TeachersFirst - Featured Sites: Week of Jun 26, 2016

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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ePubEditor - ePubEditor.it

Grades
K to 12
4 Favorites 0  Comments
 
Create multimedia and interactive ebooks that work on tablets and computers for free with ePubEditor. Create your account to begin, then follow prompts to upload images and text with...more
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Create multimedia and interactive ebooks that work on tablets and computers for free with ePubEditor. Create your account to begin, then follow prompts to upload images and text with optional image, video, or audio. Other options allow you to create quizzes with different responses such as multiple choice, matching, or drag and drop response. Allow others to edit and add to your book using the share editing option. When complete, publish and share your book using the created URL or download in different formatting options including epub and PDF.
This site includes advertising.

tag(s): assessment (147), digital storytelling (142), ebooks (38)

In the Classroom

Create books together, as a class, as you move through a unit or topic. Enhance student learning by adding images and ideas your students suggest. Use in a flipped classroom to deliver course information. Assign several student groups a different topic and extend and redefine their learning and technology use by having each group create their own multimedia versions as they learn more about the topic. Students can combine their books later as a class book. Make a digital bookshelf of all the versions for all to use. Challenge gifted students to modify the "standard" class text with the additional material they discover, by going deeper and learning about related topics. In lower grades, create teacher-made e-books for your young readers, perhaps adding audio - your own voice reading the text.

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Symbaloo - Learning Paths - Symbaloo

Grades
K to 12
8 Favorites 0  Comments
 
Symbaloo, reviewed here, has taken its popular bookmarking tool and enhanced features to provide a platform for creating virtual interactive lesson...more
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Symbaloo, reviewed here, has taken its popular bookmarking tool and enhanced features to provide a platform for creating virtual interactive lesson plans and learning paths. Log in to your Symbaloo account and browse the Marketplace for already created lessons, or begin creating your own. Add websites, PDFs, videos, and more onto tiles and create a game board and learning path. Follow prompts to add items to the lesson and publish when complete. Symbaloo Lesson Plans & Learning Paths also provides analytics after assigning lessons to view student progress and a calendar option to make lessons available during a chosen time frame.

tag(s): bookmarks (47), curation (35), DAT device agnostic tool (143), game based learning (171), gamification (74), multilingual (63), personalized learning (9), playlists (10), Teacher Utilities (146)

In the Classroom

You will want to use Symbaloo Learning Paths for many different types of classroom instruction! Create lesson plans to differentiate learning and assign based on student needs and interests. Embed a lesson on your class website for students to complete at home. Using this site allows you to create a clear and concise learning path for any lesson. Share it on an interactive whiteboard with students as you follow through any learning path. Be sure also to include a link to the lesson on your class website for students to use throughout the unit and as a review. Use Symbaloo Lesson Plans as enrichment for independent learning for advanced students, or for remediation with students needing additional help. This site is perfect for use with ENL/ESL students - include links and activities to resources in their native language or add tools for practicing English. There are too many uses for Symbaloo Lesson Plans to include here, be sure to take the time to learn how to create and use this wonderful tool with your students!

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TypeDrummer - Kyle Stetz

Grades
K to 12
1 Favorites 0  Comments
  
Turn your typing into cool rhythmic beats with TypeDrummer. Listen to your creation as you continue typing into the box. For a change of pace, switch from the drumbeat to ...more
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Turn your typing into cool rhythmic beats with TypeDrummer. Listen to your creation as you continue typing into the box. For a change of pace, switch from the drumbeat to the song "Fool" by Moon Bounce. Click on "load new samples" only. Warning: Clicking on "Fool" will take you out of the TypeDrummer tool. After finishing your creation, use the link to share with others at the URL created for you.

tag(s): back to school (62), musical instruments (45), rhythm (20), sound (74)

In the Classroom

Catch your students' attention and type a short message to students on TypeDrummer to read as they enter the class. Create and share TypeDrummer messages on your class web page - suggestions might be reminders of due dates of upcoming tests, tips on completing homework assignments, or the daily school lunch menu. Allow students to create a TypeDrummer message as part of a presentation including the title and a summary of the presentation content. Create a list of instructions to share with students. Use TypeDrummer as part of your Back to School activities, have each student type their name and a sentence about themselves. Spice up lessons and have students type their answers using TypeDrummer.

