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The Legacy Project - Susan V. Bosak
Grades
3 to 12tag(s): communities (37), crafts (114), cross cultural understanding (176), environment (246), writing (309)
In the Classroom
The Legacy Project's free online activities for all ages include creative crafts, art projects, games, self-assessments, reproducible pages, and even lesson ideas with curriculum connections for teachers. There are also free guides, tips, and feature articles. Resources can be used individually or grouped to create a themed set that run the gammit from literacy to family, history, or science. There are even free online certificates you can download!Challenge your students to think about questions like: What are your goals and what would you like to be, do, and learn? How can you achieve your goals? What can you learn about your own hopes and dreams and those of others? How can you think globally and act locally? How can we better understand other people and cultures that live in our communities or a whole continent away from us? The Legacy Project combines practical, classroom-tested ideas and research-based insights with a little fun and inspiration to inform and inspire all ages - children, teens, and adults. Using resources like the Dream book, students explore the world around them and their role in it - past, present, and future.
The Legacy Project's annual Listen to a Life Essay Contest brings generations in family and community closer and promotes the importance and uniqueness of inter-generational relationships. Students between the ages of 8-18 years interview a grandparent or "grand-friend" about their life and write an essay. This also opens the door for so many creative projects such as photo essays, (using their own digital images or finding ones that are legally permitted to be reproduced). Have students create an annotated image including text boxes and related links using a tool such as Thinglink, reviewed here.
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Spreaker - Spreaker Online Radio
Grades
1 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): communication (125), podcasts (173), radio (16)
In the Classroom
Enjoy a live radio show from your classroom! Publish written pieces of writing, science reports, social studies reports, and any other reports you would like to share. Create a New Book or Book Review podcast for the media center. Link to your podcast URL on your class website. Publish directions to projects, explanations for difficult concepts, or even a radio show of you reading your favorite books for your students. Have upper elementary students take turns reading aloud for a podcast aimed at little reading buddies in kindergarten. Allow students to podcast to "pen pals" in faraway places. Record your school choir, orchestra group, poetry club, or drama club doing their best work or dramatic readings of Shakespeare soliloquies. Take your school newspaper to a new level with recorded radio articles. Be sure to include interviews with students, teachers, principals, parents, authors, artists, and almost anyone. In younger grades, use to save an audio portfolio of reading fluency, expression, or to aid with running records or even include writing. Be sure do this regularly throughout the year to analyze growth. Have fun at Halloween with your Halloween station filled with favorite spooky stories! Welcome your students to a new school year by sending them your message. Create messages for classmates who move away. Bring your foreign language classes an extra resource of your pronunciations whenever they need more practice. ESL/ELL, special education classes can often benefit from the extra explanations, practice, and elaborated instructions given at their own pace. The possibilities are endless! The site itself is a "web 2.0," social networking style site, so some schools may have it blocked. Ask about unblocking just YOUR teacher account so you can have students access it while at school and under your supervision.Edge Features:
Parent permission advised before posting student work created using this tool
Includes Interaction w general public/ public galleries with unmoderated content
Includes social features, such as "friends," comments, ratings by others
Requires registration/log-in (WITH email)
Premium version (not free) includes additional features or storage
Products can be embedded
Products can be shared by URL
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Presentation Tube - Dr. Alaa Sadik
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Be sure that your teaching style fits the use of Presentation Tube before using in the classroom. Easily create presentations for students to access. Be sure to play with the software before using to create your first real product. Provide links to presentations on your wiki, blog, site, or other courseware site. Time is always short in the classroom, and sometimes it's hard to make time for oral presentations. Have the students use Presentation Tube to report out their research, and you and their peers can watch it and grade it any time. Or, have students post their Presentation Tube to your web page or TeacherTube and they can view, and peer evaluate the projects. You may want to create your own rubric with student input for this. See a selection of rubric makers "http://www.teachersfirst.com/lessons/rubrics/create-rubrics.cfm " here on TeachersFirst. Another idea would be to have students create a Presentation Tube for the results of their research, and then pause and comment during an oral presentation to the class. Students with speech difficulties or challenges with English fluency will appreciate the opportunity to prerecord their presentations without an audience. High school students can also narrate a portfolio slide show for Art school applications or a show of accomplishments for college applications. Students can package book reviews or author reports to be shared in the media center. In primary grades, have students narrate their portion of a whole-class slide show, then share it with parents and grandparents by url. They can practice oral reading as they share their story slides.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Tinkercad - Tinkercad, Inc.
