TeachersFirst - Featured Sites: Week of Aug 13, 2023
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
Sally Ride Lesson Plan - ShareMyLesson
Grades
9 to 12
Teach your students about Sally Ride, the first American woman to travel to space, with a free lesson plan from ShareMyLesson. Introduce students to the life and accomplishments of...more
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Teach your students about Sally Ride, the first American woman to travel to space, with a free lesson plan from ShareMyLesson. Introduce students to the life and accomplishments of Sally Ride and explore topics such as gender equality and diversity in STEM fields while inspiring students to pursue their interests in STEM. This lesson is written for grades 9-12 and has an Attribution Non-commercial NoDerivative Creative Commons license. A free account is required to access the downloadable plan.
tag(s): nasa (28), scientists (71), STEM (306), women (152)
In the Classroom
The downloadable lesson plan includes four ways to approach teaching about Sally Ride; contributions, additive, transformational, and social action. In addition, the plan consists of links to websites and videos to enhance your instruction. After researching Sally Ride, students can apply their knowledge by creating multimedia presentations using tools such as Adobe Creative Cloud Express for Education, reviewed here, Canva for Education, reviewed here, or Microsoft Sway, reviewed here.Judy Huemann - Life and Legacy of the Mother of the Disability Rights Movement - The Huemann Perspective
Grades
K to 12This site brings together many of the excellent resources on the web about Judy Huemann and the disability movement. Find podcasts with disabled changemakers and their supporters. Resources...more
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This site brings together many of the excellent resources on the web about Judy Huemann and the disability movement. Find podcasts with disabled changemakers and their supporters. Resources offer a variety of information, lessons, videos, books and book guides, disability resources for asserting your rights, and much more. Central to the disability rights movement is Section 504 of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which stipulates that individuals with disabilities "should not be denied the benefit of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving federal financial assistance." Find a downloadable "Curriculum Guide for Patient No More: People with Disabilities Securing Civil Rights," found under 504 Sit in History. Judy Huemann led protests, including a 26-day sit-in at Health Education and Welfare's San Francisco headquarters, calling the federal government to issue regulations implementing Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act.
This site includes advertising.
This site includes advertising.
tag(s): bias (27), character education (81), disabilities (32), women (152)
In the Classroom
Include this site with other resources featuring women role models, biographical topics, and career exploration information. Since this website has extensive information from around the web, consider using a curation tool such as Padlet, reviewed here, as a resource to share information and sources with students. While "Patient No More" is for high school and beyond, there are parts that can be pulled out for your elementary students. For instance, there are videos you can use with Edpuzzle, reviewed here, to add comments and discussion questions for younger students. In addition, there is an observation chart where students wander around their environment, recording where there are examples of accessibility or a lack of accessibility.Women Advancing Equality - Patsy Mink - The Asian America Education Project
Grades
1 to 8Find everything you need to learn about Patsy Mink, a powerful Asian-American woman. Elected to Congress in 1964, she collaborated to craft Title IX, a law that prohibits discrimination...more
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Find everything you need to learn about Patsy Mink, a powerful Asian-American woman. Elected to Congress in 1964, she collaborated to craft Title IX, a law that prohibits discrimination in education and federally funded activities due to gender. There are activities and discussion questions for grades 1-6 based on an essay for students, an article, and a short video.
tag(s): bias (27), character education (81), racism (81), women (152)
In the Classroom
Use this lesson in your American history units or studies about famous women. Create a reading guide for your younger students and struggling readers using Read Ahead, reviewed here, then introduce this lesson on your interactive whiteboard or with a projector. Extend student learning by having them participate in a Screenpal, reviewed here video discussion to record their discussion with peers. Ask them to explain what they learned about Patsy Mink and women in general, then have them listen to and comment on their classmates' impressions. Use this Screenpal tool throughout the year to add students' thoughts about other famous people you study during the school year.Maya Angelou - Unit - Kids Disover
Grades
4 to 12In this unit, students will discover the actual human behind the famous name Maya Angelou. The unit has three parts: Tough Beginnings - Maya as a child and teenager, Talent ...more
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In this unit, students will discover the actual human behind the famous name Maya Angelou. The unit has three parts: Tough Beginnings - Maya as a child and teenager, Talent to Spare - Maya as a young adult and her early career, and More than Words - Inspiration. Many students may not know that she was the first African American streetcar conductor in San Francisco and a singer and songwriter. Part three, More Than Words: Inspiration, has a timeline from 1971-2008 and colorful images of her later in life. In the last two parts of the unit find four discussion questions called Think Piece. At the bottom of the landing page are three different word activities. You will need to have a free Kids Discover membership to access this unit.
