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Cinco de Mayo Study Guide - The History Channel
Grades
4 to 9tag(s): cinco de mayo (10), mexico (32)
In the Classroom
This site is ready to use in class. Have cooperative learning groups debate the discussion questions. Better yet, turn the discussion questions into a class wiki, allowing students to input their thoughts on the wiki. Have students write a journal entry (as a blog) highlighting one of the discussion questions or from the perspective of someone living during the 1800s. If you are beginning the process of integrating technology, have students replace pen and paper and create blogs sharing their learning and understanding using Penzu, reviewed here. If you are teaching younger students and looking for an easy way to integrate technology and check for understanding, challenge your students to create a blog using Edublog, reviewed here. Share maps of Mexico on your interactive whiteboard or projector. The Extension Activity calls for students to create and label a map. MapStory, reviewed here, would be the perfect tool for redefining student learning since you can have images, text, and video in the annotation, and it has a timeline feature. Have cooperative learning groups create commercials enhancing and highlighting what they have learned (be sure they include some new vocabulary words) or transform learning by having students create a video advertisement for your class's Cinco de Mayo celebration. Use a tool like Typito, reviewed here .You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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Mental Floss - Felix Dennis
Grades
6 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): animals (295), famous people (19), grammar (137), quizzes (90), trivia (19)
In the Classroom
Share Mental Floss on your class web page in any science, history, health, or reading class in middle school and up. Use it as a place for students to discover research topics related to your subject or as prompts for blog posts to get kids writing about something that interests them. Make a regular extra credit offering for students to write a blog post responding to something they learn here. If you have trouble getting students to read informational text, use these factoids as introductions to draw their interest before offering a longer article. Use these articles as starters for information literacy activities. Have partners research to find a corroborating (or debunking) source for the trivia offered here. English teachers will love some of the quick articles on misused or frequently misspelled words. Invite your students in any subject to find an article related to your subject and to create a poster version of that tip or tale using a tool such as Web Poster Wizard (reviewed here).Comments
Awesome for so many topics. Blog post ideas! Love the layout and diversity.Patricia, NJ, Grades: 6 - 12
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David Rumsey Historical Map Collection - Cartography Associates
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): 1700s (36), 1800s (75), map skills (63), maps (219), north america (15), south america (44)
In the Classroom
Use this historical map collection to highlight contemporary views of places featured in your history, literature, or geography lessons. Consider asking students to create a slideshow of maps that show how a location has changed over time, or how political boundaries have changed. Use a tool like Slides, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Formative - goformative.com
Grades
K to 12tag(s): assessment (144), commoncore (74), personalized learning (9), playlists (7), polls and surveys (49), quizzes (90)
In the Classroom
Use this tool at the beginning of chapters or units to identify information students are already familiar with. Be sure to use this tool to check for understanding. Use as an exit slip, to identify material that needs to be retaught, or to locate specific students that need remediation. Students can easily see the choices and choose answers using a browser on a laptop or any device. Use this formative assessment tool to create pretests to offer to gifted students to "test out" of already learned material. Make it a class challenge! Project your quiz to the entire classroom using a whiteboard or projector. Use this tool often to obtain a snapshot of each student's understanding of content. Use this tool to give students the opportunity to predict the content of tomorrow's lesson based upon today's.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Papaly - Papaly
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): bookmarks (43), collaboration (93), news (229), social media (48), social networking (61)
In the Classroom
Create an account to keep track of bookmarks to share with students in your class. Papaly bookmarks can be viewed on any browser, anywhere. Create separate boards for the various projects and units in your class. Add information that is useful for student understanding and application of concepts. Keep the boards and bookmarks throughout the year. Consider creating a board for student current events or happenings. Use this for access to information on various topics such as food issues, diseases, political information, cultures around the world, and more. Create a board with more challenging topics for your gifted and advanced students. Students can create a board of links from the web on a certain topic to share with other classmates. Create a professional development board to share with other teachers. Challenge your middle and high school gifted students to curate a board for themselves on a topic of individual interest. For example, a student interested in rocketry can locate and add blogs from rocket scientists, NASA feeds, and more. Talented writers may want to collect links to literary publications and author blogs. Consider creating a login that all students can use in order to add bookmarks that they find useful.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Teampedia - Seth Marbin
