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Paper Models of Polyhedra - Gijs Korthals Altes
Grades
6 to 10
1 Favorites
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This simple, "hands-on" website offers PDF files of numerous paper models of polyhedra. The files are ready to print and share with your students. The various geometric solids include...more
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This simple, "hands-on" website offers PDF files of numerous paper models of polyhedra. The files are ready to print and share with your students. The various geometric solids include platonic solids, Archimedean solids, Kepler-Poinsot polyhedra, and numerous others. The files are available in PDF format and require Adobe. Get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page..
tag(s): paper folding (3), visual thinking (7)
In the Classroom
Why not print a pattern onto cardstock or other thick paper. Then project the image (that you printed for your students) onto a projection screen or interactive whiteboard, while students work independently at their seats. Before you pass out the paper copies, have them view the projected image and predict what it will be.These shapes can also serve as creative study aids for all subject areas, especially for students who need engaging ways to review. Have students write key terms and questions on the "faces" before assembling the figures, then "roll" them as a study game, testing each other to define or explain terms.
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Reading A to Z - learninga-z.com
Grades
K to 6
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This site has downloadable, leveled reading books for sale, but there are plenty of free stories with illustrations. Along with the stories are worksheets to test reading comprehension,...more
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This site has downloadable, leveled reading books for sale, but there are plenty of free stories with illustrations. Along with the stories are worksheets to test reading comprehension, focus on grammar from the stories, and review what took place in the story. The stories are organized by reading level, from A to Z. New free offerings appear frequently. Schools can apply for a free trial to check out the full offerings. Some stories are available in Spanish. The site offers other genres for free download including poetry, comics, pocket books, alphabet books, and wordless books. Phonics books complete the offerings.
Caution: although you are able to use many of these items for free, most downloads ask that you input your email address. You can bypass this by clicking submit without inputting your email address.
Caution: although you are able to use many of these items for free, most downloads ask that you input your email address. You can bypass this by clicking submit without inputting your email address.
tag(s): reading comprehension (142), worksheets (70)
In the Classroom
The books can be projected on an interactive whiteboard for students to highlight new vocabulary, signal words, etc. with their fingers then read independently. You may want to create a guided reacing activity using Read Ahead, reviewed here. Tell your students' parents about this site to encourage them to read or download and print more stories for their children. Include the link in your class newsletter or on your website. Beginning readers, ELL, and ENL students will enjoy the wordless books whose stories they can tell themselves or tell in their own languages. Students may want to make up their own wordless picture books after seeing some of these examples.
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Easy Things for Beginners - Charles and Laurence Kelley
Grades
1 to 3
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This site has games and activities appropriate for beginning ESL students. Since beginners have few language skills and know little vocabulary, any of these games would help their English...more
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This site has games and activities appropriate for beginning ESL students. Since beginners have few language skills and know little vocabulary, any of these games would help their English and would also be fun for the students. Teachers of speech and language or special ed may also find this useful for their language-delayed students.
tag(s): quiz (66), quizzes (89), vocabulary (236)
In the Classroom
A good site as an alternative for the student who may not be ready fora specific classroom activity or who may need a successful learning experience in the midst of a frustrating day. You may also want to suggest it for at-home use, if the student has internet access.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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National Foundation for Gifted and Creative Children
Grades
4 to 12
1 Favorites
0 Comments
This page is primarily for parents of gifted children, but it includes lists of traits of the gifted and links to resources which classroom teachers might find helpful. A hot ...more
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This page is primarily for parents of gifted children, but it includes lists of traits of the gifted and links to resources which classroom teachers might find helpful. A hot topic is the crossover between traits of the gifted and of ADHD children.
