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Teaching Central America: Teaching Ideas for Elementary - Teaching for Change
Grades
K to 6tag(s): book lists (158), central america (26), ecosystems (97), hispanic (53), migration (45)
In the Classroom
Bookmark and save Teaching Central America as a resource for finding multicultural books and lessons to include in your classroom for Hispanic Heritage Month and throughout the year. Organize your saved bookmarks using Padlet, reviewed here. For example, create a column that includes your saved ideas for teaching about Central America, another for the Caribbean, and one for South America. Use Google My Maps, reviewed here, either as a class or with groups of students, to create interactive maps of places students learn about in Central America. Add links to your website or a column to the Padlet for class-created activities, informational articles, and videos that extend learning beyond the resources shared on this site. Some of the teaching materials include correlation to standards.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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Pinecast - Pinecast
Grades
6 to 12In the Classroom
Use Pinecast in a variety of ways in your classroom. First, let students become familiar with how to create audio files by practicing creating and sharing voice recordings of read-alouds. Then, as students become familiar with this tool, use it as a simple tool for uploading and sharing audio productions. For example, ask students to use Pinecast to record interviews with parents or other family members. For example, when studying immigration, ask students to record the story of a family member who immigrated to the U.S. Include student-created podcasts as a link within larger multimedia projects such as those created using Sway, reviewed here, or within an interactive map project made with Google My Maps, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Timeline Infographic Templates - Venngage
Grades
4 to 12tag(s): graphic design (49), images (256), timelines (57)
In the Classroom
Use timelines for various classroom activities beyond just sequences of dates and times. For example, engage students in retelling stories by asking them to create timelines that share the series of events or locations found within a novel. Ask students to create a timeline of the growth of plants or step-by-step procedures of a lab experiment. Extend learning by including student-created timelines as part of multimedia presentations shared by creating websites using Carrd, reviewed here, or video presentations made with Adobe Express Video Maker, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Castbox Creator Studio - Castbox
Grades
K to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): communication (117), DAT device agnostic tool (125), digital storytelling (149), podcasts (139)
In the Classroom
Castbox is an excellent podcast-sharing option for simple podcasts or when sharing audio recordings that have already been edited, for example, using editing tools on your computer. Create regular or special podcasts to share on your class web page or wiki. Are you looking for even more ideas? Record class assignments or directions. Record story time or a reading excerpt for younger ones to listen to at a computer center AND from home, adding a touch of blended learning to your classroom! Have readers (perhaps older buddies) enhance their understanding and build fluency by recording selected passages for your non-readers. Launch a service project for your fifth or sixth-graders to record stories for the kindergarten to use in their reading and listening center. Challenge students to create "you are there" recordings as "eyewitnesses" to historical or current events. Make a weekly class podcast, with students taking turns writing and sharing the "Class News," encourage and extend learning, and have students create radio advertisements for concepts studied in class (Buy Dynamic DNA!). Invite students to write and record their own stories or poetry in dramatic readings. World language students or beginning readers could record their fluency by reading passages. Allow parents to hear their child's progress reading aloud, etc. Compare world language, speech articulation, or reading fluency at two points during the year. Challenge your Shakespeare students to record a soliloquy. Write and record a poem for Father's or Mother's Day (or other special events) and send the URL as a gift to that special person. If you have gifted students who lean toward the dramatic, this tool is simple enough for them to create dramatic mini-casts without needing any additional tools.Edge Features:
Parent permission advised before posting student work created using this tool
Includes Interaction w general public/ public galleries with unmoderated content
Requires registration/log-in (WITH email)
Products can be embedded
Products can be shared by URL
Multiple users can collaborate on the same project
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Online OCR word recognition - Geekersoft
Grades
K to 12tag(s): conversions (37), images (256), noregistration (81), worksheets (70)
In the Classroom
