TeachersFirst - Featured Sites: Week of Jan 13, 2019
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
Twitter Chat: Make That MakerSpace! - TeachersFirst
Grades
K to 12
tag(s): collaboration (87), makerspace (41), STEM (262), twitterchatarchive (173)
In the Classroom
Find tools and resources to create or expand a makerspace! Share this chat with your colleagues looking for sites and information related to makerspaces. Explore the various tools that are shared.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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Babble Dabble Do - Ana Dziengel
Grades
K to 6This site includes advertising.
tag(s): crafts (53), design (83), engineering (119), makerspace (41), STEM (262)
In the Classroom
Be sure to add this to your toolbox of ideas for teaching STEAM topics and for ideas to use in classroom makerspaces. In addition to adding this site to your favorite bookmarks, consider creating a board on Pinterest, reviewed here, of sites with ideas for STEAM projects. Share the board with your peers and collaborate on adding STEAM sites as a group. Extend learning throughout and after project activities as you include student work as part of a portfolio on Seesaw, reviewed here. Seesaw offers tools for all ages of students to create digital portfolios including written or audio reflections on work. Instead of just sharing images of student creations on your Facebook page or school web page, help students enhance their learning by creating digital books using WriteReader, reviewed here, to share online for family and friends. WriteReader is a site specially created for use with younger students to share their writing and images.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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My Crossword Maker - Crossword Hobbyist Inc.
Grades
K to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): addition (128), african american (109), american revolution (81), civil war (134), cold war (30), colonial america (95), colonization (20), crosswords (19), cultures (132), darwin (13), division (98), fractions (159), french (74), grammar (133), holidays (162), latin (22), literature (217), martin luther king (43), multiplication (122), musical instruments (46), poetry (189), presidents (121), puzzles (143), religions (75), shakespeare (93), spanish (105), spelling (95), sports (77), states (122), subtraction (109), vocabulary (235), world war 1 (72), world war 2 (149), writing (315)
In the Classroom
Create a link to puzzles on classroom computers for students to use for vocabulary review. Have students create and share their own crossword puzzles with classmates. Include student-created crossword puzzles into multimedia presentations of research projects. Encourage students to use vocabulary terms in writing and speaking projects.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Microsoft MakeCode - Microsoft
Grades
K to 12tag(s): coding (88), makerspace (41), Microsoft (84), STEM (262)
In the Classroom
Make use of the resources offered by Microsoft to share with your students as they learn how to code. Share project ideas with students and include materials for them to create their projects as part of makerspace activities. Have students take pictures of their creation and enhance their learning by using Voxer, reviewed here, to add audio to describe their creative process. Add images to your class website as part of your student work gallery. Challenge students to use Sway, reviewed here, to create an online multimedia page including images, video, and text to describe, evaluate, and share their work with coding projects. Include project ideas from the site and set up a makerspace during open house events at your school.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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MakerSpace Resources - TeachersFirst
Grades
K to 12tag(s): circuits (20), coding (88), creativity (92), engineering (119), makerspace (41), musical instruments (46), robotics (22), STEM (262)
In the Classroom
Use these resources for your digital MakerSpace. Find tools for all grades. Don't miss the Twitter Chat for teachers just starting a MakerSpace. There are also a few sites that have more information for educators just learning about MakerSpace. Some of these resources are ideal for individual devices.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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The Guide to Pinterest for Educators - USC Rossier/Leah Anne Levy
Grades
K to 12tag(s): bookmarks (47), professional development (393), social media (53)
In the Classroom
Use this resource to understand how to use Pinterest for your personal and professional use and also for student collaboration. Share ideas with other staff members to collaborate on shared interests. Discuss one section a month with your professional learning network (PLN) and reflect together how to make the most of Pinterest in your educational setting.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Technovation Families - Iridescent
Grades
4 to 12tag(s): aeronautics (9), computers (106), design (83), engineering (119), gifted (65), inventors and inventions (71), makerspace (41), oceans (146), problem solving (226), robotics (22), STEM (262)
In the Classroom
