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Audio Pal - Oddcast
Grades
1 to 12
13 Favorites
0 Comments
Use this free site to create audio files easily for use in or out of the class. Record your own voice using phone or microphone, upload an audio file, or ...more
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Use this free site to create audio files easily for use in or out of the class. Record your own voice using phone or microphone, upload an audio file, or create audio from text to speech. Choose different voices, use the playback options, and update audio at anytime. Use your email to receive a link to your new audio file.
tag(s): communication (129), speech (68), text to speech (20)
In the Classroom
If using a phone, understanding calling plans and additional charges is needed. You must know how to use embed codes to place audio files within your blog, wiki, or website. No login is required! Simply click the "Get Yours It's Free" button. Choose the method to create the audio and preview and edit the file. Enter your email address to receive a link to your file. Click on the link to grab widgets. Copy the code and place in your blog or website.The tool does not show which work is attributable to which student. You may want to require that students mark their contributions in order to get credit. Consider using a class email account set up for this purpose. Be sure students understand the appropriate use of this email account.
Classroom use: Use this service to record audio of passages used in class, homework assignments, and other written material. Young students can practice reading aloud at this site (and listen to themselves), showing improvement in fluency as the year goes on. Have students use this site in place of a traditional book report. Have cooperative learning groups create a news broadcast and share it using this site. Use this site with ESL/ELL students just learning the English language. Use this site in world language classes for students to hear and learn the pronunciations. Place the embed code in a site that students can access outside of class for review, identifying directions, and listening to text. Speech and language teachers can use this tool to record student articulation and demonstrate progress through the year.
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The Differentiator - Ian Byrd
Grades
K to 12
7 Favorites
0 Comments
Differentiating activities for all learners has become easier with this tool. Use this free Bloom's Taxonomy tool, created by an educator, to develop great objectives for differentiated...more
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Differentiating activities for all learners has become easier with this tool. Use this free Bloom's Taxonomy tool, created by an educator, to develop great objectives for differentiated instruction. Move through developing your goal on this site by choosing a level of Bloom's Taxonomy and a thinking skill. Then move on to your content, resources, finished product expected, and what kind of grouping you want. These are all tabs at the top of the page. Watch the sentence at the top of the screen change as you create your objective.
tag(s): blooms taxonomy (7), critical thinking (122), differentiation (82), newbies (11)
In the Classroom
As an example, use a verb from Bloom' taxonomy such as "evaluate." Click on the part of the sentence at the top, in parenthesis, to enter your content such as "patterns of environmental issues." Choose the resource you want students to use, the product you want them to make, and the number of students in a group by clicking on the tabs. Example objective: Students will evaluate the patterns of environmental issues using websites to create a news report in groups of two. Save your objective by copying and pasting it into any document or online tool. The Differentiator will give you many project ideas that you may not have thought of yourself, and serves as a welcome reminder of different activities and expectations you can use in your classroom. Take a look at this site at the beginning of the school year or when creating a new unit (or project). Find new ways to differentiate for your gifted students using this creative and powerful tool. If your gifted students test out of your current math lessons, use this site to find new material to challenge their minds. This site is deceptively quick and simple, but it could be very useful when writing detailed, powerful lesson plans.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Teaching with Historic Places - National Park Service
Grades
4 to 12
1 Favorites
0 Comments
Do you have trouble finding suitable sites to teach state history for YOUR state? This site includes more than 130 "ready to go" lesson plans organized by state. You can ...more
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Do you have trouble finding suitable sites to teach state history for YOUR state? This site includes more than 130 "ready to go" lesson plans organized by state. You can also view the collection by states, social studies standards, U.S. History standards, specific skills, time period, or topic. This resource was pulled together by the National Park service. The specific topics vary from America's Space Program to Skagway: Gateway to the Klondike to Brown v. Board of Education to The Trail of Tears to Pearl Harbor to Lewis and Clark to the construction of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal and countless others. Check out what it highlights for your state.