Grades
3 to 12tag(s): computational thinking (45), creativity (93), drawing (57), measurement (123), modeling (8)
In the Classroom
Bring out the budding engineer, scientist, or designer in your students. Create simple models or use one created by others in Tinkercad. Give ample time for students to play with the variety of shapes and letters. As they become proficient, create a 3D model science fair for products that solve problems. As part of a multidisciplinary unit in science, technology, economics, math, social studies, and English classes, use this site to create a culminating design project.Have the final design project be a new museum or historical/tourist attraction to commemorate a local hero/heroine. In English classes, have students create a written grant for the design proposal. In economics, have the students discover how to construct the project for the best possible cost. In math and science classes, have the students "build" the project with accurate measurements. Then as a follow up, have students use Google Earth reviewed here to predict the environmental impact of the new construction. Or, in technology education or industrial arts class, use this as a way to submit project drafts for construction.
Edge Features:
Parent permission advised before posting student work created using this tool
Includes Interaction w general public/ public galleries with unmoderated content
Requires registration/log-in (WITH email)
Products can be embedded
Products can be shared by URL
Multiple users can collaborate on the same project
Includes teacher tools for registering and/or monitoring students
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Oolone Visual Search Engine - Oolone
Grades
1 to 12tag(s): search engines (43)
In the Classroom
This site is perfect for your visual learners or weaker readers. Use this site on an interactive whiteboard to show students how to search for information. Use the page counter to show students how different search terms provide different results. Place on your class webpage for students to access at school and home. Be sure to check out their education page where you can find lesson ideas. Learning support and ESL/ELL students will appreciate being able to search without as much reading. Even very young students can LOOK for a site using this search tool, assuming they can type just a little bit.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Just Beam It - Akshay Kannan, Hristo Oskov, and Pranava Adduri
Grades
4 to 12tag(s): collaboration (139), computers (114)
In the Classroom
Have trouble sharing files with students because they do not have email? Do they need to share files with each other for collaborative projects ? Try using Just Beam It! No email or flash drive needed. File transfer is quick. Drag, drop and share! So easy, a savvy fourth grader could do it.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Magic Tree House for Educators - Random House Children's Books
Grades
K to 4This site includes advertising.
tag(s): book lists (166), guided reading (32), literature (215), preK (328)
In the Classroom
Use the Educator Guides on this site to engage students and expand their knowledge when reading the Magic Tree House Series books. Keep this resource on hand to find books to integrate reading activities with other classroom lessons. Use the ideas from the Educator Guides as part of choice board activities or within an educational playlist.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Mentimeter - Mentimeter
Grades
3 to 12tag(s): assessment (140), Formative Assessment (44), polls and surveys (44), presentations (48), word clouds (12)
In the Classroom
Mentimeter is helpful in the classroom as a formative assessment tool. Educators can interact with others inside the classroom, remotely, or during blended classroom sessions. Because the poll address and ID code number appear on the beginning slide of your creation or can be given verbally, it is effortless to create and provide to classes. Survey students during activities and lectures to check for understanding of essential concepts. Responses can also be open-ended by creating your poll without any choice of answers. Students can only vote once per question with this tool unless you check the box about answering more than once during the creation of the answer slides.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Infographics Resources - TeachersFirst
Grades
4 to 12tag(s): infographics (73)
In the Classroom
Join the 21st century trend of infographics as a way to share a lot of information, quantitative data, and relationships in a compact but effective visual space. Help students learn and construct meaning using infographics. Share this collection on your class web page as a starting point for students.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Whales and Dolphins for Children - Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society
Grades
2 to 9tag(s): ecology (113), habitats (107), marine biology (33), whales (12)
In the Classroom
