This latest redesign of the Lascaux tour offered by the French government takes viewers on a video tour of the famous French caves. As you walk along, pop-ups label the drawings being viewed. An outline map on the right lower side of the screen shows the path the "walker" is taking, and also demonstrates where the viewer is at any given part of the tour. In addition to the video walk, information about the caves appears in "Chapters" which students can click on. The original version of this site is in French. The left sidebar offers the options of viewing the site in French, English, German, or Spanish. This link automatically opens to the English version of the site. 10408
In the Classroom: Introduce this site on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Since many of the functions work on mouse-over -- not click -- you may want to use a human being to operate the actual computer mouse, since many whiteboards do not “know” where you are mousing until you click! Then have students explore this site independently or in small groups. This is a great addition to French or Art class. Challenge students in your class to narrate an image orally in French as they present it on the big screen or have them create their own narrated “cave paintings” using a tool such as Voicethread, reviewed here.
Teachers First Edge Review: For slightly adventurous technology users. Create your own motivational poster easily and effortlessly. Choose a random picture, one from the Internet, or one chosen from your computer. Choose colors to border the picture and the type of text to be used. Enter your text and preview the result. Once complete, save to flickr, your computer, or print using a separate site. Remember you can use a saved image in PowerPoint shows and on a class wiki, as well. 10401
In the Classroom: Skills required: You need to know how to browse and upload a file from your computer or find the URL of an image already on the web (one you can legally use, of course!).
Safety/Security: Be aware: there are some advertisements on this site. Also, make sure students are aware of copyright laws. Use this site to encourage proper use of photographs that students have the authorization to use. Model including appropriate photo credits on the posters.
Classroom use: Younger students can use this tool together as a whole-class activity or simply enjoy the posters their teacher creates. Have students create a picture about what has been studied with a caption of what has been learned. For example, create posters about predators and prey or classifications of animals. Students can create a poster of a study skill or learning activity that helps them learn. Create a caption that explains how the student learns the best. Every subject area can use this resource to create interesting presentation posters for display or as springboards to talk about what was learned. For example, in Biology, students could create a poster about a cell part with a clever caption about the importance of the job. In Literature or History, students can create posters about the perspectives of others in the story or at that time of history. Rather than a traditional research project. Have cooperative learning groups use this site to show their knowledge in any subject area. Ask students to apply concepts such as constitutional rights by illustrating them in poster images with captions. Teachers can create bulletin board images, as well. Have a classroom motivation poster competition to start off the school year! Share the winners on your class wiki or in a PowerPoint presentation at back to school night/open house. As special occasions approach, have students bring in or take a digital picture they can make into a poster as a family gift with their own inspirational saying.
Teachersfirst Edge Entry: for anyone who can click and type! Trailfire is an online tool for making "trails" for others to follow on the Internet. You can also find "trails" created by others willing to share their work. Simply by clicking the various "stops" along your guided trail, you can add notes telling people who should stop here or what they should do, comment on the pages' content, etc. Click "explore" to browse or search (by tag or keyword) the many trails already available. Click "Learn" in the tag cloud to see examples of "how to" trails. There is even one on how to make lesson plans! Navigate the "trail" with small blue arrows at the very top and read the creator's comments as little pop-ups that look like sticky notes. As with any public site, there are topics NOT suitable for the classroom, so preview, preview, and preview. Buried among the trails are some created by teachers, such as the Great Pumpkin Adventure or this sample trail by the TeachersFirst review team. Trails YOU make can be shared by URL or kept private to share with your selected viewers. NOTE: the site seems a bit sluggish at times, so resist the urge to click into "mouse panic." 10396
In the Classroom: Skills Needed: NO skills are needed to view and use trails created by others. Explore, find, and save the URL for the trail you want your students to use. To be able to create trails, join the site (email required, but no waiting for verification email). Download the Trailfire toolbar (you will be prompted to do this when you register). You do NOT need this toolbar to FOLLOW trails, only to create them or "see" marks left behind by others on the web. Note that any computer equipped with the Trailfire plug-in installed will also "see" any public "marks" left on pages by other Trailfire users. If your school computer does not allow downloads, you can create trails at home for use by students.