tag(s): cities (17), inventors and inventions (80), landmarks (22), maps (215), states (124)
In the Classroom
Search for your state and see what this site has to offer. Looking for a specific topic (i.e. Civil War or Pearl Harbor), search using topics. Take advantage of these ready to go lesson plans. Infuse your lessons with technology by creating a class wiki about the lesson/topic being discussed. Maybe make a wiki guidebook to your state. Not comfortable with wikis? Have no wiki worries - check out the TeachersFirst's Wiki Walk-Through. Save this site in your favorites, and check back as you plan throughout the year.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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AllMyFaves - AllMyFaves
Grades
4 to 12
4 Favorites
0 Comments
Not sure what sites exist for your topic? Start here and find sites listed by icon for Art, Encyclopedia, History, Languages, Science, Writing skills, Music, and numerous other topics....more
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Not sure what sites exist for your topic? Start here and find sites listed by icon for Art, Encyclopedia, History, Languages, Science, Writing skills, Music, and numerous other topics. Whether you are searching for research information, enrichment, or tutorials - check out this site. Notice that TeachersFirst is among the "faves" for teaching!
tag(s): dictionaries (48), literature (220)
In the Classroom
Why search for these sites, when the links can all be found in one place? Use this site in combination with TeachersFirst's rich reviews. Students can use these links as a springboard to research and projects. Be sure to save this site in your personal favorites! There is a lot to explore. List this site on your class website and/or wiki for students to access both in and out of the classroom.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Festisite - IntenCT
Grades
4 to 12
0 Favorites
0 Comments
This site contains a plethora of user-generated poems, tools for making poetry writing simple, opportunities to make comments on the poetry of others and also to submit one's own poetry....more
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This site contains a plethora of user-generated poems, tools for making poetry writing simple, opportunities to make comments on the poetry of others and also to submit one's own poetry. Students and teachers can search for poems by looking at those that have come in most recently, or by searching by categories, called "Tags." To search using this option, you must click on the "poems" tab at the top of the site. Be sure to know your school's policy on having students submit their work before allowing your students to share their poetry. Avid poetry lovers can also subscribe to poetry feeds using this site.
In the Classroom
Use this site to show your students that anyone can become a poet when they balk at reading poetry. Share some of the poetry on your projector or interactive whiteboard. Read some of your required poems and then look at the "Tags" and ask your students to decide where poetry written by others should be placed. Go on to ask them if they can think of other Tags to add. Since many of the poems here have holiday themes, use this as a quick activity before a holiday or to encourage students to reflect on family holiday traditions. ESL/ELL students will not have to worry so much about their grammar when embarking on poetry writing! They'll love to be thought creative. If you are permitted to "publish" your students' poetry, why not go one step further and have them narrate a picture using the words from their poem at a site such as ThingLink reviewed here. Or have students share their poems using a podcasting site such as PodOmatic (reviewed here).Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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New Year's Resolutions - Myvocabulary.com
Grades
4 to 12
0 Favorites
0 Comments
As part of their extensive site for vocabulary, roots, and more, MyVocabulary.com has added a themed area for New Years. Find interactive vocabulary activities using the New Year's...more
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As part of their extensive site for vocabulary, roots, and more, MyVocabulary.com has added a themed area for New Years. Find interactive vocabulary activities using the New Year's Resolutions vocabulary words. You will also find printable crosswords, fill in the blanks and more, all using the same theme words. This and other "themes" available on the site will make vocabulary development fun.
tag(s): new years (5)
In the Classroom
Share the puzzles on your interactive whiteboard or projector or make them available as links on your teacher public page. Replace pen and paper and have students write a blog entry about their New Year's Resolution using 6-10 of the words from this theme. Use Telegra.ph, reviewed here. With Telegra.ph a unique URL is provided, and you just click on an icon to upload images from your computer, add a YouTube or Vimeo, or X (formerlyTwitter) links. If you'd like to make this a bit more challenging, modify learning by encouraging students (or groups) to create their own illustrated dictionaries of terms using a tool such as Book Creator, reviewed here, or Bookemon, reviewed here. As you add more vocabulary lists during the year, have them select their favorite 6-10 terms from each list to add to their "book."Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Learning for Justice (formerly Teaching Tolerance) - Southern Poverty Law Center
Grades
K to 12
8 Favorites
1 Comments
Learning for Justice is a project of the Southern Poverty Law Center and seeks to provide educators with tools to reduce prejudice of all kinds. You might already be familiar ...more
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Learning for Justice is a project of the Southern Poverty Law Center and seeks to provide educators with tools to reduce prejudice of all kinds. You might already be familiar with this group's "Mix it Up" initiative which seeks to get middle school and high school students to sit with someone new for one day during lunch at the cafeteria. This site contains lesson plans, links for teachers, teens, and kids, current topics related to prejudice, an on-line version of the Learning for Justice
magazine, an order form for free curriculum materials, and links to other resources.
