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Edward Lear - Marco Graziosi
Grades
4 to 12tag(s): literature (215), poetry (196)
In the Classroom
If you're a huge fan of nonsense lit, you can learn more by signing up for the free newsletter at this site. Share this "nonsense" on your interactive whiteboard or projector and have students attempt to create their own nonsense limericks collaboratively on the whiteboard (it's harder than you think!). Or use them as writing prompts during a humor unit.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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Lincoln Goes to War - National Endowment for the Humanities
Grades
7 to 12tag(s): abolition (15), civics (129), civil war (145), debate (39), lincoln (67), slavery (79), states (128)
In the Classroom
This lesson plan is ready to go and offers step by step instructions! Divide your class into five groups (based on the roles listed above). Allow them time to research and prepare for the debate. Consider having students tape the debate using YouTube or TeacherTube (explained here). Why not have each group (or student) write a blog defending their position (role).Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Abraham Lincoln - American President - University of Virginia
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): lincoln (67), presidents (153)
In the Classroom
Use this site for basic research about Lincoln, to read his speeches, and to even learn more about the former president by listening to the podcasts. Share the podcasts and photos on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Have students write a fictitious blog entry through the eyes of Lincoln after reading one of his four famous speeches listed at this site.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Civil War Traveler - civilwartraveler.com
Grades
4 to 12tag(s): civil war (145), lincoln (67), pennsylvania (7), virginia (15)
In the Classroom
Use this fabulous resource for research. Turn your students into virtual "Civil War Travelers" by sharing the Podcasts and pictures on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Have students complete interactive research projects about these famous locations. Have students create a news broadcast, wiki, blog, or PowerPoint presentation. If you want to video the broadcast try YouTube or another tool such as SchoolTube (reviewed here).Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Presidency of the United States of America - Encyclopedia Britannica
Grades
5 to 12tag(s): 1960s (54), 1970s (30), 1980s (21), elections (87), lincoln (67), presidents (153)
In the Classroom
Use this site to research candidates in the upcoming elections, and presidents of the past. Have students create a wiki to discuss the candidates viewpoints and if the students agree or disagree. Challenge students to create a political "blog" as a mock candidate. Have a "mock" presidential race in your class (using the mock candidates created by your students). Have the "candidates" go on the campaign trail, research the issues, and provide their solutions to America's problems.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Real World Math: Using Google Earth in the Math Curriculum - Real world math
Grades
5 to 12Be aware that the "Community" link has been moved off-site and is designed for teachers, not students.
tag(s): data (211), earth (194), measurement (127), problem solving (275)
In the Classroom
Use this site to access lessons that bring Math to life and provide relevance to the students. These lessons provide an option to use higher level thinking skills that provide true understanding and learning of Math concepts.Have students complete these lessons and share their finished products on an interactive whiteboard or projector.
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NEH Summer Seminars - NEH
Grades
K to 12tag(s): grants (16), professional development (319), seasonal (48), summer (50)
In the Classroom
Share this opportunity with your colleagues in social studies, world cultures, and more. If you do take the trip, TeachersFirst encourages you to create a travel blog so that others may share in your experience or follow up by sharing lesson plans that come out of your experiences. Maybe the participants would like to cretae a wiki? Learn more about blogs and wikis from TeachersFirst's Blog Basics for the Classroom and TeachersFirst's Wiki Walk-Through.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Mashable: 50+ Places to Buy Groceries Online - Sean P. Aune
Grades
4 to 12In the Classroom
Use these virtual stores to teach real-world lessons in math, FCS, ESL, ELL, and economics lessons. Special Ed teachers may also want to use these sites to help students with life skills. Have students compare pricing in online venues vs. bricks-and-mortar stores. Use the pricing to teach unit pricing, comparison shopping, percent, and more.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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The Emancipation Proclamation - National Archives
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): africa (162), african american (130), civil war (145), lincoln (67)
In the Classroom
Share the original document on an interactive whiteboard or projector. Have students take turns reading each section aloud to the class. After reading the entire document, have students write a journal entry from the viewpoint of the slaves - what were they thinking, feeling, did they even know this had happened?Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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History for Middle School Kids - Kidipede
Grades
4 to 10tag(s): europe (82), greece (47), medieval (38), mesopotamia (31)
In the Classroom
Use this site as an anticipatory set in your history classes studying these topics. The information is simple to understand and would be useful for students struggling with a topic. Use the site for research about specific topics. Have teams of students explore each of the "sub-topics" within the main topic and then create an interactive presentation (Powerpoint, video, or blog) to share the information with their class. Why not list this link on your class website, so students can access the page both in and out of the classroom.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Today in History - Library of Congress