tag(s): gifted (65)
In the Classroom
There is also a gifted child penpal service which could help a lone soul in your classroom.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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ESL HQ - ESL HQ
Grades
1 to 6
4 Favorites
0 Comments
This site helps regular classroom, ELL, and ESL teachers prepare vocabulary review and game sheets by providing ready-made sets of pictures and flashcards. You must register, but registration...more
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This site helps regular classroom, ELL, and ESL teachers prepare vocabulary review and game sheets by providing ready-made sets of pictures and flashcards. You must register, but registration is free and is simple. The many topics and options are a bit difficult to find because of all the forums and blogs on the page; just look for the tabs across the top of the opening page and also "See this Worksheet" when you enter a subject category page. Registrants can create their own combinations of the pictures provided and leave a copy of the worksheet at the site for others to use. The pictures themselves are fairly neutral and would work with all elementary levels. Warning: this site has several advertisements that can be rather distracting. Also, due to the forums and blogs, this is NOT a good site to send students to independently.
tag(s): clip art (11), flash cards (41), printables (37), vocabulary (236)
In the Classroom
This site is a time saver when you are looking for pictures around a certain theme for your ESL and ELL students. Select whatever pictures you like and create worksheets, games, and flash cards. Have students review the pictures and vocabulary with each other after you demonstrate the activity.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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In Town - Linguascope.com
Grades
2 to 8
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CLICK IMMEDIATELY on "Free Preview" for the only free portion of this site. This humorous preview section of a larger, paying, site has beginning level vocabulary. Students pick which...more
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CLICK IMMEDIATELY on "Free Preview" for the only free portion of this site. This humorous preview section of a larger, paying, site has beginning level vocabulary. Students pick which activity they want to try after listening and seeing the basic vocabulary. Activities include dictation, writing vocabulary words in response to the pictures, hangman, matching, etc. Teachers or students are able to print some of the activities. This site also include beginner Spanish, French, Italian, and German - all perfect for beginning level world language classes. This site is also useful for ESL and ELL students. Click for a complete, 8-page list of all the vocabulary covered. Unit tests are also provided. This site requires Flash. Get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.
tag(s): french (74), german (48), italian (28), pronunciation (33), spanish (105)
In the Classroom
Send your Spanish, French, German, and Italian beginning level students to this site for review and practice. ESL and ELL students will benefit from the practice. Be sure to list this site in your class newsletter or on your class website, so students can practice at home.
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How are You? - Genki English
Grades
K to 8
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This ESL site uses cute graphics to illustrate a variety of feelings. Users can view them online or print them out as flash cards. Genki's commentary adds suggestions of how ...more
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This ESL site uses cute graphics to illustrate a variety of feelings. Users can view them online or print them out as flash cards. Genki's commentary adds suggestions of how to use the cards. An accompanying song file (RIGHT-click and Save Target As to download onto your computer) and lyrics spice up the lesson. There are also illustrative photos of a Japanese elementary class using hand gestures to reinforce the lesson. A free online game allows users to click on graphics when they hear the description of a feeling, such as, "I'm sad." Although the page itself advertises products, enough of the offerings are free to make this a worthwhile beginning-level ESL/ELL, speech/language, or emotional support lesson. This site requires Shockwave. Get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.
In the Classroom
Share the activities on a computer cluster or interactive whiteboard with a group or a single computer with one or two students. Special Ed teachers may find the musical activity helps some students respond where they are usually more distant. For more lessons with illustrated gestures, flash cards, teaching suggestions, and songs for ESL students, scroll down to the bottom of this long page.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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MeGlobe - Telestic, Inc.
Grades
3 to 12
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IM or AIM on steroids? That is how MeGlobe describes itself. This site allows the user to instant message to people who speak many different languages. While they may be ...more
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IM or AIM on steroids? That is how MeGlobe describes itself. This site allows the user to instant message to people who speak many different languages. While they may be adding languages as the site builds, at the time of this review, Spanish, Dutch, Chinese, German and Greek are supported. This is a BETA site, so forgive a few wording problems as it refines the languages. Sign-up is quick and free. Once registered, you can invite people from all over the world to chat with you in nearly instant response time. The world definitely comes to your classroom via MeGlobe.