tag(s): african american (119), authors (108), biographies (95), black history (135), poetry (196), women (152)
In the Classroom
This unit is geared for 5th-6th grade readability (Lexile level 750-890). Introduce your students to this unit on your interactive whiteboard or a projector. The first part, Tough Beginnings, is very interesting, describing that Maya didn't speak for five years and why. Once you get through that part and the Think Piece that goes with it, let students read the rest in pairs or small groups. For the Think Piece(s), create a class FigJam, reviewed here where students can record their answers and include sticky notes and images. Depending on the age of your students, you may want to create a guided reading activity using eMargin, reviewed here.Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad - TeachersFirst
Grades
4 to 8Follow along on this Reading Trek virtual journey of resources about Harriet Tubman's life. This Reading Trek includes a Teacher Guide that uses Google My Maps, reviewed...more
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Follow along on this Reading Trek virtual journey of resources about Harriet Tubman's life. This Reading Trek includes a Teacher Guide that uses Google My Maps, reviewed here, that will help students understand the life and times of Harriet Tubman. Activities correlate to Common Core Standards, National Standards for Social Studies and Visual Arts, and Social Justice Standards. In addition to teaching ideas for working with the map, this Reading Trek also includes extension activities and links to additional helpful resources. Find the entire selection of Reading Treks here.
tag(s): african american (119), black history (135), civil rights (217), diversity (43), racism (81), slavery (79), women (152)
In the Classroom
Include some of the suggested classroom uses for this resource found in the Instructional Guide (PDF). This book and the suggested activities work well as part of lessons on racism, slavery, and African-American history. Consider using the historical information from the book and other primary sources to create timelines with your students showing the important events during the story. Find various free online timeline creation tools located here. Use Adobe Creative Cloud Express Video Maker, reviewed here, to have students create simple videos using just photos and their own voices.
This resource requires PDF reader software like Adobe Acrobat.
Annie Jump Cannon: Biographical Digital Resources - Project PHaEDRA
Grades
6 to 12Learn about Annie Jump Cannon, an American astronomer whose work was crucial in developing our categorizing system of stars at this collection hosted by the Smithsonian Learning Institute....more
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Learn about Annie Jump Cannon, an American astronomer whose work was crucial in developing our categorizing system of stars at this collection hosted by the Smithsonian Learning Institute. The collection consists of thirty-five resources that include photographs and articles. Select any thumbnail to view the full content. Use the links to download or share items. Creating an account at the Smithsonian Learning Center isn't necessary; however, it allows you to save items and personalize collections.
tag(s): biographies (95), scientists (71), stars (71), STEM (306), women (152)
In the Classroom
Include this collection with your other resources when teaching lessons about astronomers, famous women, or scientists. Use Wakelet, reviewed here, to curate resources and videos (Youtube videos) to share with students. As you provide time for students to explore this collection, use edpuzzle, reviewed here, with the videos to enhance learning. Add questions or comments to the videos that encourage students to focus on the importance of Cannon's work in the field of astronomy. When sharing articles that contain difficult reading selections, use Read Ahead, reviewed here, to transform the text into a Guided Reading activity that includes a focus on keywords and vocabulary found in the text.
This resource requires PDF reader software like Adobe Acrobat.
Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin and the Components of Stars - Project PHaEDRA
Grades
6 to 12Learn about the woman whose thesis was declared to be "the most brilliant Ph.D. thesis ever written in astronomy" by exploring this interesting collection of articles and images. Browse...more
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Learn about the woman whose thesis was declared to be "the most brilliant Ph.D. thesis ever written in astronomy" by exploring this interesting collection of articles and images. Browse the site to view thumbnails of forty items and open to view the resources. Download items or share using the provided links. Open a free Smithsonian Learning Institute account to save favorites for further use or create your collections from materials available on the Smithsonian Learning Institute's site.
tag(s): biographies (95), elements (33), scientists (71), stars (71), STEM (306), women (152)
In the Classroom
Share this collection with students to explore when learning about famous Women in History, scientific advancements, or during an astronomy unit. Ask collaborative groups to work together and share information found in the collection. Use a collaborative note-taking tool such as Notejoy, reviewed here, to have students share ideas and information using checklists, adding images and links, and documenting individual contributions to the project. You may also want to show a few videos, or provide a list for students to watch using Youtube videos. Ask groups or individuals to share their learning using a simple video creation tool like CapCut, reviewed here with voice overs and templates. Ask students to include images and require they include proper citations along with their original work.