The Classroom Resources link offers Lessons, Learning Plans, Student Texts, Students Tasks, Film Kits, and other helpful pages. There is also a link to receive FREE kits and handbooks! There are online activities, recommended books, "talking points," and more.
The Classroom Resources link offers Lessons, Learning Plans, Student Texts, Students Tasks, Film Kits, and other helpful pages. There is also a link to receive FREE kits and handbooks! There are online activities, recommended books, "talking points," and more.
In the Classroom
Of course, the obvious uses for this site include preparing for Black History Month or Women's History Month, consult this site for more than that! Don't just visit the Classroom Resources, but check out the Topics and Podcasts that you can share on your projector or interactive whiteboard. If you are unsure of how to approach a touchy subject with your students--either a subject from the news like the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" rules, or something that is happening in your school or community, this site can provide resources for you and your students. Subscribe to Learning for Justice's emailed newsletter, or order one of the curriculum kits; the newest one is Viva la Causa about Cesar Chavez and the struggle for justice for farmworkers in the 1960s. This is a great addition to your school's anti-bully program! Take advantage of the free lesson plans, class activities, interactive, and book recommendations. This is definitely one to list on your class website!
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Comments
This houses a WEALTH of resources! Thank you, Teaching TOLERANCE.Patricia, NJ, Grades: 6 - 12
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ePals - ePals, Inc.
Grades
2 to 12
4 Favorites
0 Comments
ePals, a global community, offers students the chance to connect with other students around the world (200+ countries). This site is one of the largest worldwide communities for global...more
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ePals, a global community, offers students the chance to connect with other students around the world (200+ countries). This site is one of the largest worldwide communities for global collaboration. Don't worry about student email accounts as they are no longer needed! Don't worry about the language barrier either, there is a built-in language translation! This content-rich site offers a free "how to" webinar on the Support page on the bottom menu. There are several support videos on YouTube. If you district blocks YouTube they may not be available in you classroom. The program offers teacher to teacher and teacher to student communications, pen pal exchanges, Classroom Collaborative Projects, Spark!Lab Invent It Challenges, and more. In addition, you can click on the Collaborative Projects link to find several ready to use projects (Self Driving Cars, Hamilton, Habitats, Maps, Natural Disasters, Water, and others).
tag(s): black history (130), collaboration (90), communication (129), disasters (37), environment (246), habitats (90), maps (215), natural disasters (17), water (101)
In the Classroom
Navigating this site is rather simple. Simply scroll through the slide show at the top to find your area of interest: Collaboration Projects, Spark!Lab Invent It Challenge, etc. Parts of this site require log-in. Registration does require an email address. A lot of safety features are already put into place at this site. To learn more about the safety features at this site, check out the ePals webinar on YouTube link on the FAQ page. This site offers an amazing assortment of class activities and possibilities. Collaborate with schools in Africa (or 200 other countries) for a geography project. Have your students find ePals to correspond with and practice writing skills in English or in a language you are studying. Get additional ideas for projects, by visiting the "Projects" link or propose one of your own based on ideas from TeachersFirst suggestions you read in other reviews, lesson plans, and articles. After viewing one of the informative videos, challenge your students to study one of the topics available at this site and extend their learning by creating their own videos using Typito. Use a tool such as TeachersTube, to share the video clips.Edge Features:
Includes an education-only area for teachers and students
Parent permission advised before posting student work created using this tool
Includes social features, such as "friends," comments, ratings by others
Requires registration/log-in (WITH email)
Products can be embedded
Products can be shared by URL
Multiple users can collaborate on the same project
Includes teacher tools for registering and/or monitoring students
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ZooBorns
Grades
K to 3
0 Favorites
0 Comments
Adorable is the only way to describe this educational site filled with amazing photos of newborn animals born in various zoos around the world. Students have the opportunity to see...more
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Adorable is the only way to describe this educational site filled with amazing photos of newborn animals born in various zoos around the world. Students have the opportunity to see baby animals and read snippets of information that they may not have had the opportunity to experience outside the classroom. Sort through the photos by specific animal or by zoo name. Some animals are also shown on video!
