TeachersFirst - Featured Sites: Week of Aug 7, 2011
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
32 Interesting Ways to Get to Know Your New Class - Tom Barrett
Grades
K to 12tag(s): back to school (58), firstday (20), newbies (15), substitutes (17)
In the Classroom
Use these fabulous ideas for getting to know you activities at the beginning of the school year. Have a great idea that you use in your class? Be sure to share it on this site.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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Global Clouds - Kyucon.com
Grades
4 to 12tag(s): climate (91), deserts (17), earth (196), water cycle (28), weather (188)
In the Classroom
Use this tool as part of a lesson on the weather, water cycle, or desertification with this 3D globe. Provide time for students to identify where clouds seem to form, the direction that they move, and the type of clouds. Use to help determine the wind patterns on the Earth and where the water cycle begins. Follow with a more extensive look at weather patterns in the local area or at specific places across the globe. Focus on hurricane formation off Africa or winter weather patterns. Create conventional or multimedia posters that shows the types of clouds and portions of the weather cycle. Have students or student groups create an online, interactive poster known as an infographic using Easel.ly, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Clockwords - Gabob
Grades
4 to 8tag(s): game based learning (162), spelling (113), vocabulary (249), vocabulary development (96)
In the Classroom
In your classroom, use Clockwords as a center activity, reward activity, or team game with your interactive whiteboard or projector. Challenge your students by using vocabulary words from science, math, or language arts. Within your class, look for high scores among students or teams. Be sure to provide this link on your class website. Incorrectly spelled words are not counted as valid words. Help this by supplying a dictionary or an online dictionary link.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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WickEd Math Interactives - Ministry of Education, New Zealand
Grades
K to 4tag(s): addition (202), division (144), fluency (18), multiplication (182), operations (106), preK (271), puzzles (173), subtraction (171)
In the Classroom
These activities are perfect for use on the interactive whiteboard or projector, especially the multi-player ones. Share during recess time or for individual student practice. Share a link to the site through your classroom website or blog for students to use for at-home practice. Create a link on classroom computers for students to use as a center or during lab time.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Energyville - Chevron
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): energy (182), environment (274), nuclear energy (24), solar energy (37)
In the Classroom
Identify the trade offs in economic, environmental, and security concerns with the various types of energy used to power the city. Research the types of energy, including the advantages and disadvantages to each. Provide time for students to play and brainstorm the problems certain cities have and the mix of energy sources that seem to work. Research the various technologies and where they are currently used including research into uses around the world and comparisons among countries. Use as a part of a unit on the environment or energy. Follow up with a debate about the type of power generation that should be used in your community.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Learn About Color - Metropolitan Museum of Art
Grades
K to 2tag(s): art history (77), colors (71), egypt (51), museums (40)
In the Classroom
Use this site as an anticipatory set or "activator" to introduce a lesson about the color wheel or mixing primary colors together. Play the animated presentation with a projector or interactive whiteboard and then let students independently enjoy coloring the Hippo. Use your interactive whiteboard as a learning center and allow students to manipulate the whiteboard themselves and change the color of the hippo. This activity would work well for individual or pairs of students in a lab or on laptops. Be sure to take the time to also share the story behind this "cute" little figurine.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Sound Sleeping - Tony Spencer
Grades
K to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): behavior (43), mental health (29), senses (26), sound (86), sounds (58), stress (9)
In the Classroom
Enhance student listening ability with this sound-mixing tool. Ask students to visit this site to create their own musical mix. Afterward, ask others to guess the tracks in the music. Students can also identify to which speaker the soundboard's pan tool is sending various sounds. Activities such as these are the perfect addition to a science unit about the five senses. Consider having students create a their own personal mix to use while learning deep breathing, practicing creative visualizations, or engaging in class relaxation exercises. You could also plan these sounds during creative writing exercises or independent reading time. Headphones or speakers are necessary for this site, if you don't wish to share with the entire class. Students in need of "cooling off" time may enjoy playing Bubble Burst. Choose to create music with the vibes soundboard and student creations will automatically play with Flickr photographs of nature. Emotional support teachers may find this tool useful in helping students develop self-control mechanisms. Share this link on your class web page and/or in a parent newsletter and suggest ways to enhance relaxation techniques at home.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Preceden - Matt Mazur
Grades
3 to 12tag(s): timelines (47)
In the Classroom
Create an ever-growing timeline throughout the school year by adding events discussed in class so students understand where events relate to each other in history. Create a timeline with events in American History and add a layer of authors' works to connect literature's time periods to history.Have your students use Preceden to create a timeline of their life and their family's life. Then use events from their life for writing a memoir, poetry, etc. Science students could create a timeline for the stages of mitosis for a cell or the life cycle of a forest or an animal. Have students in government or history create timelines related to topics you are learning about in class.
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