TeachersFirst - Featured Sites: Week of Mar 31, 2013

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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Kids Magnetic Poetry Kit - McDonagh Brothers

Grades
K to 5
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Create and play with poetry using this interactive magnetic poetry kit! Drag words from the word bank onto the blank board to build poems. Click the more words option to ...more
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Create and play with poetry using this interactive magnetic poetry kit! Drag words from the word bank onto the blank board to build poems. Click the more words option to find additional words for use. When finished, save and share to Facebook or via email using the form provided.
This site includes advertising.

tag(s): interactive stories (20), poetry (188), sight words (22)

In the Classroom

Share this site on your projector or interactive whiteboard for students to see how to create a poem. Use this site to practice sight words. The magnetic poetry kit would make an excellent center activity for use during Poetry Month. Create a shortcut on classroom computers and let students create their own poems. Share completed poems on a class bulletin board or your class website. Take a screenshot (PrntScrn button, then PASTE on a WIndows machine or Command+Shift+4 on a Mac to save a screenshot) of the completed poems to put into a digital portfolio such as Seesaw, reviewed here. View all of TeachersFirst's Editor's Choices for Poetry Month here.

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Art Lessons and Lesson Plans - Ken Rohrer

Grades
K to 12
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Find an extensive collection of art lesson plans for use in all grade levels by clicking Art Lessons on the left menu. Choose a grade level from categories on the ...more
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Find an extensive collection of art lesson plans for use in all grade levels by clicking Art Lessons on the left menu. Choose a grade level from categories on the left side of the page. Then pick from sub-categories such as type of medium, art period, or artist. One particularly useful category is by integration: ideas you can choose for lessons in subjects such as health, science, or language arts. Once you choose a lesson title, specific details include materials used, appropriate age levels, instructions, and images of projects. Many, but not all lessons also include correlation to national standards. Click on the printer friendly link to print lessons without all the clutter on the page.
This site includes advertising.

tag(s): animals (277), art history (85), artists (77), colors (65), geometric shapes (135), insects (67), japan (56), native americans (91), origami (15), painting (55), preK (253), recycling (46), symmetry (27)

In the Classroom

Bookmark and save this site as a resource for art projects throughout the year, especially if budget cuts have taken away your art teacher! Be sure to check out the link to Sub Lessons. Print and save a couple of these to have in your substitute folder for use if necessary. Share with your art teacher (if you have one) as a resource.

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Federal Student Aid - US Department of Education

Grades
7 to 12
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Sometimes it's best to go straight to the source. The US Department of Education offers advice, information, and links for those searching for financial aid to attend post-secondary...more
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Sometimes it's best to go straight to the source. The US Department of Education offers advice, information, and links for those searching for financial aid to attend post-secondary education. Not a fancy site, but all the relevant information is there: defining the kinds of financial aid, applying for financial aid, comparing financial aid offers from colleges, and understanding the repayment process. There is also a link to the new "College Scorecard" site that provides more guidance in comparing the potential financial costs of different colleges. In addition, there are several infographics and videos (which link to YouTube) that provide important overviews in each of the broad categories covered on the site. If your district blocks YouTube, then they may not be viewable.

tag(s): careers (137), college (45), financial aid (13), financial literacy (91)

In the Classroom

While this is certainly a good site for students and families to consult from home, it would also be useful as an authentic resource for lessons in financial literacy, career and college planning, and life planning. At the very least, a great bookmark to publicize or add to classroom computers. Be sure to share this link on your class website.
 This resource requires PDF reader software like Adobe Acrobat.

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For Women In Science - Loreal

Grades
4 to 12
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This website is for girls to learn about STEM careers and the various research and educational opportunities that exist for them. Famous women in STEM careers and other prominent women...more
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This website is for girls to learn about STEM careers and the various research and educational opportunities that exist for them. Famous women in STEM careers and other prominent women are a focus of this site. Learn about great STEM careers and how STEM impacts much of our world. Watch and learn from others, view video clips, take challenges, learn about careers, and more. Some of the videos are hosted on YouTube. If your district blocks YouTube, then they may not be viewable.

tag(s): engineering (117), STEM (256), women (135)

In the Classroom

Use this site when researching science careers and scientists to be sure to give women their turn and to inspire another generation of female scientists. Share the video clips on your projector or interactive whiteboard. Use this site during Women's history month. Challenge your students to learn more about present-day famous women in STEM careers and create their own interactive books. Have students use Ourboox, reviewed here. Ourboox creates beautiful page-flipping digital books in minutes, and you can embed video, music, animation, games, maps and more.