Bookmark and save this conversion tool for many classroom needs. Convert worksheets saved as PDFs to Word documents to edit and easily make changes. For example, many student worksheets available with textbooks are in PDF format. PDF files are the most common document type available; take advantage of this conversion site to extract information and explore different scenarios using the original formulas. Science teachers can take lab activities and refine questions or add instructions as needed for their classroom. Save student grades in a PDF document and then convert it to Excel to understand individual assignments' impact on the overall grade.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Curipod - Curipod AS
Grades
3 to 12tag(s): artificial intelligence (232), assessment (131), blended learning (27), differentiation (79), Online Learning (32), remote learning (31), slides (38), social and emotional learning (134), Teacher Utilities (184), teaching strategies (59)
In the Classroom
Use Curipod as a starting point for creating lessons and student activities, then modify the content to fit your curriculum and students' abilities and needs. The Brain Break activities are an excellent starting point for using Curipod in your classroom. Select an activity from the Brain Break options, then choose a grade level and follow the prompts to share a short mental break with your students. Copy and paste standards when creating a lesson as a starting point to add content for the lesson. When using any AI technology, verify the information provided is accurate before sharing it with students. Use Curripod as a flipped or blended learning activity, share the join code with students, and ask them to complete the activities within a designated period before reviewing together as a class. Easily modify any template to differentiate instruction for different groups of students. For example, when introducing decimals, provide a basic introduction with vocabulary and instructional content to one group of students but add more challenging content, such as adding decimals for students already familiar with this topic. Coordinate with other teachers to create cross-curricular activities or when planning units together.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Rumie - Byte Learning - The Rumie Initiative
Grades
8 to 12tag(s): noregistration (81), Online Learning (32), tutorials (48)
In the Classroom
Share Rumie with students as a resource for learning about topics and content not offered as part of your school's curriculum or as a supplement to current lessons. For example, Rumie offers many bytes discussing basic computer skills, such as how to save a JPEG file as a PDF and choose the right font for a project. In addition, create collections of helpful bytes to share with students on topics such as how to explore career options and problem-solving strategies or learn to code for free.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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25 Best Parks in the United States - Anna Smith, HTownBest
Grades
K to 12tag(s): geology (61), national parks (28), states (126)
In the Classroom
Share this article to engage students as they learn about the states and geographic features of the United States. Start with either the descriptions in the article or the interactive map as an introduction to your unit. Using the interactive map, take students on a virtual trip around the country by visiting the links shared to the national parks. If using the descriptions, use Google Earth, reviewed here, to locate each park. Many of the parks offer virtual tours provided by Google Earth. After introducing students to the parks, ask students to choose a national park that interests them as a starting point for a research project. Share resources with students on a curation tool such as Padlet, reviewed here. As students gather information, ask them to use Ideaboardz, reviewed here, to organize information. For example, have students create three sections on their Ideaboardz to organize information by animals, plants, and geography facts about the location. Extend learning by asking students to become national park project creators and share information from their research. Offer various multimedia options for student presentations, such as creating an interactive image using Genially, reviewed here, or video presentation created with Clipchamp, reviewed here. Once students' national parks projects are completed, use Google My Maps, reviewed here, to create a virtual class visit to the featured parks.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Exploring Chronicling America Newspapers - Library of Congress
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): 1800s (82), 1900s (80), journalism (72), news (220), newspapers (89), primary sources (119)
In the Classroom
Use this map to find historical primary source information by location for various classroom uses. Use the data to supplement your current curriculum; for example, see articles from different sites that discuss Civil War events to engage students in understanding and learning about varying perspectives of life during that period. Ask students to use images (including proper use of copyright) and annotate information to explain the featured events. Class Tool's Image Annotator, reviewed here, is an easy-to-use resource for adding hotspots to images that include a title, description, and links if desired. As an extended learning activity, ask students to share their understanding of the topic by creating an interactive timeline using templates found at Canva Timeline Infographic Creators, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Studysmarter.us - studysmarter.us
