TeachersFirst - Featured Sites: Week of May 18, 2014
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
Creating Community and Getting Inspired with Blog Hops and Events - Krista Stevens/WordPress
Grades
4 to 12
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Discover blog ideas galore from the "friendly writers" at Wordpress, especially these ideas for connecting your blog with other bloggers via special events, such as "blog hops." A blog...more
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Discover blog ideas galore from the "friendly writers" at Wordpress, especially these ideas for connecting your blog with other bloggers via special events, such as "blog hops." A blog hop is simply a response to the same prompt during a fixed time frame, with links to the other bloggers' responses so you can "hop" to read the many takes on the topic from the original post or prompt. Share writing around a common theme, image, quote, or topic by checking out the offerings compiled here. Note that this collection is intended for the general blogging public (not schools), so some topics may not be school-appropriate. On the other hand, making contact with "real world" people blogging about how they write, do photography, stay fit, and more. Click on the link to the updated list of blogging events to find inspiration and connection, sorted by general areas of interest. Don't miss the detailed information about how to Start and/or Participate in a Blog Hop.
tag(s): blogs (65), writing prompts (59)
In the Classroom
In its simplest use, this is a place to find and READ blogs on curriculum-related topics. You can also find questions and prompts for your students to write about offline. Never again will you need to hunt for writing prompts or ways to connect your science or social studies students with the outside world. Of course this is a time to discuss proper netiquette and digital citizenship/safety for interacting with "strangers." If you do not yet have a class or student blogs, you might want to begin with Blog Basics for the Classroom. Be SURE you get parent permission. If your students have blogs, use these ideas as a model for your own weekly or biweekly blog hops on curriculum topics. Since your math students need to write about their problem solving strategies for Common Core, why not make it more fun with a blog hop? Trying to fire up interest in local history? Pose a blog hop prompt asking which local landmark could be replaced with a shopping mall. Looking for students to support arguments with evidence? Spark an environmental question for a blog hop. Browse some of the special topic blog events for discussions related to your current curriculum. For example, connect your plant study unit with gardeners' blogging events. If you teach gifted students, this is the ideal way to connect your students (even reluctant writers) with an outside world that will raise their level of writing and thinking. If you can connect with other teachers who have gifted students, perhaps via the #gtchat Twitter chat, you can set up a regular connection among students in several locations.. in science, social studies, math, or writing classes. Your gifted ones may pull in other blogging classmates, as well!You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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Riding the Winds with Kalani - University of Illinois Extension
Grades
K to 3
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Take a Ride with Kalani, the weather balloon, to learn all about weather. Learn about the sun, seasons, and clouds. Start by clicking the weather vane to scroll through the ...more
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Take a Ride with Kalani, the weather balloon, to learn all about weather. Learn about the sun, seasons, and clouds. Start by clicking the weather vane to scroll through the site. You can stop at each feature and Choose from many different activities and games to supplement and enhance information in the weather story. Teacher Resources include suggested activities, links to worksheets and coloring pages, and correlation to Illinois State Standards. Choose from several language options to view and hear the site in English, Spanish, Chinese, or Korean.
tag(s): seasons (37), sun (71), temperature (35), weather (161)
In the Classroom
Riding the Winds with Kalani is perfect for use on your interactive whiteboard or projector. View the weather presentation together then allow students to complete activities as a Science Center. Use this site as a supplement to your current weather or seasons unit. This site is perfect for use with ESL/ELL students. Allow them to explore this site as it is presented to them in their native language.
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Know the Romans Numerals and Numbers - Jordan Allan
Grades
5 to 10
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Become an expert at Roman Numerals! Practice with a Roman numeral converter, chart, videos, games, quizzes, and interesting facts! Enter any number into the numeral converter to view...more
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Become an expert at Roman Numerals! Practice with a Roman numeral converter, chart, videos, games, quizzes, and interesting facts! Enter any number into the numeral converter to view the Roman Numeral. Explore one of several charts with numerals from 1-10 on up to 1-1000. Watch a video explanation about how to create numbers using the Roman number system. Other informative portions of this site include short explanations of the origins of Roman Numerals and four rules for understanding how to use Roman Numerals. If your district blocks YouTube, they may not be viewable.
