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Teaching Kids News - Teaching Kids News
Grades
2 to 8tag(s): literacy (124), news (222), newspapers (87)
In the Classroom
This site is perfect for interactive whiteboards or projectors. Display the site on your whiteboard when discussing current events. Use as a learning center for students to read and journal. Practice with Main Idea or summarizing using these interesting informational texts. ESL/ELL learners can also find accessible news stories here. Provide this link for students to use at home to keep up with current events. Challenge students to create a talking avatar using a photo or other image (legally permitted to be reproduced). The avatars can be used to explain or summarize any article on the site. Use a site such as Blabberize.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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Google Slides - Google
Grades
K to 12tag(s): blended learning (28), multimedia (62), Online Learning (34), remote learning (32), slides (37)
In the Classroom
Discover the many features of Google Slides to create presentations, interactive stories, and much more. Create a class poetry presentation by asking students to create individual Slides, then put them together in one slide show as a class poetry book to share on your class website. Deliver blended, flipped, or remote learning lessons using Google Slides by adding links to videos, websites, assessment information, games, and other learning activities.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Gifts of Character Readalouds - TeachersFirst
Grades
K to 6tag(s): christmas (31), holidays (280), independent reading (83)
In the Classroom
Mark this one in your favorites to bring out in late November, just in time for the holiday season. Or include it during a character education unit. Maybe invite some parents to volunteer as readers, modeling how adults give of their own time to support others.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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The Exquisite Corpse Adventure - Library of Congress, Nat'l Children's Book & Literacy
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): stories and storytelling (76), writing (308)
In the Classroom
Explore new worlds in reading by introducing your students to The Exquisite Corpse Adventure. Children of all ages have played progressive story games for centuries, where one person begins a story, stops at a cliffhanging moment, and the next person picks it up and continues, and so on, until everyone in the group has the opportunity to contribute. Take a look at the website to become familiar with the episodes and then put your own spin on a similar project. It can combine the tradition of oral storytelling with the written form, and even include illustrations so that you can tap into students' range of strengths and weaknesses. Whether you choose to "tighten the reigns" by setting the parameters, such as including the use of vocabulary, grammar, and literary elements you are studying, or letting it evolve spontaneously, the possibilities are endless. Best of all, the contributors get to decide what happens next. Perhaps students could be involved in creating a similar ongoing story on a class wiki (learn more about wikis at the TeachersFirst's Wiki Walk-Through. The story can continue throughout the school year and culminate with a digital story presentation created with tools from Educational Uses of Digital Story Telling.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Big Brown Bear Software - Lightness Ltd.
Grades
K to 3This site includes advertising.
tag(s): keyboarding (28), literacy (124), maps (222), numbers (119), prefixes (10), preK (322), suffixes (8), verbs (25)
In the Classroom
Introduce the literacy concepts to your entire class using your interactive whiteboard or projector. Continue with a review at center time on student computers. Add to your class website for further practice at home. Set up the keyboarding activity on a class computer for students to practice keyboarding skills in order to use technology easily.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Free Kids Books - Red Sky Ventures
Grades
K to 6This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
If you are not a primary level teacher, be assured all the ESL/ELL, world language, theme related alphabet books are completely customizable. A great way to use the resources with older, struggling readers is to tap into their interests and have them customize the resources.Create a class book with favorite activities, rhymes, names of books, or any way you choose to create classroom community. Make a special book for your school to welcome visitors or new students. Read the PDFs on the interactive whiteboard, projector, or at a center. Post as a link on your website for students to read at home.
