TeachersFirst - Featured Sites: Week of Feb 7, 2010

Here are this week's features. Clicking the tags in the description area of each listing will present a list of other resources with this topic. | Click here to return to the Featured Sites Archive

 

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Marco Polo's Route to China and Back - EDSITEment

Grades
2 to 8
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Marco Polo's Route to China and Back shows students the travels of two historical journeys of Marco Polo. As students correctly answer questions about each route, they travel further...more
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Marco Polo's Route to China and Back shows students the travels of two historical journeys of Marco Polo. As students correctly answer questions about each route, they travel further along on the map. If students answer the questions incorrectly, they are given the opportunity to click on a resource link that takes them to the correct answer. This site is not only challenging but fun for young explorers. The site also includes some wonderful authentic photos and drawings.

tag(s): explorers (64), marco polo (3)

In the Classroom

Incorporate this site into a web quest to build student knowledge of Marco Polo, interesting geography facts, and the history of Asia. Create a class wiki about Marco Polo and have students add different facts they learned or questions they might have. Not sure how to create a class wiki? Check out the TeachersFirst's Wiki Walk-Through.

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Decimal Squares - Albert Bradley Bennett, Jr

Grades
4 to 6
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Decimal Squares provides eight interactives on decimal concepts. Each activity provides one to three difficulty levels. Specific topics include place value, concentration, basic decimal...more
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Decimal Squares provides eight interactives on decimal concepts. Each activity provides one to three difficulty levels. Specific topics include place value, concentration, basic decimal addition and subtraction, and more.

tag(s): decimals (84), place value (34)

In the Classroom

Use these activities for students to practice previously learned concepts. Demonstrate the activities on your projector or interactive whiteboard to emphasize decimal number sense and follow up with student play (with a partner or independently.) Observing student game play would serve as a great informal assessment. List this link on your class website for students to practice decimals both in and out of the classroom.

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Free Clip Art by Phillip Martin - Phillip Martin

Grades
K to 12
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Free Clip Art by Phillip Martin is an extensive collection of clipart. All the clipart is free to use in the classroom, in newsletters or presentations. As long as the ...more
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Free Clip Art by Phillip Martin is an extensive collection of clipart. All the clipart is free to use in the classroom, in newsletters or presentations. As long as the use is for non-profit, it may be downloaded and used free of charge. Categories included in the site are Language Arts, Science, Social Sciences, Holidays, School, A to Z, and More. Each of the above categories has countless sub-categories within them. No registration is necessary and the site is extremely simple to navigate. Of course you will want to model and require ethical use of these resources by giving credit to the source of clips in a small note or text box on your projects. There are some unobtrusive advertisements at the site.

tag(s): clip art (10), holidays (159), images (270), preK (254)

In the Classroom

This site is great if you need some clever clipart to jazz up student handouts, classroom bulletin boards or PowerPoint/Keynote presentations. There is also web clipart that you can use for your blog, class webpage, or wiki. Interested in learning more about wikis? Check out the TeachersFirst's Wiki Walk-Through. When using the clipart be sure to download to your computer first before inserting into an application. Copying it directly from the web site puts a black background behind your image. Have students use this site in science class (or other classes to explain concepts and create colorful projects. Have students create a Slidestory, reviewed here, to narrate a picture and describe what they have learned.

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A Family Farm Album: The Photographs of Frank Sadorus - Illinois State Museum

Grades
3 to 12
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Take a journey through the life of Frank Sadoras. This site has a wonderful collection of photographs and biographical documents that chronicles Frank's life growing up on a farm in...more
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Take a journey through the life of Frank Sadoras. This site has a wonderful collection of photographs and biographical documents that chronicles Frank's life growing up on a farm in Illinois from 1898-1912. By using this site, you and your students will get a view of what life was like growing up on a farm as well as the photographic techniques Frank used to take his photos.

tag(s): agriculture (49), genealogy (8), photography (131), primary sources (113)

In the Classroom

This site is a good site to use if you want to introduce more primary sources into your teaching. There is an extensive activities and resource section that covers the topics of photography, history, farming and genealogy. In addition, the PDF entitled the Turning Point would be a good resource to use in a lesson on narrative writing. Share the photos in art (or photography) class on your projector or interactive whiteboard. Have students create blog entries from the perspective of Frank Sadorus. Use the pictures for creative writing exercises. Why not have a photo of the week and have students write a short piece on the class wiki about what they feel the picture represents, what is happening in the photo, what the animal or person was doing/thinking in the photo, or whatever else is applicable in your class. Do you want to learn more about wikis? Check out the TeachersFirst's Wiki Walk-Through.
 This resource requires PDF reader software like Adobe Acrobat.

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Mailinator - ManyBrain, Inc.

Grades
6 to 12
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Frustrated at creating sub accounts with your gmail account for more than 100 students? Try Mailinator as a possible solution to the problem. Make student accounts for the web 2.0 ...more
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Frustrated at creating sub accounts with your gmail account for more than 100 students? Try Mailinator as a possible solution to the problem. Make student accounts for the web 2.0 tools you would like your individual students to use. Create a "spoof" email account from one email account (preferably the teachers gmail.) Use this "spoof" account to enter when creating web 2.0 accounts. Mail can be viewed online for any verification if necessary. The bonus? Less spam when signing up for other sites!

