TeachersFirst - Featured Sites: Week of Nov 17, 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
Realism - Realism Inc.
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): acids and bases (7), chemicals (39), newton (20), rockets (11), STEM (259)
In the Classroom
Add Realism to your other resources for teaching science content; it provides an excellent alternative for teachers with a lack of resources at school or as an option for a virtual lab for your students to explore anywhere. Consider incorporating this site along with other activities into a complete unit using Actively Learn, reviewed here. Actively Learn includes many features and resources for building custom learning opportunities for your students using their data bank of resources along with those you add on your own. In addition, Actively Learn provides you with immediate feedback to use for assessment. As students explore the different lab activities, ask them to use Google Docs or Microsoft Word to document data collected during the experiment, including screenshots captured during the lab. Have students share their work and reflections on activities using a portfolio creation tool like PathBrite reviewed here. Encourage students to show creativity within their portfolio by adding a variety of elements using tools offered in PathBrite, including images, music, video, and more to share their learning process.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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PictureStem Project - Tamara Moore, Kristina Tank, and Elizabeth Gajdzik
Grades
K to 3tag(s): animal homes (56), animals (278), design (82), engineering (117), geometric shapes (135), main idea (8), measurement (125), numbers (119), patterns (63), phonics (49), preK (254), reading comprehension (142), STEM (259)
In the Classroom
Enjoy these free, high-quality STEM units to use in your elementary classroom. As you teach lessons found on this site, enhance learning using a portfolio-creation tool like Seesaw, reviewed here, to share student work and reflections. Upload images of student projects then use Seesaw to add video reflections, students' written responses, and more. Share Seesaw portfolios with parents during parent/teacher conferences to demonstrate student learning. If you are unable to use the complete units in your classroom, be sure to look through the many lessons to "mine" for shorter activities that work in your teaching situation.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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STEAM Art Lessons - Tricia Fuglestad
Grades
K to 8This site includes advertising.
tag(s): black history (121), coding (87), creativity (92), digital storytelling (142), dr seuss (6), drawing (60), environment (238), graphic design (50), great depression (28), literacy (106), nutrition (134), photography (131), poetry (188), problem solving (225), qr codes (17), read across america (3), STEM (259), stories and storytelling (40), symmetry (27)
In the Classroom
If you feel that you are strong in the arts but not technology (or the other way around), find a teaching partner that complements your strength and work together to teach lessons from this site. Use ideas from here in your classroom makerspace. Use Wakelet, reviewed here, to add notes and questions as you prepare to teach lessons from this blog. Wakelet offers the ability to collaborate and share with others through the addition of written and audio notes to any web page. Use lesson activities found on this site as a replacement for traditional research projects, book reports, or written reports. Have students use a blogging tool like edublog, reviewed here, to share images and videos of their work from start to finish and to reflect upon learning. Have older students extend learning through the use of Symbaloo Learning Paths, reviewed here. Ask them to research and find additional information on the topic of your lesson and create a learning path for other students to complete. For younger students, create a Symbaloo Learning Path for students to complete as a center activity to complement your STEAM learning activities.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Babble Dabble Do - Ana Dziengel
Grades
K to 6This site includes advertising.
tag(s): crafts (50), design (82), engineering (117), makerspace (41), STEM (259)
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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ArchKIDecture
Grades
4 to 7tag(s): architecture (64), book lists (159), crafts (50), makerspace (41)
In the Classroom
Bookmark and save this site for use when implementing STEAM activities or makerspaces. Introduce this activity with a projector or on an interactive whiteboard to show students how to navigate the site. Then, in your flipped or blended classroom (or at a computer center), have students, or small groups of students, explore on their own. Allow them to choose a book (creating book groups?) or a project to explore. Ask students to create their own concept maps to record their learning and understanding using MindMup, reviewed here. Challenge students to use their concept maps to share what they learned with peers by making an interactive infographic using Gennially, reviewed here. Genially allows students to insert videos, hyperlinks, & maps that are interactive.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Design Thinking - TeachersFirst
Grades
K to 12tag(s): architecture (64), circuits (20), creativity (92), data (146), problem solving (225), STEM (259), thinking skills (14)
In the Classroom
Share these resources on your class website or your interactive whiteboard (where appropriate). Use these tools to deepen your students' understanding of this complex topic. There are tools here for all ages, although most are designed for secondary students.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Cabinet of Curiosities - Philippe Cousteau Jr.
