TeachersFirst - Featured Sites: Week of Apr 8, 2012
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
Just for Kids Who Stutter - The Stuttering Foundation
Grades
1 to 8
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Read stories written by children who have problems with stuttering. One selection is available in pdf book form, and offers crayon colored drawings to go with the complete story of...more
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Read stories written by children who have problems with stuttering. One selection is available in pdf book form, and offers crayon colored drawings to go with the complete story of one child's experiences. Other offerings include poems, drawings, cartoons, and short essays, and FAQ information about stuttering. Students of any age are welcome to contribute here. Offerings are written in English and French.
tag(s): disabilities (31), speaking (22), speech (68)
In the Classroom
Share these stories during an anti-bullying lesson. Talk about how you would feel if you stuttered or were bullied for another reason. Make a list of ways to react to bullies. Encourage students to add their own experiences to this site, if appropriate permissible under school policies (check with your administrator). Get parent permission before posting any student work on this sharing site.
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Algalita - Plastic Ocean Pollution - Algalita Marine Research Foundation
Grades
4 to 12
3 Favorites
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Explore plastic pollution in the North Pacific Ocean at this terrific site. Click Educators on the top menu, and fine several lessons, videos, toolkits, and more. Be sure to check ...more
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Explore plastic pollution in the North Pacific Ocean at this terrific site. Click Educators on the top menu, and fine several lessons, videos, toolkits, and more. Be sure to check out the Students tab at the top to see Student Spolights to explore accomplishments of students from around the world.
tag(s): environment (245), oceans (149), plastics (4), pollution (51)
In the Classroom
Use your interactive whiteboard or projector to introduce this site. Use the Trash Tracker lesson as is or adapt for your own use. Consider having students work in groups of four, and have each group explore a different expedition (listed by year and selected by you). Have the small groups of students investigate the first several days of the selected expedition together. After that, have pairs take notes about what they learn, using Memo Notepad, reviewed here, then have partners compare notes for the days they investigated. Once they've investigated their expedition, remix the groups so you have one student from each of the different expeditions together. Have them share information and determine what was alike and different for each year. Use a graphic organizer or mind mapping tool such as WiseMapping, reviewed here, to help students keep track of the information. Once done have students access the additional resources pages (the blogs will often have more information for the expeditions), and look at the maps. Older students may want to investigate information about careers related to GIS, Conservation, and Marine Biology by using the link at the bottom of the page.
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Faces of Learning - Q.E.D. Foundation
Grades
8 to 12
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Discover a community about how people learn. Attractively packaged, the site encourages you to share your experiences and thoughts about what makes a learning environment and how you...more
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Discover a community about how people learn. Attractively packaged, the site encourages you to share your experiences and thoughts about what makes a learning environment and how you learn. Don't miss the self-assessment activity called "Your Learner Sketch" to discover strengths about your own learning and potential problem areas. This is a wonderful site to find others with similar experiences and concerns. After joining the website community, you can submit sketches and photos, add to blogs, and learn about other resources and activities. Record stories orally for others to hear. Explore stories via tags in a tag cloud. Explore links to other sharing stories experiences like Story Corps.
This site includes advertising.
This site includes advertising.
tag(s): communities (37), learning styles (18)
In the Classroom
Encourage students to do a project about learning and post their results here, if policies permit. Share this link on your class web page and/or in a parent newsletter so they can better understand the nature of learning and its challenges. Use the self-assessment with any class -- without joining the site -- as you talk about study skills and finding individual strengths for studying and learning. Consider letting students form study groups based on the results. This is an ideal activity for early in the school year.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Wolfram Tones - Wolfram Research Labs
Grades
6 to 12
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Wolfram Tones is a different and dynamic approach to thinking about music. Instantly create music and download it to your computer. Choose tone style, select a variation, and adjust...more
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Wolfram Tones is a different and dynamic approach to thinking about music. Instantly create music and download it to your computer. Choose tone style, select a variation, and adjust the tone by using the generator, instrumentation, pitch mapping, or time controls. Save your "tone" to your collection or email it to friends. Your collection is associated to the computer where you make it using web browser cookies so no registration is necessary. Tones are packaged as midi files. Mathematical rules create these complex forms of music on Wolfram Tones. The program takes the mathematical pattern and turns it onto its side to produce a musical score. Here, the height of the pattern is the pitch of the note. More than just a musical resource, this website allows you to see and hear math.