tag(s): animals (295)
In the Classroom
Use this site during animal-based theme units. Project the video clips and pictures on your interactive whiteboard or projector. These photos would make great story-starters for writing activities during Writer's Workshop. Have students include a variety of adjectives to describe these little creatures and their surroundings. Enhance learning by having students use their stories to create online books using a site such as Bookemon, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Photovisi - Photovisi
Grades
K to 12
3 Favorites
0 Comments
Create instant collages of photos using this free site. Choose a collage style and upload photos from your desktop or import from a flickr photo stream read about Flickr, ...more
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Create instant collages of photos using this free site. Choose a collage style and upload photos from your desktop or import from a flickr photo stream read about Flickr, here.
This site includes advertising.
This site includes advertising.
tag(s): collages (17), images (260), photography (121)
In the Classroom
Select pictures from your computer or Flickr photo stream. Choosing a collage type is important and users will need to already have an idea of the number and orientation of the pictures in order to choose the right collage. Download your collage easily. An additional link to purchase items with your collage is also found on this site.Students can use the collage picture as part of a presentation to the class in order to guide their discussion. This would be great to use on an interactive whiteboard or projector. Use this to create a picture collage in order to get students thinking or brainstorming about a topic or unit of study.
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Newspaper Clipping Generator - fodey.com
Grades
2 to 12
9 Favorites
0 Comments
Create a fictional portion of a web page easily by entering a fictional Newspaper, Title of article, Date, and body of article. The final image will be downloaded and not ...more
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Create a fictional portion of a web page easily by entering a fictional Newspaper, Title of article, Date, and body of article. The final image will be downloaded and not retained on any website except the ones that you publish to. Note: Model ethical behavior: Do not plagiarize or use real names of newspapers or people.
There are also links at the top of the page to create: a newspaper, ninja text, wizard text, talking flowers, talking tomatoes, talking owls, a wanted poster, talking cats, talking squirrels, and a clapper board. Be aware: this site does include some minor advertisements.
This site includes advertising.
This site includes advertising.
tag(s): back to school (55), digital storytelling (153), firstday (22), news (228), posters (43)
In the Classroom
You must have the basic ability to enter text into fields and download and find the finished file. For files to be shared, understanding how to upload the file onto another site or blog is required. The "clippings" you make do NOT remain on the site for access later by URL. As files are downloaded to the desktop, you may want to create a Favorites folder, or other "collection" of students projects in one place for easy work at grading time. Another idea: use a class wiki with all projects. Create a fictional account of a happening or description to identify the errors or determine the item being described. Create an account of a class celebration or a fantastic project that should be shared. Students can use this site to create a fantastic account of a vacation or experience. Have students develop a newsworthy article on an event from the novel they are reading. Use this site as a "first week" activity for students to write articles introducing themselves to the class. Have them use pseudonyms in their "articles" and share them on your class wiki or web page. A week later, have a matching contest where classmates must identify the mystery students! You could do a similar "famous Americans" or "important scientists" activity where students learn and share.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Cobocards - Cobocards
Grades
K to 12
2 Favorites
0 Comments
This site allows you to create flashcards, and includes sharing and group capabilities. Many teachers will be able to navigate this free site very easily. Enter vocabulary terms and...more
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This site allows you to create flashcards, and includes sharing and group capabilities. Many teachers will be able to navigate this free site very easily. Enter vocabulary terms and definitions as well as any html (web page language), such as images and charts to create electronic flashcards and quizzes for word study to use in language or other content areas. Create individual sets of flashcards, or invite others to interact and learn the same words. Teacher or students can create groups to share word lists. As with other collaborative tools, the revision history is easily accessible.
tag(s): flash cards (43), grammar review (31), word study (60)
In the Classroom
Sharing with friends for collaboration does require the sending of an email invitation.Explore the guided tour to learn an overview or find answers to specific use questions. Save your "sets" and decide whether you want them to be completely public, just for you personally, or shared with a "group." Create your own groups for each class or subject. Publish your cards for others to use. Published sets can be altered to create a new and personalized set.
