TeachersFirst - Featured Sites: Week of Aug 9, 2020
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
Camp BOOK IT! - Pizza Hut
Grades
K to 6tag(s): independent reading (85), seasonal (17), summer (28)
In the Classroom
Share Camp BOOK IT! with parents to encourage reading over the summer months. Use this program as an opportunity to collaborate with parents to engage students in reading by providing a reading list for students that includes books that appeal to your students. Use Padlet, reviewed here, to share suggested titles of books for students, and use the stream feature to organize the titles into different categories. Encourage students to add comments to your Padlet, sharing their book reviews. Enhance your students' summer reading experience by creating a topic using Flip, reviewed here, and ask students to contribute video book talks discussing their reading. Another idea is to create a Summer Bingo topic. Attach a Bingo form to your Flip topic with different squares to complete. Ideas might be reading a biography, starting a new book series, or sharing a book with a friend.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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Clever Crazes for Kids - Building Healthy Lives Foundation
Grades
K to 8tag(s): game based learning (171), multilingual (63), preK (254), STEM (259)
In the Classroom
Add games found on Clever Crazes for Kids to others shared on classroom computers. Encourage students to participate in games by earning points. Have students document and extend their learning by sharing screenshots of accomplishments and by screen recording student reading sessions to demonstrate progress. Use Seesaw, reviewed here, as a digital portfolio to document progress and share student learning with parents.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Book Club for Kids - Kitty Felde
Grades
5 to 9tag(s): authors (103), book lists (159), book reports (28), literature (217), podcasts (72)
In the Classroom
This tremendous resource is a must-have for all middle school classrooms and libraries! Share the podcasts with students not only to learn about the latest books but also to learn how to improve public speaking skills, learn about the author's techniques and tips, and discover how to share informative book reports. Subscribe to the podcast and have students listen to weekly presentations during center times or as a class. Share the "Books We Love" portion of the site on your class webpage for students to use when looking for reading material. Ask your school librarian to share these podcasts in the media center and look into ordering books of interest to your students. As students learn from these podcasts, ask them to use what they learned to create their podcasts to share with classmates and your school. Have students use organizers found on ReadWriteThink, reviewed here to organize and plan for their podcasts and book reviews. Help students visualize their written work by creating word clouds with Wordsift, reviewed here to focus on commonly-used terms within their text and evaluate their usefulness. As a final project, help your students create and produce ongoing podcasts sharing their book reviews with peers. Buzzsprout, reviewed here and Spotify for Podcasters (wasAnchor), reviewed here both provide free podcasting tools.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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BeeLine Reader Collection - Reading is Fundamental
Grades
K to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): independent reading (85), multilingual (63), reading comprehension (142), reading strategies (96), Special Needs (53), Teacher Utilities (146)
In the Classroom
These BeeLine Reader PDFs are an excellent addition to the already valuable reading materials found at Reading is Fundamental - Literacy Central, reviewed here. Be sure to bookmark this site to find leveled reading passages with the enhanced function of BeeLine Reader. These PDFs are wonderful to share with ENL/ELL and Special Education specialists to use with their students. Remember, all teachers are reading teachers. Share this tool with your science, social studies, and math teachers, too!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Read Ahead - Full Tilt Ahead, LLC
Grades
3 to 12tag(s): literacy (106), multilingual (63), reading comprehension (142), vocabulary (235), vocabulary development (90)
In the Classroom
Include Read Ahead with your other resources for teaching vocabulary. Read Ahead is perfect for introducing any reading passage to struggling readers, special education students, and ENL/ELL learners. Create presentations for articles found in science or social studies materials to prepare students for difficult vocabulary and phrases. Take advantage of this site to use reading material with your students that might otherwise be above their reading level. Instead of asking students to use vocabulary in sentences to demonstrate understanding, ask them to use the words to create digital stories using an online tool like Book Creator, reviewed here. Book Creator can be used for a variety of assignments in any classroom that is integrating technology as an enhancement, modification, or transformation.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Reading Strategies Resources - TeachersFirst
Grades
K to 12tag(s): reading comprehension (142), reading strategies (96)
In the Classroom
Find new tools and reading strategies to share with your students. Share this list on your class website for families to use at home. This list includes resources for young readers and secondary students.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Twitter Chat: Strategies and Resources for Early Reading - TeachersFirst
Grades
K to 12tag(s): professional development (388), reading strategies (96), twitterchatarchive (172)
In the Classroom
Do you teach beginner readers? Check out this archived chat for tools and tips to use in your classroom. Share this tool with your colleagues interested in learning more tips and tools to use in emergent reading lessons.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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CurriConnects Booklist: Adventures in Summer - TeachersFirst
Grades
K to 12tag(s): book lists (159), independent reading (85), summer (28)
In the Classroom
This collection is perfect to share with students (and families) prior to the summer break. Keep minds fresh during the summer. Allow students (or partners) to choose their own book. If you want to "spice" up your final month of school, allow students to start summer (in their minds). These books provide experience with both fiction and nonfiction informational texts. They often require students to draw inferences about the "facts." Allow students (or partners) to choose their own book. Share this list with your school library/media specialist or public library, as well, for them to "pull" books in support of your end of school-year reading. Extend the experience by having students create visual presentations of the concepts they learn. Challenge students to create a presentation using Prezi, reviewed here, or Slides, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Story Shares - Louise Baigelman and Gary Herman
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): book lists (159), differentiation (83), digital storytelling (142), ebooks (38), multilingual (63), reading comprehension (142)
In the Classroom
Introduce this site to your reluctant or struggling readers on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Then have students explore this site independently or in small groups to find interesting reading material. Be sure to provide a link to Story Shares on your class website or blog for students to explore at home. Use this site to differentiate for students of all levels and for use with special education or ENL/ESL students. Have students write their own comprehension questions and answers based on the book to check their own comprehension and to exchange with classmates.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Just Free Books - justfreebooks.info
Grades
2 to 12tag(s): audio books (23), book lists (159), ebooks (38), literature (217), reading lists (80), search engines (49)
In the Classroom
Offer this site to students who wish to use digital devices to read. Keep in mind that many of the selections are older, in the public domain due to the expiration of copyright. ENL/ESL and SPED students may benefit from being able to hear or see books in a different way. Use the texts you find as language to analyze or manipulate on your interactive whiteboard to teach reading comprehension skills, parts of speech, transition words, vocabulary study, and writing style. Allow students to copy/paste text into the whiteboard software so they can "work with words" from literary works instead of worksheets.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Bookshare: Books without Barriers - Bookshare
Grades
2 to 12tag(s): digital reading (16), disabilities (29), vision (45)
In the Classroom
If you have students with limited vision or certain specific qualifying learning disabilities in your class, be sure to save this useful resource in your favorites. List this link on your class website or wiki or email it to parents of these children. If possible, share this site with those teachers working with students with limited vision and qualifying disabilities.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Kids Press - Kid Reporters' Notebook - Scholastic, Inc.
Grades
1 to 8tag(s): news (229)
In the Classroom
Put a link on your teacher web page for parents and students to access Kids Press at home or in study times at school. Preview the site to determine which news stories best suit your curriculum and the age of your students. Younger classes may need help reading some of the articles: use a projector so the news story can be read aloud as students follow along. Have younger students create a simple word cloud using Word Cloud for Kids, reviewed here, and older students create an infographic sharing their "new" news knowledge using Venngage, reviewed here. Enhance learning by having students practice writing their own "News for Kids by Kids" for a classroom publication using Ourboox, reviewed here. Ourboox creates beautiful page-flipping digital books in minutes, and you can embed video, music, animation, games, maps, and more.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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