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return to subject listingTwelve Ideas for Teaching with QR Codes - Andrew Miller
Grades
K to 12tag(s): qr codes (17)
In the Classroom
Choose one of the ideas suggested in the article as a starting point for using QR codes in your classroom; then try additional ideas a little at a time. Share the article with other teachers and split up the ideas for each to become an "expert" in one of the strategies. Share your experiences as you learn together, perhaps in a staff meeting.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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My American Farm - American Farm Bureau Foundation
Grades
K to 6tag(s): agriculture (49), animals (278), careers (139), conservation (82), life cycles (21), plants (141), problem solving (225), rounding (8)
In the Classroom
This site is great during units on plants, farms, conservation, or even inventions and engineering. Create links to games on classroom computers. As students complete games, let them fill out the passport included on the site. Print and use classroom activities included on the site as a supplement to current lessons. Have students create their own comics to explain a topic from the site using comic-creation tools from this collection.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Turtlediary - Learning Games for Kids - Turtlediary.com
Grades
K to 3This site includes advertising.
tag(s): addition (128), alphabet (51), alphabetical order (8), colors (65), counting (60), dinosaurs (38), gravity (42), human body (93), life cycles (21), map skills (56), phonics (49), preK (254), puzzles (143), subtraction (109)
In the Classroom
Use this site as a resource for learning games, videos, and read-aloud books. Demonstrate the activities on your interactive whiteboard; then create a link on classroom computers for students to try on their own. Share this link with parents on your classroom website or newsletter as a resource for practicing math and reading skills at home. Use videos from the site to introduce science lessons and concepts.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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U.S. Political Conventions and Campaigns - Northeastern University
Grades
4 to 12tag(s): elections (80), electoral college (22)
In the Classroom
Although lesson plans are geared to high school, this site is also useful for students in lower grades. Go directly to the quiz portion of each section, display on your interactive whiteboard, and take the quiz as a class as an overview of what students know about the election process. View sections on your interactive whiteboard to help students understand the different facets of a campaign. Assign students (or groups) different sections; then have them present information learned to their classmates. Create posters about the American political process using a tool such as Web Poster Wizard, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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The Scoop on Current Events - TeachersFirst
Grades
K to 6tag(s): news (229), newspapers (91)
In the Classroom
Use these ideas during major news years, such as election season, or as a general introduction to current events. During Newspapers in Education month, extend your discussions to include both print and online news media using the lesson discussion questions included here. Incorporate current events stories as one of many types of informational texts you use to teach comprehension and other reading skills.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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PBS Video Online - PBS
Grades
3 to 12tag(s): video (256)
In the Classroom
Teachers you can now access videos from PBS without having to record them. Use the subject search to find videos relevant to a unit of study. Display videos with your projector or add a link to your class website so students can watch at home.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Crickweb Useful Extras - Crickweb
Grades
K to 4In the Classroom
Download and save the timers for use during student work time. Set a timer on your interactive whiteboard for students to see time remaining. Promethean users can download and save flip charts for classroom use.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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News Bites - National Geographic Kids - National Geographic Kids
Grades
2 to 8This site includes advertising.
tag(s): animals (278), endangered species (28), news (229), newspapers (91)
In the Classroom
Subscribe and follow the blog to receive notification of new entries. Allow students to choose an article to read and share with the class. Have students follow keywords to find further information. Use this site as a resource for students to use to make online "tours" to explain current events or topics of interest using Screencast-o-matic, reviewed here, or Screencastify (Chrome app), reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Teaching Kids News - Teaching Kids News
Grades
2 to 8tag(s): literacy (106), news (229), newspapers (91)
In the Classroom
This site is perfect for interactive whiteboards or projectors. Display the site on your whiteboard when discussing current events. Use as a learning center for students to read and journal. Practice with Main Idea or summarizing using these interesting informational texts. ESL/ELL learners can also find accessible news stories here. Provide this link for students to use at home to keep up with current events. Challenge students to create a talking avatar using a photo or other image (legally permitted to be reproduced). The avatars can be used to explain or summarize any article on the site. Use a site such as Blabberize, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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The White House Tour - Google Maps
Grades
K to 12tag(s): presidents (120), virtual field trips (80), white house (15)
In the Classroom
Take your students on a virtual field trip! This is a great way for kids to "visit" the White House. Include it during inauguration week or any time you are studying U.S. government. Show the website using a projector, and have students write a tour script or a tale of something that might happen in the White House. Younger students might want to write a story from the President's dog's (or other pet's) point of view! Before using the site, you should familiarize yourself with how to use the Google Maps street view tools to navigate through the house. Better yet, have a student operate the tour on the whiteboard or projector.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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iPiccy - iPiccy.com
Grades
4 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): images (270), photography (131)
In the Classroom
Use this tool anytime that photos need to be edited for use on class blogs, wikis, or sites. Encourage students to use on images for projects or presentations. Use the editor to edit pictures to fit styles of pictures when doing historical reports or to set a mood. Use caption bubbles for the photos themselves to tell the stories. Have students annotate or label Creative Commons online images of cells, structures of an animal, and much more, sharing the results (with an image credit) on your class wiki.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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GETeach - Josh Williams