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Willie Sunday: A Critical Analysis of Factual Information in Film - Yale University
Grades
1 to 3tag(s): literature (214), movies (52)
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Respondo! - Ian Byrdseed
Grades
4 to 12tag(s): blooms taxonomy (7), characterization (17), creative fluency (3), creativity (87), critical thinking (180), debate (39), flexibility (9), literary devices (13), literature (214), plot (15), setting (4), stories and storytelling (76)
In the Classroom
Use this site to create unique lessons and literature responses that require critical thinking responses from your students. Share with students and allow them to create their own response at the end of a unit when comparing two books or reflecting on one book. Use this site as a resource for incorporating different levels of Blooms Taxonomy into your classroom and for differentiation among students. Have students make a multimedia presentation using one of the many TeachersFirst Edge tools reviewed here. Some tool suggestions are (click on the tool name to access the review): Adobe Creative Cloud Express for Education, Vevox, Animatron, Renderforest, and Canva Inforgraphic Maker.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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50 Mini-Lessons for Teaching Student Research Skills - Kathleen Morris
Grades
5 to 12tag(s): citations (34), Research (86), search strategies (18)
In the Classroom
Bookmark this page to use as a reference when teaching research skills. Consider using this site as a beginning outline of research skills to teach throughout the year then divide each topic into a unit for planning purposes. Use digital tools to reinforce and enhance the lessons. For example, when using the ideas for teaching how to clarify questions, begin with choosing a topic idea. It states to write as many questions as you can for an idea such as koalas. Gather student ideas on your whiteboard, then create a word cloud using Wordsift, reviewed here, to highlight recurring ideas and thoughts. Use this information as a starting point for research, and ask students to share online information into Padlet, reviewed here. Ask older students to use Fiskkit, reviewed here, as a collaborative tool for sharing and discussing online articles. Fiskkit includes tools for sharing online articles and adding highlights and notes with others. Upon completion of research projects, ask students to share their learning using a multimedia presentation tool like Adobe Creative Cloud Express for Education, reviewed here. Have students include original work, images, videos, and more to share their research projects.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Media Literacy - TeachersFirst
Grades
K to 12tag(s): critical thinking (180), cyberbullying (44), digital citizenship (108), evaluating sources (45), internet safety (121), media literacy (123), news (222), primary sources (133), professional development (319), social media (61)
In the Classroom
Today's messages come in many forms and literacy can no longer refer simply to the ability to read and write. Prepare your students to be literate citizens with this collection. Many are ideal for whole-group instruction, while others would work best on individual devices. Read the reviews to find classroom use ideas with each review. Although the list of tools is mainly geared towards grades 4-8, there are a few resources for the primary grades.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Toggl Track - Toggl
Grades
K to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): classroom management (136), DAT device agnostic tool (129), organizational skills (90), Teacher Utilities (216), time (94)
In the Classroom
Introduce this tool to students as you talk about study skills and homework habits at the start of the school year. Make it part of your lessons on "how to study" or part of your first long term project, especially with disorganized middle schoolers (and gifted students). Have students track how they are spending their time outside of school and make resolutions about how they can adjust it to improve grades, etc. Even teachers need to track time spent on activities. Record time spent in preparing lessons, collaborating, maintaining your PLN, communicating with parents, extra-curricular activities, and more. This tool is beneficial with student groups and tracking time spent on activities. Be sure that students break down the specific responsibilities needed for the project and separate them out to the group. Students can show the work they completed as well as the summary report of time spent. Students can use this information as self-reflection upon completion of any class project and see the possible impact of time well spent!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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CommonCore Sheets - Common Core Sheets
Grades
2 to 8This site includes advertising.
tag(s): charts and graphs (180), decimals (94), fractions (178), measurement (124), money (113), negative numbers (13), operations (71), order of operations (31), parts of speech (40), primary sources (133), probability (129), sentences (22), time (94), timelines (60), variables (21)
In the Classroom
Find worksheets for every subject to better prepare your students for Common Core standards and testing. Use the sheets to make a formative or even summative assessment for many different topics in math. Use as a review or even practice. Provide this link on your class website for students (and parents) to find extra practice. Printable answer keys come with the worksheets. Allow students to create their own quizzes. Easy to use, grade, and share. Use for gifted students needing some acceleration. Use for extra practice with students struggling with new concepts.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Embed Plus - EmbedPlus
Grades
K to 12tag(s): movies (52)
In the Classroom
If using student created video, please check with district policy about sharing student work on the Internet. If using with students, be sure to discuss what is considered appropriate/inappropriate annotations to make on videos. These videos may not play in districts where You Tube videos are blocked. As EmbedPlus uses its own wrapper around the You Tube video, it may be viewable in your district depending upon the filter being used. Be sure to test this before using with students. Note: The "real time reactions" option pulls in and displays public comments when you click it. Use the "enhanced embed" wizard and be sure to click the checkbox that deactivates this feature. You may wish to monitor these for possible inappropriate content.Use the controls to add annotations or student thoughts to sections of the videos. Students can make these comments on their own videos or on a different groups contribution. Use this just to add playback controls that allow for greater viewing of You Tube videos. Have students find a video (or assign one) and annotate it with curriculum related discussion, criticism, vocabulary, etc. Students can then embed this product in his/her blog or a class wiki or site. Don't have one of those? Consider using WebNode, reviewed here. Make an annotated video with question prompts in annotations and embed in wiki to share with your classes. Playback using the slow motion and zoom would be a great item to show on a whiteboard or projector.
