TeachersFirst - Featured Sites: Week of Jan 1, 2012
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
KidRex - Kid Safe Search Engine - KidRex.org
Grades
K to 7This site includes advertising.
tag(s): internet safety (118), search engines (55)
In the Classroom
Create a link to KidRex on classroom computers for students to use as a default search engine. Use this site on your interactive whiteboard (or projector) to demonstrate how to search for items or when searching with your students.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
Use the form at the top of the page to log in, or click here to join TeachersFirst (it's free!).
Eco Zoo - Enjin, Inc.
Grades
K to 4This site includes advertising.
tag(s): animals (299), ecology (120), ecosystems (84), sustainability (15)
In the Classroom
Allow students to explore the site and share information with one another about what they have learned. Bring these ideas together into a class discussion. Students can research other methods to create a more sustainable society and create flyers, posters, or blog posts to share information with others. Enhance learning by having students make a multimedia presentation using one of the many TeachersFirst Edge tools reviewed here, or make one together as a class, with each student contributing a portion. Some tool suggestions are (click on the tool name to access the review): Adobe Spark for Education, Animatron, Sway, and Beautiful.AI.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
Use the form at the top of the page to log in, or click here to join TeachersFirst (it's free!).
Let's Crate - Sahil Lavingia and Dan Loewenherz
Grades
K to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Use for any work students may wish to collaborate on. Use this resource to upload files for access at school later. (Be sure to make sure that this site is not blocked by the district first.) The possibilities here are endless - any subject area, any level, any topic!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
Use the form at the top of the page to log in, or click here to join TeachersFirst (it's free!).
Write Comics - Write Comics
Grades
K to 12tag(s): comics and cartoons (43)
In the Classroom
Create a comic to put on your website. You might want to use Write Comics to display the vocabulary word of the day, the math puzzle of the week, a concept your students are learning in social studies or science. Have students create comic strips for dialog-writing lessons, summarizing, predicting and retelling stories. Use comic strips for literature responses. For pre-reading students, create a comic of pictures and have students tell the story based on the pictures/scenes. Make a class book of the comics created throughout the year. That book will become the most read classroom book of all in an elementary classroom. Use comics to show sequencing of events. When studying about characterization, create dialog to show (not tell) about a character. World language and ESL/ELL teachers can assign students to create dialog strips as an alternate to traditional written assessments. Have students share all of their comics on your interactive whiteboard or projector.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
Use the form at the top of the page to log in, or click here to join TeachersFirst (it's free!).
Soundation - Power FX Systems AB
Grades
5 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): energy (182), lyrics (17), musical instruments (44), musical notation (37), sounds (58)
In the Classroom
This would be fantastic for teaching how to mix music and create interesting sounds without taking up space in permanent files on the computer. If it is used for practice, the jumbles of sounds "go away" when closing the website. Try using this in music class to show students how to mix up sounds, practice with rhythms, and play with tools. Allow students to try their hand at creating their own music. Create sound files to use as "bumpers" or backgrounds in podcasts and videos. The music you create is not copyrighted, so there is no concern about "rights." As a new angle on digital storytelling, why not challenge students to tell a story through sound effects and music? Create sound sequences then as audio writing prompts for stories or poetry. In science or physics classes, this tool could be displayed on an interactive whiteboard (or projector) to show what the frequencies of sound and different pitches of voices look like when represented graphically. Use this site to demonstrate how a sound wave is actually a wave of energy. Another use would be for classroom management. Have this tool displayed on the interactive whiteboard, as student become to noisy point out what their sound looks like on the board, and show them parameters of sound that they have to meet in your classroom. For younger students, this will give the visual message that their sound is "big" because they often lack that perspective.Edge Features:
Requires registration/log-in (WITH email)
Premium version (not free) includes additional features or storage
Products can be shared by URL
Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
Use the form at the top of the page to log in, or click here to join TeachersFirst (it's free!).
Shadow Light Productions - ShadowLight Productions
Grades
2 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): halloween (35), short stories (17)
In the Classroom
Share some of this "puppeteer fun" on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Integrate into your Language Arts classroom to discover theme, plot, characterization, or myths and legends in a new way. Science classes can investigate the use of shadow and sound. Shadow puppetry is an easy way to incorporate several multiple intelligences. Easily differentiated plans for ESL/ELL and Gifted students to capture interest and motivate success. Use as an enrichment cluster, or after-school activity. Be sure to capture all your class creations on video and share on your class web site or blog.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
Use the form at the top of the page to log in, or click here to join TeachersFirst (it's free!).
PHMS Podcasts: Math Minutes - Prairie Hills Middle School
Grades
5 to 8tag(s): equations (145), operations (106), order of operations (36), podcasts (61), variables (17)
In the Classroom
Share podcasts on your interactive whiteboard or projector as a warm-up to class lessons. Use the podcasts as examples and have students create their own. Use a site such as PodOmatic (reviewed here). Share their work on your class website or blog. Include a link to the site on your class newsletter for parents to view.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
Use the form at the top of the page to log in, or click here to join TeachersFirst (it's free!).
Chrome Experiments - Google
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): animation (63), computers (102), design (85), graphic design (43)
In the Classroom
This is a great resource for computer design and programming coursework. Each programmer has tagged their project with the name of technology they used to create their project. Consider showing examples of these technologies on an interactive whiteboard or projector. Have students develop their own experiment that uses Java Script and Google Chrome and then submit their work to the site. Make sure students understand not to share the link with anyone they do not trust or want contributing. Be sure to review the content in the chat session before using it with students. It is necessary to have an email in order to participate in online discussions. Read tips for safely managing email registrations here. It is essential that permissible use and consequences are set before introducing the site.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
Use the form at the top of the page to log in, or click here to join TeachersFirst (it's free!).
Project Explorer - projectexplorer.org
Grades
5 to 12tag(s): africa (149), asia (71), australia (34), canada (25), countries (76), cross cultural understanding (141), england (53), india (29), iran (11), jordan (5), mexico (31), peru (7), south africa (11), south america (39)
In the Classroom
As an anticipatory set, allow students to take the Global IQ quiz on 1:1 devices or a projector or on an interactive whiteboard to discuss the questions and take the quiz as a class. Then, informally assess prior knowledge of a selected country as you start your study of its geography, people, and other cultural items. Challenge students to select a country and create a brochure about what they learned using Sway, reviewed here, to share with their peers. Have students in language classes create similar videos and/or blogs that feature items of interest in countries whose languages they are studying.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
Use the form at the top of the page to log in, or click here to join TeachersFirst (it's free!).
Comments
Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
Close comment form