to further learning and strengthen critical thinking skills. Display the diagrams and information on the site on your interactive whiteboard to help students explore different questioning techniques. When studying a particular unit, challenge cooperative groups to create their own essential questions (and other types of questions) and create electronic "posters" or word graphics using tools such as Piclits, reviewed here, or WordClouds, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Select and Speak - Google Chrome
Grades
1 to 12tag(s): listening (68), text to speech (19)
In the Classroom
Use Select and Speak as your teacher's helper. Be sure to test it out on classroom computers and devices before using it with students. During research or computer explorations, allow students to use this read aloud feature. Honor the students who heavily rely on hearing as their preferred form of comprehending material. In lower grades, research on computers now becomes an easier task. This extension is perfect for ENL/ELL or learning support students to help with vocabulary development, comprehension, fluency, and repetitions.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Brainyquote - Brainymedia
Grades
5 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): authors (103), themes (11), writing (316), writing prompts (58)
In the Classroom
Save this site in your favorites on Teachersfirst. If you are not already a member, just click on "My TF" to join for FREE. When you are searching for a writing prompt or universal theme to connect with your curriculum area, a famous quote provides a springboard for students to reflect on the topic they just read or studied. After reading two or three literary works or studying historic figures, you might try changing the quote into a question. Have students compare/contrast how each of the characters would respond, and support their responses by citing specific examples. Then, students could answer the question from their own point of view to relate the meaning of the quote to their lives. Create a class wiki for the quotes of the day (and student responses). Not comfortable with wikis? Have no wiki worries - check out the TeachersFirst's Wiki Walk-Through. Or invite students to choose a favorite quote from this site and interpret it both visually and verbally by creating an online poster using ThingLink, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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PuzzleMaker - Discovery
Grades
1 to 9tag(s): crosswords (19), puzzles (143)
In the Classroom
Create your puzzles by following the simple directions. These can be used both online and in print form. You or your students can create games for use on an interactive whiteboard (students highlight the answers in different colors). Have students create their own to challenge classmates! If you have kinesthetic learners or those with weak fine motor skills who have trouble with pencils, the whiteboard is a real help. Make it a center. Build a class collection of student-made games and puzzles for use over and over. Tip: If you take a screenshot of a word search or print it to a pdf, you can save it electronically. Screenshots: Prtscrn key on a Windows machine, then PASTE into a document; Command+shift+4 on a Mac; press both buttons at once on an iPad to save a screenshot to the camera roll.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Kids Know Your Rights - American Library Association
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): bill of rights (28), constitution (87)
In the Classroom
Share this pdf on an interactive whiteboard or projector as part of a class discussion (great for reading comprehension in the content areas, too!). Then allow students to use it and other resources for a class debate on the pros and cons of intellectual freedom. The consitution will come to life in a context students care about.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Thinkport - Maryland Public Television and John Hopkins University
Grades
2 to 12tag(s): museums (44), patterns (62), reading comprehension (142), timelines (50), writing (316)
In the Classroom
Use these tools for any subject area and for any content. Be sure to look at the sample activities that are great to use as is or can stimulate thinking into your own projects. Use the timeline as an introduction to the first year by discussing their summer activities, major events in a students life, inventions or technology that made a difference in their life, events in their favorite book, and more. To understand content in perspective, create a timeline to be sure students understand why some events happen at particular times. For example, our understanding about biology greatly changes after the invention of the microscope. A great sample activity to Create your own Museum is the celebration of neighborhoods which can create a greater understanding about different people. Create a museum for each different kind of biome that showcases what would be found there. Create a museum for a time period in history but created by a specific group of people. View each of the museums and note the differences in what is portrayed using the lens of that various segment of the population. Create writings or blog posts portraying the differences in the museums and why these differences exist. Even young students can make a simple timeline of their own life of the life cycle of a butterfly to build the concept of linear representation of time.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Classroom Jeopardy - superteachtools.com
Grades
K to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): grammar review (31), matching (8)
In the Classroom
Use this great resource to create Jeopardy games for any content area. This resource is perfect for use on an interactive whiteboard or projector with a student emcee. Use for vocabulary/terms, identifying parts of anything, and reviewing for any curriculum topic. Use as an opener to a unit to determine what students already know. Play as a review game to assist learning for all students. Encourage students to create the clues and answers to their own Jeopardy review games as a creative way to review and reinforce. Learning support teachers may want to have students create review games together.You or your students can copy and paste the HTML code for any game on your web page, wiki, or blog for easy access to any Flash Jeopardy Game.
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Reader's Theatre Scripts and Plays - Colleen Gallagher
Grades
1 to 9Editor's note: There is one group of links (to sites that start with "hometown.aol") that no longer work. Since this is only a small portion of the site, TeachersFirst continues to list the resource for its many GOOD links. Roll your mouse over the links before clicking and check the address in the gray bar at the bottom left of your screen. Don't bother with the hometown.aol links.
This site includes advertising.
tag(s): readers theater (10)
In the Classroom
Mark this one in your favorites, then let student groups select from scripts to record their own audio podcasts or create a Thinglink, reviewed here, of a tale, illustrated with a selection of copyright-safe images or student drawings. Or have students make a high-tech excerpt from a reader's theater script by creating avatars to read each part using Voki, reviewed here. Sequence the embedded conversation bits on a class wiki so viewers can enjoy the performance by clicking through them in order. These wiki excerpts could be used to "advertise" an upcoming performance or a featured literary piece.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Bookemon - Bookemon, Inc.