tag(s): chat (41), chinese (44), german (48), greek (33), spanish (105)
In the Classroom
Classroom applications abound. Imagine your class chatting with pen pals in Crete or Amsterdam, and asking them current events questions. Imagine practicing foreign language skills using this tool. Send messages to experts in other countries as your class researches their culture. Travel around the world virtually, through discussions with other classrooms in foreign countries. Use two laptops and you and your ESL or ELL student can chat while learning each other's language, since all translations are on screen. Caution: As with all instant messaging, you would want to only talk with pre-approved people. This is not a program you would want your students to use unsupervised. There are forums, a blog, and chats already set up (look in your "room drawer" after you log in). Preview these to select the best venue for your class' purposes. Since the site requires a membership, you will most likely want to use a single class account so you can monitor how it is being used and avoid inappropriate contacts. If you do use student accounts, check your school policies on using student email to register and make sure classroom use is within approved school policy. This beta is constantly adding new features. Check the blog for the latest.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Live Career - Live Career
Grades
7 to 12
1 Favorites
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A thorough site on planning for a career. Includes timelines, options, many links to different career paths and college planning resources, even a cover letter generator. the site does...more
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A thorough site on planning for a career. Includes timelines, options, many links to different career paths and college planning resources, even a cover letter generator. the site does have some advertising, but it is tolerable (turn on your pop-up blocker). Special Education teachers working with students on transition planning will also find this site helpful in providing a structured approach.
tag(s): careers (139), college (46), financial aid (13)
In the Classroom
Mark this one in the Favorites on a classroom computer or make it available for students to use independently after you share it for basic navigation tips. You may even want to assign certain tasks on the site as part of your careers unit.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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A Maths Dictionary for Kids - Jenny Eather
Grades
2 to 8
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A Maths Dictionary for Kids is a fantastic interactive online math dictionary for students which explains over 600 common mathematical terms and math words in simple language. Enter...more
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A Maths Dictionary for Kids is a fantastic interactive online math dictionary for students which explains over 600 common mathematical terms and math words in simple language. Enter the site using the link on the home page and choose (or browse) math terms. Math terms come to life with a click of the mouse! Virtually all terms have an animated or interactive component - for example, choose quadrilateral to view a definition along with an image of a quadrilateral, the next button changes the quadrilateral to a square along with the new definition, choose next again to see the square change to a rhombus, and so on. Virtually all standard math terms are included so users are likely to find anything they want along with some new terms! A link is included at the bottom of each section to print each definition easily.
Another wonderful portion of the site is a new section titled Math Charts. Search this portion by choosing from areas such as numbers, operations, decimals, or much more then choose one of the sub-topics. Each chart includes a visual description of the topic and is specifically created to be printed for classroom use, choose the print button at the bottom of the page and the content will enlarge to fill the most it can in whatever size paper is chosen. Be sure not to miss the blackline masters located at the bottom of this section that contain many printables for classroom use such as fraction strips, hundreds charts, and much more.
Another wonderful portion of the site is a new section titled Math Charts. Search this portion by choosing from areas such as numbers, operations, decimals, or much more then choose one of the sub-topics. Each chart includes a visual description of the topic and is specifically created to be printed for classroom use, choose the print button at the bottom of the page and the content will enlarge to fill the most it can in whatever size paper is chosen. Be sure not to miss the blackline masters located at the bottom of this section that contain many printables for classroom use such as fraction strips, hundreds charts, and much more.
