TeachersFirst - Featured Sites: Week of Aug 17, 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
Diagnostic Questions - Craig Barton and Simon Woodhead
Grades
4 to 12tag(s): angles (51), area (52), assessment (148), charts and graphs (170), data (148), decimals (84), equations (119), exponents (35), fractions (157), functions (51), geometric shapes (135), median (16), order of operations (28), statistics (120), time (92), vectors (16)
In the Classroom
Use this site as an anticipatory set or "activator" to introduce a unit or lesson on a projector or interactive whiteboard. Use to find a question of the day to begin lessons. Share or embed questions on your class website. Have students prepare a question of the day to include with your quizzes. See the "About" page to find questions for class discussions. Though they suggest using mini whiteboards or a large card, think about using computers or tablets and a student response system, such as Socrative, reviewed here. Using a student response system, you will be able to keep a record of the responses without having stacks of paper. It will help you to differentiate and know whom to focus on with some immediate extra help.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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Freckle Education - Sidharth Kakkar
Grades
K to 8This site includes advertising.
tag(s): collaboration (94), differentiation (88), independent reading (86), inquiry (24), reading comprehension (146), Research (84), Teacher Utilities (159), writing (321)
In the Classroom
After creating your classroom account and adding rosters, introduce this site on your interactive whiteboard or projector. If you are lucky enough to have a class set of mobile devices, allow students to use Freckle while you work directly with individuals or small groups of students. Freckle is a great way to supplement instruction for both gifted and special needs students. Use in your blended learning class, when you want to differentiate, or when teaching remotely. Visit the FAQ section for ideas for implementing Freckle in your math, ELA, social studies, or science classroom. Be sure to share login information with parents for student practice at home.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Slack - Slack Technologies, Inc.
Grades
K to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): chat (41), communication (138), DAT device agnostic tool (147), microblogging (15), organizational skills (89), social networking (64), video (261)
In the Classroom
Share this resource with high school students working on group projects for better group communication, managing workflow, and more. Take the time during the first week of school or as group projects approach to model how to plan and manage group processes using such a tool. Use this tool with school clubs, as well. Manage professional discussions by creating channels for different departmental or grade level teams.Edge Features:
Parent permission advised before posting student work created using this tool
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
Multiple users can collaborate on the same project
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Any.do - Omer Perchik, Yoni Lindenfeld, and Itay Kahana
Grades
7 to 12tag(s): calendars (37), organizational skills (89)
In the Classroom
Any student might appreciate having an online time management account, but learning support students and disorganized gifted students need one. You may want to model using this online tool to help middle and high school students learn personal organization. Share this site the first week of school to get students started on the right foot! Make a demo account for a mythical student and organize his/her daily schedule together so students can see how it works. Share the steps on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Alternatively, this idea will work with group projects where students need to learn to manage their project time.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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calmCounter - James Barrett
Grades
K to 8tag(s): classroom management (122), music theory (45), sound (73), Teacher Utilities (159)
In the Classroom
Share calmCounter at the beginning of the school year with a projector or your interactive whiteboard. Have your class practice different noise levels and come to an agreement about where the thermometer should be for different activities. Display calmCounter on your interactive whiteboard or projector during your troublesome, noisy times: centers, indoor recess, or group work. If you have an autistic or noise sensitive student, calmCounter can help your class become more aware of their noise levels. In music class, use to aid students in understanding dynamics in written music such as pianissimo, mezzo forte, and forte. During your science unit on sound, use calmCounter to show a rudimentary measurement of different types of sound.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Teacher Lists - School Family Media
Grades
K to 12tag(s): classroom management (122), preK (263)
In the Classroom
Create a TeacherLists account for your building or teaching team and distribute your supply list or a wish list in an easy to find format for parents to access anytime and anywhere. Share what your class specifically needs to be ready for the start of school or a new marking period. Include the links to your lists on your class web page. Library/media specialists can share a schoolwide list to keep the media center well stocked with supplies. Art teachers can request the craft items and supplies they need. Even grandparents can help out the school when they know what is needed. Share with your school's parent organization for creating their own lists.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Instant Classroom Seating Chart - Instant Classroom
Grades
K to 12tag(s): classroom management (122), Teacher Utilities (159)
In the Classroom
Use this site at the beginning of the year to create a seating chart for your classroom. Use the drag and drop technology to configure the desks the way you want them. Use the Random Name Generator to choose a student for an activity or to answer a question. If you need to create groups of 2, 3 or more, use the Classroom Group Maker to automatically split your class into even groups.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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ClassDojo - Sam Chaudhary and Liam Don
Grades
K to 8Please 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 (122), DAT device agnostic tool (147), game based learning (181), gamification (79), 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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The Readability Test Tool - David Simpson
Grades
1 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): independent reading (86), readability (5), writing (321)
In the Classroom
Use this tool to offer differentiated resources for the different reading levels in your class. At the beginning of the year, as you learn your students' capabilities, use this tool to find reading at the appropriate level to eliminate frustration. This is perfect for finding the "just right" level for your highly advanced/gifted students and those needing extra remediation. If you do discover that a website you want to use is over your students' independent reading level, you can still use it, just use Read Ahead, reviewed here as a guided reading activity for younger students. Read Ahead is perfect for introducing any reading passage to struggling readers, special education students, and ENL/ESL learners. View readability levels of websites before sharing with students to find appropriate reading levels for differentiation. On an interactive whiteboard or with a projector, test passages of public domain texts from sites like Project Gutenberg, reviewed here, by famous authors to see how their writing ranks when discussing their writing style.Why not have students put in the URL for their blog or wiki (or simply paste in a writing sample) to see the level at which they are writing? This is one way to encourage writing as a craft and challenge students to include more varied vocabulary and sentence structure in their writing.
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