Teachers in lower grades will want to create cards their students can use and perhaps have more techno-savvy help with the process. Content and English teachers may choose to set up their own network of users. Learning support teachers could suggest that their students create their own flashcard sets to assist learning of the concepts. Use the interactive whiteboard or projector for quick flashcard or electronic testing using your sets as a whole class or in small groups in the classroom. Collaborate with other teachers to create useful sets for all to use. Rotate responsibility each marking period among student groups in your class to create a set for each chapter/unit/week for the rest of the class to use as review. Give a special award (or bonus points) for the most creative, complete set that marking period.
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Father Figure - Lesson to Honor - Education World
Grades
K to 12
0 Favorites
0 Comments
This site offers five "ready to go" lesson plans for Father's Day. Lessons include art, history, writing, and more. Standards are provided. There is also some general history of Father's...more
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This site offers five "ready to go" lesson plans for Father's Day. Lessons include art, history, writing, and more. Standards are provided. There is also some general history of Father's Day provided.
tag(s): fathers day (12)
In the Classroom
Take advantage of these FREE lesson plans to honor the dads in your students' life.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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The Teachers' Corner - The Teachers' Corner
Grades
K to 12
0 Favorites
0 Comments
This is a great site to mine for quick lesson plans, ideas on thematic units, or simply daily writing prompts. There are detailed lesson plans available for math, arts and ...more
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This is a great site to mine for quick lesson plans, ideas on thematic units, or simply daily writing prompts. There are detailed lesson plans available for math, arts and crafts, nutrition, health, music, math, reading, physical education, technology, writing, science, and social studies. Visit the Seasonal Items link to find even MORE resources related to Read Across America, 100 Days ideas, Daily seasonal writing prompts, and much more! Many of the links will take you to other sites, but the onsite printable worksheets and calendars make it worth a visit. Note: the site is laden with advertising, something TeachersFirst users may not appreciate!
tag(s): fractions (159), nutrition (137), parts of speech (38), phonics (51), speech (68), themes (15), writing (323)
In the Classroom
Although this site has a TON to explore, one of the best places on this site is the daily writing prompt section (find seasonal prompts at the Seasonal Items link). You can share them on your interactive whiteboard or projector with a picture and fact about the day and a question requiring a written answer. This is a great discussion starter or activating strategy with any grade level and it can already be posted when the kids enter the room or used as a prompt for blogging. Whatever subject area you teach, if you are looking for some new strategies to reach your students, check out this site.
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Mother's Day Crafts and Children's Activities - DLTK
Grades
K to 3
0 Favorites
0 Comments
DLTK has created this website that features crafts, songs, cards, poems, puzzles, interactive games, recipes, language arts activities, themed writing paper, and more. Some of the activities...more
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DLTK has created this website that features crafts, songs, cards, poems, puzzles, interactive games, recipes, language arts activities, themed writing paper, and more. Some of the activities require Flash which is not supported in all browsers.
tag(s): crafts (62), mothers day (13), poetry (192), puzzles (144), songs (44)
In the Classroom
Take advantage of these ready to go resources. Share the puzzles and educational activities on an interactive whiteboard or projector. In art class, try some of the crafts. Challenge students to write their own poems to their mothers. Modify classroom technology use by having students narrate a photo of their mother (or another influential female in their lives) using PowerPoint Online, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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The Write Prompts - Squidoo, LLC
Grades
4 to 12
1 Favorites
0 Comments
This site is full of writing ideas and different prompts. You can get a different prompt for every day, including printing them out by the month and daily word prompts. ...more
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This site is full of writing ideas and different prompts. You can get a different prompt for every day, including printing them out by the month and daily word prompts. There are prompts for younger students up through 12th grade. Powered by Squidoo, it has a lot of ads, which makes it more suitable for teacher use than student, but the variety of prompts and links to other writing prompt sites makes it worthwhile.