This resource requires PDF reader software like Adobe Acrobat.
The Science of Henrietta Swan Leavitt - Project PHaEDRA
Grades
6 to 12Learn about American astronomer Henrietta Swan Leavitt with this twenty-piece collection that tells the story of her discoveries while working at the Harvard College Observatory as...more
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Learn about American astronomer Henrietta Swan Leavitt with this twenty-piece collection that tells the story of her discoveries while working at the Harvard College Observatory as a "computer." This collection includes images of plate glass used for computer calculations, videos, quiz questions, and photos of Leavitt. Choose any thumbnail to open and view each resource. Use the links within each resource to share or download information. Registration isn't required; however, creating a free account offers you the opportunity to save and favorite items within personalized collections.
tag(s): computers (109), scientists (71), STEM (306), women (152)
In the Classroom
Bookmark and save this collection for use during Women's History Month or during studies of famous scientists. Be sure to show students how to use the citation link found with each resource (select the quotation mark icon) when downloading and using items from this collection. Challenge students to learn more about Leavitt by starting with a Gravity, reviewed here video. Gravity is a video response tool. Use Gravity to record video or create screen recordings to share. Share one of the plate glass images and encouraging students to speculate on what they are looking at. Include items from this collection with your other resources and share them with students on a Padlet, reviewed here. Add additional articles and videos to your Padlet for students to explore. Extend learning by asking students to conduct further research to learn about Leavitt, then share their findings using one of the presentation tools found at Adobe Creative Cloud Express for Education, reviewed here, such as flyers, videos, or infographics.Reading Treks: Nadia: The Girl Who Couldn't Sit Still - TeachersFirst
Grades
K to 5TeachersFirst Reading Treks create a virtual field trip of resources about a piece of literature or text using the My Maps feature of Google Maps. This Reading Trek provides inspiration...more
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TeachersFirst Reading Treks create a virtual field trip of resources about a piece of literature or text using the My Maps feature of Google Maps. This Reading Trek provides inspiration and suggestions for using the trade book Nadia: The Girl Who Couldn't Sit Still. This biographical picture book is about Nadia Comaneci, the Romanian gymnast, who had seven perfect scores in the 1976 Olympics. Use our robust Instructional Guide with students in grades K-5. Content correlates to Common Core Standards, ISTE Student Standards, and National Curriculum Standards for Social Studies. Find the entire selection of Reading Treks here.
tag(s): biographies (95), commoncore (73), europe (84), sports (84), women (152)
In the Classroom
Take advantage of the many suggested classroom uses for this resource found on the Instructional Guide (PDF). Include this book with others to share with your students when teaching about biographies and famous women. After learning about biographies, enhance learning by having students write biographies for other famous women athletes or famous people from a unit you are studying. Help students organize information and write biographies using resources found at Read Write Think, reviewed here. Search for the Bio Cube, reviewed here, that helps summarize information, or use the interactive Timeline reviewed here,to aid students in visualizing and creating a sequence of events. After completing their research, ask students to annotate an image using Image Annotator, reviewed here. Include links to websites, text, and other information to share their biographies. Use Book Creator, reviewed here, to compile biographies created by your students into one digital resource for all to use. Book Creator allows you to add images, drawings, videos, and more to share a complete multimedia experience with their readers.
This resource requires PDF reader software like Adobe Acrobat.