tag(s): addition (128), charts and graphs (169), data (148), decimals (84), division (98), fractions (159), measurement (125), money (119), multiplication (122), order of operations (28), percent (58), ratios (46), subtraction (109), time (92)
In the Classroom
The math charts are a wonderful resource for classroom bulletin boards, wall decorations, and more - simply laminate for increased durability. Print onto standard sized paper for use in math notebooks or journals. Create a scavenger hunt for students to perform to find words in the math dictionary, have students write definitions and illustrations in math notebooks. View the site using your interactive whiteboard when discussing, introducing, or reviewing math concepts. Share this site through your classroom website or newsletter for reference at home. Share with ESL/ELL and Special Education teachers as a resource to use with students.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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All About ADHD
Grades
1 to 12
1 Favorites
0 Comments
This site from Mental Health Net offers a number of good starting points for learning about ADHD, though there is no particular focus on ADHD in schools. Mental Health Net ...more
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This site from Mental Health Net offers a number of good starting points for learning about ADHD, though there is no particular focus on ADHD in schools. Mental Health Net also contains a listing of treatment facilities that might be useful in some settings.
tag(s): adhd (29)
In the Classroom
Share this article with co-teachers who are dealing with a student that has ADHD. Teachers can share this article with parents in a discussion of ADHD, if there is a need for more understanding or treatment options. At the very least, this article is a great way to better understand ADHD and how it affects a child in the classroom.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Englishbanana.com Picture Dictionary - Matt Purland
Grades
1 to 6
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This fairly extensive picture dictionary uses photographs, not drawings, to assist language learners to see the real thing! Besides defining the word the student selects to look up,...more
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This fairly extensive picture dictionary uses photographs, not drawings, to assist language learners to see the real thing! Besides defining the word the student selects to look up, other items in the photo are also labeled so that learning vocabulary can occur in chunks, thus making it more meaningful and comprehensive. Site users may add to an archive of quizzes on the dictionary's word list.
tag(s): speech (67), vocabulary (236)
In the Classroom
A great dictionary site to bookmark on your classroom computers for limited English speakers! This one would also be good for speech and language practice for special ed both at home and at school.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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ESL Lessons and Help - Karin M. Cintron
Grades
4 to 12
2 Favorites
0 Comments
Originally written for ESL students to practice language skills, these interactive quizzes are very useful for allowing all levels of students to test their skills online in a nonthreatening...more
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Originally written for ESL students to practice language skills, these interactive quizzes are very useful for allowing all levels of students to test their skills online in a nonthreatening way. These interactive quizzes seem to touch on all bases from business English to grammar to vocabulary (including idioms), making them great for either pretesting, practice or review. They also allow the teacher to individualize what students need from a variety of choices.
In the Classroom
Assign individual or mini-lesson practice on laptops or a computer cluster in your classroom after grading writing assignments or while studying grammar. Learning support and ESL teachers will also like the extra practice options to help students with grammar skills and idioms. Since there is no "scoring" function, you may want students to raise hands and SHOW you how they did as they complete activities.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Lit Tunes - Corndancer
Grades
5 to 12
3 Favorites
0 Comments
Wow! Wow! At this site you will find lesson plans that connect grammar, literature, and music. Use music to teach students about sentence structure, plot elements, basic grammar, literary...more
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Wow! Wow! At this site you will find lesson plans that connect grammar, literature, and music. Use music to teach students about sentence structure, plot elements, basic grammar, literary terms, and much more. You'll also find a database of hundreds of contemporary and classical literature titles connected to contemporary music. Click on "Connection" on the left to find music for every major work you will ever want to teach.
tag(s): literature (218)
In the Classroom
Use the list to find literature you can use in your classroom. You may want to choose short stories or poems and their music so students will get the idea of how music and literature can fit together. Then have students choose appropriate contemporary music for an independent reading novel presentation or report. Have students figure out how they would divide up the book into sections. Then select a piece of (school appropriate) music that they think captures the feel or tone of each section. They record the pieces and possibly do voice-overs explaining what is happening in the novel during the piece of music and why they felt this piece of music fits the section of the novel. As a choice, students could use "podOmatic" to create podcasts, reviewed here. Or have students create ThingLink, reviewed here. Be sure to PLAY the music out loud as the student is talking. If you want students to "mix" or create music with their own computer, check out Soundtrap, reviewed here. You may wish to take that a bit further and challenge students to record a song using a tool such as UJAM, reviewed here, where you simply record your voice (even talking and not singing!). UJAM is free and synchronizes your voice and its speed to a variety of different background music options.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Find a Book - lexile.com
Grades
1 to 12
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0 Comments
This site allows teachers and students to go through four simple steps to find a book that has a lexile rating. The steps include entering a lexile range (if unknown: ...more
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This site allows teachers and students to go through four simple steps to find a book that has a lexile rating. The steps include entering a lexile range (if unknown: enter grade level and ease of reading), interests (similar to a keyword search), search of all items that come up, and list-making.