Getting started: Once you join and download the plug-in simply click the Trailfire "mark page" button on your toolbar whenever you visit a site on which you would like to comment. The sidebar (which you can keep open or close with the x) offers hints as you learn to use Trailfire. If you are preparing a trail for students to follow,
Add "marks" (like sticky notes) to each web page on your trail. These can include comments, directions, etc. To share your trail, go to "My stuff" and get the trail URL (tiny orange text!)
Safety/security concerns: If you are only USING trails or creating them for your students to use, there are no safety issues. If you are having students create trails they will need to log in and work on computers with the Trailfire download installed. You might want to consider using a whole-class account with your own (extra) email as the log in or setting up a GMail account with sub-accounts. Tip: rather than using your personal or work email, create a free Gmail account to use for memberships. If you plan to have students register individually, you may want to create your own Gmail account with up to 20 subaccounts for each group of students (by code name or number) within your classes. Here is a blog post that tells how to set up GMail subaccounts to use for any online membership service. Since the Trailfire site offers Recent, Popular, and Hot trails on the home page, teachers allowing students to create trails will want to have strict policies about avoiding these areas where the general public could create topics for trails inappropriate for the classroom.
Possible Uses:
Have students create visual bibliographies of sites they used for a project and what they learned there, or create student trails of different types of volcanoes (explaining them in markers). Challenge students to create trails of examples of the bill of rights in operation or the three branches of government in real life, or student commentary on web page bias, or even student explanations of grammatical errors they find---with markers explaining the CORRECTIONS! Teacher-created trails for students doing project-based learning, including notes on which sites might be more challenging reading or include a good introduction, key terms and definitions in markers on a page with challenging reading, purpose-setting "markers" for reading comprehension practice using web articles. What other ideas can YOU add?
Use Tread Lightly to calculate your ecological footprint, join the forty day challenge (set to run from the end of October through December, each year) to adopt green habits, and view curriculum. There is a short introductory video clip that introduces the 40-Day challenge and the entire website. Click on the “40-Day Challenge” link to learn more. Click on "Get Involved" to download the Educator Toolkit, set up a virtual classroom on TIGed, and collaborate with others. Occasional art contests add to the multidisciplinary look at your environmental foot print. 10310
In the Classroom: Use this site for each student to identify his/her ecological footprint. Students can find areas of improvement and generate a class list of ways to help the environment. Students can create pledges for themselves and their family as well as create a campaign to raise awareness. Assign the creation of a public service announcement to educate others. Have students create informational commercials and share them using a tool such as SchoolTube reviewed here. Have other groups create podcasts to share using PodOmatic (reviewed here). Join the TIGed community to collaborate with other schools around the world or identify the concerns of other students around the world.
TeachersFirst Edge Entry: for moderately adventurous technology users. Xtimeline allows you to view, create, share, and discuss interactive timelines. The sample, user-created timeline topics vary greatly: History of the Olympic Games (perfect during Olympic years), Google Company History, Biography of Mozart, Pregnancy Timeline, Timeline of Harry Potter Series, Eleanor Roosevelt, Darfur, and countless others. There are search options to help you find the timeline that you are looking for. Of course, there is also the option to create your own unique timeline and share it by URL or by embedding in your class blog, wiki, or ther web page (see example below). Many of the timelines include Flash enabled animations or videos. If you don't have Flash. You can get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.
NOTE: This tool opens without the narrow TeachersFirst framebar at the top that allows you to return easily to TeachersFist search results. To go to xtimeline, RIGHT click the site title and Open in new window (or tab)to be able ot return here easily. 8802
In the Classroom: Skills Needed: If you only plan to VIEW timelines, no extra skills are needed at all! If you plan to comment or add a timeline, you must register. Registration requires a username, password, email address, and marking the box stating that you are OVER 13 YEARS OF AGE. To create a timeline, click on the Create link and follow the step-by-step directions. The next page will be a "fill in the blank" activity asking for the title of your timeline, language, photos, categories, tags, descriptions, and the security options for the timeline (who can edit, who can view, who is able to discuss).