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Self-Destructable Text Notes - Coldbeans

Grades
4 to 12
2 Favorites 0  Comments
 
Self-Destructable Text Notes offer a quick and easy way to share information and files without registration. Type text and upload a file if desired. You can even add a password. ...more
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Self-Destructable Text Notes offer a quick and easy way to share information and files without registration. Type text and upload a file if desired. You can even add a password. When finished, share using the provided URL or links for sending to Twitter, Facebook, or email. Once the link is opened and viewed, all information is deleted.
This site includes advertising.

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

In the Classroom

Use these text notes to attach and send a picture of class events or field trips to parents. Files open in a new tab and save like other attachments. Have students write a short response to lessons and send to you as an exit ticket when leaving class. Use this tool to send quick reminders of upcoming assignments and due dates. The uses are endless, just remember, once these notes are read and closed they are no longer available!

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Printing Press - ReadWriteThink

Grades
4 to 12
6 Favorites 0  Comments
  
Create attractive newspapers, brochures, and posters with the interactive tool, Printing Press. No log-in is required. Just choose which format you want, from one of five templates,...more
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Create attractive newspapers, brochures, and posters with the interactive tool, Printing Press. No log-in is required. Just choose which format you want, from one of five templates, and upload images. Choose text features and type or paste the text. Edit your work, if needed, before printing, downloading it as a PDF, or share through email. Save your draft to your computer to continue at a later date. Find a basic planning sheet, here, in the overview, to help students gather ideas. Turn the sound off or on at the top right.

tag(s): book reports (28), creative writing (122), newspapers (91), posters (47)

In the Classroom

Students can use Printing Press to demonstrate learning of any kind across grade levels and content areas. Instead of writing a boring research report, have your students create a professional looking newspaper or brochure! Math and science students can create posters explaining concepts they learned. Students can photograph experiments and write up labs. Use Printing Press for students to "report" out the important events in a book they read, or make a poster advertising it as a movie. Teachers can use this tool as a jump page to guide a lesson or upload images and write up examples of exemplary work to share with students to set expectations for completed products before beginning any project. The uses for this tool are wide open!

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21things4students - Regional Educational Media Center Association of Michigan.

Grades
6 to 9
2 Favorites 2  Comments
   
This free interactive site is an extensive digital literacy curriculum that improves technology proficiency, builds information literacy and digital citizenship skills, and provides...more
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This free interactive site is an extensive digital literacy curriculum that improves technology proficiency, builds information literacy and digital citizenship skills, and provides 21st century and project-based resources online. The 21 Things are 'big ideas' in technology and learning such as Visual Learning, Global Collaboration, Powerful Presentations, Search Strategies, Digital Footprint, and many others. The student activities use free web resources designed to address the ISTE National Educational Technology Standards for Students, and the Partnership for 21st Century Skills. The non-sequential Things, delivered as project-based Quests, provide links, resources, and activities for students to earn badges and awards. Registration for teachers is required and gives access to teacher resources and a downloadable Moodle version of the site; Moodle is not required to use this site. To access certain external activities and tools, students may need to register with an e-mail. Each Thing contains a Teacher Lesson Guide, Student Checklist, Learning Objectives, and links to various web resources and apps. Choose a Things and see that the Quests have roadmap documents for students to use for tracking progress. A Quest includes an introduction (frequently as a short, animated video), vocabulary, directions, tutorials, standards, apps, and a student checklist. Extensive teacher resources and support are provided. Assessments are through multiple-choice quizzes at ProProf with a provided password. You may want to choose MITECHKIDS where you will find grade level links and categories by curriculum.

tag(s): careers (139), computers (105), consumers (14), cyberbullying (40), digital citizenship (83), digital storytelling (142), evaluating sources (28), game based learning (171), internet safety (112), media literacy (102), organizational skills (90), social media (53), social networking (68), thinking skills (14), webquests (21)

In the Classroom

Use the complete curriculum or selected Quests. Assign students individual Things to complete in school or at home as part of blended learning or flipped classrooms. Have students begin with the Basics and progress through selected skills. Use parts of the site to teach a particular skill to the whole class. Have students complete their work through an electronic portfolio bulb, reviewed here, but not included on the site. bulb includes links to some ideas and samples on the on the K-12 page.
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Comments

Tons of resources for all grades, love it! Ladisha, VA, Grades: 9 - 12
Lots of other links for using technology resources in the classroom. Ruth, AB, Grades: 0 - 12

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