One disadvantage of the site is that you can only enter a keyword when you get to the third step. After a book list based on interests appears, then you can search by keyword to make the search zero in on specifics. When teachers or students select books for a reading list, they can then click to see the complete list of books they have selected. Clicking on a book title leads to another screen, but it does not contain a book summary; instead, it has a list of other keywords for the book along with other book data.
One disadvantage of the site is that you can only enter a keyword when you get to the third step. After a book list based on interests appears, then you can search by keyword to make the search zero in on specifics. When teachers or students select books for a reading list, they can then click to see the complete list of books they have selected. Clicking on a book title leads to another screen, but it does not contain a book summary; instead, it has a list of other keywords for the book along with other book data.
tag(s): book lists (162), independent reading (86), reading lists (79)
In the Classroom
This site is great for teachers searching for books at specific lexile levels. Learning support and ESL/ELL teachers can find books to accompany units in content area classes but on the correct lexile level. Students can also use the site by entering their grade levels and what kind of readers they are. Use this site to differentiate the learning experience for all levels of students. Rather than having students complete traditional book reports, why not have them complete a multimedia project? Provide some choices such as a podcast, using PodoMatic (reviewed here), interactive venn diagram comparing characters (reviewed here), or online book using Bookemon (reviewed here).Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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U.S.A. Learns - U.S. Dept of Ed
Grades
2 to 12
1 Favorites
0 Comments
This site includes FREE lessons in English and Spanish. Prospective English or Spanish learners start lessons with free registration. Registration is not required to USE the site, but...more
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This site includes FREE lessons in English and Spanish. Prospective English or Spanish learners start lessons with free registration. Registration is not required to USE the site, but it is required to track progress. When registering, an email address is optional. After registration, students can choose a course at the appropriate level. There are 3 in English and 3 in Spanish. Students can then choose the specific lessons and follow its specific activities in order for each featured topic. Learning activities include videos, transcripts for the video text, questions, listening, stories, vocabulary practice, writing exercises, quizzes, and even voice recordings for pronunciation practice. Although registration is not absolutely necessary, doing so allows students to keep a record of the activities they have already completed. This site requires Flash. You can get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.
tag(s): pronunciation (33), spanish (105)
In the Classroom
What a fabulous site for ESL, ELL, learning support, and students learning Spanish! Introduce this site on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Share this site with Spanish students who do well at working on learning independently. ESL and ELL students will also benefit from going through the lessons, individually or in pairs. Teachers can register independently from their students and keep track of learner progress and participation. As students learn new vocabulary words, challenge cooperative learning groups to create an online book sharing their newfound vocabulary. Use a tool such as Bookemon, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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A Holiday Gift Ideas for Children and Adults with Vision Loss - American Foundation for the Blind
Grades
1 to 12
0 Favorites
0 Comments
If you're looking for an educational toy or game for a special-needs student, check out this comprehensive, annotated list of items, especially designed for children with physical and...more
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If you're looking for an educational toy or game for a special-needs student, check out this comprehensive, annotated list of items, especially designed for children with physical and hearing impairments, vision problems, and developmental disabilities.