tag(s): roman numerals (6)
In the Classroom
Bookmark and save this site to include with your unit on Roman Numerals, during study of the Roman Empire, or in Latin class. Be sure to share a link on your class website for students to review at home. Share this site as a way to review before tests. Have students upload a photo of a math problem solved using Roman Numerals they have taken and add voice bubbles to explain what they learned using a tool such as Phrase.it, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Edward S. Curtis - The North American Indian - Northwestern University
Grades
9 to 12
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Between 1909 and 1930, photographer Edward Curtis set out to document the life and culture of the North American Indians, and this site shares his work. Like so many of ...more
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Between 1909 and 1930, photographer Edward Curtis set out to document the life and culture of the North American Indians, and this site shares his work. Like so many of his time, he viewed Native Americans as a "primitive" race of people whose customs were a source of curiosity. As westward expansion began to destroy the culture of indigenous people, Curtis wanted to record, through photographs and narratives, what he believed was a savage and mysterious world before it disappeared. While Curtis' work represented the popular viewpoint of his time, today we recognize that it is, at best, the impressions of someone who neither understood nor particularly valued what he was recording. This digital reproduction of the entire project needs to be carefully previewed and introduced so that we don't perpetuate this way of viewing Native American life. In fact, some of the images of the ceremonial life were never intended to be seen by "outsiders," and their use today is controversial. The site does a good job of setting the context for the use of Curtis's work and helps establish respectful boundaries.
tag(s): difficult conversations (61), native americans (97)
In the Classroom
We have come a long way from the study of Native Americans as a single generic group. Careful use of the images and narratives from Curtis' work can help illustrate that outdated mindset and provide a contrast to today's understanding of the contributions indigenous Americans have made to US history and culture. Share these images on your interactive whiteboard or projector as part of a guided discussion.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Seeing America - Memorial Art Gallery, University of Rochester
Grades
6 to 12
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An artist sees the world and then tries to communicate that vision through his or her work. The Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester presents 17 works of ...more
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An artist sees the world and then tries to communicate that vision through his or her work. The Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester presents 17 works of art, each illustrating the artist's view of America. Each piece is indexed by theme such as Meeting America's People or Telling America's Stories and is accompanied by a rich set of resources including lesson plans, classroom activities, and a printable image that can be duplicated. There are works from as early as the 18th century up until the present time. An interactive timeline helps pinpoint pieces according to the dates they were created.
tag(s): art history (90), artists (83)
In the Classroom
Aside from its obvious usefulness to an art history class, consider choosing an image from an era under study in a history course --or from the time period of a piece of American literature --and incorporating a look at the time through the eyes of an artist. How did events from that time influence the artist's vision of the world? What was America like to that artist? How is that different today? These are great "plug and play" resources that can be used to design an entire unit around using one of the themes or can be as short as an activating activity at the beginning of a class. Ask: When do you think this was painted? What tells you that? What is the artist trying to tell us about his or her view of America? The only limitation here is that it's difficult to view the images in full screen; you will need to use your browser's zoom function to use the images effectively on an interactive whiteboard (or projector).Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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American Car Brochures - Hans Tangerud
Grades
6 to 12
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Cars are more than a way to get from point A to point B, and Hans Tangerud, a Norwegian car enthusiast, recognizes American's love of cars in this historic collection ...more
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Cars are more than a way to get from point A to point B, and Hans Tangerud, a Norwegian car enthusiast, recognizes American's love of cars in this historic collection of sales brochures. Cars, particularly in the United States, represent an important part of the culture. Their design, their advertising, their features all communicate something about what matters to the people who bought them. Tangerud has scanned images of American Car advertising and brochures back as far as the 1920s up through the present. A very deep resource, there are well over 100 brochures here, part of a larger site that focuses on his obsession with cars, particularly those from the US.