Grades
K to 12After you save and publish the work, share the URL so people can read the entire book online, either among an audience of "just my friends" or publicly. They also offer the embed code to place your books on a class or school web page, wiki, or blog. The easiest option is to copy the address of the new window displaying the interactive book. There is an option to have the book printed for a fee, but this is not required. You can also read books created by others (if they make them public). Use the fully-public option to create learning materials for classes to access year to year for at-home review or reading practice.
This site requires a simple registration. Teachers can set up an edCenter for their school or class in accordance with school policies. See more detailed suggestions "In the Classroom" below and in our sample book! Newer mobile device options include players to view your books on iPads and more.
This site includes advertising.
tag(s): creative writing (121), digital storytelling (142), writing (316)
In the Classroom
SKIP the profile and friends areas to get to the book creator to play with the tools a bit. Before you get too involved, create an edCenter to minimize advertising and create books in your own teacher-friendly class environment. Use the edCenter to register students and establish privacy settings for your class. No student emails are required.On the Create Books page, choose from using a blank book, starting from a file, or using a template. Choose "school" to see projects from other classes or a sample created by you or a student team working in advance along with you. Explore ready-made themes (seasonal, topical, etc.) or use "open theme." Choose book dimensions (match layout shape to any uploaded files, such as PowerPoint slides). Enter settings and description of your book (editable later), including who is allowed to "see" it: everyone, just friends, or private. Again choose a "theme" - more of a category where Bookemon will list your completed book. A logical option is "school." Experiment with tools to upload files (within file limits), add images, add text, etc. Written help is offered as you go, but there is no video demo. SAVE often. Turn margins on to avoid chopping content. To share the book, you must "publish" it (i.e. finalize).
Once published, locate the book under "My Books" and use options to share (by email--and see the URL to copy from there), "Make a new edition" to create a new version--also useful for treating the original as a template for later books), Post to Other Sites offers embed codes. The BEST option is to click the book COVER which opens a new window without ads or "stuff," and copy the ADDRESS of that window to paste into email, etc. You can also mark that clean window view as a Favorite on a classroom computer!
Use your edCenter settings to manage social networking features. This will avoid the "public" Bookemon features such as opportunities to share address books, use social tools such as Facebook to share your books, etc. Teacher-controlled edCenter accounts are probably the easiest option for managing within school policies.
With younger students, have them begin their work in PowerPoint then upload for whole-class books. See an example, created by the TeachersFirst Edge editors . The example is full of ideas for classroom use from Kindergarten to high school, including science concept tales, poetry books, general writing, math problem solve-its, and more. ANY grade can use this tool, depending on the amount of direction by the teacher. (By the way, the correct answer to the problem in the sample book is c. 27.) Another idea: have students create personalized books for their parents or grandparents for special occasions (Mother's Day, Father's Day, or Grandparent's Day).
Use the mobile device features offered in your BYOD classroom to make and share books, PDF's, and more. Tip: Use this site for a guided introduction to social networking as a class, an excellent teaching opportunity for digital citizenship in the context of a project.
This is one of the best creative tools for gifted students to go above and beyond regular curriculum. Don't let the "juvenile" appearance fool you. Even older students can write and include images to create and share books of any length. Any independent research or writing project can become an interactive book. Even advanced science experiments and lab reports can be shared online using this tool. Once you have one book, you can use that as a template for others. Inspire your gifted students to create literary magazine or even a personal online "portfolio" of writing, artwork, or photography presented in interactive book form.
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 (NO email)
Premium version (not free) includes additional features or storage
Products can be shared by URL
Includes teacher tools for registering and/or monitoring students
Comments
This is one of my all time favorite creative tools. Very versatile. Great for making "buddy books" or for teacher-created learning "books." Make one as a whole class to summarize a science unit in primary grades. I even use it personally to make fee online "gifts" for children I know. I did purchase one print version, and it looked great.Thinking, PA, Grades: 5 - 10
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PocketMod - PocketMod.com
Grades
K to 12See a sample PocketMod checklist, notes, and calendar booklet (with a separate page of folding directions) and one made from a PDF of the Pennsylvania Science and Technology Standards, converted using the free downloadable software.
This site includes advertising.
tag(s): organizational skills (90)
In the Classroom
Go to PocketMod and follow the simple drag-and-drop visual screen to create the PocketMod from their many organizer options. Print and fold (NO Acrobat Reader required). More skilled users should consider downloading the free "PDF to PocketMod" converter that will take any pdf document and format it to the small, foldable format. If you have handouts in pdf format or can make them from your scanner/copier, you can make ANYTHING into a PocketMod. The converter assumes you have Acrobat Reader.Have students design their own study guides before a chapter test or maintain a project checklist to be submitted along with the completed project to build better organizational skills. Warning: Students will quickly learn that PocketMod is a great way to make CHEAT SHEETS. Be forewarned of student cleverness!
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TeachersFirst: The Highwayman - TeachersFirst
Grades
7 to 12tag(s): poetry (189)
In the Classroom
Share the start of the poem on your projector or interactive whiteboard. Then turn students or partners loose to explore the poem and discover the details on laptops or at home. Transform classroom technology use and extend the unit by challenging groups or individual students to create their own visual interpretations of a stanza using a tool such as Poster My Wall, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Preceden - Matt Mazur
Grades
3 to 12tag(s): timelines (50)
In the Classroom
Create an ever-growing timeline throughout the school year by adding events discussed in class so students understand where events relate to each other in history. Create a timeline with events in American History and add a layer of authors' works to connect literature's time periods to history.Have your students use Preceden to create a timeline of their life and their family's life. Then use events from their life for writing a memoir, poetry, etc. Science students could create a timeline for the stages of mitosis for a cell or the life cycle of a forest or an animal. Have students in government or history create timelines related to topics you are learning about in class.
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