Grades
2 to 12tag(s): data (146), earth (185), latitude (10), longitude (9), map skills (56), maps (208), plate tectonics (20)
In the Classroom
Use side by side Google Earth to teach geography or simply give location context to class readings or current events, especially on an interactive whiteboard or projector. Keep the earth's "big picture" open on one side as you zoom in to investigate on the other. Or arrange side by side comparisons. Example: compare the peaks scaled by Lewis and Clark or volcanoes that rise in the Aleutians. Compare various locations for global warming, compare of volcano activity, or a history of immigration. Compare historic maps from different time periods to show how countries and boundaries change. Turn layers on and off from Choose an Earth or onscreen options to look at population centers and transportation systems. Teach the concept of scale/proportion using a visual experience on an interactive whiteboard with the scale and measurement tools. Use one window to show human geography and the other window to show items from the CIA Factbook for comparison. Have students hypothesize connections between geographic features and statistics about human development.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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WhatWasThere - Enlighten Ventures, LLC
Grades
K to 12tag(s): communities (36), images (270), local history (14), maps (208), photography (131)
In the Classroom
Use this tool to explore the changes in your local area or elsewhere. Compare medicine, education, nutrition, and more from each of the time periods. Create a campaign to showcase your local area today by cataloguing various neighborhoods with your classes. Write stories about life in each of the historical periods. Research headline news of those days, political figures, and major achievements. In elementary grades, show how towns and cities change over time by projecting the photos and maps as part of your Communities unit. In very early grades, introduce the very idea of history by showing "what was there" at familiar local sites. Have students write stories about what happened there "once upon a time."Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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pageOrama - pageOrama.com
Grades
3 to 12tag(s): multimedia (43)
In the Classroom
Use this site for students to post simple projects such as stories, poems, and art projects. Collect a master list of links to student pages on your classroom website, wiki, or blog for easy access. If students are creating pages, be sure to check with your district's policy on student use of email as well as publishing of student work.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Spotzi - Spotzi.com
Grades
4 to 12tag(s): business (47), diseases (66), ecology (99), environment (238), natural disasters (16), natural resources (35), resources (87)
In the Classroom
Use Spotzi to make information more relevant and meaningful when paired with an actual map. Find trends easily. Have students choose a topic and investigate maps to identify and develop general statements from the data. Ask students to generate questions to further research the topic. This tool is invaluable for environmental, ecology, health, economics, and other research topics. Use this map to add new dimensions of information about places in the news. Share on a projector or interactive whiteboard to learn more about countries participating in the Olympics. Use data to compare countries and discuss possible cause/effects for poverty, health challenges, and more.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Think - Cathy Sheafor
Grades
K to 8tag(s): creativity (92), critical thinking (112)
In the Classroom
Use this site to create a "think outside of the box" space in your classroom. Keep the area stocked with materials and activity sheets. Use the area as a place for students to go when they finish up work. Better yet, make design thinking part of your science curriculum by tying in some of these challenges with curriculum topics such as gravity, forces, materials, and more. Set one Friday a month aside as "think outside of the box" day, and use the activities from the site. Send home an activity as extra credit homework and create a museum of student's creations. Make this link available on your class web page for parents to access during school breaks or snow days.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Lalo.li - Franz Enzenhofer
Grades
K to 12tag(s): communication (136), text to speech (18)
In the Classroom
This would be great for ESL/ELL learners; have them type a short sentence and listen to the playback to verify that the sentence is correct. It would also be a great practice for beginning readers. Use your interactive whiteboard and have the class tell a very brief story or say a sentence. After typing the sentence into the program, user a pointer for each word as the synthesizer reads it, or have students take turns pointing out the words. Share tonight's homework on your class web page as a link to an audio reminder simply by typing or pasting in the assignment and copying the link to place it on your web page.Comments
When I tried to use it with Safari on a new Mac in 10.7, it said I needed to use only Firefox or Chrome Too bad.Constance, RI, Grades: 0 - 12
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Interactive.I - interactive.illimitably.com
Grades
K to 12tag(s): drawing (60)
In the Classroom
You can avoid the public galleries entirely by creating the space for your students to use. It takes only seconds, and they can join directly by url. Have students collaborate on the creation of story webs or classroom presentations. Encourage visual prewriting for the students who "think in pictures." Allow students to use this site as their visual during speeches. Have young students use a whiteboard to draw out ideas before they can even write entire sentences. If you know an artist, cartoonist or illustrator, invite him/her to visit your classroom virtually to share his/her drawing process while you class uses the chat to ask questions.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Instant Classroom Seating Chart - Instant Classroom
Grades
K to 12tag(s): classroom management (128), Teacher Utilities (146)
In the Classroom
Use this site at the beginning of the year to create a seating chart for your classroom. Use the drag and drop technology to configure the desks the way you want them. Use the Random Name Generator to choose a student for an activity or to answer a question. If you need to create groups of 2, 3 or more, use the Classroom Group Maker to automatically split your class into even groups.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Martin Luther King Jr. and the Global Freedom Struggle - Stanford Research & Education Institute
Grades
3 to 12tag(s): black history (121), civil rights (193), martin luther king (43), rosa parks (9)
In the Classroom
This is a perfect place to send students for research. Have students use the timeline to find out about important dates in civil rights history. Use the encyclopedia to not only learn about civil rights champions, but about organizations of that time.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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