Here are this week's features. Clicking the "more resources like this" link below each listing will present a list of our most recent additions for the same subject area and grade level .
Constitution Day - Grades 0 - 12 - permalink
Happy Birthday To You.... U.S. Government. This fantastic site provides a large collection of lesson plans, interactives, resources for students, and more. All activities relate to Constitution Day (celebrated in September). Visit the Educators link and search for activities by grade level, specific topics, or by resource type (lesson plans, audio visual, activities, and more). There are also links for students, government & military, and community leaders. 10246
In the Classroom: Before you start planning your Constitution Day activities, check out this FREE site. Since this site was created by the National Constitution Center, you can be sure that the material is of high quality. Share the audio and visual on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Take advantage of the lesson plans and more.
For similar resources, click the appropriate keyword:
constitution day |
Maths Frame - Grades 2 - 6 - permalink
This site, created in the United Kingdom, offers some engaging FREE math resources. Click on the FREE RESOURCES CLICK HERE button on the top of the page. Use these free activities for counting, calculating, bar charts, number lines, multiples, money, and more. Choose from activities such as "Matching Pairs" and "Missing Digits" Beneath each activity are primary framework objectives. 10235
In the Classroom: Use these activities as drill exercises in class or at home. These activities are perfect for interactive whiteboards or projectors. Use these activities with groups of students and provide the opportunity for them to explain the concept or solution. Save this site in your favorites, so students can visit often. Consider sharing this link on your class website or wiki.
Fascinating Egyptian Mummies - Grades 4 - 12 - permalink
This well-designed and high tech site allows students and teachers to enter the world of the tombs of mummies. Featuring games and entrance to tombs and other exhibitions designed by the Musée de la Civilization in Québec, the site creates high interest. Take your students back in time to Ancient Egypt and learn about the process of mummification, the jars in which the mummies' parts reside, and get a rich background in ancient Egyptian beliefs. 10205
In the Classroom: Share this site on your interactive whiteboard or projector. What a creative addition to Halloween and fall festivities! Provide the link to the French department; it is also available in French. Encourage your students to use this tool for projects and research about Egypt. The activities would work as a class activity, individual research, or with cooperative learning groups. Have students create online posters or papers or do it together as a class using tools such as Project Poster (reviewed here or PicLits (reviewed here. Make an online poster about Egypt with this site as a jumping off spot; try Wallwisher, (reviewed here).
When Weather Changed History - Grades 4 - 12 - permalink
Weather's impact on the course of history sometimes goes unnoticed. A heat wave brings about public policy change; a hurricane alerts the public to the need for better planning and an improved safety net; a father of our country dies due to extreme weather. This collection of full episodes and shorter (2 minute) clips from the Weather Channel's regular series is ideal for use in the classroom to help students make connections between climate, geography, and history. The collection includes more obvious events such as Hurricane Katrina as well as numerous others: heat waves, George Washington, the Hindenburg, American colonial times, Nagasaki, D-Day, the Dust Bowl, smog, the Titanic, the Nome Serum Run and the green movement in the wake of tornado devastation. The video makes the events more real while the narration places then in context. 10236
In the Classroom: Share one or more clips on a projector or interactive whiteboard as part of your study of a time period in history or assign students to research different events, asking them to answer big questions such as, "What role does climate play in a community's growth and government?" or "What might have happened if the weather had been different on this day?" Have students write a blog post as an eyewitness to the events or create a class wiki on the impact of geography, climate, and other "earthly" factors on the decisions that humans make. Create one wiki page per event and assign small groups to write the pages as newspaper articles at the time and another page using historical perspective. Don't forget to add mock news pages about what might have happened if the weather had been different! Not comfortable with wikis? Have no wiki worries – check out the Teacher’s First Wiki Walk-Through reviewed here. The same assignment could also be done on video as a series of podcast "news" stories. Use a site such as PodOmatic (reviewed here).
Use these videos as part of your science study of weather so students relate the hard data to human events. Have students use a multi-angle approach using both scientific data and human data about the event to create a weather wiki or multimedia project such as mock interviews at the time of the event and ten years later.
For similar resources, click the appropriate keyword:
climate |
weather |
disasters |
Eye on Idioms - Grades 4 - 9 - permalink For idiom review, try this site. ESL/ELL and some speech/language students will find it especially useful, as they often find idiomatic language confusing. The site has multiple approaches to idiom retention, including picking a definition, using it in a sentence, and writing a version of the "metaphorical" meaning. A disadvantage to this site is that it does not keep the student answers online. Instead, interested students must print out the page with their work on it. 10213
In the Classroom: Save this site in your favorites or make it available on your class web page for your students to use for review. After students have gone through the exercises here, encourage them to make their own idiom pages and exercises using this format as a model. Challenge cooperative learning groups to create online books including a variety of idioms. Use a tool such as Bookemon reviewed here.
20 Questions - Grades 5 - 12 - permalink
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.
Toon Book Reader - Grades 0 - 4 - permalink
Read cartoon books online using this interactive site. Choose from one of six cartoon books. Choose to read the book in English, Spanish, or French and navigate through the pages using the left and right arrows. Use the "Start Over" button to begin again or click “Read To Me” to hear audio of the pages. Want to read another book? Click "Library" to view the choices. 10228
In the Classroom: Introduce this site on a projector or interactive whiteboard. Have students read aloud together to practice choral reading. Use this site for D.E.A.R. reading or other free time reading (be sure to provide headsets). Allow students to choose from the books. Even non-readers can use this site! Identify information, story lines, and grammar components within the stories as groups. Create story boards that outline the telling of the stories. Use a graphic organizing (online) tool such as bubble.us (reviewed here). Compare and contrast stories or characters using an online Venn diagram creator (reviewed here). Students can re-write endings or the sequels that would follow these books. Use these books as inspiration for student-made cartoon books in world language classes. Have the class or individuals create online books to share using a site such as Bookemon, reviewed here.
Audio Pal - Grades 1 - 12 - permalink
Teacher's First Edge Review: For serious technology users. 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. 10227
In the Classroom: Skills needed: Users must be able to identify whether there is an internal or external microphone on the computer. 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.
Safety/Security: 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. Students can use an 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, 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. Check your schools’ acceptable use policy, regarding students using email accounts. 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.
Bomomo - Grades 0 - 12 - permalink
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.
Pandemic Panic - Grades 3 - 12 - permalink
This site offers an extremely detailed and well written lesson plan about the H1N1 (Swine Flu) virus. The lesson plan provides a wealth of background information for teachers, class activities for a variety of subject areas (podcasts, KWL charts, etc..), articles of interests, thinking questions, video clips, interactive graphics, blogs, and much more. This site is truly a web 2.0 lesson plan that is READY TO GO! Standards are provided. Although this lesson plan recommends 3-5 class periods, you could easily pick and choose what is best for your class.
*There is a link to a lesson plan specifically for younger students (grades 3-5). Specific activities and standards are provided for the younger grades at that link. This website requires Adobe Acrobat (pdf). You can get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.10195
In the Classroom: Use this interdisciplinary lesson plan to encourage your class or school to maintain healthy habits, dispel incorrect information, and avoid spread of Swine flu. The activities, printables, and interactives are ready to go. Share the videos, podcasts, and other graphics on your interactive whiteboard or projector.
For similar resources, click the appropriate keyword:
H1N1 |
Swine Flu |
Want to see what else we've been up to? Check
out our recent additions.
RSS feed with this page.
