TeachersFirst - Featured Sites: Week of May 19, 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
Musical Resources - The National Civil War Field Music School
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): civil war (140)
In the Classroom
Share this resource as a project option for your musical students during a unit on the Civil War. Share the site with your music or band teacher to collaborate on a Civil War Day event.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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Coloring Squared - Cameron Krantzman
Grades
K to 6This site includes advertising.
tag(s): addition (224), counting (110), decimals (127), division (157), fractions (231), multiplication (209), operations (119), percent (80), place value (55), subtraction (186), worksheets (62)
In the Classroom
Not every math solution is black and white. Add some color to your teaching and review. Coloring Squared activities are great for station work, enrichment, or support. Students can write short stories using their picture for a cross-curricular activity. Final pictures are great for math bulletin boards. Looking for assignments for students to complete after their math work is finished? Coloring squared will keep the students engaged. Send this link home for students to use (and print) both in and out of the classroom.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Discover Anatomy - rigb.org
Grades
4 to 12tag(s): body systems (59), human body (133)
In the Classroom
Learn about the structure and movement of the human body. Students can work individually or in groups to learn about various joints and movements of the human body and other animals. Encourage students to research other organisms and create a multimedia presentation including the showing of the range of motion. Have students make a multimedia presentation using one of the many TeachersFirst Edge tools reviewed here. Students can connect the movement with other information that they learned on the site of other items such as a door hinge.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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CurrClick - Staley Krause
Grades
1 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): ebooks (39)
In the Classroom
Bookmark this site for use throughout the year for materials to use with any unit. Check back often, as new titles may be added! Display documents on your projector or interactive whiteboard to teach almost any language arts skills: highlighting parts of speech, subject/predicate, etc. Teacher notetaking or working with informational texts using these free texts. Be sure to use the FREE search to avoid paid texts. This would be a good site to share with students on your class website, blog, or wiki.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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U. S. History Images - Karen J. Hatzigeorgiou
Grades
7 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): 1800s (47), american revolution (85), civil war (140), colonial america (107), colonization (15), emancipation proclamation (12), images (279), industrial revolution (26), industrialization (14), lincoln (81), native americans (78), pioneers (9), states (161), transportation (47), washington (29)
In the Classroom
Bookmark and save this site to share during classroom lessons on your projector or interactive whiteboard. Share with students as a place to explore and to "get the picture" of early events in American History. As an alternative a traditional report and to enhance learning, create a newspaper using a site such as Printing Press, reviewed here, to report on Civil War events. This site is a wonderful source for students to find raw materials for multimedia projects in general. Be sure to provide a mini lesson on how to cite their image sources!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Kitten Hop Dolch Word Practice - Arcademics
Grades
K to 2tag(s): preK (284), sight words (36)
In the Classroom
Even if your students have been reading basic sight words for a while, this site offers practice in speed and fluency. You could create a learning center out of this site and have four different students competing on laptops. If you only have one computer and an interactive whiteboard, set up a learning station! Students can work in groups of two or individually to see their speed. If you choose to have students work in partners, be sure to partner each child with a student of similar reading level, so one student isn't providing all of the answers. This is a great simple site to provide for summer practice of sight words.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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US House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives - Office of the Historian, US House of Representatives
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): branches of government (53), congress (37), house of representatives (10)
In the Classroom
Understanding the separation of powers is fundamental to learning about how the US is governed. While it may be tempting to group the Senate and the House of Representatives into one legislative entity, there are important differences between the two bodies. This site can help students see the specific role the Founders had for this branch of government. Looking at important events in US history, like women's suffrage, civil rights, and foreign policy through the lens of the House gives added depth to the lesson. Students may be interested in the process by which the House conducts its business. Who is a "whip" and why do they call him (or her) that? Take some time to check out the lesson plans and other resources designed for educators as well.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Proofread Grammar Base - GrammarBase.com
Grades
4 to 12tag(s): grammar (208), plagiarism (36), spelling (165)
In the Classroom
Use Proofread Grammar Base on your interactive whiteboard (or projector) to demonstrate grammar and spelling mistakes and proper corrections. Share with students as a resource for editing and proofing written work. Proofread Grammar Base does not provide corrections, so that is left up to you (or your students) to come up with the proper edits on their own. Start using Proofread Grammar Base at the beginning of the school year and have students keep track of the type of errors they make. This way you can see when you need to teach a whole class mini lesson for a particular grammar concept.Comments
It will check for mistakes, but the report that goes with it appears to be only a free trial.Deborah, VT, Grades: 7 - 12
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Citelighter - Saad Alam
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): browser (5), citations (37), organizational skills (119)
In the Classroom
Share with students as a resource for saving and organizing web material. The clipping feature allows students to highlight the key information from a page so that a few days down the road they're not wondering why they bookmarked a webpage. The bibliography tools help students properly format their Works Cited pages. And searching the Knowledge Cards is like opening to the bibliography of a good book and finding out what the author used in his or her research. Use this tool to help keep your students (or even yourself) organized! Note that a clever student could essentially "grab" pieces of text from throughout the web and "write" a paper that way. Make sure you teach plagiarism lessons about paraphrasing and proper citation of sources so students use this easy tool properly!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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English Lessons on American Presidents - Sean Banville
Grades
4 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): jefferson (20), kennedy (25), lincoln (81), presidents (124), reading comprehension (129), washington (29)
In the Classroom
Bookmark and save this site as a resource to accompany US presidents units or to supplement current materials used in teaching about the presidents. This is a great tool to use in English/language arts class for nonfiction readings. If you want to remove distracting advertisements, use a tool such as Readability Test Tool, reviewed here. Print activities and biographies about several different presidents to add to your substitute folder. Share this site with ESL/ELL and Special Education teachers as a resource for materials.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Writing Lesson of the Month Network - Corbett Harrrison
Grades
4 to 12tag(s): creative writing (170), six traits of writing (7), writing (364), writing prompts (91)
In the Classroom
Find ideas for your students to write about. Or better yet, show them the categories, lists, and ideas and have them choose something as a class. Create small groups and allow them to look through the past writing lessons and books and decide as a group what they would like to write about. Use a program such as MixedInk reviewed here or allwritewithme reviewed here to help them collaborate on their writing experience. The site uses the Six Traits of Writing, and each month focuses on a different trait. To learn more about the Six Traits of writing visit Six Traits of Writing reviewed here or 6+1 Trait Writing Lesson Plans reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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