tag(s): music theory (45), musical instruments (49), patterns (62), sound (73), sounds (42)
In the Classroom
In math class, have students choose and analyze a musical pattern as part of a unit on algorithms. Have them change the parameters using the program controls to produce a sound that they like. Then have them relate the changes they hear to the changes in the math. In music class, have students create their own portfolio of music using Wolfram Tones. Encourage students to replicate their tones with their own musical instruments. Your talented math/music students and gifted students will love this site! Be sure to share the link on your class web page for easy access.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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ClassDojo - Sam Chaudhary and Liam Don
Grades
K to 8
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Manage behavior and boost involvement in class quickly and easily. ClassDojo allows you to recognize desirable behaviors and accomplishments in real time. Use it on any Internet-connected...more
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Manage behavior and boost involvement in class quickly and easily. ClassDojo allows you to recognize desirable behaviors and accomplishments in real time. Use it on any Internet-connected device in your classroom. Be sure to check out the Resources from the top menu for helpful, timesaving items like a Back-to-School night resentation, a Parent Introduction letter, a Student Introduction video, and Student Account Facts. You can choose an avatar for each student. Student behavior records are automatically created, updated, and reports generated with just one click by you. You can even write comments to parents about why a student lost a point. Weekly summaries are automatically emailed to parents. Students can earn badges. On ClassDojo students can now have their own portfolio to share photos and videos of their successes. The wording on the ClassDojo site indicates that ClassDojo "will always stay free for teachers."
Please be aware that ClassDojo falls under the FERPA laws for "directory information" and "educational records." Any school getting funds from the Department of Education (public schools) is required to disclose to parents and get written consent to use ClassDojo with their child.
Please be aware that ClassDojo falls under the FERPA laws for "directory information" and "educational records." Any school getting funds from the Department of Education (public schools) is required to disclose to parents and get written consent to use ClassDojo with their child.
tag(s): behavior (46), classroom management (123), DAT device agnostic tool (147), game based learning (181), gamification (78), Special Needs (56)
In the Classroom
Consider using this program to reward a group of the week. Award points for positive behaviors such as participation, helping others, creativity, hard work, or create your own categories. Using ClassDojo for group behaviors will give immediate feedback to students if projected on your whiteboard or your projector. Use this tool to help your unfocused students stay on task. Share this site with students on the first day of school as you go over class expectations and your behavior plan for your classroom. Use ClassDojo to offer both negative and positive feedback to parents and students.Are you a regular education teacher with special education students mainstreamed into your classroom? Use Class Dojo to privately keep track of student behaviors and send a report to special education teachers or parents. This could be invaluable to a life skills, autistic support, gifted, or emotional support teacher who needs to track the behavior of each of the students as part of an IEP/GIEP. Alternative ed programs may find this tool very useful, as well, even up through high school.
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Charts Bin - Chartsbin.com
Grades
9 to 12
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Find great Infographics about a variety of topics. Use the beautiful arrangement of data to uncover relationships between various pieces of information. Easily share or embed the chart...more
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Find great Infographics about a variety of topics. Use the beautiful arrangement of data to uncover relationships between various pieces of information. Easily share or embed the chart where needed. Click on References and Data Table to look at the raw data and origins of the information. Choose from major topics in the tabs above such as Country Information, Environment, Food and Agriculture, and more. Search your own topics with the search bar.
This site includes advertising.
This site includes advertising.
tag(s): business (51), charts and graphs (170), data (148), infographics (56), maps (207)
In the Classroom
Introduce a topic by sharing the Infographic and allowing time for students to identify various items that they notice about the chart. Allow time to think-pair-share in class and list questions for further understanding. Consider creating Infographics of material learned in class and for better understanding and connection with other topics and the world around them. Make curriculum content more real with infographics that students can relate to.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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