Safety/Security Concerns: To protect the identity of your class and individual students, you may want to mark the boxes private (on the timeline create/edit screen). By marking the boxes private, others can't view, edit, or discuss your timeline. This eliminates many of the dangerous aspects of the public viewing your class information. If you make the timelines public, you may receive comment from outsiders("discussion"), ratings ("likes"), etc. These tools can be used within groups or privately with thsoe you specify as haing permission to veiw your timeline. These options could provide a controlled way for students to interact safely with each others' work.
Users must register to create a timeline. Registration requires a password and email address. Tip: rather than using your personal or work email, create a free Gmail account to use for memberships. If you plan to have students register individually (OVER 13 ONLY!) , You may want to create your own Gmail account with up to 20 subaccounts for each group of students (by code name or number) within your classes. Here is a blog post that tells how to set up GMail subaccounts to use for any online membership service.
Possible Uses: There are many uses for the already created timelines: use your interactive whiteboard or projector to learn about the history of the Olympics, famous people, events, literature, and more. Have students create timelines for research projects using Xtimeline. Use this tool to make a timeline of your class’ school year for younger classes who are just learning the graphical representation of time. Create animal life cycles, author biographies, or even timelines of the events and causes leading to a war. Make a time line using local, national, or international current events. Or look back in time and create a historical time line, scanning old pictures or using copyright free images from the Library of Congress American Memory Collection. Other ideas: artists, musicians, writers from a certain period in history, the twentieth century in different countries, World War II timeline, Civil War timeline, timeline of insect stages, timeline of the rock cycle, of a plant or tree, timeline or life cycle of migratory animals, personal timelines-- suitable for younger students only if they work with a teacher account. Have them create a timeline of the plot of a novel, interspersed with the ways themes appear throughout the novel. If you read Dickens, be SURE to create a timeline of the many intertwined characters, such as Estella and Pip in Great Expectations! If you teach chemistry, have students create illustrated sequences explaining oxidation or reduction (or both). Elementary students could even interview grandparents and create a class timeline about their grandparents’ generation for Grandparents' Day. For collaboration, link up with another classroom in another town (or another country) to build a time line that shares events in each local area so students can see what was happening at the same time in another location, maybe in the opposite hemisphere (compare weather and seasons!). In world language classes, have students create a timeline of their family in the mlanguage to master vocabluary about relatives, jobs, and more (and verb tenses!).
A Sample Xtimeline project created by the TF Edge review team appears here (click and drag to see the rest):
This site, a collaborative effort among the National Archives, National History Day and USA Freedom Corps, highlights the most important documents in US history. Each of these "milestone" documents is detailed and photographed on a separate page; the photo can be enlarged for presentation on an interactive whiteboard. What is most helpful for teachers, however, is the link to tools for educators: a downloadable sourcebook, suggestions for using the documents to meet specific national social studies, economics, English, arts, civics, history, geography and technology standards, and lesson plans. This site was clearly designed with teachers in mind! 10330
In the Classroom: The use of primary sources in teaching has been greatly increased by our digital access to documents like these. Peruse the list of "milestone" documents, and commit to using the photographs on an interactive whiteboard (or projector) when the document comes up in a lesson or discussion. For teachers who are supporting student projects for National History Day, this site also has a link to specific tips, although it appears the site has not been kept up to date with current information on individual competitions. Challenge cooperative learning groups to investigate one of the documents and create a multimedia project of their choice. Looking for some inspiration? How about having groups create a podcast using PodOmatic (reviewed here). Or have students create online posters on paper or do it together as a class using a tool such as Project Poster (reviewed here or PicLits (reviewed here. Have students narrate a photo of the document (using a FREE and LEGAL photo) using a site such as Voicethread reviewed here.
Many museum sites are little more than a set of on-line directions to get to the brick-and-mortar museum and a few promotional photographs. This site, however, is designed to be used as an online museum. You can start by searching the museum by geographic location or keyword. You can also search by time period from the “Teaching Kit” area. Or click on one of the featured exhibits which range from excavations of the CSS Alabama, the remains of an 18th century fleet sunk in New York's Lake George, to the HMS Serapis. A link to a "teachers’ kit" gives information about ordering (free with the exception of shipping costs) a hands-on set of materials to keep and get free updates for as long as they would like to use it. For younger students, there is a slide show that introduces the concepts of underwater archaeology in an interactive whiteboard-friendly format (see featured exhibit: A Children's Introduction). 10331
In the Classroom: Who isn't fascinated by treasure buried under the seas? This site will help you sneak in history lessons by engaging students in the process of underwater archaeology. The site also makes a strong effort to integrate various curriculum areas from art to biology along with the historical importance of various excavations. Students might also want to follow one of the underwater blogs with information about ongoing projects. Have cooperative learning groups create a multimedia project related to one of the blog stories. For visual students, use an online poster creator such as Wallwisher, (reviewed here).
