TeachersFirst - Featured Sites: Week of Apr 15, 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
How Our Laws Are Made - Mike Wirth
Grades
6 to 12
tag(s): branches of government (65), congress (39)
In the Classroom
Use the graphic as an introduction to a detailed discussion. Share the site on your projector or interactive whiteboard. Use it to reinforce the process once you've taught the lesson. Encourage students to bookmark it to review or test their understanding. Anyone who teaches civics, government or US history will be able to use this graphic on an interactive whiteboard. For that matter, it should be required viewing for citizens and politicians alike!You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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Privacy and Internet Safety - Common Sense Media
Grades
3 to 12tag(s): cyberbullying (40), internet safety (112)
In the Classroom
Share this link on your class web page and/or in a parent newsletter to help parents learn about Internet safety. Use the videos to help students learn how to be safe online. Share the videos on your projector or interactive whiteboard. Use the information to run a parent information night.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Pictogram Graph - Jo Edkins
Grades
K to 5tag(s): charts and graphs (170), data (150)
In the Classroom
Use Pictogram Graph with an interactive whiteboard (or projector) for whole class graphing. This site would also make a great math center in the classroom. Groups of students can visit the center and graph collected values at a computer or interactive whiteboard.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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American Indian Response to Environmental Changes - National Museum of the American Indian
Grades
4 to 12tag(s): environment (245), native americans (96), natural resources (37)
In the Classroom
Project this site on an interactive whiteboard and watch the videos on each of the tribes. If you have laptops available, have students navigate on their own. Have the class take the included interactive quizzes to see what they've learned. Group students and have each group read about a different tribe. Then using the online story project planner, have students create a presentation about their tribe that can be uploaded to the site. Be sure to visit the teacher area for lesson plans, links and other resources.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Random Word Generator - Dillfrog.com
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): creative writing (123), creativity (92), vocabulary development (92)
In the Classroom
Display the generator on your interactive whiteboard (or projector) and challenge students to use as many words as possible in their daily writing. Use words from the site for vocabulary of the day practice. Challenge students to define as many words as possible from the word generator. Set a timer and have students use as many words from the generator as they can in the time allowed. Build creative fluency and flexibility as students dream up new story scenarios to use the new vocabulary.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Stem Career - Rich Feller
Grades
7 to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Share some of the infographics on your projector or interactive whiteboard. Allow time for students to search careers to report to the rest of the class using conventional or multimedia posters and other products. Use an online poster creator, such as Padlet, reviewed here. Include the skills required for the job, the education needed, and what that person does. Challenge students to create an advertisement for a STEM career they might enjoy.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Trello - Fog Creek Software
Grades
2 to 12tag(s): DAT device agnostic tool (146), graphic organizers (49), organizational skills (89)
In the Classroom
Use this site in the classroom for organizing any long term project such as a research report or collaborative projects. Create a board for each group with a timeline and assign parts for each project. Gradually release the responsibility from one project to the next, asking students to create their own task lists so they learn time management. Teachers of learning support and gifted will love this tool as a way to teach organizational skills. Share it with parents to support their organizationally challenged students. Yearbook or school newspaper advisors may want to consider this site for organizing and assigning tasks. Share this site with your school's PTA as a resource for organizing and planning school events.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Project Laundry List - Project Laundry List, Inc.
Grades
2 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): earth day (60), ecology (102), environment (245), holidays (185)
In the Classroom
During environmental science units or Earth Day, use this to have students calculate what their own households spend to care for clothing. Have students consider different tips for reducing environmental impact and saving money. As a homework assignment, have students implement two changes for two weeks. Have parents sign off on a log form to verify student participation. (Parents will love the extra help and possible money savings!) Set up your own celebration of "National Hanging Out Day" by having teams of students prepare presentations (the website even provides one) to share with others students and the community.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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CK-12 - CK-12 Foundation
Grades
5 to 12tag(s): atoms (44), cells (83), charts and graphs (170), decades (7), energy (131), equations (118), fractions (158), genetics (81), inequalities (24), landforms (37), measurement (123), oceans (149), organisms (15), periodic table (46), probability (97), pythagorean theorem (18), rocks (35), scientific method (48), seasons (37), solar energy (34), solar system (109), statistics (120), STEM (287), test prep (69), variables (14)
In the Classroom
Introduce CK-12 to your students (and parents) on your interactive whiteboard and demonstrate ways to use the site at home. Be sure to create a link to the site on your class website or blog for easy access at any time. Create an account and upload your own resources and activities to create your own flexbooks for use with students. CK-12 is available in many languages. Use this site with your ESL/ELL students as a supplement to classroom resources.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Desmos: A Beautiful, Free Online Graphing Calculator - Eli Luberoff
Grades
9 to 12tag(s): calculators (36)
In the Classroom
Use this Better Calculator in place of expensive graphing calculators that many students may not have. Be sure to provide the link on your teacher page or wiki for easy access. This is a wonderful tool for iPad or 1:1 classrooms with their newly released free iPad app.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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