TeachersFirst: Week of November 16, 2008

Featured Sites - Week of November 16, 2008

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Here are this week's features. Clicking the "more resources like this" link below each listing will present a list of our most recent additions for the same subject area and grade level .

Nature Detectives - Grades 1 - 6 - permalink
Have fun with educational nature games! Try your hand at a variety of activities such as spotted pacman, bubble bug, concrete poetry, a tree’s memory, changing bloom, badger wood, or dragon wood. Quizzes are found throughout the site on topics such as leaves, weather, or twigs. Educational activities and worksheets can be found on the site as well. Many of the games reinforce basic science concepts. The concrete poetry interactive is a new angle on a classroom creative writing favorite. Click schools for curriculum links and other items to use with students. This site requires Flash. Get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page. 9623

In the Classroom:
Review material learned in class with related interactive activities. Students can try the activities and create strategy instructions for players to follow. Include the concrete poetry activity as a language arts connection to science class for your elementary students.

For similar resources, click the appropriate keyword: nature | bugs | trees | environment |

Earth Pulse: Our Relationship with Nature - Grades 4 - 12 - permalink
Use this site to investigate ecosystems and their value to humans, biomes, and conservation issues, all using these interactive maps. Focus in on special areas of biodiversity concern. View additional maps and trends towards the bottom of the page. Review topics such as Connections and Resources, Human Impact Trends, Food and Water Trends, and others. This site requires Flash. Get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page. 9625

In the Classroom:
Biodiversity and human population issues are large problems that are interwoven with many complexities. Begin by showing some of the visual information on this site on your projector or whiteboard to instigate excitement and concern among your students. Then divide students into groups to research and present issues affecting specific biomes, then debate as world groups. Additionally, groups can research particular issues to determine causes and possible remedies for the future. Have students create videos to share their research findings using YouTube or TeacherTube (explained here). Share the videos on an interactive whiteboard or projector. Or have them create a convincing presentation to share with policy makers on environmental topics.

5 Sources for Free and Legal Images - Grades 0 - 12 - permalink
TeachersFirst Edge entry: for moderately adventurous technology users and/or blog and wiki owners. These five sources provide Creative Commons images and videos for use in your blog/wiki/web site LEGALLY. Model your ethical use of media by sharing these with your blogging students or using them on your whole-class blog or wiki. The sources include abstract photos and current events new stories, as well as general photos. Each has its own search/browse features. The services include: Voxant Newsroom, PicApp, GumGum, Zemanta, and PhotoDropper. 9629

In the Classroom:
Skills needed: Since each site has its own directions, our review team will not explain the how-to's of each here. Some require access to install a plug-in on your blog, such as wordpress. Many school blogging sites do not provide this access. Others permit embedding an image simple by copy/pasting code into your blog or wiki. Two are actually extensions you add to Firefox or Internet Explorer and may require tech department authorization or installation on school computers.

Safety/security concerns: If you do allow students to join a site, be sure to adhere to school policies. As always, we recommend previewing the content available on each site before recommending it to your students. These images sites are NOT education-only, so some image content may not be classroom-appropriate. Have a policy and consequences in place before turning your students loose.

Possible Uses: Art teachers or writing teachers can use the abstract images from the GumGum option as writing prompts or to launch discussion on design principles. If your students have individual blogs, allow them to personalize the "look" using these legal images. Be sure to model thinking aloud about why you are using a legal image source. Use news images or videos from Vixant Newsroom as prompts for current events discussions on your blog or wiki, or assign students to select a news story and write an in-depth analysis of it to accompany the image/video. English or social studies teachers teaching persuasive writing can assign students to use their multimedia skills as they present arguments both verbally and visually on a class "issues" wiki. Younger students can help select images to include on a whole-class wiki or blog then add their own writing about them. A teacher can embed a sequence of photos and ask student to tell the story that explains it. Be sure to include this link on your teacher web page for your tech-savvy teens to use as they generate projects with LEGAL images. Of course you will require them to document their sources.

For similar resources, click the appropriate keyword: blogs | blogging | images |

Beeline TV - Grades 1 - 12 - permalink
This online TV resource offers instant streaming of TV news, sports, music, and cultural programs from up to 400 different countries in many languages. With a Windows Media Player or other player (downloading directions given at the site), teachers can have television on classroom computers instantly. Foreign language teachers can show programs featuring their language group. English language TV comes from the U.S. and the U.K. Some examples of “TV” places include Dubai, France, Jordan, Kuwait, Japan, Korea, China, Poland, Denmark, Russia, and countless others.

Be sure to preview stations and programs to be certain the offerings are appropriate for your classrooms and student ages. International students will enjoy the opportunity to check out news and other events from their original countries. Some of the European TV sites offer bilingual programming; English language summaries often accompany the news in many languages. 9650

In the Classroom:
Add interest to a foreign language class by checking out the news in your target language using this site. Supplement language study with cultural opportunities by using the music sites. During major world events, compare news coverage from different English-speaking sites to see the different angles provided from different cultures. As you read stories or study customs from other lands, use this site on a projector or interactive whiteboard to share a taste of the world with your elementary students. If your school has a student handbook or special supplement for international students, recommend this site as a way to check the news and cultural happenings from their first countries. All students will enjoy coverage of international sporting events.