Have students use a tool such as Woices (beta) (reviewed here). This site allows students to create audio recordings AND choose a location (on a map) where the story takes place.
Teacher's First Edge Review: For slightly adventurous technology users. Want a slicker way of finding creative commons pictures (pictures you are ALLOWED to use without copyright problems, simply by giving credit)? Compfight searches flickr pictures and finds those that can be used in other activities and projects. Enter text or tags, and compfight does the rest, providing thumbnail images for you to choose from. 10280
In the Classroom: Skills required: Users need to be able to use good search terms to find the best pictures possible as well as knowing where to save images on their computer. Be sure users know that credit must still be given to the person who took the picture and their name must appear wherever the image is used. Be sure to use Compfight correctly by changing the settings at the top. For students using images, it is recommended that the word "only" appears next to Creative Commons, the word "On" for Seek Original, and the word "On" for Safe Search. An image showing these settings can be found here.
Safety/Security: No login or registration is required. Be sure students understand what is and is not permissible due to copyright and how Creative Commons allows some extra uses. Students must give credit to the owner of the image.
Classroom use: Use in the classroom any time that an image is needed for projects, even if it is not put on a website for others to see. Be sure students are aware that any time another person's image is used, they must give full credit for it, even if that owner cannot see it. Student groups can use Compfight to collectively find the best image to use for a project. Have students create a multimedia presentation using Voicethread reviewed here. Voicethread allows users to narrate their collection of pictures. For example, students studying renewable energy can use compfight to find images of various renewable energy sources, then explain them on Voicethread. Teachers can collect images for use on their interactive whiteboard for sorting activities (monocots and dicots, producers and consumers, etc).
View interesting graphics of data that students will find fascinating. Search visuals in subjects such as Art, Biology, Food Webs, Music, and more. Each visualization has a project description, link, and other information. Caution students that ads appear on pages and these should be avoided. 10287
In the Classroom: Share the graphics on an interactive whiteboard or projector. Use data visualizations to ask questions about interactions among the parts shown. For example, use any of the food chain visualizations to look at the interactions in the chains and identify roles of organisms. Ask students to use the whiteboard tools to explain how the visual “shows” the underlying information. Be prepared for less visual students to struggle while more visual students thrive using such a tool. Share the interesting map graphics in geography class. Use this at the beginning of a discussion and identify the organisms in the chain to uncover the relationships. Use the graphics for creative writing projects (displaying the graphic on a whiteboard while students react in writing). Ask your gifted students to choose a graphic they particularly enjoy as an inspiration to create one of their own.
This collection of pdf lesson plans centers around 3 main topics: how we get our food, what the Fair Trade movement is doing for farmers and eaters, and what coops are. The complete curriculum is downloadable and printable, and the daily lessons at this site offer support and extra activities. One lesson, translated for Spanish teachers, offers students an activity so they can understand "What's Fair?" One of the most exciting parts of the website is a collection of videos of Dominican children talking in Spanish about cocoa production! The lesson plans include a variety of activities for students and include projects in math, writing, civics, research, geography, art, music, and international culture. 10293
In the Classroom: Use these lessons as part of a unit in social studies, Family and Consumer Science, or several other subjects. Take your students on a visit to a local food coop or invite one of their members to speak to your class live or via Skype (explained here.). Have students do a project comparing coop grocery sales with the more commercial establishments. Maybe even have student groups create an online Venn Diagram comparing the two using a site such as Interactive Two Circle Venn Diagram (reviewed here). If you have international students from the Dominican Republic or other cocoa producing countries, share this site with them and allow them to compare what the students say on the video to their own experiences. Create your own videotaped interviews with food growers or their families. Share the videos using a tool such as Teachers.TV reviewed here.