Grades
8 to 12tag(s): organizational skills (82)
In the Classroom
Studysmarter.us can help students to develop effective study strategies, manage their time more efficiently, and boost their academic performance. Students or teachers can create study materials and share them with study groups. Create a course syllabus, outlines, and planners with ready-to-use templates. The site also includes many free-to-use math, biology, and economics textbooks.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Cornell Notes - teachthought.com
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): note taking (31), reading comprehension (143)
In the Classroom
Teaching note-taking skills using Cornell notes will help students study and process information throughout their school careers. Teachers can begin teaching the concept using paper and pencil, then start to translate the note-taking skill onto digital tools such as OneNote, reviewed here, and Google Docs, reviewed here. This note-taking method would also be helpful while using tools such as Nearpod, reviewed here, and playposit, reviewed here, which includes a section for note-taking in lessons.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad - TeachersFirst
Grades
4 to 8tag(s): african american (117), black history (126), civil rights (216), diversity (48), racism (79), slavery (79), women (184)
In the Classroom
Include some of the suggested classroom uses for this resource found in the Instructional Guide (PDF). This book and the suggested activities work well as part of lessons on racism, slavery, and African-American history. Consider using the historical information from the book and other primary sources to create timelines with your students showing the important events during the story. Find various free online timeline creation tools located here. Use Adobe Creative Cloud Express Video Maker, reviewed here, to have students create simple videos using just photos and their own voices.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Juneteenth - The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
Grades
8 to 12tag(s): civil rights (216), emancipation proclamation (14), Juneteenth (25), slavery (79)
In the Classroom
Include the resources found on this site with your current Juneteenth resources. Consider organizing and curating your resources using Wakelet, reviewed here. Create a Wakelet collection for your professional use and a collection to share and collaborate with students. Engage students in learning using Perusall, reviewed here, to digitally annotate and discuss the primary source documents shared on the Juneteenth site. Use Perusall to create a flipped learning activity and have students view shared documents and provide comments and questions about the information. As students learn more about emancipation and Juneteenth, encourage them to learn about and share the stories of those featured in these lessons and their research. Enhance learning by having students produce podcasts that bring the stories of enslaved people to life using a free podcasting tool such as Buzzsprout, reviewed here. Buzzsprout includes many features that support easy use by students and educators, such as the ability to schedule the release of episodes on your choice of date and time and the option to add links to show notes.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Break Your Own News - Jon Cresswell
Grades
4 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): digital storytelling (149), images (256), newspapers (89)
In the Classroom
This site contains some ads that may be distracting; however, a quick lesson on avoiding them and engaging with only the desired content is all that is needed to keep most students from following advertising links. Add a link to the Break Your Own News Generator to your lists of other tools to use with images for many different purposes. One excellent tool for organizing and sharing resources with students is Padlet, reviewed here. Create columns in Padlet to organize different resources and then add links to make it easy for you and your students to find what they need. For example, engage students at the beginning of a new lesson or unit by creating a breaking news image to introduce the content. One example might be for a science lesson featuring simple machines with a headline sharing a runaway object that leads into your study of inclined planes. Extend learning and ask students to become creators and share breaking headlines to discuss new information they learned, share important information about story characters, or create a made-up headline about historical events. Include breaking headline images as part of multimedia presentations built using Google Slides, reviewed here, or Canva Edu, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Strip Background - Zygomatic
Grades
