TeachersFirst - Featured Sites: Week of Apr 6, 2014

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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10 Minute Mail - Devon Hillard

Grades
5 to 12
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10 Minute Mail quickly creates a "disposable" email address to use with web tools that require email registration/activation. The best part is that no registration is required to use...more
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10 Minute Mail quickly creates a "disposable" email address to use with web tools that require email registration/activation. The best part is that no registration is required to use this EASY site! Use 10 Minute Mail as your solution for registration on free, membership-required sites requiring individual sign-up using an email address. This is the spam, update, and junk email dumping ground! Your disposable email is only available for 10 minutes unless you click the link to extend your session another 10 minutes. The genius of this site is that it is temporary but completely functional for protecting individual identities. The only downside to using a short term email address is that you will never receive the "forgot my password" emails. You won't receive the endless annoying emails, either!
This site includes advertising.

tag(s): internet safety (112)

In the Classroom

Have students create a 10 Minute Mail address in the beginning of the school year as part of your introductory lesson on acceptable use procedures. Use 10 Minute Mail anytime you visit a site that requires registration, but you don't want to receive additional information. Be sure to share a link on your class website or blog for students (and parents) to use at home.

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Any New Books? - Antonio Cangiano

Grades
7 to 12
2 Favorites 0  Comments
 
Book lovers rejoice; this site is just for you! Any New Books? delivers weekly email notifications with new books in the subjects you love. Enter your email to get started. ...more
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Book lovers rejoice; this site is just for you! Any New Books? delivers weekly email notifications with new books in the subjects you love. Enter your email to get started. Choose genres of interest to receive weekly emails with information about new books in each category. Categories range from Children's books to the types you might see in a real or online bookstore. Choose three categories to receive three weekly emails. If you prefer, subscribe to the RSS feed for any category instead of signing up for email notifications. The lists include links to purchase on various web sites and ebook formats. The introduction video is hosted on YouTube. If YouTube is blocked at your school, you may want to view the video at home.
This site includes advertising.

tag(s): book lists (159)

In the Classroom

Subscribe to emails for any category of books for classroom and professional use to remain up to date on the latest books being published. Share with students as an excellent resource for finding new reading material. Share Any New Books? with parents as a resource for finding books to read at home. A valid email is required to join this site. Read tips for safely managing email registrations here.

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TelevisionTunes - jayzoo.com

Grades
5 to 12
3 Favorites 0  Comments
 
Stroll down memory lane with this huge archive of over 29,000 television theme songs! Scroll through the latest additions or browse by alphabetically. Use the download link to save...more
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Stroll down memory lane with this huge archive of over 29,000 television theme songs! Scroll through the latest additions or browse by alphabetically. Use the download link to save a song clip to your computer or share using social networking links. In addition to finding clips, challenge yourself to Name That Theme Song with a lively one or two player game. Be sure to read the "Legal" tab to know what is and is not legal use of these copyrighted songs.
This site includes advertising.

tag(s): songs (44)

In the Classroom

Add a little interest to classroom games by downloading and including game show clips (music) as part of your activity. Play a sound clip as a classroom management cue, such as for circle reading time with young ones (turn up the speakers). Share with students as a resource for audio clips to add to offline podcasts and multimedia presentations for educational purposes.

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1-100 Factored Poster - Richard Evan Schwartz

Grades
4 to 9
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This bright and colorful poster illustrates the concept of factoring numbers through the use of cartoon characters. Each block representing a prime number has some feature relating...more
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This bright and colorful poster illustrates the concept of factoring numbers through the use of cartoon characters. Each block representing a prime number has some feature relating to the prime such as number of sides on the head. Others have blocks representing composite numbers. Some of the lower numbers are represented with eyeballs. Each number is different and leads to more exploration. Unfortunately, the author did not provide easy ways to navigate among the various pages associated with this poster, so we share them here. Be sure to visit here for a complete explanation of the poster. View smaller portions of this poster by visiting this link for #1-30, or this link for #31-60 or this link for #61-90.

tag(s): factors (29), number sense (70), prime numbers (26)

In the Classroom

Share this online poster on your projector or interactive whiteboard during discussions of factoring numbers or composite and prime numbers. Use this poster for a fun math center! Have students find each factor or prime number representation in the cartoon characters. Challenge students to create and draw their own factoring poster then use the posters for a colorful classroom display. This is a great way to "draw in" your visual-spatial kids in math class.