Looking for a clever way to display a title? Enter your words, and this site will look through flickr pictures to create titles from individual pictures. Note that ads display throughout the site as well as while the images are loading. Simply take a snapshot of the words (use print screen for PC or command-shift-4 on a Mac) or drag each letter image to your desktop. Alternatively, use the embed code provided. Don't like one or more of the letters? Simply click each letter and a new one will be generated. See an example here.
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In the Classroom: Students can use this site to create interesting and unique titles for projects, presentations, or blog titles. Use this site to make your lessons grab your students’ attention (which isn’t always easy). Decorate your classroom with intriguing signs and reminders created using this tool. Have students use this site themselves for projects, intriguing spelling practice, or more. Kindergarten teachers might like to "show" students what their names look like in multiple type fonts and to make bus list bulletin boards using these creative lettering forms. Art teachers can use this tool to demonstrate different types of letter graphics and letter collages. This might be a good link to list on your class website so families can access the site at home.
Use this searchable blog to locate images within the public domain for you to use on web sites, in multimedia projects, and more. The site provides complete source information on each image, as well as its rationale for treating the image as "public domain." Public Domain images are not subject to copyright restrictions, so you may use them in places that do not qualify for "Fair Use," such as on open web sites, blogs, etc. Though we are not legal experts and this review should in no way be deemed to be legal advice, our editors found that the evidence of public domain seems credible on this site. The site does include extensive advertising and links to non-education topics and blogs, the collection is very useful for teachers of any level or subject. Note: Because of extensive advertising and links, teachers should spell out specific consequences for following these non-educational links and may want to limit use of this site by students to times when you can monitor directly. 10267
In the Classroom: Find images to illustrate curriculum topics, such as historical photos and cultural images. Include them in activities on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Art teachers can use images freely to illustrate design concepts. Create montages of images from eras in history, a culture, or scientific concepts to give visual learners a way to remember new content. "Harvest" images for students to use in their own projects, saving them on a local drive or computer (copying these images is OK!). Have students select an image as an inspiration for a writing assignment or blog post. Upload images to Voicethread reviewed here and have students critique or explain it orally in a world language, science, or social studies class. Have student groups use these copyright-safe images (with credit, of course) in their online Bookemon books reviewed here or Scrapblogs reviewed here about a curriculum concept.
This intriguing site has the user choose an “answer,” and then the computer asks 20 questions trying to determine what your answer is. The answers to the 20 questions aren’t just YES or NO; they also include SOMETIMES, PROBABLY, IRRELEVANT, and others.
When you arrive at the site, click your language (there are MANY languages to choose from). Enter your gender, age, and location (optional). Then choose the “game” you wish to try. Some are more commercial (Disney, The Simpsons, or Star Trek). Others have educational value (Harry Potter, Earth, or Classic, Famous people). This is a fun and challenging activity. There are disclaimers that the "game gets smarter" the more you play because the game compiles facts over time. It is involving and fun to play. The site does include some advertisements. 10186
In the Classroom: Share this site on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Teachers could have students research a person, place or thing and then use their research to play twenty questions against the computer. It could also be used as review if posted to the class wiki and then completed independently by students at home. Use this as a first day or first week activity, have students try the 20 question game about names and see if the computer can figure out their name. Use the Earth activity for geography practice in cooperative learning groups or as a class activity. In world language classes, choose the appropriate language to practice vocabulary about animals and other categories of information. As a culminating project in any class, have students create their own 20 question activity and quiz the class! You will be teaching HOTS (higher order thinking skills) as students use classification to create their questions.
Use a variety of tools and colors to create unique and original digital art. Choose one of 20 patterns, and use the cursor to move across the screen. The buttons are found at the bottom of the drawing box. Save as a .jpg or .png file on your computer with one click. Our editors found this site to be very addicting! 10233
In the Classroom: Share this site on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Create abstract art that uses one or more design principles. Allow students to create example projects to demonstrate these principles. Save the files and upload them to a class design wiki or blog, or have students upload and critique them on Voicethread, reviewed here. This tool can also create graphics to decorate your classroom, class web page, or individual student blogs.