tag(s): disabilities (30)
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Big Huge Thesaurus - Big Huge Labs
Grades
1 to 12
6 Favorites
0 Comments
This simple-looking online thesaurus is actually MUCH more than a quick-look-up. You can find synonyms, antonyms, similar words, and rhymes for any word you enter. A click on any of...more
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This simple-looking online thesaurus is actually MUCH more than a quick-look-up. You can find synonyms, antonyms, similar words, and rhymes for any word you enter. A click on any of the words offered provides the same information for THAT word, sending you on word-paths through the English language. Innocent-looking links at the top of the page also provide hundreds of prompts for blog posts and stories, with enough choices to inspire any writer. Don't let the boring white background and plain-text presentation fool you. This tool has magic powers to make words interesting to almost anyone. The database of words used to generate this thesaurus comes from "the Princeton University WordNet database, the Carnegie Mellon Pronouncing Dictionary, and suggestions from thousands of people on the internet just like you." See a special note to teachers below regarding student behavior!
tag(s): rhymes (21), thesaurus (22), vocabulary (236), word study (58), writing (318), writing prompts (58)
In the Classroom
Keep this link handy among the resources on your class web page or wiki, and be sure to bring it up on your screen or interactive whiteboard to remind students of the rich tools it offers as you teach grammar, revision, poetry, essay-writing, or even letter and resume writing. With primary grades, share the rhyming words to help teach spelling and phonics! As students share in revising a passage or writing a poem on the interactive whiteboard, have this thesaurus available on another window to model their search for just the right word. Encourage students to look up any new vocabulary or terminology at the start of new science or social studies units so they can gain a broader "sense" of the words themselves through a constellation of synonyms and related words. Help students refine vocabulary by having them rank the various synonyms offered for a certain word, deciding which has the most positive or negative connotations. Offer the writing prompts for student journal or blog posts or creative stories. ESL/ELL students can explore new words with this tool, even practicing the rhyming sounds and noticing their varied spellings. Check out the Big Huge Labs educator account. Easily pre-register students to avoid creating logins, view and download their creations, and view the site advertisement free. You will find information about the Educator Account here.NOTE: If students enter an inappropriate word, they WILL find classroom-inappropriate terms. As with use of any reference, your students need to know your classroom's consequences of such activity. The options are no different from students looking up body parts or pornographic terms in a print dictionary or on Google.
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LaRue Literacy Exercises - Charles LaRue
Grades
6 to 12
1 Favorites
0 Comments
These online basic literacy exerciese include writing a check, reading a map, filling in a time sheet, and filling out a form. ESL students, transitional Special Ed students, and any...more
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These online basic literacy exerciese include writing a check, reading a map, filling in a time sheet, and filling out a form. ESL students, transitional Special Ed students, and any student at a basic literacy level would benefit from these illustrated auditory instructions. There are also downloadable printed sheets of the same information.
tag(s): maps (208)
In the Classroom
Let your students play and replay the modules (with headphones!) until they believe they understand, then try thr online or prinatble exercises for practice and comprehension check. You could also do the activities together with a class on a projector or interactive whiteboard.
This resource requires PDF reader software like Adobe Acrobat.
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YourDictionary - LoveToKnow Corporation
Grades
K to 12
1 Favorites
0 Comments
A definitive authority on words, this free site gives you definitions, thesaurus entries, spellings, pronunciations, and etymology results. Add to that list an audio pronunciation system...more
Here is the direct link to share this resource review. Feel free to copy and paste this URL into an email or place it on your web page or blog so others can read this TeachersFirst review:
A definitive authority on words, this free site gives you definitions, thesaurus entries, spellings, pronunciations, and etymology results. Add to that list an audio pronunciation system that allows you to hear the word as well. YourDictionary also provides resources to help you find foreign language translation sites. It even directs you to medical, computer, or electricians' dictionaries, and many more. Haven't you always wanted to say a tongue-twister in the Asante language? Words have never so much fun. This site does include some advertisements.
tag(s): thesaurus (22)
In the Classroom
Send students to this site to look up those difficult words. ESL and ELL students can use this site to practice the pronunciation of new words. Be sure to mark this site as a favorite or share on your teacher web page for easy access.
This resource requires PDF reader software like Adobe Acrobat.
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