Grades
K to 12tag(s): back to school (55), creativity (86), firstday (22), problem solving (232)
In the Classroom
Use this site to find Icebreaker activities and options for the first week of school community building. Bookmark this tool for the first week of school or any time that you want to experience some "team-building" in your class. Use this site if you have weekly classroom meetings to build relationships among students. Share this site with students and have them create their own games based on research projects or as a review for major tests. Share this site with parent helpers to find ideas for classroom parties.Comments
So wonderful to develop creativity using tech. Love the idea of creating games based on research.Patricia, NJ, Grades: 6 - 12
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Gratisography - Ryan McGuire
Grades
K to 12tag(s): images (260), photography (123)
In the Classroom
Use photos from this site in your PowerPoint slides, web page, blog, etc., and be sure to attribute them. The different concepts of copyright are challenging for young students (below about grade 4). You may want to "collect" some photos for their use and save them locally for them to choose from until they are ready to understand the most difficult copyright issues. Select an image to project onto an interactive whiteboard or projector. Give time for students to develop a story around the picture. Use photos that students can use to demonstrate content in various classes. For example, in science, an image of a cat might be used to explain a classification and other animals related to it or the characteristics of life demonstrated in the image. In an art class, discuss the features of the photograph that are compelling, the use of light, the photo's composition, etc.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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PastBook - PastBook P.V.
Grades
K to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): calendars (37), digital storytelling (153), images (260), photography (123), portfolios (23), posters (43)
In the Classroom
Use a class PastBook account to keep track of the day-to-day happenings in your classroom (especially for younger grades). Consider creating albums of specific events such as field trips, service projects, hands-on activities, field experiences such as watershed studies, and more. Have students create portfolios for art and photography classes. Create a magazine of photos that portray different history and social topics. Set the scenes for novels or stories. Explain a specific science concept (using Creative Commons images AND proper credit). Anywhere photos can be used to showcase achievement or explain a concept, this service would be an excellent resource. Learning support, speech, ENL/ESL, autistic support, or world language teachers can collect images into "magazines" for students to practice/develop speech and vocabulary.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Ducksters - Technological Solutions, Inc. (TSI)
Grades
2 to 8This site includes advertising.
tag(s): addition (129), african american (111), american revolution (82), animal homes (57), animals (295), artists (83), biographies (94), china (81), civil rights (203), civil war (139), cold war (30), continents (33), countries (73), data (151), division (98), egypt (56), elements (34), energy (131), environment (248), explorers (65), fractions (161), friction (10), geometric shapes (135), greece (47), habitats (91), human body (93), inventors and inventions (80), keyboarding (28), mean (19), median (16), mode (13), multiplication (122), planets (111), presidents (135), puzzles (149), recycling (46), renaissance (38), rome (37), solar system (108), sound (73), sports (82), subtraction (110), sun (71), world war 1 (77), world war 2 (160)
In the Classroom
This site is a perfect addition for use with a biography unit. Explore and share information categorized by topics such as Civil Rights, the Cold War, Ancient Greece, and WWII. Extend student learning by having students use Fakebook, reviewed here, to create a "fake" page similar in style to Facebook about a president, famous scientist, or nearly any other real or fictitious person. Be sure to create a link to the site on your class webpage or newsletter for students to explore at home. Create a link on classroom computers for students to use the interactives during center time.Comments
Very safe and reliable. Everyone else is my school thinks ducksters is stupid but I love ducksters.Ry, CA, Grades: 6 - 12
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Retronaut via Mashable - Timescape
Grades
7 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): 1700s (36), 1800s (75), 1900s (72), 20th century (62), advertising (26), cultures (179), images (260), maps (219), medicine (56), politics (118), transportation (31)
In the Classroom
Share Retronaut via Mashable with students to explore images from a given time or relating to any historic topic to get an interesting perspective not typically seen in textbooks. Create capsules using images to share for any classroom project or allow students to create their own in conjunction with classroom presentations. Use Wellcome Images, reviewed here, with over 100,000 historical images if you do not find what you want on Retronaut. Galleries are not moderated, so check before sharing on your interactive whiteboard or projector. You can always use the URL of the topic you wish to share on a new tab of your web browser.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Big Dayta - Tsai Hsing School