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Chronicling America - National Endowment for the Humanities and Library of Congress

Grades
6 to 12
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Search America's historic newspapers from 1836-1922. Use the U.S. Newspaper Directory to find information located within American newspapers published between 1690-present. The front...more
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Search America's historic newspapers from 1836-1922. Use the U.S. Newspaper Directory to find information located within American newspapers published between 1690-present. The front page contains images and links to newspaper topics for the current date 100 years ago. Click on links to view more from each paper, such as additional pages or other issues. Use the search bar to narrow newspaper searches by date, state, and keywords. View content in PDF or text format, or clip image to print or download to your computer. If you get stuck on the site, click the "Ask a Librarian" button for advice and help.

tag(s): 1800s (72), 1900s (73), journalism (70), news (228), newspapers (91), primary sources (113)

In the Classroom

Make history come alive in your classroom using newspapers, the perfect primary source. Enter dates from history and different locations to find local news stories and information. When studying events over an extended period of time, find resources from the beginning, middle, and end of that period to compare and contrast information from the local newspapers. Read the evolution of American popular opinion before and after Pearl Harbor, for example. Have students create "annotated pictures" to illustrate or report events using Phrase.it, reviewed here. Challenge your students to use a site such as Timeline JS, reviewed here, to create an interactive timeline of events as reported in various news sources. Timeline JS offers the option to upload and add photos, videos, audio, Tweets, and Google Maps making it interactive.
 This resource requires PDF reader software like Adobe Acrobat.

Comments

Fabulous resource for American History/Social Studies. Primary sources you can search. Wasn't able to get phrases to work, but individual words do. Frances, CT, Grades: 6 - 8

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Infotopia - Dr. Michael Bell and Carole Bell

Grades
2 to 12
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This free tool is an academic search engine that uses resources trusted by educators. Choose from various subjects at the top or enter your search term directly into the search ...more
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This free tool is an academic search engine that uses resources trusted by educators. Choose from various subjects at the top or enter your search term directly into the search bar. Infotopia uses a Google Custom search to find information that is appropriate for students.
This site includes advertising.

tag(s): search engines (49)

In the Classroom

Share this site with students in class. Have students use this site for research. Be sure to link to this site on your blog, wiki, or class website. Make this site the home page for your classroom computer.

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Crash Course - John and Hank Green

Grades
6 to 12
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Join John and Hank Green on the you Tube channel, Crash Course. Crash Course consists of highly engaging video presentations that explain the basics on many topics: about 10-15 minutes...more
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Join John and Hank Green on the you Tube channel, Crash Course. Crash Course consists of highly engaging video presentations that explain the basics on many topics: about 10-15 minutes in length, humorous, and engaging! The general topic areas include World History, Literature, and US History. At the time of this review, biology topics include: the carbon cycle, water cycle, molecules, nutrition, animal and plant cells, photosynthesis, heredity, DNA, mitosis, meiosis, natural selection, evolution, genetics, taxonomy, evolution, simple animals, complex animals, animal behavior, various systems of the body, bacteria, protists, and even more. In literature, five videos cover subjects from Romeo and Juliet to The Great Gatsby. There are over forty world history topics: Agricultural revolution, Mesopotamia, Ancient Egypt, The Persians and Greeks, Buddha and Ashoka, Chinese History, Alexander the Great, The Roman Empire, Christianity from Judaism to Constantine, Fall of the Roman Empire, Islam the Quran, and the Five Pillars, Venice and Ottoman Empire, Russia, Columbus, The Spanish Empire, The French Revolution, Haitian Revolution, Industrial Revolution, Capitalism, Socialism, Imperialism, and many more. If your district blocks YouTube, they may not be viewable. Tip: to watch or share a video without the ads and clutter, use a tool such as ViewPure, reviewed here, to watch the video ad-free!
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tag(s): animals (277), bacteria (21), bill of rights (28), body systems (40), chinese (44), constitution (86), declaration of independence (15), evolution (85), genetics (76), greeks (31), literature (217), meiosis (7), mitosis (8), nutrition (134), religions (75), rome (20), romeo and juliet (3), russia (33), shakespeare (93), water cycle (22)

