TeachersFirst - Featured Sites: Week of Jul 5, 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

 

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City Technology - The City College of New York

Grades
K to 6
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City Technology offers resources for students and educators to learn about engineering. You learn through the creation of projects and integration across curricular areas such as math...more
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City Technology offers resources for students and educators to learn about engineering. You learn through the creation of projects and integration across curricular areas such as math and science. The page for kids shares projects for kids to create on their own. Each project features a video showing how to make the item and a list of materials needed. Choose the section for educators to find complete units on Energy Systems, Force and Motion, and Stuff that Works correlated to math and science standards. Each unit includes a video and downloadable lesson plans.

tag(s): circuits (19), energy (137), engineering (135), forces (45), friction (11), gravity (46), motion (53), STEM (328)

In the Classroom

Use this site as part of any unit about force, motion, or energy. Have student groups create the different projects found on the site, and share their creations with classmates. Have students upload a photo they took of their project, and add voice bubbles to explain what they learned using a tool such as Phrase.it, reviewed here. Have students create projects found on City Technology, then host your own Science Fair!

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Newswordy - Josh Smith

Grades
K to 12
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We hear new buzzwords all of the time, but what do they really mean? Newswordy provides those answers. Each day Newswordy features a buzzword, definition, and its uses in articles ...more
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We hear new buzzwords all of the time, but what do they really mean? Newswordy provides those answers. Each day Newswordy features a buzzword, definition, and its uses in articles and tweets from trending topics. Find the previous day's buzzword by clicking the link on the bottom of the page or click the three bars on the top-right hand side of the page for a list of previous words. Click the title to have random words revealed.

tag(s): media literacy (105), news (220), vocabulary (240), vocabulary development (96)

In the Classroom

Newswordy is perfect for use on an interactive whiteboard or projector. Display the word of the day as students arrive in class as a great warm up for current events lessons. Share a link to the site on your class webpage. Tweak your students' interest in what is happening in the world by reading the excerpts of the articles and tweets at Newswordy. Have students bring in examples they find on the Internet or when watching T.V. Next, students can create a word cloud of the important terms they learn from this site using a tool such as WordItOut, reviewed here.

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Squirt - Squirt io

Grades
2 to 12
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Start speed-reading with Squirt! Just install Squirt on your bookmarks bar. Clicking Try It Now will show you how this tool works. Back on the home page, click Install Squirt...more
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Start speed-reading with Squirt! Just install Squirt on your bookmarks bar. Clicking Try It Now will show you how this tool works. Back on the home page, click Install Squirt to read the FAQs and install the bookmarklet. When visiting a page on the web, select the text you would like to speed-read. Click on the bookmarklet, and watch the magic of Squirt begin. Squirt shows one word at a time while you adjust the speed of the words you read.

tag(s): independent reading (81)

In the Classroom

Want to take away the distractions of advertising or annoying graphics on a page? Use Squirt to only look at one word at a time. Squirt can also help struggling readers to practice their speed and accuracy rate. Squirt aids readers who may have problems with tracking. Use as an example of speed reading versus comprehension. Discuss the difference between reading with and without illustrations, tables, pictures, and the difference they make to comprehension. Use as a way to challenge students for reward certificates or extra computer time using an interactive they love. Use Squirt yourself, to get caught up on articles you need to read.

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America Goes to War: an Infographic - New England College

Grades
8 to 12
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What does it mean to go to war? This simple infographic shows the Constitutional process by which the United States declares war, traces the history of each of the U.S. ...more
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What does it mean to go to war? This simple infographic shows the Constitutional process by which the United States declares war, traces the history of each of the U.S. declarations of war, and differentiates among formal declarations, military actions, and Presidential or Congressional authorizations of force.

tag(s): civil war (141), congress (40), constitution (100), presidents (145), war of 1812 (13), world war 1 (83), world war 2 (165)

In the Classroom

Was the U.S. at war? What powers does the U.S. President have to declare war, and how have Presidents used those powers historically? A powerful, but simple infographic delineates the legal and Constitutional differences among U.S. wars historically. Share the infographic on an interactive whiteboard, or embed on your classroom website for reference.

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Betty H. Carter Women Veterans Historical Project - University of North Carolina Greensboro Unversity Libraries

Grades
8 to 12
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The unique viewpoints of U.S. women veterans are well represented in this rich archive of photographs, oral histories, diaries, scrapbooks, and artifacts from the nineteenth century...more
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The unique viewpoints of U.S. women veterans are well represented in this rich archive of photographs, oral histories, diaries, scrapbooks, and artifacts from the nineteenth century to the present. The archive is particularly strong for women who served during World War II. It also includes World War I, Korea, Vietnam, The Cold War, Desert Storm, the Gulf Wars and the War on Terror. Search by date, branch of service, conflict, or by type of material, including over 350 oral histories.

tag(s): 1940s (68), 1950s (32), 1960s (54), 1970s (30), 1980s (21), afghanistan (6), iraq (26), memorial day (19), middle east (51), oral history (15), primary sources (119), terrorism (41), veterans (30), world war 1 (83), world war 2 (165)

In the Classroom

Use this archive for rich, authentic primary source material on the lives of women in the military. Consider having students, individually or in groups, choose a veteran and present her story to classmates. Replace paper reports and enhance learning by using a tool like Google Slides, reviewed here. Supplement classroom materials associated with a wartime era with the photographs, posters, and diaries provided here. Use these stories as part of a special focus for Veterans Day, Memorial Day, or Women's History Month. The archive would also be a particularly rich resource for students considering National History Day Projects.
 This resource requires PDF reader software like Adobe Acrobat.

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