Grades
3 to 12tag(s): cross cultural understanding (172), data (151)
In the Classroom
Introduce Big Dayta in your world cultures, math, or writing class. If you team teach, work together with your computer, math, social studies, or English teacher to have students share dayta and then analyze and use it for your own class projects. Find specific curriculum activities for math, writing, and social studies classes on the site or ask your students what dayta they would like to compare and contrast in a "hands-on" experience with data. If they like learning about life in other places, your class may also want to join in #XW1W (Across the World Once a Week). Be sure to pass these projects along to other teachers! As a geography extension, have students create an electronic placemarker file using Google My Maps or MapHub, or an actual map poster of the places they learn about.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Pear Deck - Pear Deck
Grades
K to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): assessment (144), differentiation (83), emotions (49), gamification (82), slides (43), social and emotional learning (100)
In the Classroom
Invite students to join. Students will not see your slides UNTIL you start the presentation. Use the presentation tools. Students' view of the presentation follows the changes you make. Be sure to become familiar with these tools before using the tools with students. As students join, their names appear in the dashboard view. Tools include Lock and Unlock Responses from students, Hide and Show Responses, Ask Again, and more. Answer the questions more than once if desired. Pear Deck maintains the results of both attempts.It may be a good idea to open both the Session Dashboard and the Projector View before using with the students. Keep each in separate tabs (or use a different device such as a tablet for one of these). Be sure to turn off student responses and lock responses UNTIL every student has responded (so students will not be swayed by other responses or change answers). With the draggable slide, insert an image that requires quick input such as where a basketball thrown at a hoop will land, where on a timeline image a specific event occurred, or where erosion would be deposited on a river bend picture. You might consider using Pear Deck as a check in or exit ticket using emojis for feelings or depth of understanding. This resource is invaluable for presenting questions for quick formative assessment of the content that students are to learn in any subject area!
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Myths: Writing Workshop with Jane Yolan - Scholastic Inc
Grades
K to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): digital storytelling (153), egypt (56), enrichment (12), greece (47), myths and legends (37)
In the Classroom
After you choose your level, discover one or many of the lessons to integrate into your English Language Arts or Social Studies curriculum. Choose your objectives, and find the lessons that are appropriate. Some lessons can be shared on the interactive whiteboard or projector. Others are more appropriate alone as individual work. Materials are included so much of the prep work is already done for you. To conclude the myths unit, have students create a play featuring a unique culture and a hero they create. Students will need a detailed script containing; theme, plot, settings, and characters including a hero. Go as far as you want developing props, costumes, and accompanying sounds and music. Have students present using a live presentation, video, or digital storytelling. Choose from the TeachersFirst Digital Storytelling tools, reviewed here. This site is a great reference for an after-school enrichment program on writing, reading, book clubs, or even self esteem.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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World Geography Games - World Geography Games
Grades
2 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): atmosphere (22), capitals (16), continents (33), countries (73), deserts (16), earth (184), flags (18), game based learning (199), landforms (38), mountains (9), oceans (147), rivers (16), states (124), volcanoes (54)
In the Classroom
Use this site as a learning station or center. Share the activities on your projector or interactive whiteboard. Divide up your class and make it a class challenge! Include a link to these activities on your class website or newsletter for students to try at home and review for geography tests. Younger students can learn to identify the continents on the interactive maps. Use this resource together to review and reinforce concepts about continents, oceans, and landforms. Older students can use the higher level challenges. Challenge students to use a mapping tool such as MapHub, reviewed here, to create a map of local landforms or information about oceans and continents. With MapHub students can to add points of interest with display markers featuring text, photos, and videos.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Canva for Education - Canva.com
Grades
K to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): DAT device agnostic tool (147), graphic design (49), images (260), posters (43), slides (43)
In the Classroom
