TeachersFirst - Featured Sites: Week of Dec 1, 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
Glossary of Instructional Strategies - Kelly Jo Rowan
Grades
K to 12
This deceptively simple looking site offers an incredible number of ideas and descriptions of instructional strategies. Scroll through the site to find known and new ideas for teaching...more
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This deceptively simple looking site offers an incredible number of ideas and descriptions of instructional strategies. Scroll through the site to find known and new ideas for teaching any subject. Many topics include links for more in-depth descriptions of the activities. This site was frequently updated. This is one that you definitely want to bookmark or save in your favorites!
tag(s): preK (291), teaching strategies (52)
In the Classroom
This is an excellent site for experienced and new teachers alike! Share ideas with your student teacher or mentoree as examples of different ways to present lessons. Share with other teachers during professional development sessions. Choose one or two new instructional strategies to try each month to liven up classroom lessons. Since this site is frequently updated, check back often after you mark this one in your professional favorites. Instructional coaches will want to keep this as a handy reference.
This resource requires PDF reader software like Adobe Acrobat.
Pocket - Read It Later, Inc
Grades
K to 12Pocket is a bookmarking and curation application that syncs across all of your devices to save online articles or videos for later viewing. Saving is simple. Download the bookmarklet...more
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Pocket is a bookmarking and curation application that syncs across all of your devices to save online articles or videos for later viewing. Saving is simple. Download the bookmarklet on your computer or the Pocket app to your mobile device. When you see something to save for later viewing, click the share button to send to your Pocket account. View at anytime (even offline). Sort by content type such as article, video, or text. Add tags to organize content as you wish. Pocket integrates with many other online tools, such as X (formerly Twitter) and Flipboard. Share articles using social networking or email links to the Pocket app. Although this site is recommended for all grade levels, younger students would only be able to use this site if the collection was completed by an adult. Click to view the short introduction video to learn more.
tag(s): bookmarks (43), curation (32), DAT device agnostic tool (146)
In the Classroom
Use Pocket professionally to collect and share websites, videos, and images for lessons and units. Use Pocket to share sites with colleagues, parents, and students. Share this site with older students to use to save resources they find for research. Demonstrate how to use Pocket and share with students as a resource for collaborating on group projects. Be sure to talk about using tags to organize things so they don't end up with a giant "pocketful" of tangled "stuff."Universe Today - Fraser Cain
Grades
8 to 12Find commercial-free Space and Astronomy news articles. The accompanying forum discusses aspects of the news in greater detail. Find book and video reviews as well as great information...more
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Find commercial-free Space and Astronomy news articles. The accompanying forum discusses aspects of the news in greater detail. Find book and video reviews as well as great information about newsworthy topics. Some of the topics at the time of this review include Virtual Star Party, NASA's STEREO Spacecraft Spots Comets ISON and Encke, Volcanic Blast Forms New Island Near Japan, and many others. Most of the videos are hosted on YouTube. If your district blocks YouTube, then they may not be viewable.
This site includes advertising.
This site includes advertising.
tag(s): earth (182), solar system (108), space (220)
In the Classroom
Share the images and articles on your projector or interactive whiteboard. Try using this website as a resource in art class. Have students find a picture and information, recreating it though their own interpretation. Have students in a writing class choose a photograph and create a story about how it came to be as a creative writing exercise. Have students use the news as a jumping point for research and understanding information about the solar system. Post this website on your class page or bookmark on a class computer for use as in reporting Science News. Assign a particular article that relates to a c concept you are studying. Have the whole class read it as homework, and then have them post reactions on a class wiki page. Not familiar with wikis? Check out the TeachersFirst Wiki Walk-Through. Assign students to select a current science news article for "close reading" a la Common Core and share its contents creatively on your class wiki as examples of science in the real world.Toporopa: Geography of Europe - Toporopa
Grades
4 to 12Toporopa provides educational and entertaining quizzes about Europe. The quizzes vary in focus but include Countries of Europe, Rivers of Europe, Ports of Europe, Monarchies of Europe,...more
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Toporopa provides educational and entertaining quizzes about Europe. The quizzes vary in focus but include Countries of Europe, Rivers of Europe, Ports of Europe, Monarchies of Europe, Volcanoes of Europe, and many others. The maps offer a variety of focus from political, geographic, historical, and even economical, making this tools useful in a variety of class/subjects. Most activities are in drag and drop or multiple choice format.
This site includes advertising.
This site includes advertising.
tag(s): countries (73), europe (84), maps (224), rivers (16), volcanoes (55)
In the Classroom
Create a link on classroom computers for students to explore these interactives. This site could be used in world cultures, world geography, world languages, science, government, and many other subjects. Have students try the games and then research further information. For example, after finding all European countries that have a reigning monarch, have students find further information on the monarchies. Challenge the students to use a tool like Slides, reviewed here to share their findings.Center for Game Science: Games - Center for Game Science, UNiversity of Washington
Grades
4 to 12The Center for Game Science offers an eclectic group of games that promote scientific discovery, problem solving, and learning through game play. The Center is focusing on using "gamification,"...more
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The Center for Game Science offers an eclectic group of games that promote scientific discovery, problem solving, and learning through game play. The Center is focusing on using "gamification," or game play, to facilitate learning, and this collection shares its grant-funded prototypes. Choose from activities teaching diverse subjects: biochemistry, fractions, visual perception, and more. Each interactive includes a short description along with options such as single or multi-player, and an overview of the game. One game, a downloadable program, deals with protein folding. Be sure to read the descriptions in detail and practice with games to understand how they work. Many of the games are still in development and may become unavailable as they move form one phase of development to the next. A few have ads, but you can use a forward arrow to skip past them. The "capstone" listings show games created by university students, but few of these seem to be instructional.
This site includes advertising.
This site includes advertising.
tag(s): cells (82), dna (43), fractions (159), game based learning (208), gamification (86), STEM (312), vision (42), whole numbers (9)
In the Classroom
Choose games to play on your interactive whiteboard, projector, or through links on classroom computers. Share a link to the site on your classroom website or newsletter for students to explore at home. Have students create an online or printed comic using one of the tools and ideas included in this collection to demonstrate thought processes or ideas learned through game play. If you teach computer coding, this is a great site to inspire ideas for new learning games.RumbleBlocks - Entertainment Technology Center of Carnegie Mellon University
Grades
K to 6RumbleBlocks is an interactive that teaches students (ages 4-11) how to build and identify stable structures. Build towers by manipulating a series of blocks to help a friendly alien...more
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RumbleBlocks is an interactive that teaches students (ages 4-11) how to build and identify stable structures. Build towers by manipulating a series of blocks to help a friendly alien creature get to its spaceship to return home. The site requires the Unity plug-in and will prompt you to download if your FireFox, Opera, or Internet Explorer browser does not have it.
tag(s): architecture (84), geometric shapes (132), structures (18)