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Map Stack - Stamen

Grades
6 to 12
1 Favorites 0  Comments
 
Create highly stylized map images with this tool. This tool is very similar to the Photoshop layers palette and easily creates map layers using data already available in Open Street...more
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Create highly stylized map images with this tool. This tool is very similar to the Photoshop layers palette and easily creates map layers using data already available in Open Street Map. Create layers using backgrounds, roads, labels, and satellite imagery. Modify the layers' color, opacity, and brightness. Easily highlight or color portions of the map you want to standout. Share the image you create via Pinterest or Tumblr. Share your map image also by a link. Use precision detail with image overlays and layer effects, even creating masks for other layers. The tool can also be used to create a regular map in the colors you want. This site takes some tinkering to figure out but yields colorful and interesting maps.

tag(s): images (270), maps (208)

In the Classroom

Use to focus on and compare resources found in various communities or geographic locations. Identify where natural resources are concentrated in the world. Compare street design in various communities, concentration of population, and more. Create artistic representations of various areas as a project. Include this tool for your tech savvy students to try as you study different types of maps. Challenge them to create a map that has traditional elements such as terrain, and also uses color and image tools to emphasize or communicate information about a location, such as toxic waste locations or musical "scenes." Art teachers can suggest this tool for students to create geo-based artworks or create images to use in Earth Day posters.

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MightyText - MightyText.net

Grades
9 to 12
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Use this tool to create texts from any Android device AND from your computer. Texts are sent using your Android phone number and appear in the inbox of your phone. ...more
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Use this tool to create texts from any Android device AND from your computer. Texts are sent using your Android phone number and appear in the inbox of your phone. Text directly from Google Chrome! Easily sync your videos and images from your phone to computer or tablet. Why use this tool? Managing and responding to texts on the computer is easier when you use power view and can see all conversations at the same time. Additional features include texting from your Gmail account, editing photos using filters, and receiving alerts about the battery life of your phone. If you are an iPhone/Mac/iPad user, you already have similar functionality built in with iMessage.

tag(s): chat (42), classroom management (128), communication (136)

In the Classroom

Manage texts to students and teachers from your computer or tablet using MightyText. View texts easily on your computer. Send texts to parents reminding them of upcoming conferences. Remind students of project deadlines or tests. Have a snow day? Send students the work so they have less homework the following day. If a student is absent, text the assignments to their device.

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X (formerly Tweeted) Times - Tweetedtimes

Grades
9 to 12
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Create a personalized newspaper from your X (formerly Twitter) account or for any topic of interest. Connect this site easily with your Twitter account and generate a newspaper in minutes....more
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Create a personalized newspaper from your X (formerly Twitter) account or for any topic of interest. Connect this site easily with your Twitter account and generate a newspaper in minutes. View the newspapers of your X (formerly Twitter) friends or popular newspapers from other X (formerly Twitter) users. New to X (formerly Twitter)? Learn more from TeachersFirst's X (formerly Twitter) for Teachers page.

tag(s): communication (136), digital storytelling (142), newspapers (91), social networking (68), twitter (19)

In the Classroom

Use X (formerly Tweeted) Times to showcase your own Professional Development over time. Create and share a newspaper from a class or teacher X (formerly Twitter) account as a summary of content learned. Create a newspaper to use for real world learning in any subject (see Thematic newspapers). Share a newspaper of your class Xs X (formerly tweets) with parents (and school administration) to show what students have learned and to highlight the value of X (formerly Twitter) in the classroom. Students can create a newspaper using their own X (formerly Twitter) account to document their learning and conversations. Be sure to use TeachersFirst's review of X (formerly Twitter) for great classroom ideas.

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Power Poetry - Power Poetry

Grades
8 to 12
1 Favorites 0  Comments
 
Encourage budding poets with Power Poetry. Power Poetry's mission is to close the literacy gap through poetry. This is a community where young people of all backgrounds come together...more
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Encourage budding poets with Power Poetry. Power Poetry's mission is to close the literacy gap through poetry. This is a community where young people of all backgrounds come together to process their emotions using poetry. Find challenges to write about social issues or to write a poem in only 140 characters. Scroll down the page and point out the topic "7 Famous Poetic Pop Songs" where students are sure to recognize current singer/song writers. Find many supportive community members to encourage you to develop your voice. From the dropdown menu on the top click Resources then Teachers to find lesson plans, a free "How to Teach Poetry" course, and lots more. Poets are free to write about any subject; however, there are site guidelines to prevent hate speech and other inappropriate content. Join with a username and email address. On your profile, there is the option of sharing your first name and last initial, profile picture, and a short biography. You can message each other within the site, but this feature can be disabled from account settings.

tag(s): poetry (188), social and emotional learning (80)

In the Classroom

Encourage your most avid writers to submit their poetry to this site. Use your whiteboard or projector to show them the "Take Action Guides." There you will find many issues of concern to youth today. Most students will enjoy uniting multimedia, poetry, and activism in one place. Challenge your students to choose a contemorary poet, either from this site's list or one they know of, and study their poetic form, then to write a poem in that poet's style. Enhance learning by having students keep a blog using a tool like Penzu, reviewed here, to write down their thoughts as they investigate different parts of this site. This will help them when it comes time to write their own poem. With Penzu you can add images or your own artwork as illustrations. Then extend learning by having students either publish their poems on the site or by using a multimedia tool like Genially, reviewed here, and publish their poems on your classroom or school web page. Counselors may want to encourage disenfranchised students to join the site and write about their deepest feelings. This is a supportive community that encourages students to develop their own voice.

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