Be sure to take advantage of the free educator units offered with membership. Share project ideas with students as ideas for a school science or engineering fair. Share this site with students interested in exploring careers in science or engineering. Encourage students to enhance their technology use and learning by using a visual blogging tool such as Telegra.ph, reviewed here. With Telegra.ph you just click on an icon to upload images from your computer, add a YouTube or Vimeo, or Twitter links (no registration required), to document their progress while completing projects. Have gifted students choose projects from the site to complete as enrichment within different learning units.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Da Vinci - The Genius - The Museum of Science
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): artists (77), inventors and inventions (71), italy (16), leonardo davinci (3), renaissance (32)
In the Classroom
This site is perfect for use on your interactive whiteboard or with a projector. Explore the different portions together during your studies of the Renaissance, inventors, or artists such as Leonardo da Vinci. Share a link to this site on your class webpage for students to explore at home, or to use in your blended class activities. Add a link on classroom computers for use during computer centers. Have students replace paper and pen notes and take digital notes about what they are learnng using a tool like SimpleNote, reviewed here. Enhance students' learning by using Fakebook, reviewed here, to create a "fake" page similar in style to Facebook about Leonardo da Vinci or other Renaissance artists. Extend student learning by challenging individuals and small groups to take one of the concepts they learned from Leonardo and apply it to something from today's world. Use a bulletin board tool like Lino, reviewed here, to record and save student ideas. With Lino you can create stickies with images, commenting, videos, and more. After individuals and small groups have devoloped their art, invention, etc., have them present their learning and their invention, art, etc. to peers using one of these multimedia tools: Click the tool name to access the review: Genially, Microsoft PowerPoint Online, Animatron, Renderforest, and Canva Inforgraphic Maker.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Start.me - Arjen Robijn
Grades
K to 12tag(s): bookmarks (47)
In the Classroom
Create a classroom Start.me with frequently used websites and resources for classroom computers. Add pages for specific subjects or topics such as math and science, or for curriculum topics like explorers. If you work with students in several different grade levels or subjects, Start.me is the perfect organization tool for your online resources. Share login information with students for access at home and school. Students working on a group project could put the resources they find on Start.me so everyone in the group can access them. Encourage your gifted students to use this tool to curate and collect resources for extensions of the curriculum beyond the classroom, such as articles and connections with real world applications of science or resources about current events. World language teachers can collect a home page filled with cultural sites and publications in the new language so students can immerse themselves.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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CurriConnects Book List - Inventors and Inventions - TeachersFirst
Grades
K to 12tag(s): book lists (161), inventors and inventions (71), reading lists (80)
In the Classroom
Build student literacy skills, reinforce what students are learning about Inventions, and help students build the important reading strategy of connecting what they read to prior (classroom!) knowledge. Share this link on your class web page or wiki so students can select independent reading books to accompany your unit on Inventions. Don't forget to share the list with the school and local libraries so they can bring in some of the books on interlibrary loan. CurriConnects are a great help for teachers who have lost school library/media specialists due to budget cuts.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Do Try This at Home: Invention at Play - Smithsonian Museum of National History
Grades
K to 6tag(s): biographies (93), collaboration (87), creativity (92), design (83), inventors and inventions (71), problem solving (226)
In the Classroom
Create a link to the site on classroom computers for students to explore the games. Share the site with parents on your classroom website or blog as a resource for using play as a learning tool. Share the site at conferences or parent meetings as a resource for developing learning skills through play. Include the inventor biographies as a resource for students when researching inventors.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Inventors and Inventions Resources - TeachersFirst
Grades
K to 12tag(s): inventors and inventions (71)
In the Classroom
This collection includes resources for all grades. Each review includes several classroom use ideas. These are excellent tools to use to study science, social studies, and more! Explore the activities suggested. Share sites on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Provide the link on your class website for students to access both in and out of class.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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