This site is perfect for enhancing, modifying, or transforming classroom technology in the classroom depending on the requirements of the assignments. Create a slideshow, invitations, or photo collages for any classroom presentation. Share what you created on your website or blog for students to review or for students who were absent. Deliver blended or flipped lessons using Canva Edu by adding links to videos, assessment information, and other learning activities. In the younger grades, teachers would be the ones creating the project. However, older students could easily create their own Canva presentations. Have students use this online tool as they would any presentation tool or image enhancing site. Use this site for research projects about famous people from the past and present. Have cooperative learning groups create presentations about science or math topics. Have students create presentations to "introduce" themselves to the class during the first week of school. Link or embed the introduction presentations on your class wiki or website and have others guess who they are. Use this tool with your 1:1 art class for students to practice design principles and techniques. Create 2 to 5 circle Venn Diagrams. Share student projects with parents and others via URL. Be sure to demonstrate HOW to use this tool on your interactive whiteboard or projector.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Create Your Visited States Map - Jeremy Nixon
Grades
3 to 12tag(s): maps (219), north america (15), states (124)
In the Classroom
Creating this would make an interesting map to create as a class project when learning about the 50 states. Go through the states list on your interactive whiteboard and create your class map to print or share as a digital image on your class website. Do a map as a class to see which states MOST students have visited. If you feel students may be embarrassed at their lack of travel, this may be better done on individual computers or on a personal response form given to you to input privately. For a whole class activity, divide your class into groups to create separate maps. Compare and contrast states visited. Send home a link to the website for students to create a map with their families. For older students, use the map for content and reassign colors as needed. For example, create a map showing the birthplace of U.S. Presidents: assign red to states without a president, yellow with one president, and green with two or more. This same format could be used in nearly any subject while studying differences in states (democrat or republican, most popular agriculture product, how many - if any - NFL teams, teen pregnancy rate, and much more).Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Witty Comics - WittyComics.com
Grades
K to 12tag(s): comics and cartoons (55), communication (129), summarizing (23)
In the Classroom
Create dialogues that introduce new content topics in your classroom. Students can use this "witty" tool to introduce topics from research or to practice a speech to be given in class. Use comics to create a dialogue discussing misconceptions in the content and a discussion of the actual facts to dispel the misunderstandings. To view more comic creator tools and ideas view this collection. Some suggested comic creators are Printable Comic Strip Templates, reviewed here, ToonyTool, reviewed here, Make Beliefs Comix, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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A Sailor's Life for Me! - USS Constitution Museum
Grades
5 to 12tag(s): transportation (31), war of 1812 (15), whales (11)
In the Classroom
The great sailing ships of the 18th and 19th century were important both to the nation's defense and to the growth of the US economy. There are hours of content here and the frustration will be selecting what you can use within the classroom timeframe you have. Consider introducing the site with some small portions on your projector or interactive whiteboard. Allow accelerated students to spend time with further exploration for enrichment.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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100 Years of Parcels, Packages, and Packets, Oh My! - Smithsonian National Postal Museum
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): transportation (31)
In the Classroom
The ability to mail packages across the country is an important factor in the growth of the US and has contributed to an ever-more-mobile society. Incorporate some of the historic images here into a discussion of changes in transportation and communication over the 20th and early 21st centuries. Ask students to brainstorm the items in their own bedrooms that might have arrived via Parcel Post. How would their lives be different without package delivery? Why is it important for the US Government to be involved in package delivery? Have students share their findings and thoughts by creating online posters individually or together as a class. Use 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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GIF YouTube - GIFYouTube
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Create an animated GIF to get student's attention! A cat reading a book is one way to begin reading time! Show any science concept such as development of an organism, cell division, a chemical reaction, formation of stars, a bullet in slow motion, or anything a student should look at several times to see every aspect of the event. Do you want to reveal portions of a video outlining the travels of historic expeditions, addition of the states to the US, or any other historical event captured in video? Use a looping animated GIF! Every subject could use one of these GIFs to generate an interest in a class activity or new content.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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