The life size whale animation is perfect for use on interactive whiteboards or projectors. Display the animation and move the box around to give different perspective on the size of a whale. The red box on the whale on the right-hand corner of the screen shows what part of the whale is being displayed. Challenge cooperative learning groups to research dolphins or whales and create a multimedia presentation using one of the many TeachersFirst Edge tools reviewed here. Some tool suggestions are (click on the tool name to access the review): Adobe Creative Cloud Express for Education, Vevox, Animatron, Renderforest, and Canva Inforgraphic Maker.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Where's George? - Where's George?, LLC
Grades
2 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): currency (12)
In the Classroom
Use this site to make basic economic concepts real. Let your students track their money and watch the journey unfold. Students can track their lunch money, donation money, or sports club money. Track a dollar with your class for an entire school year. Enter the dollar serial number as a class at the beginning of the school year, record information about it, and write the Where's George web address on the dollar. Use a class or teacher email address to track the bill throughout the year. Toward the end of the year, have your students write a story about the adventures their dollar has had, including the places it has visited, and the kind of people they imagine it met on its travels. Challenge your students to use a site such as Sutori, to create an interactive timeline of your dollar's travels. Alternatively, they could create a "choose your own adventure" story using Rootbook. With older students, discuss the role of the Fed and banks in the flow of currency.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Answer Garden - Creative Heroes
Grades
2 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): antonyms (12), polls and surveys (44), speech (66), vocabulary (253), word clouds (12)
In the Classroom
Create online polls of virtually anything! Build creative fluency. Ask students to type in an adjective, noun, or part of speech for language review. When learning about states, students can type in attributes associated with that particular state. Studying plants? Students can type in processes associated with plant growth. Studying fractions? On your interactive whiteboard add vocabulary terms associated with fractions to your AnswerGarden or assign students to add a term for homework. Embed your AnswerGarden question on your website or wiki, or share a direct link with the URL by email.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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X (formerly Twitter) 4Teachers - Gina Hartman
Grades
K to 12tag(s): social networking (55), twitter (10)
In the Classroom
Explore the site to discover and follow educators who match your interests and needs. Read the Tweets about what is happening in other classrooms to gain some new/fresh ideas. Want to know more about X (formerly Twitter)? See TeachersFirst's X (formerly Twitter) for Teachers page.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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The Childrens University of Manchester: Interactive Learning for Key Stage Two - The University of Manchester
Grades
3 to 6tag(s): body systems (47), brain (59), dental health (14), egypt (60), energy (140), environment (246), human body (98), medicine (52), organisms (13), root words (10), senses (23)
In the Classroom
The interactive lessons on this site are perfect for your whole class using an interactive whiteboard or projector. During the interactive lesson, students can operate the board/mouse to interact with the material. Most lessons will have enough opportunities to involve the whole class. The site is also ideal for individual instruction in the computer lab setting. Introduce students to a new topic with these mini lessons, videos, and educational games that can be expanded on as part of a larger unit.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Rustle the Leaf - Dan Wright and Dave Ponce
Grades
2 to 8tag(s): earth day (61), environment (246), globe (12), oceans (143), plastics (3), pollution (57)
In the Classroom
The comics would be great discussion starters at the beginning of the day. Post one on your interactive whiteboard (or projector) as students arrive to use as a journal prompt or discussion activity. The resources on Rustle the Leaf are really well done, these can be used throughout the year, monthly, or all together as a focused unit. Challenge students to create their own comics (or videos) to explain an environmental topic using comic-creation tools from this collection.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Storyboarder (was Storyboard Generator) - ACMI (Australian Centre for the Moving Image)
Grades
4 to 12tag(s): comics and cartoons (67), digital storytelling (181), images (273)
In the Classroom
Demonstrate how to create and use a storyboard using this tool on your interactive whiteboard (or projector). View stories from the gallery for inspiration before attempting to have students create their own. Create a storyboard and share when teaching creative writing techniques or story mapping. Have students tell the story they have viewed. Challenge students to create a storyboard of readings recently finished in class as a review of characters and story plot. Use storyboards as the first step in planning larger projects from plays to videos.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Culture Talk - Five College Center for the Study of World Languages