tag(s): writing (323)
In the Classroom
Use this as a source for any kind of daily or specialty writing you would like to do with students. Take a look and choose a few options for your students to use. Have students model them on your interactive whiteboard in conjunction with a specific writing or grammar skill. For example, choose a prompt to challenge the class to use quotation marks correctly or to add vivid verbs. Have students use the writing prompt of their choice to create a blog entry.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Vocaroo - Vocaroo
Grades
K to 12
12 Favorites
0 Comments
Record a message and embed it into your favorite site or provide a link to share, for free. Send to a friend by entering your email and the email of ...more
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Record a message and embed it into your favorite site or provide a link to share, for free. Send to a friend by entering your email and the email of the recipient. Share on many social media sites witht he press of a button. Recording the message is easy and embedding into a site such as a wiki or blog has never been simpler! No login or registration is needed. Although, if you choose to send a message via email, you must choose a password to use at the site. Vocaroos are stored on their server. Created messages can also be downloaded to individual computers. Visit their FAQ's for frequent questions and responses.
tag(s): communication (129), speech (68)
In the Classroom
You need to be able to navigate controls on the website and sound levels on your computer. Copy/pasting embed codes is also a necessary skill for insertion in a website. Email the sound clip very easily.Future saving of Vocaroos is unsure depending upon server space. Before using with students, you may wish to obtain permission from administration and/or parents. Be sure to check your school's acceptable use policy. Students should be made aware of acceptable use and consequences of misuse of the service.
Vocaroo has a wide variety of applications in any type of classroom! For basic technology integration extend and enhance learning with this tool. Record snippets of information as reminders on your class website or instructions for students to follow. This is terrific for learning support students or non-readers! Have students describe aspects of classroom learning experiences to share with others, such as what they learned from a science experiment or found out about life in Colonial America. Record a quick message for an absentee and email the link to him/her explaining how to catch up on missing work. Create tutorial pieces that students can use as study aids (or have them create them for each other). Use this site in world language classes or for ELL students: have students record and listen to their own pronunciation or send short messages to each other to translate. Have students use this site to practice speeches before the presentation to hear their speed, tone, and words. Use this site for research presentations, instructions for a substitute, or many other possibilities. With younger students, read a short story on Vocaroo, and have student follow along using a picture book. Or have the students read their own stories into Vocaroo and email the readings to their parents! For Mothers Day, why not have students record messages for mom or grandma? Another idea: create a class wiki where parents can "find" the entire selection of Vocaroos for Mother's Day (or another holiday). Record Vocaroos of each student talking about the importance of Moms for Mother's Day or how grateful they are for certain things at Thanksgiving. Embed them all in a class wiki to share with parents. Just email the URL for the collection.
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PicLits - PicLits.com
Grades
K to 12
16 Favorites
0 Comments
The title says it all: "Inspired Picture Writing!" Use this free drag and drop literacy tool to create great sentences inspired by beautiful pictures. Alternatively, add inspirational...more
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The title says it all: "Inspired Picture Writing!" Use this free drag and drop literacy tool to create great sentences inspired by beautiful pictures. Alternatively, add inspirational or humorous captions to pictures. "Lesson Plans" provides learning opportunities and examples for creating captions, compound sentences, or paragraphs. Video tutorials can be found under the FAQs tab. "Explore the Gallery" to see already-created PicLits as well as comments and ratings. After selecting a picture (or using the one they provide) and dragging a word onto the screen, choose different forms of the word by using the drop-down menu next to the word. Move your words anywhere on the screen for creative writing. You can also click "freestyle" instead to type in your own words instead of choosing from their list. Word lists change, depending on the image selected. If your district blocks YouTube, the videos may not be viewable.
Registering for a PicLits account requires the use of an email address. PicLits can be used without an account but you are unable to save or blog about their creation without an account. A class account can be created instead of individual student accounts. However, it does not show which work is attributable to which student. You may want to require that students initial their contributions in order to get credit. All work on the site can be seen without a login. All projects are public. NOTE: Our editors regret that PicLits occasionally allows advertising on their home page to include images that are not classroom-friendly. Teachers should preview to determine whether or not your students can ignore the ads.
This site includes advertising.