Use Pixenate for quick online photo editing. This free resource requires no registration as there is no image storage, only editing for saving elsewhere. Upload pictures from your computer or enter the web address from somewhere on the Internet. Pixenate cautions users to follow copyright when editing web pictures. Once uploaded, use simple tools to edit the picture such as: undo, select, zoom, crop, resize, flip, rotate, color balance and tools, smooth, brighten, straighten horizon, remove red eye, brighten teeth, or draw lines and shapes. Choose more entertaining effects such as lomo effects, lens filters, adding clip art, creating heart shaped photos, and other effects. Edited pictures can be uploaded to flickr or saved to disk.
Be aware: students should be cautioned that the site sells services to make the photo into a gift (obviously, for a fee!). Other ads may appear on the page, as well.
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In the Classroom: Many times, pictures taken in the classroom need to be edited in some way, and this online photo editor provides many of the options needed plus a few fun effects. Since no registration is required, students can upload a picture, create effects, and save again on their computer. Advise students to use pictures that they have permission to alter. Using their own photos is one way to ensure this. Be sure to check your school’s acceptable use policy. Students should be aware of how to upload and then find their creation. Use this service any time pictures are used for classroom projects, lessons, or activities.
Teachers First Edge Review: For adventurous technology users. Create a website in mere minutes using this free and easy to use interface. There is a "Pro Account" that is for a fee, but the "Personal Account" is FREE! An email address is required for site creation. Enter a username (which will be the name of your site). This tool offers highly visual, pleasing “looks.” 10179
In the Classroom: Skills needed: Entering and remembering usernames and passwords are necessary. An email address is required to verify information before beginning. If students are creating pages, be sure to check with your district policy on student use of email as well as publishing of student information. You may wish to have a master snappages site or other website that links to all the student sites for ease of finding information. Alternately, use a word document to record student sites. If snappages are used primarily as a student blog, use feed settings on the blog page of the master site to import feeds from all students in the class. Users need to be able to enter correct url's of sites to manage feeds. An understanding of feeds and management of simple sites is necessary.
To use SnapPages: After verification through email, follow the screens to choose your template, learn basics of the site, and create pages through the control panel. Pages that can be created include "Home," "About Me," "Blog," "Photos," and "Calendar." Click on the page to change, click "Edit," and then click on each text or headline field to edit these sections. Buttons below allow changes in heading, font, and other styles. Click "Cancel," "Save," or "Preview" at the bottom of the page when done. Easily change permissions or revert to a previous version. Click on "Applications" to access the various pages created. Also access your themes, and friends through "Applications." Through the Friends tab, you can chat (called a "Gab",) exchange information, and create a profile. Clicking on "Help" takes you to the user forum, FAQ pages, and more help. Easily import feeds from another blog. These feeds do not just appear along the side as a link, but will bring in all posts in chronological order. See an example Snappage here: http://hurricanemaine.snappages.com
Safety/Security: This site allows outsiders to comment, mark favorites, or interact with blog posts. Many school policies prohibit such interaction, so be sure to check your school policy. You will want to discuss these features in the context of Internet Safety or establish specific written class rules and consequences for interacting with outsiders. Students can create their own snappages including blog pages. Look and discuss different privacy options for best use of the pages. Consider a class snappage with multiple authors to create class content instead if individual pages are not needed. Students must have individual accounts (email required). Check your school policies about accessing/sharing student email on school computers. You may want to create your own Gmail account with up to 20 subaccounts for each group of students (by code name or number) within your classes. Here is a blog post that tells how.
All students will have access to comment on each others' work, so you may want to spell out specific consequences for inappropriate commenting depending on your students. Address possible misuse (especially of the gab function,) by discussing consequences and managing project/class time to keep students on task.
Possible uses: Have students create their own snappages. Link these feeds together on a master snappage for ease of finding recent blogposts. Students can easily comment on each others' work and begin great conversations about issues in any content area. Create a class snappage with multiple authors that report on class projects, happenings, or important information. Share major class events, photos (within school policies), or even student artwork using this visual forum. Senior high students might want to create art or writing portfolios for use in college admissions.