Mrs. P.com - Grades 0 - 9 - permalink
You almost want to toast marshmallows on the open fire as you cyber-curl under Mrs. P’s feet by the fireplace. No need to bring a book; she has quite a selection. This interactive site will thrill your eager readers for hours. Actress Kathy Kinney tells delightful intro stories and expertly reads the books. Best viewed on a high speed Internet connection, it’s a breeze to navigate. On the homepage, click on the various items around the warm room to find intriguing, sometimes outlandish, stories about Mrs. P. Extend the learning by clicking on the book on the stand to find a loaded dictionary. Play the Title game as an amusing way to listen to one-liners about the stories at this site. And… the reason we all want to stay in Mrs. P’s library is the book stacks themselves. Click on the stack to find a healthy assortment of stories to listen and view. When you choose a book, click on ‘options’ to turn on or off ‘show the words.’ Each book is rated for age-appropriateness. (The rating of A, B, C, and D is a bit confusing as they refer to age-level rather than a “grade” rating.) Keep an eye on this site for future improvements and enhancements. Not only will you be able to listen to the stories, but soon you will be able to purchase them via convenient download, as well. They will always be free to listen to online!

Warning: This is a beta product. Expect some glitches here and there, however, it appears to be nearly glitch-free as is. If you do find a problem, send a bug report as seen at the top of the screen. There are some hints available for turning on and off some features to make the site operate more smoothly if your connection speed is super-fast. Do NOT even try this one on a slow connection! This site requires Flash. Get it here TeachersFirst Toolbox page.

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In the Classroom:
Teachers, check out the first link at the bottom on the homepage. Submit student stories and Mrs. P. may choose to read them on this site. Be sure to get parental consent before submitting any stories.

What a valuable tool for ESL and ELL students and teachers of emergent readers as students follow the words on the screen as Mrs. P. reads a story. Create a corner in your room to read stories the way Mrs. P. does! Use your first initial, let your imagination run wild, change your accent of course, and you can become another Mrs. P.

Be sure to share this treasure on your teacher web page for students (and parents) to access outside of class. You may find students become interested in some of those "old books" in the library!

Interactive 3D Ant Farm and Pheromone Trail Simulation - Grades 6 - 12 - permalink
This is a real-time 3D simulation that demonstrates how ants use pheromones to communicate. The student is able to control the environment to see how the ants will react to changes in their surroundings. Zoom, pan, and rotate around the 3D environment while using the provided tools to add ants to the simulation and move objects within the environment. By moving the brownie with the move tool, new ant trails are created. The simulation also allows the user to speed up and slow down time. Different types of pheromones can be painted in the environment. Erasing the pheromones confuses the ants. This free site requires shockwave. You can get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page. 9617

In the Classroom:
Have students ask questions about ant behavior and devise an experiment before beginning the simulation. A group of students can plan the experiment and make observations of the results. Groups can present and compare findings. Ant and other animal behavior can be discussed and further researched following the simulation. For an extra creative touch, have students write a blog entry as an ant who was exposed to the simulated conditions.

For similar resources, click the appropriate keyword: pheromones | behavior | environment |

Stormpulse - Grades 6 - 12 - permalink
Scroll through the earth to watch the current paths of tropical storms/hurricanes. View satellite imagery, news, up to date coastal weather, or view storm archives from 1850 to present. This is not considered an actual weather source but is an aggregate of information on storms. Probabilities of storms and hurricanes are given, based upon weather movement. This interactive site requires Flash. You can get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page. 9620

In the Classroom:
Watch storm movement and predict potential path. Use archives to determine common paths, areas where storms are more prevalent, change in numbers of hurricanes in different decades, etc. Use this site as a springboard for further research and better understanding of causes of hurricanes, factors that change the movement, destruction from hurricanes, or how best to prepare for hurricanes. Students can create traditional (poster, bulletin board) or multimedia presentations (newscasts, wiki, blog) on storms or even “create” a mythical storm of the future that follows predictable patterns, documenting it on a class weatherwiki.

For similar resources, click the appropriate keyword: hurricanes | weather | meteorology |

Median, Mode, Mean - Grades 2 - 6 - permalink
This site offers three interactive features - an online quiz, a revision bite (review information), and several highly interactive math activities all focusing on median, mode, and mean. The practice activities are the highlight of this site and include several opportunities for students to put buildings in the correct order from shortest to tallest using "drag and drop" (the exact heights are provided on the building). Then students must find the median, mode, and mean of the buildings. The revision bite provides review information about each concept, while the quiz is a follow-up activity and uses multiple choice questions. This site requires Flash. You can get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page. 9634

In the Classroom:
Use this website as a lesson plan for median, mode, and mean. On day one of your lesson, read the Revision Bite as a class and have students do a few easy practice questions. Day two put your students in pairs, and have them work on the math activities at this site. Day three have students work independently on the online quiz. If individual computers aren't available (or if you want to collect and review the quizzes), project the questions on the interactive whiteboard or projector and have students complete the quiz at their seats.

This is a great link to provide on your website for students to practice and review at home (before the big test). If your site supports it, you can actually copy/paste the code and embed the activity right on your site.

Want to see what else we've been up to? Check out our recent additions.

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