Registering for a PicLits account requires the use of an email address. PicLits can be used without an account but you are unable to save or blog about their creation without an account. A class account can be created instead of individual student accounts. However, it does not show which work is attributable to which student. You may want to require that students initial their contributions in order to get credit. All work on the site can be seen without a login. All projects are public. NOTE: Our editors regret that PicLits occasionally allows advertising on their home page to include images that are not classroom-friendly. Teachers should preview to determine whether or not your students can ignore the ads.
This site includes advertising.
tag(s): creative writing (124), digital storytelling (153), images (260), sentences (21)
In the Classroom
Share a PicLit on your interactive whiteboard or with a projector at the start of a grammar or writing lesson to discuss word choice, figures of speech, or vocabulary. Use the visual picture prompt for journal or blog writing, allowing each student to compose a unique poem or haiku. Even science classes can write about concepts illustrated in the many nature photos. Emotional support teachers will love the chance to discuss feelings and how to describe facial expressions in the pictures. Make a collection of PicLits using a tool like 3 x 3 Links, reviewed here, for a curriculum topic. Modify classroom technology use by challenging students to create an online literary magazine using a tool such as BookRix, reviewed here. PicLits can be used for a variety of assignments in any classroom that is integrating technology as an enhancement. ENL students can create PicLits to learn new vocabulary. Have students create PicLits for special occasions and special people (mom, dad, grandparents, school nurse, or others). Use the embed code to place your creations on many other sites, including your class wiki or blogs. Share your PicLit by using a URL or code for an embedded widget.You may want to create a word doc, Favorites folder, or other "collection" of the URLs to all your students' projects in one place for easy work at grading time. Some teachers use a class wiki or blog with links to all projects from there. A simpler alternative would be to use a bookmarking tool such as Raindrop.io, reviewed here. You may allow students to self-register, but be sure to keep a written record of their passwords for when they "forget." It may be worth your time to do advanced registration for your younger students or simply use a whole-class account.
To use PicLits you must be able to navigate tabs on sites, manage logins, and use URLs and embed codes to share results on websites and blogs. Play to learn the tools before or after joining. The FAQs tab also provides a short-and-sweet text explanation of the tools. Find these under the Video Tutorials.
Edge Features:
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)
Products can be embedded
Products can be shared by URL
Multiple users can collaborate on the same project
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Myths, Folktales, & Fairy Tales - Scholastic
Grades
K to 12
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Looking for some new tricks to teaching this genre (fairy tales, folktales, and Myths) to your students? Check out this site that provides lesson plans, interactives, class activities,...more
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Looking for some new tricks to teaching this genre (fairy tales, folktales, and Myths) to your students? Check out this site that provides lesson plans, interactives, class activities, reproducible pages, and more. The lesson plans and activities are divided by grade level (K-3, 4-6, 7-9, and 10-12). The site says that the lessons (for all levels) will take approximately one day/class period.
In the Classroom
The possibilities at this site are endless! Take advantage of the grade-appropriate activities, interactives, lesson plans, and printables. Have students work with a partner to try out the Brainstorm Machine. Use this site to create a writing station. After studying the genre, why not have students create illustrated virtual books of their own using a free tool such as Bookemon, reviewed here. Unfortunately, the included activity requires flash, which is not supported on all browsers; however, the lesson plans and activities provide a starting point for many lessons.
This resource requires PDF reader software like Adobe Acrobat.
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The Art of Bookmaking with Kids - Artful Teaching
Grades
K to 12
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You will want to bookmark and follow this blog. Always adding ideas, this site offers a how to make a book for any age student. Not only ideas, read the ...more
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You will want to bookmark and follow this blog. Always adding ideas, this site offers a how to make a book for any age student. Not only ideas, read the extensive blog material to learn about author presentations. The creators say this site is part scrapbook and notebook, so click on the categories frequently to see the new content. Teachers who desire professional development and fresh ideas will want to include this site in their repertoire.
tag(s): blogs (65), reading lists (77), reading strategies (96), writing (323)
In the Classroom
Use this site to help ANY grade level create original books. Have students work with a partner to create a book together. With older students, challenge them to create a book as a culminating project for a research assignment. Have younger students create books at the beginning of the year to introduce themselves to the class. The possibilities are endless at this creative site! Modify learning and use some of the ideas to make online books using a tool such as Bookemon.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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