Need to create a quick logo? This logo generator is fast, easy, and free to use. No registration is required. Enter your text and click "options" to customize your logo. Options include a list of fonts, two gradient colors, and one outline color, and text sizes. View your logo before downloading as a png image or generating an embed code. You will need to know how to navigate finding images saved on a computer or using embed codes with various sites or blogs. Here is an example created by the TeachersFirst editorial team: . 10139
In the Classroom: Students can create custom logos for class blogs or site. Logos can also be created for use with multimedia projects and presentations. Have groups design logos for their project or for your class, then use them throughout the year to promote pride of ownership in class projects and accomplishments. During the first week of school, have students design “personal” logos that tell about themselves and include them on your class web page. Demonstrate this site on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Then have students try out the site on their own.
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! 10106
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.
Need help determining colors for a project, website, blog, bulletin board, or (if fashion challenged like me) today's outfit? Use this great site to determine colors that look great together for your next project. Point and click on the portion of the color wheel to pick a central hue of your choosing. Decide among the following choices: monochromatic, complementary, triad, tetrad, among others to choose a selection of colors. View examples of your choice as it would appear on a web page. Use the RGB values for entering into the color number for your web page. RGB values are six characters (numbers and letters) following a # sign. Save your scheme ID number for future reference. 10109
In the Classroom: Art teachers can teach basic design and color wheel principles using this tool on an interactive whiteboard or have students experiment with different color schemes to demonstrate their understanding of color concepts. Be aware that some monitors and projectors may not have the color responsiveness that other hardware has, making it more difficult to “see” the subtleties on this site. Use this tool for creation of coordinated website, wiki, or blog pages. Students will find an unlimited number of color schemes to choose from in the creation of their projects. Not sure what a “wiki” is? Have no wiki worries – check out the Teacher’s First Wiki Walk-Through reviewed here.
Teacher’s First Edge Review: For moderately adventurous technology users. This site allows users to create online scrapbooks including photos, video clips, and music. Users can “Start with a Theme” or “Start with a Blank Page.” Add stickers, backgrounds, text boxes, and more. Be aware many of the themes are free, but some are for a fee. The ones for a fee say "purchase" at the bottom of the screen. This site requires Flash. You can it both from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page. 10061
In the Classroom: Skills Needed: This site is fairly easy to navigate. Users must be able to access photos (from several websites or personal computers) to use in the scrapblog. View the short introduction tutorial to learn more about site. Learn how to edit photos, add stickers to your pages, add backgrounds, add text, add videos, and more! There is the option to view the scrapblogs on full screen (see the box on the top right side of the screen). If you want to control the speed of the blog, you must have it on full screen. Once on full screen, look for the turtle and hare slider to slow down the speed. When completed, you can share your scrapblog via URL, on many social networking sites, or by printing out the pages. You don't need to register to USE this site, but you do need to register to save or share your scrapblog.
Safety/Security Concerns: an email address is required for sign up to use this service. Check your school policies about accessing/sharing student email on school computers. You may want to create your own Gmail account with up to 20 subaccounts for each group of students (by code name or number) within your classes. Here is a blog post that tells how.
Classroom Uses: This amazing site has countless possibilities in the classroom. After a field trip, use this site to share the experience with families and as a review for the class. Can't take a field trip? Create a scrapblog of a fictitious "visit" to the historical site, showing what you have learned without even visiting. Rather than having students create traditional "book reports" or reports about famous people or events, use this site to create a multimedia presentation with photos, text, music, and more (include attribution for the Creative Commons images they may use). What would Jefferson have included in a scrapblog about his time in Philadelphia in 1776? Elementary classes could make whole-class scrapblogs about the important people and places in your school or community, using digital pictures you take yourselves. At Thanksgiving, have students make a scrapblog about the things they are grateful for. Share this link on your class website for students to access both in and out of the classroom. This is a perfect site for students to use to make free "homemade gifts" for Mother's Day, Father's Day, or Grandparent's Day.
Here is a sample of a scrapblog created by the TeachersFirst Editors
This latest redesign of the Lascaux tour offered by the French government takes viewers on a video tour of the famous French caves. As you walk along, pop-ups label the drawings being viewed. An outline map on the right lower side of the screen shows the path the "walker" is taking, and also demonstrates where the viewer is at any given part of the tour. In addition to the video walk, information about the caves appears in "Chapters" which students can click on. The original version of this site is in French. The left sidebar offers the options of viewing the site in French, English, German, or Spanish. This link automatically opens to the English version of the site.