In the Classroom

Use your teacher gmail account to create different Mailinator accounts for each student by sending an email to the "spoof" account. For example, a student sends an email to gottalovebio@mailinator.com. Magically, your "spoof" email address has been created. Use this "spoof" email all year long for any web 2.0 tool you wish to sign up for. Find emails sent to the "spoof" account by viewing on the mailinator site (type in your "spoof" email address) or following an RSS feed (use a feed reader to view them all.) Important Note: emails must be read within a few hours as they are then permanently deleted. Caution students not to use these email addresses for anything important as it is not a regular email address. Use only for creating logins and registrations for other web 2.0 tools. Stumped with coming up with a unique name. Possible name choices are given on the site (refresh to see more options.) Be sure to read the FAQ's to familiarize yourself with the service and answer any questions you may have. Check to be sure this is not blocked by your school. If available on a teacher computer, consider cycling each student through your computer to get them signed up while being monitored. Record their "spoof" emails in case these are needed later and students forget. Be advised that these email accounts are public. If the same email address is entered on the site by someone else, those emails will be viewed. Despite this, use the service to quickly enter students to use the variety of cool online tools found on the Internet today.
 

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Sugar stacks - sugarstacks.com

Grades
2 to 12
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Confused about what the sugar content is in foods? Compare the sugar amounts visually using this fun resource. Pictures show the item, amount of corresponding sugar cubes stacked in...more
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Confused about what the sugar content is in foods? Compare the sugar amounts visually using this fun resource. Pictures show the item, amount of corresponding sugar cubes stacked in front as well as the nutrition label amount for that item. Choose other categories of foods below to make additional comparisons. New features such as holiday meals are also seen on the site. There are snacks, beverages, candy, breakfast foods, vegetables, and more. Use the form along the bottom to comment and make suggestions.

tag(s): molecules (40), nutrition (134)

In the Classroom

Assign students to research different types of foods to compare sugar amounts. Have students use an online tool such as Interactive Two Circle Venn Diagram (reviewed here) to compare various foods. Use this prior to a discussion of nutrition, biomolecules, or how the body uses food as fuel. Have students work cooperatively and discuss their observations with the rest of the class. Consider determining the ratio of grams to number of sugar cubes, investigating, and then creating a class set of food and sugar cube pictures. Use this graphic way to explain the concept of proportion in a very concrete way as you teach it in math class. Use student ideas to create other visual images to drive home nutritional messages to others.

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Project wet - projectwet.org

Grades
2 to 12
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Use the resources on Project Wet to create awareness and learn more about water as an important resource for our planet. View resources by topics such as "Programs (Clmate, Early ...more
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Use the resources on Project Wet to create awareness and learn more about water as an important resource for our planet. View resources by topics such as "Programs (Clmate, Early Childhood Education ," "WASH," and "Clean and Conserve," among others. Click on "Use Project WET" or the icons along the bottom to view resources by teachers, student, and parents. View "News and Events," read blog posts, and find a variety of great resources on this site. There are interactive games about hydration and the water cycle in the "Children and Young Adults" area. Advise students to avoid the store link along the top as well as other ads that may appear along the sides of the site.

tag(s): environment (238), sustainability (44), water (101)

In the Classroom

Assign students to groups where various water issues can be identified and reported upon to the rest of the class. Use the water issue to find where it exists around the world and the common water problems facing communities and cultures today. Use the interactive water games to reinforce concepts about the water cycle and more. Note that games require some reading, so partner emergent readers with a buddy to help. Have students use a mapping tool such as Zeemaps, reviewed here, to create maps of the "wet" locations they research or learn about (with audio stories and pictures included)! Be sure to identify water issues that may also be present in your own area. Students can create a multimedia or conventional display that showcases information learned. Students may decide to create a community awareness project to showcase their information. Read case studies to view project activities around the world.

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Neave Planetarium - Paul Neave

Grades
K to 12
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View stars and planets easily in your browser window. Move the sky through a simple click and move of the mouse. Find information about the stars and planets by clicking ...more
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View stars and planets easily in your browser window. Move the sky through a simple click and move of the mouse. Find information about the stars and planets by clicking on each object, the name of the star, its constellation, brightness, and distance away is portrayed. View the stars from other areas of the world for comparison. Latitude and longitudes are easily seen to identify locations. Quickly change the date and time of viewing and other options such as full screen, constellations, and daylight.

tag(s): stars (65)

In the Classroom

The uncomplicated interface makes this free site easy to navigate. Group students to visit sections of the sky and report on constellations found there. Students can also research the history of the stars in the constellations as well as stories related to navigation and mythology. Create models, posters, or presentations of the constellations for discussion in class. Have students create online posters on paper or do it together as a class using a tool such as Web Poster Wizard (reviewed here) or PicLits (reviewed here). Create stories or poems about the stars or constellations. Share the stories and poems on your class wiki. Not comfortable with wikis? Have no wiki worries - check out the TeachersFirst's Wiki Walk-Through.

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