TeachersFirst - Featured Sites: Week of Mar 24, 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
Graphing Stories - Dan Meyer
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): charts and graphs (183), measurement (157), time (115)
In the Classroom
Use Graphing Stories videos for quick graphing practice. Share the videos on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Stop the video after viewing labeling instructions for students to be prepared. Watch the activity. Stop the video again before the correct graph appears. Have students compare graphs and discuss differences before viewing the end of the video with the correct graph. Download graphs onto student computers for students to complete independently or provide a link to graphs for students to review at home.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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Meteorite size - CARTOD8
Grades
3 to 12In the Classroom
This site is ideal for your interactive whiteboard or projector. It could also be used on individual laptops or at a learning center. Allow time for students to brainstorm what the bubbles represent on the map. Give a few moments then to have them identify by looking at specific bubbles. Discuss whether certain areas of the map have found or seen more or larger meteorites and why that might be. Research what other objects can strike Earth and compare composition and origin in the Universe. Consider expanding your discussion to include folklore, religion, and other aspects of daily life that may have been "impacted" by meteorite impacts or sightings. Discuss various ways that living things could be protected from possible future impacts.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Education Unboxed - Rosie
Grades
K to 7This site includes advertising.
tag(s): addition (202), decimals (117), division (144), equations (145), fractions (218), mental math (25), multiplication (182), number sense (85), numbers (170), place value (54), preK (271), square roots (18), subtraction (171), whole numbers (15)
In the Classroom
View videos as a class on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Use code provided with videos to embed on your classroom blog or website or share using urls provided. Use videos as a model and challenge cooperative learning groups to create videos on math topics learned in class. Share the videos on a site such as TeacherTube reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Clouds Over Cuba - John F Kennedy Presidential Library
Grades
7 to 12tag(s): 1960s (29), kennedy (24), primary sources (100)
In the Classroom
Explore this site on your interactive whiteboard (or projector) as a class. Allow students to explore the site on their own. Challenge students to create a newspaper article about one of the main participants of the crisis, or one of the daily events using the Newspaper Clipping Generator, reviewed here. Choose individual chapters to view using links provided instead of viewing the whole documentary if time is an issue. Have students use a mapping tool such as Click2Map, reviewed here, to create a map of Cuban Missile Crisis events. Include display markers featuring text, photos, and videos as desired. Use an online tool such as Interactive Two Circle Venn Diagram, reviewed here, to create a visual comparison of JFK vs Castro or comparing the Cuban Missile Crisis to modern day events such as 9/11. This would be an outstanding inspiration for a History Day project.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Good.is - GOOD Worldwide, LLC
Grades
7 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): enrichment (10), news (244), newspapers (93), politics (104), writing prompts (67)
In the Classroom
Good.is is perfect for enrichment, research, or a current events class. Include it on your class web page (if you are comfortable with the description: a community of people who give a d---) for students to access both in and out of class. Have students try out this site on individual computers, or as a learning center. For students who enjoy current events, Good.is is a terrific source of up-to-the-minute positive stories from across the web. There is advertising, but it is not too intrusive. Use this site as one of several current event options when asking students to find real world connections to curriculum topics. You can always send students directly to the full articles on their original sites to avoid displaying the Good.is frame at the top. Use articles as writing prompts for blog posts or practice writing informational texts or persuasive writing.Comments
Great reading resource on current events!Ladisha, VA, Grades: 9 - 12
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Population Pyramid - Martin DeWulf
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): charts and graphs (183), population (53)
In the Classroom
At a very simple level, this site is great for teaching about reading charts and graphs or math lessons about how to display data. In social studies or science, view and compare the demographics of various countries. Discuss the religious, economic, and health reasons for the shape of the population pyramids. Discuss demographic transitions, developed vs. developing countries, and emerging issues. Use the information when preparing presentations about health and welfare, world cultures, and biological issues concerning the environments and population demographics. Hypothesize reasons for differences, then have students research to test their hypotheses. Research and discuss the issue of population by searching articles from different countries that show a different perspective from ours.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Longform - longform.org
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): expository writing (33), independent reading (106), poetry (195), reading lists (69), writing prompts (67)
In the Classroom
Create a classroom account and save articles to use with classroom topics or for independent student reading. Find informational texts to use for Common Core practice. Share this site with students to create their own account to find articles to read. This is definitely a site that you want to list on your class wiki, blog, or website. Teachers of writing can use these articles as examples of different writing styles and of writing with audience and voice in mind. Select more controversial articles to use as writing prompts.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Quick Picture Tools - QuickPictureTools.com
Grades
K to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Bookmark and save this site for easy image editing for you and your students for any classroom projects. No registration is required, and images are saved directly to your computer for immediate use. Make simple reminder posters or classroom signs using the text emboss tool. Invite students to create image/text combinations for bulletin boards, such as types of leaves or insects. Make introductions of students as a first day of school activity using digital pictures and the text tool.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Pictolang - Michael R. Shaughnessy
Grades
5 to 12tag(s): arabic (15), chinese (47), cross cultural understanding (141), french (78), german (53), images (265), italian (29), japanese (42), maps (248), spanish (103)
In the Classroom
Use Pictolang to help students learn and review languages on their own. This is a perfect site for ESL/ELL students, world cultures class, and world language studies. Display the Analyst Game on your interactive whiteboard (or projector) and play together as a class or as a small group center. Discuss images featured and why they represent different cultures. Allow ESL/ELL students to explore the site using the ESL (North America) option to match images to the English word. This is a great link to add to your class website for world language (or ESL/ELL) students to use for additional practice.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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