K to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Before asking students to use Strip Background, demonstrate how to create and save images. Consider recording a tutorial using Free Screen Recorder Online, reviewed here, then sharing a link on student and classroom devices. Discussing copyright and fair use best practices is always an excellent idea when editing images. Use Strip Background to enhance students' presentations and stories. For example, remove the background from a student's picture and then add a background with them in a location or setting that is part of their project. Choose a background image of a city being studied, a different time, or a far-away setting like the moon, then place your student image on top. Resize the image to fit the scene. Include this image as a starter for class projects. Use images on top of book covers for book talks, create images for story characters and heroes, or use them for weather reports. The ideas for using this tool are only limited by your imagination and that of your students. Include the new images as part of larger multimedia projects created using Canva Edu, reviewed here or maps created using Google My Maps, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Narakeet - Gojko Adzic
Grades
K to 12tag(s): chinese (40), conversions (37), german (44), greek (45), italian (29), japanese (51), multilingual (73), portuguese (20), russian (24), spanish (105), text to speech (18)
In the Classroom
Although presentations are uploaded as PowerPoint documents, Narakeet is still easy to use with Google Slides. Upload your Google Slide presentations to the Free Office Online Apps, reviewed here, and save as a PowerPoint presentation. Use Narakeet to share information with world language learners to hear the text spoken in the native language. Use this site with ENL/ELL students to convert small pieces of text to their native language. Use this site with students who have difficulty reading, especially when working with more challenging passages and text. Use the video options to convert student presentations into videos, then share presentations on your class website. Narakeet is also a handy option to use when creating flipped learning lessons. Upload the lesson as a slide presentation, and then convert it to a video file for easy viewing by students.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Juneteenth Activities and Lesson Plans for Students - Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Shaped Staff
Grades
K to 12tag(s): 1800s (82), civil rights (216), emancipation proclamation (14), Juneteenth (25), slavery (79)
In the Classroom
Include the teaching ideas and activities provided on this site with your other lessons on Juneteenth, Emancipation, or slavery. Engage students in learning about Juneteenth by sharing a timeline of events leading up to Emancipation and beyond, including the recognition of Juneteenth nationally. Create your timeline using the timeline creator Wikipedia Timeline Generator, reviewed here, provided by Class tools. Extend learning by asking students to share their understanding of Juneteenth using a presentation tool such as Genially, reviewed here, to create interactive images and presentations. Once you are signed in, members can search Genially's Inspiration area to find a reproducible template for a Juneteenth interactive image.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Free Comic Strip Maker - Adobe Express
Grades
K to 12tag(s): comics and cartoons (53), graphic design (49)
In the Classroom
Engage students by using the templates to display the day's vocabulary word, the math puzzle of the week, or a concept your students are learning in social studies or science, for example. Have students create comic strips for dialog-writing lessons, summarizing, predicting, and retelling stories. Use comic strips for literature responses. For pre-reading students, create a comic of pictures and tell the story based on the pictures/scenes. It's a good idea to require students to create a rough draft of their comic using Printable Comic Strip Templates, reviewed here. Make a class book of the comics created throughout the year. That book is likely to become a class favorite! Use comics to show the sequencing of events. For example, when studying characterization, they create a dialog to show (not tell) about a character. World language and ENL/ESL teachers can assign students to create dialog strips as an alternative to a formal assessment. Have students share all of their comics on your interactive whiteboard or projector.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Felt - Interactive Map Creator - felt.com
Grades
K to 12tag(s): map skills (64), maps (217)
In the Classroom
Visualizing data and creating maps just became easier for teachers and students. Help your students understand current events worldwide by creating a map and embedding it on your classroom website or learning management system. For example, use maps in science to track migration patterns, explore climates, or map weather events. Teachers of students aged 13+ years can have students create and edit maps in real-time from anywhere. Build upon your student's knowledge by adding layers to your maps to show new information. Teachers of younger students can create maps for student viewing to map a story or show animal habitats.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Free Video Downloader Online - Geekersoft
Grades
K to 12tag(s): movies (49), multimedia (56)
In the Classroom
Many schools and districts block YouTube; use this resource to download videos for classroom viewing. Share videos on classroom devices for students to view anytime, even when Internet access is unavailable. Use this tool to download and save videos you wish to show students, especially if they are blocked at school. Save video conversions to a USB stick for easy viewing on many devices.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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