Mary McLeod Bethune - Learning for Justice
Grades
6 to 12Using an excerpt from an interview of Mary McLeod Bethune, this lesson guides students through an exploration of Bethune's life and comparisons to their life experiences. Through the...more
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Using an excerpt from an interview of Mary McLeod Bethune, this lesson guides students through an exploration of Bethune's life and comparisons to their life experiences. Through the use of the provided list of essential questions, students use critical reading skills to build knowledge and make connections. This lesson also includes additional extension activities and prompts.
tag(s): black history (135), civil rights (217), women (152)
In the Classroom
Use the provided link to import this lesson into your Google Classroom account. This lesson is part of a four-part series, use the other lessons to build your unit on black history or famous women. As you add additional resources to your lesson, enhance student learning by using Kami, reviewed here, as a collaborative discussion tool. Kami includes tools for highlighting and adding notes to online articles to facilitate peer discussions. Further enhance learning by helping students highlight important information from within articles using a word cloud creation tool like Wordsift, reviewed here. Copy and paste any text into Wordsift to highlight and enlarge frequently used words. Use this information to guide students toward significant portions of text. Ask students to use a digital annotation tool such as Image Annotator, reviewed here, to add notes, links, and additional information to images. Extend student learning by encouraging them to learn more about Mary McLeod Bethune and other feminists and then creating and sharing podcasts. One easy introduction to podcasts is through the use of Acast, reviewed here. Have students use Acast to give a "You Are There" presentation sharing events as they happened during Bethune's life, or to share their takeaways of the importance of Mary McLeod Bethune's contributions to women's rights.
This resource requires PDF reader software like Adobe Acrobat.
Amelia Earhart - The Official Website - Family of Amelia Earhart
Grades
6 to 12The Official website of Amelia Earhart is an informational website intended to honor the life, the legend, and the career of Amelia Earhart. The most extensive part of the site ...more
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The Official website of Amelia Earhart is an informational website intended to honor the life, the legend, and the career of Amelia Earhart. The most extensive part of the site is the "Biography." Other portions contain her achievements, quotes, and photos. An interesting portion of the site is the News section which has links to recent stories and news articles about Amelia Earhart. Scroll down the "Home" page to preview the movie Amelia, you may want to share this with your class - or not. Preview beforehand.
This site includes advertising.
This site includes advertising.
tag(s): aviation (41), careers (178), famous people (25), flight (34), women (152)
In the Classroom
Share this site with students when researching famous Americans, women, flight, or careers. Enhance learning by having students use a mapping tool such as Google Earth, reviewed here, to create an audio (and visual) tour of Amelia Earhart's journeys. Her story could also offer a powerful writing prompt for an essay about people who take on formidable challenges/adventures. Substitute a blog tool such as edublog, reviewed here, for paper and pen.The Story of Anne Frank - The Anne Frank Stichting
Grades
5 to 12The Story of Anne Frank is an online opportunity for students to envision what actually happened during Anne Frank's childhood, particularly while she was in hiding in the Secret ...more
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The Story of Anne Frank is an online opportunity for students to envision what actually happened during Anne Frank's childhood, particularly while she was in hiding in the Secret Annex at 265 Prinsengracht, Amsterdam. Thanks to this site, students are able to feel personally involved in what occurred at this location to a thirteen year old girl during the Holocaust. Her story is conveyed through authentic photographs and documents from the Anne Frank House, the former hiding place where Anne Frank's original first diary is on display.
tag(s): anne frank (10), holocaust (43), remembrance day (5), women (152), world war 2 (162)
In the Classroom
This is a great site to add to your class web page during your study of Anne Frank and the Holocaust, or as part of the themes of discrimination and resiliency. Use it as an introduction before reading The Diary of Anne Frank by displaying the website on your interactive whiteboard or projector to spark a whole class investigation of Anne Frank's childhood and family, her teenage years in hiding and the people who helped, the betrayal, the captivity and suffering in the concentration camps, and her diary. Students may continue exploring and learning on their own in the computer lab or with a class set of laptops. You can easily develop a checklist to direct students to the links that you want to emphasize and to keep them on task while navigating the site. There are even online multiple-choice quizzes about Anne Frank and her diary. Consider having cooperative learning groups create multimedia presentations about Anne Frank. How about online books using a site such as Bookemon, reviewed here.Eleanor Roosevelt - National Park Service
Grades
6 to 12This National Park Service site documents the life of the first First Lady who really had a career of her own. The site covers Mrs. Roosevelt's life before and after ...more
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This National Park Service site documents the life of the first First Lady who really had a career of her own. The site covers Mrs. Roosevelt's life before and after her time in the White House, and it has a particularly strong collection of artifacts, memorabilia, and other objects from the First Lady's life.