In the Classroom

Use as a way to introduce new topics or subjects to establish background knowledge. Share these videos on your projector or interactive whiteboard to provide an introduction (or review) on various topics. Use as an alternate way to help motivate your tech savvy students. Use as an example for a group project with the students planning, writing, and producing an informational video in the subject you are studying. Enhance learning by having cooperative learning groups create videos using Typito,reviewed here, and share them on a site such as TeacherTube, reviewed here. Be sure to point out the steps followed in teaching and learning in the videos. Independent learners and gifted students will love the opportunity to learn on their own using these videos. Instead of "games" for times when student finish work early, why not share the link to this YouTube channel and encourage them to keep a blog about what they discover.
 This resource requires PDF reader software like Adobe Acrobat.

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Trace Effects - U.S. Department of State

Grades
7 to 12
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The U.S. Department of State designed this interactive game to help ESL/ELL learners to learn American English. However, many non-ESL/ELL students could greatly benefit (and enjoy)...more
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The U.S. Department of State designed this interactive game to help ESL/ELL learners to learn American English. However, many non-ESL/ELL students could greatly benefit (and enjoy) this highly interactive experience and look at U.S. culture. Download Unity Player to begin. Registration is free, but does require an email address. Begin your mission with Trace, a teen back in time from the year 2045. Help Trace return to his regular time by completing several challenges. Trace must follow directions (called objectives) on each screen. He travels to 8 separate locations around the U.S. Learn about entrepreneurship, community activism, empowering women, science and innovation, environmental conservation, and conflict resolution. Travel to Kansas, New Orleans, the Grand Canyon, New York City, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C. Complete 28 practice activities. You will also find 4 multi-player practice challenges, 7 graphic novels for extension activities, and an American English dictionary integration activity. The game is so involved, that you will not even realize that you are also learning English.

tag(s): communities (36), conflict resolution (9), conservation (82), cross cultural understanding (156), women (135)

In the Classroom

This site offers a window on American culture that you can use in comparing cultures. It is a great way to engage ESL/ELL teens as they practice English skills. Since the State Department created it, an AP Civics or Government class might even want to critique or discuss its portrayal of U.S. culture. Have ESL/ELL students work on individual laptops and explore this site alone or with a partner. Provide this link for students to access both in and out of the classroom. Challenge your students to collaboratively write the dialogue for an additional visit Trace might make to a community near you using Google Docs/Drive reviewed here. Your more technologically savvy students may like to create another version of a Trace visit to go along with the dialog! In a world language class, have students work collaboratively to create a visit to a cultural site using this game as a model.

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TV411 - Vocabulary - Education Development Center, Inc.

Grades
4 to 12
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Find entertaining videos, web lessons, and downloads to support learning about dictionaries, thesaurus, and "How Words Work." Each video includes a short description of content and...more
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Find entertaining videos, web lessons, and downloads to support learning about dictionaries, thesaurus, and "How Words Work." Each video includes a short description of content and the skills addressed. Most videos are approximately three minutes long and include links to related web lessons and print downloads. This site was originally created for adult basic literacy students. However, many of these lessons could be useful with younger students learning the basics of vocabulary. Preview the video for appropriateness before sharing with younger students.

tag(s): antonyms (14), dictionaries (47), prefixes (9), reading comprehension (142), root words (10), spelling (95), suffixes (9), synonyms (17), thesaurus (21), vocabulary (234), vocabulary development (89), word study (57)

In the Classroom

Any vocabulary development unit needs to include lessons about how dictionaries and thesaurus' work. View videos on your interactive whiteboard (or projector) as part of your dictionary/word-study unit. Use on an as-needed basis to address classroom deficiencies in particular areas. Have students complete the web lessons on their own during computer center time. Create links to particular videos on your class website or blog for students to view at home. Check out the Teachers portion of the site to find activities for specific skills along with ideas for using the videos in the classroom. Challenge students to create a talking avatar using a photo or other image (legally permitted to be reproduced). The avatars can be used to provide suggestions on improving vocabulary and writing skills. Use a site such as Blabberize, reviewed here, to added audio and annotate the image.

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