TeachersFirst - Featured Sites: Week of Mar 29, 2015
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
Math Fair Problems - Gaileo.org
Grades
3 to 12tag(s): charts and graphs (170), data (148), equations (119), functions (51), geometric shapes (135), measurement (124), number sense (70), numbers (119), order of operations (28), patterns (62), probability (97), problem solving (226), statistics (120), transformations (12)
In the Classroom
Use Math Fair Problems throughout the year as a classroom center or homework. Choose one day a week to set up a student rotation through different problem activities. Share activities with classroom tutors as individual practice for students.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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Papaly - Papaly
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): bookmarks (47), collaboration (94), news (227), social media (54), social networking (64)
In the Classroom
Create an account to keep track of bookmarks to share with students in your class. Papaly bookmarks can be viewed on any browser, anywhere. Create separate boards for the various projects and units in your class. Add information that is useful for student understanding and application of concepts. Keep the boards and bookmarks throughout the year. Consider creating a board for student current events or happenings. Use this for access to information on various topics such as food issues, diseases, political information, cultures around the world, and more. Create a board with more challenging topics for your gifted and advanced students. Students can create a board of links from the web on a certain topic to share with other classmates. Create a professional development board to share with other teachers. Challenge your middle and high school gifted students to curate a board for themselves on a topic of individual interest. For example, a student interested in rocketry can locate and add blogs from rocket scientists, NASA feeds, and more. Talented writers may want to collect links to literary publications and author blogs. Consider creating a login that all students can use in order to add bookmarks that they find useful.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Simon - Neave Games
Grades
K to 12tag(s): game based learning (181), patterns (62), preK (263), puzzles (142)
In the Classroom
Join forces with Simon to help improve memory skills. Introduce on your interactive whiteboard or projector to demonstrate memory skills. Help young students learn simple patterns by trying "their hands" at this interactive. Very young students can even use the beginner games to learn colors. Share and discuss ways to improve with such techniques as sound, visual, or "chunking." Use as a reward time device. Keep a class best score and challenge students to beat it! Use this tool to grab your students' attention to come back to their seats after centers or individual/group work periods. Share this link on your class website for students to "play" both in and out of the classroom.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Teampedia - Seth Marbin
Grades
K to 12tag(s): back to school (62), creativity (90), firstday (21), problem solving (226)
In the Classroom
Use this site to find Icebreaker activities and options for the first week of school community building. Bookmark this tool for the first week of school or any time that you want to experience some "team-building" in your class. Use this site if you have weekly classroom meetings to build relationships among students. Share this site with students and have them create their own games based on research projects or as a review for major tests. Share this site with parent helpers to find ideas for classroom parties.Comments
So wonderful to develop creativity using tech. Love the idea of creating games based on research.Patricia, NJ, Grades: 6 - 12
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Gratisography - Ryan McGuire
Grades
K to 12tag(s): images (260), photography (118)
In the Classroom
Use photos from this site in your PowerPoint slides, web page, blog, etc., and be sure to attribute them. The different concepts of copyright are challenging for young students (below about grade 4). You may want to "collect" some photos for their use and save them locally for them to choose from until they are ready to understand the most difficult copyright issues. Select an image to project onto an interactive whiteboard or projector. Give time for students to develop a story around the picture. Use photos that students can use to demonstrate content in various classes. For example, in science, an image of a cat might be used to explain a classification and other animals related to it or the characteristics of life demonstrated in the image. In an art class, discuss the features of the photograph that are compelling, the use of light, the photo's composition, etc.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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PastBook - PastBook P.V.
Grades
K to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): calendars (37), digital storytelling (152), images (260), photography (118), portfolios (23), posters (43)
In the Classroom
Use a class PastBook account to keep track of the day-to-day happenings in your classroom (especially for younger grades). Consider creating albums of specific events such as field trips, service projects, hands-on activities, field experiences such as watershed studies, and more. Have students create portfolios for art and photography classes. Create a magazine of photos that portray different history and social topics. Set the scenes for novels or stories. Explain a specific science concept (using Creative Commons images AND proper credit). Anywhere photos can be used to showcase achievement or explain a concept, this service would be an excellent resource. Learning support, speech, ENL/ESL, autistic support, or world language teachers can collect images into "magazines" for students to practice/develop speech and vocabulary.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Ducksters - Technological Solutions, Inc. (TSI)
Grades
2 to 8This site includes advertising.
tag(s): addition (127), african american (110), american revolution (82), animal homes (55), animals (285), artists (82), biographies (95), china (62), civil rights (200), civil war (136), cold war (31), continents (32), countries (73), data (148), division (97), egypt (49), elements (34), energy (132), environment (242), explorers (66), fractions (157), friction (9), geometric shapes (135), greece (28), habitats (86), human body (94), inventors and inventions (76), keyboarding (28), mean (19), median (16), mode (13), multiplication (121), planets (112), presidents (131), puzzles (142), recycling (45), renaissance (37), rome (23), solar system (109), sound (73), sports (81), subtraction (108), sun (71), world war 1 (78), world war 2 (157)
In the Classroom
This site is a perfect addition for use with a biography unit. Explore and share information categorized by topics such as Civil Rights, the Cold War, Ancient Greece, and WWII. Extend student learning by having students use Fakebook, reviewed here, to create a "fake" page similar in style to Facebook about a president, famous scientist, or nearly any other real or fictitious person. Be sure to create a link to the site on your class webpage or newsletter for students to explore at home. Create a link on classroom computers for students to use the interactives during center time.Comments
Very safe and reliable. Everyone else is my school thinks ducksters is stupid but I love ducksters.Ry, CA, Grades: 6 - 12
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Careers in Science - Science Buddies
Grades
4 to 12tag(s): careers (140), scientists (63)
In the Classroom
Be sure to share this resource when discussing scientific careers. Use this site for researching WHAT particular types of scientist DO (with younger students). Assign individual students (or cooperative learning groups) a specific science career option. Place a link to this resource on your teacher web page for students to peruse on their own.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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