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Journeys in Film - Journeys in Film and USC Rossier School of Education
Grades
8 to 12tag(s): cross cultural understanding (177), holocaust (42), journalism (74), movies (52), sustainability (54), women (189)
In the Classroom
Take advantage of the free lesson plans for your classroom. These resources and videos are extremely flexible for classroom use. Use the film clips for current events, and to highlight events from the past. Use a video segment to get students thinking about their understanding of issues, solutions, and whether today's environment has changed from that of the past. View a variety of clips from one theme and discuss events in the clip or use a writing assignment to provide time to process the events. Discuss in what ways these clips are similar and other societal, economic, and political factors that affected them. Be sure to brainstorm how different people, in other areas of the world, would view these issues. Research these issues using resources from other areas of the world. Use Today's Front Pages, reviewed here, to see editorials and news clippings that are not of American origin. If you'd like to to create your own clips from these films try using a tool like EDPuzzle, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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English Online - New Zealand Ministry of Education
Grades
K to 12tag(s): figurative language (19), professional development (319), vocabulary development (102), writing (308)
In the Classroom
Bookmark this site in your favorites for when you are planning objectives and learning activities, searching for materials, or looking for fresh, reliable ideas. No matter where you are on the career ladder, this site provides a storehouse of quality digital content from early childhood through senior year and beyond, which you can embed and blend into your existing program, use to support learning across the curriculum, download, print, project on your interactive whiteboard or projector, or have students use individually or collaboratively on individual computers.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Teaching Faulkner - Southeast Missouri State University
Grades
9 to 12tag(s): literature (214)
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StoryMap JS - Northwest University Knight Lab
Grades
7 to 12tag(s): maps (222), stories and storytelling (76), timelines (60)
In the Classroom
Be sure to stress Fair Use and Copyright with students when using online images and crediting sources. Find great resources and information on TeachersFirst. Of course, if possible use your own images. In Science, use this tool to upload a picture of a science experiment from class and retell the story of the "experiment" by connecting with each of the individual parts of the image. In a Technology class, use this tool to create a project of anything that could be considered "mappable." Some examples include a timeline tour of an event, tour routes of a favorite band, the movement of a character in a movie or novel, or various events in a War. Find various shapes in nature and buildings for a Geometry class, showing their locations in a map. This tool would be wonderful for gifted students to showcase an interest or extend learning from a concept learned in class. Use this tool to trace the history of various recipes or ingredients in a Family and Consumer Science class. Trace the history of people, religions, and events. In Science, create a tour of various animals found in specific areas of a given biome or locations of various types of rocks and their information around the world.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Sign Generator - Ryland Sanders
Grades
K to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): graphic design (51), images (268), photography (136), posters (44)
In the Classroom
Create signs to include with multimedia projects. Customize a sign for use on your interactive whiteboard with directions for seat work or to introduce students presenting projects to the class. Have students use the images to give short story summaries using only four to six words. Create a set of class rules using one of the templates, and then print and post them on a bulletin board.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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EasyWrite - Deekshith Allamaneni
Grades
K to 12tag(s): digital storytelling (166), editing (90), multilingual (82), process writing (34), vocabulary (251), writers workshop (30), writing (308)
In the Classroom
Have students use EasyWrite to retell difficult text in an easy to understand way. Retell Shakespeare passages in simple English or breakdown complicated directions into simple terms. EasyWrite is perfect for use with ENL/ESL or special education students. Choose any complex or difficult text and break it into simpler terms for easier understanding. Do this by adding a free browser extension to classroom computers and devices. Use a tool such as Grammarly (at the time of this review worked for Chrome, Safari, Edge, and FireFox), reviewed here., or After the Deadline, reviewed here. Turn the theory of EasyWrite upside down - have students paste their writing projects into EasyWrite. If there are only a few highlighted words, have them develop more interesting and complex writing passages. Have students take a screenshot of their original work to include with a final draft.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Tip of My Tongue - Chirag Mehta.
Grades
1 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): crosswords (22), puzzles (164), spelling (93), word study (58)
In the Classroom
Create a bookmark/favorite on class computers and your class website for students to use when they just cannot think of the right word. Use for word games like Hangman or Monopoly. Use to solve crossword puzzles. Have students look up words they do not know how to spell! Use this tool with ESL/ELL students as an interesting way to learn new words. As with any online dictionary intended for all ages, you will need to set explicit consequences for students "looking up" inappropriate words-- just as you would for saying those words out loud in your classroom! Share this tool with parents at back to school night as an interesting tool for the whole family to use.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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