tag(s): 20th century (62), advertising (26), history day (39), transportation (31)
In the Classroom
Teens are fascinated with cars. Why not give them the opportunity to research the design and features of cars from a historical era being studied in a history class, or that match the time period with that of literary work. What did the cars look like when the Joad family made its way to California? What did Jay Gatsby drive? What was the "hottest ride" during the Vietnam War? As you try to communicate the culture of an era, consider using an image or two on the whiteboard (or projector) from the appropriate year to help students envision the world of that time. Cars and the way they are advertised also speak volumes about trends in graphic design and advertising. How does automobile advertising today differ from that in the 1950s? What emotions and needs were marketers appealing to? This resource would also be great as a springboard for a National History Day project comparing car design (or advertisements) across the 20th century and linking it to events of that time period. Teacher-librarians will love this resource to teach about primary sources and actually have students be interested!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Yarp - Agility Fix, LLC
Grades
K to 12
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Send simple invitations or surveys with Yarp. Choose the type, name it, add more information, and choose responses such as Yes/No or other clever possibilities. Click "Let me see it"...more
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Send simple invitations or surveys with Yarp. Choose the type, name it, add more information, and choose responses such as Yes/No or other clever possibilities. Click "Let me see it" to view the survey. Send the link to your Yarplet to others. No membership is required to create Yarplets or to vote! Click "Save my Yarplets" for instructions to keep track of your polls and invitations when moving from one device to another. This tool will work on any mobile browser.
tag(s): assessment (150), data (148), Formative Assessment (75), polls and surveys (48), Teacher Utilities (159)
In the Classroom
Use this tool anywhere a quick, simple poll is required (on any device!). Share polls on a projector or interactive whiteboard to discuss and informally assess prior knowledge. This is great as you start a new unit and ask questions about the material. Discuss in groups why students would choose a particular answer to uncover misconceptions. Use for daily quiz questions as a formative assessment. Use a class account to have student groups alternate to create the new poll for the next day. Place a poll on your teacher web page as a homework inspiration or to ask parent questions to increase involvement. Older students may want to include polls on their student blogs to increase reader engagement. Have students create polls for the start of project presentations. Use polls to generate data for math class (graphing), during elections, or for critical thinking activities dealing with the interpretation of statistics. Use "real" data to engage students on issues and current events that matter to them.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Optics For Kids - The Optical Society
Grades
3 to 12
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Learn more about the study of light with activities and experiments at Optics for Kids. Choose from the Adult or Kid links. The adult portal includes articles, experiments, and videos...more
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Learn more about the study of light with activities and experiments at Optics for Kids. Choose from the Adult or Kid links. The adult portal includes articles, experiments, and videos exploring the science of light. Activities within the kids portion include an exploration of optical illusions, explanations of terms used when discussing optics, and several activities to explore the physics of light. In the adult section, explore activities from those for young children up to most sophisticated options for those over age 15.
tag(s): light (53), optical illusions (10), optics (12), psychology (67), vision (45)
In the Classroom
Share Optics4Kids during your unit on light. Bookmark this site to find classroom experiments that explore the science of light. Have students create a word cloud of the important terms they learn from this site using a tool such as WordItOut, reviewed here. After completing an experiment, have students upload a photo they have taken and add voice bubbles to explain what they learned using a tool such as Phrase.it, reviewed here. Share this resource with parents as a resource for Science Fair projects and fun science projects to try at home.
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Media Smarts - Canada's Centre for Digital and Media Literacy
Grades
6 to 12
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Media Smarts is a comprehensive Canadian site devoted to media literacy and critical thinking skills for children and youth. Browse through several topics such as digital and media...more
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Media Smarts is a comprehensive Canadian site devoted to media literacy and critical thinking skills for children and youth. Browse through several topics such as digital and media literacy to explore articles related to television, Internet, and gender issues. An extensive teacher resource section offers many lessons and resources searchable by grade, topic, and media type. Download lessons in PDF format using links in the lesson description.
tag(s): media literacy (107)
In the Classroom
Bookmark this site to explore and use with lessons related to digital and media literacy. Share articles on gender and body image with students. Engage students by having them create a word cloud of the important terms they learn from this site using a tool such as WordItOut, reviewed here. Enhance learning by having students find examples on T.V. and use an online poster creator, such as PicLits, reviewed here to demonstrate examples. Give students a choice and have students create a simple infographic sharing their findings using Venngage, reviewed here, instead of the poster.
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