Grades
2 to 12tag(s): cultures (293), interviews (18), journalism (74)
In the Classroom
Explore world cultures in today's vernacular: video. Challenge students to write a comparative essay, contrasting information from similar culture talks about different countries. Have cooperative learning groups make a Livebinder, to compile and share information from all over the web on one or more countries once they gain an overview from this site. Be sure to require they critique the sources they find and annotate/organize them into subtopics, etc. to show their understanding of how the pieces fit together. Of course, you will want to model and teach appropriate documentation of any sources of images and media you use. Be sure to use copyrighted works legally. To help your students with this, try using a site such as Bibme. Challenge ESL/ELL (or any) students to make similar culture videos about their countries of origin or their family heritage as part of a world cultures exploration.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Watch2Gether - Sailer Interactive
Grades
3 to 12tag(s): blended learning (28), chat (41), differentiation (100), Online Learning (34), remote learning (32), social media (64)
In the Classroom
Use for teaching a concept with others by viewing portions of videos and chatting content and main points. Use for reviewing materials for exams or preparing for project creation. Be sure to set up who can change videos and monitor the chat when in sessions with others. All of the following suggestions will extend your blended learning classroom: set up a snow day or evening video viewing time and URL to watch and discuss videos together with the teacher for extra help or enrichment; an online back to school night, share a video at a specified time and invite parents to join you and chat their questions. What a bonus for parents who travel and can't be there! Offer video/chat how-to sessions for major projects, such as science fairs or other major independent work. Enhance video instructions for any significant assignment by scheduling a Watch2gether session. Use Watch2gether with Khan Academy videos for math class. Make your "flipped" or blended learning classroom more social using Watch2gether.Edge Features:
Parent permission advised before posting student work created using this tool
Includes Interaction w general public/ public galleries with unmoderated content
Includes social features, such as "friends," comments, ratings by others
Products can be shared by URL
Multiple users can collaborate on the same project
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Gickr - Gickr.com
Grades
K to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Create an animated gif for any subject as an introduction to a new unit. Include images to spark student conversation as a way of determining background knowledge before teaching. Share this site with students to use when creating multimedia projects. Create a fun image to use on your interactive whiteboard (or projector) when introducing the student of the week. Share student-created images on your classroom website or blog to enhance or inspire student writing or poetry projects. Make a class mascot image to include on your wiki or blog and have young students write stories about it.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Anki - Flashcard creator - ankisrs.net
Grades
2 to 12tag(s): DAT device agnostic tool (133), flash cards (47), test prep (67)
In the Classroom
Create flashcards for your classes using Anki -- or have them make their own. Try using them as an introduction to a concept, then again in the practice of the idea, and again as a final review. It is a nice three-for-one creation deal! This would be great for teaching Latin prefixes and suffixes of words to students. Use this site to learn science terms or for standardized test preparation. Have students create flashcards and share them to quiz themselves within their own groups. Teach students in higher grades how to create flash cards with multiple blanks to challenge their brain to remember more pieces of the puzzle (even counterexamples). Show them how to carefully read through their classroom notes and underline the most important word or words in a sentence. Then have them leave out the most important words for their flashcards. Learning support teachers might want to have small groups create cards together to review before tests. Have students create flashcard sets to "test" classmates on what they "teach" in oral reports. Since this program is a download, sharing flashcards may be challenging. One suggestion is to download the program onto a USB stick to be shared as needed. Students can also create flashcards for classmates to try after watching peers' presentations.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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