TeachersFirst - Featured Sites: Week of Mar 31, 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
Kids Magnetic Poetry Kit - McDonagh Brothers
Grades
K to 5This site includes advertising.
tag(s): interactive stories (22), poetry (195), sight words (23)
In the Classroom
Share this site on your projector or interactive whiteboard for students to see how to create a poem. Use this site to practice sight words. The magnetic poetry kit would make an excellent center activity for use during Poetry Month. Create a shortcut on classroom computers and let students create their own poems. Share completed poems on a class bulletin board or your class website. Take a screenshot (PrntScrn button, then PASTE on a Windows machine or Command+Shift+4 on a Mac to save a screenshot) of the completed poems to put into a digital portfolio such as Seesaw. View all of TeachersFirst's Editor's Choices for Poetry Month.Federal Student Aid - US Department of Education
Grades
7 to 12tag(s): careers (183), college (44), financial aid (13), financial literacy (95)
In the Classroom
While this is certainly a good site for students and families to consult from home, it would also be useful as an authentic resource for lessons in financial literacy, career and college planning, and life planning. At the very least, a great bookmark to publicize or add to classroom computers. Be sure to share this link on your class website.For Women In Science - Loreal
Grades
4 to 12tag(s): engineering (137), STEM (312), women (154)
In the Classroom
Use this site when researching science careers and scientists to be sure to give women their turn and to inspire another generation of female scientists. Share the video clips on your projector or interactive whiteboard. Use this site during Women's history month. Challenge your students to learn more about present-day famous women in STEM careers and create their own interactive books. Have students use Ourboox, reviewed here. Ourboox creates beautiful page-flipping digital books in minutes, and you can embed video, music, animation, games, maps and more.Chronicling America - National Endowment for the Humanities and Library of Congress
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): 1800s (75), 1900s (72), journalism (74), news (226), newspapers (94), primary sources (119)
In the Classroom
Make history come alive in your classroom using newspapers, the perfect primary source. Enter dates from history and different locations to find local news stories and information. When studying events over an extended period of time, find resources from the beginning, middle, and end of that period to compare and contrast information from the local newspapers. Read the evolution of American popular opinion before and after Pearl Harbor, for example. Have students create "annotated pictures" to illustrate or report events using Phrase.it, reviewed here. Challenge your students to use a site such as Timeline JS, reviewed here, to create an interactive timeline of events as reported in various news sources. Timeline JS offers the option to upload and add photos, videos, audio, Tweets, and Google Maps making it interactive.Infotopia - Dr. Michael Bell and Carole Bell
Grades
2 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): search engines (47)
In the Classroom
Share this site with students in class. Have students use this site for research. Be sure to link to this site on your blog, wiki, or class website. Make this site the home page for your classroom computer.Crash Course - John and Hank Green
Grades
6 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): animals (293), bacteria (21), bill of rights (34), body systems (40), chinese (43), constitution (99), declaration of independence (16), evolution (88), genetics (79), greeks (46), literature (221), meiosis (8), mitosis (9), nutrition (140), religions (113), rome (37), romeo and juliet (3), russia (34), shakespeare (99), water cycle (22)
In the Classroom
Use as a way to introduce new topics or subjects to establish background knowledge. Share these videos on your projector or interactive whiteboard to provide an introduction (or review) on various topics. Use as an alternate way to help motivate your tech savvy students. Use as an example for a group project with the students planning, writing, and producing an informational video in the subject you are studying. Enhance learning by having cooperative learning groups create videos using Typito,reviewed here, and share them on a site such as TeacherTube, reviewed here. Be sure to point out the steps followed in teaching and learning in the videos. Independent learners and gifted students will love the opportunity to learn on their own using these videos. Instead of "games" for times when student finish work early, why not share the link to this YouTube channel and encourage them to keep a blog using Blogger, reviewed here about what they discover.Trace Effects - U.S. Department of State
Grades
7 to 12tag(s): communities (38), conflict resolution (9), conservation (101), cross cultural understanding (178), women (154)
In the Classroom
This site offers a window on American culture that you can use in comparing cultures. It is a great way to engage ESL/ELL teens as they practice English skills. Since the State Department created it, an AP Civics or Government class might even want to critique or discuss its portrayal of U.S. culture. Have ESL/ELL students work on individual laptops and explore this site alone or with a partner. Provide this link for students to access both in and out of the classroom. Challenge your students to collaboratively write the dialogue for an additional visit Trace might make to a community near you using Google Docs/Drive reviewed here. Your more technologically savvy students may like to create another version of a Trace visit to go along with the dialog! In a world language class, have students work collaboratively to create a visit to a cultural site using this game as a model.TV411 - Vocabulary - Education Development Center, Inc.
Grades
4 to 12tag(s): antonyms (12), dictionaries (47), prefixes (10), reading comprehension (152), root words (10), spelling (98), suffixes (8), synonyms (15), thesaurus (22), vocabulary (241), vocabulary development (96), word study (58)