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): anthropology (9), careers (139), communication (136), ecology (99), engineering (117), marine biology (25), oceans (146), STEM (259)
In the Classroom
Bookmark and save to use when exploring career options with students. Ask students to use information found on this site and others to create an infographic sharing information about a chosen career. Canva Infographic Maker, reviewed here, offers many templates for creating infographics. To increase student knowledge of options within STEM careers, have groups of students create a weekly podcast sharing different career fields. Buzzsprout, reviewed here, is an online tool to use when creating and hosting podcasts.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Siemens STEM Day - Siemens Foundation and Discovery Education
Grades
K to 12tag(s): dna (44), ecosystems (71), energy (131), environment (238), erosion (14), fossils (39), genetics (76), human body (93), nutrition (134), oceans (146), rocks (36), senses (20), STEM (259), structures (18)
In the Classroom
Bookmark this site for STEM activities and support throughout the year. Reduce your planning time by using the free lessons available on the site. Before starting activities, have students create a word cloud of terms they know using a site such as Word Clouds for Kids, reviewed here, for younger students, or WordClouds, reviewed here, for older students.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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STEM Careers Coalition - Discovery Education
Grades
K to 12tag(s): energy (131), geology (64), recycling (46), STEM (259), water (101)
In the Classroom
Take advantage of the free lesson plans and interactives. This site is excellent for enrichment; consider using the lessons with gifted students for independent learning or as project ideas for math and science fairs. Enhance student learning and classroom technology use by challenging students to make a multimedia presentation demonstrating ideas from this site using Sway, reviewed here. Sway creates unique multimedia projects using text, images, and media. Change the look of your Sway using the Mood and Remix tools to change the color palette, layout, and fonts. Challenge students to find photos or diagrams about what they learned (legally permitted to be reproduced), and then narrate and annotate the photo with essential information. Use a tool such as Google Drawings, reviewed here. Google Drawings allows you to annotate an image with links to videos, text, websites, and more. Not familiar with Google Drawings? Watch an archived OK2Ask session to learn how to use it: OK2Ask Google Drawings, here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Teaching NGSS Engineering Design Through Media - PBS LearningMedia
Grades
K to 12tag(s): architecture (64), energy (131), engineering (117), problem solving (225), robotics (22), STEM (259), structures (18)
In the Classroom
Use this site on a projector or interactive whiteboard to discuss and informally assess prior knowledge as you start your study of many different STEM-based topics. Use this site for enrichment or to help non-readers understanding concepts through video. Include it on your class web page for students to access both in and out of class. Enhance learning and have students create a word cloud of the important terms they learn from this site using a tool such as WordItOut, reviewed here. To extend learning have students create a multimedia infographic sharing their findings using Canva Infographic Maker, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Teach Engineering Resources for K-12 - University of Colorado Boulder
Grades
K to 12tag(s): amazon (10), architecture (64), bridges (11), cells (80), density (18), engineering (117), environment (238), forces (37), friction (9), heart (27), human body (93), latitude (10), light (52), longitude (9), map skills (56), marine biology (25), mars (26), medicine (54), motion (49), pollution (49), robotics (22), rockets (11), simple machines (17), space (212), STEM (259)
In the Classroom
Bookmark this site as a resource for finding STEM lessons and activities for all grade levels. Collaborate with your peers using a bookmarking tool like Papaly, reviewed here, to share all of your resources. Papaly offers you the ability to add notes to shared resources making it easy to discuss and add comments to items shared. Instead of having students write journal entries during science or maker lab activities, enhance student learning by using a video response tool like Flip, reviewed here, to have students respond to essential questions and comment on their peers' observations. As a culminating activity to a unit, ask students to create an explainer video answering essential questions to the unit topic. Adobe Express Video Maker, reviewed here is an easy to use tool for creating animated video explainers.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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