Grades
4 to 12tag(s): history day (38)
In the Classroom
This site provides excellent historical research! For a classroom-ready activity each day to build understanding of historical events in the context of your students' prior knowledge, also try TeachersFirst's Dates That Matter. Include both links on your teacher web page for instant access by students both in and out of class. Maybe start a class wiki for your own "This Day" collection and assign student groups a day of their own. Add to it from year to year. Or have students write blog responses on class or individual blogs as they choose an event for the day from several sources and react to it.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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History Net - HistoryNet LLC,
Grades
6 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): history day (38)
In the Classroom
This site would be ideal for research projects. For a classroom-ready activity each day to build understanding of historical events in the context of your students' prior knowledge, also try TeachersFirst's Dates That Matter. Include both links on your teacher web page for instant access by students both in and out of class. Maybe start a class wiki for your own "This Day" collection and assign student groups a day of their own. Add to it from year to year. Or have students write blog responses on class or individual blogs as they choose an event for the day from several sources and react to it.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Modern Languages - Learning Space Open University
Grades
8 to 12tag(s): business (50), french (72), german (49), italian (32), spanish (112)
In the Classroom
Introduce your AP language and world culture students to the materials on this site. Gifted students or those seeking independent language study could also use these courses.Older ENL and ELL students interested in business careers may also find it useful.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Ethnologue - SIL International
Grades
6 to 12In the Classroom
Use this site when social studies students are doing reports on world cultures. Check out your own state (or country) and see what you can learn. ESL and ELL students may enjoy sharing the information displayed here about their individual countries and languages with American students who might have no idea of the cultural differences among members of the same country. Use this map as a discussion starter I your world cultures class about migration patterns and the power of a common language to encourage cross-cultural pollination.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Beeline TV - Beeline Software Express
Grades
1 to 12Be sure to preview stations and programs to be certain the offerings are appropriate for your classrooms and student ages. International students will enjoy the opportunity to check out news and other events from their original countries. Some of the European TV sites offer bilingual programming; English language summaries often accompany the news in many languages.
In the Classroom
Add interest to a foreign language class by checking out the news in your target language using this site. Supplement language study with cultural opportunities by using the music sites. During major world events, compare news coverage from different English-speaking sites to see the different angles provided from different cultures. As you read stories or study customs from other lands, use this site on a projector or interactive whiteboard to share a taste of the world with your elementary students. If your school has a student handbook or special supplement for international students, recommend this site as a way to check the news and cultural happenings from their first countries. All students will enjoy coverage of international sporting events.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Gapminder Tools - Gapminder
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): civics (129), countries (73), environment (253)
In the Classroom
Be sure you and your students begin by "playing" with the controls to figure out the many tools available on this dynamic site. Be sure to peruse by this page of ideas specifically for teachers. Use this site to generate questions from students for continued research in health, environmental, and civics topics that students will relate to. Manipulate each axis (using pulldowns) to create a dynamic graph and follow all or a few of the countries (bubbles). Questions resulting from the graph can be used to define research leading to further understanding. Have students obtain background information that can lead to further research on social issues in the U.S. and around the World or use this tool as part of oral/visual presentations comparing countries and cultures. Be sure to use your interactive whiteboard or projector.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Wonder How To - Wonder How To, Inc.
Grades
6 to 12Membership is free and has many perks. You can comment and/or grade the video clips or even submit your own video. Registration does require some personal information: a username, password, email address, and date of birth. ALL USERS MUST BE OVER 13 YEARS OF AGE! Check with your administrator about allowing the students to register for this site using fictitious names. You may wish to set up a class registration instead of entering accurate data into the registration site. Another option is to create a free Gmail account to use for memberships. If you plan to have students register individually, you may want to make a Gmail account with up to 20 subaccounts for each group of students (by code name or number) within your classes. Here is a blog post that explains how to set up Gmail subaccounts for any online membership service. Warning: not all videos are suitable for the classroom. Be sure to preview what you wish to share. If you choose to allow your older students to navigate this site on their own (for research or a class project), be sure to set boundaries on which videos they can watch, define consequences for going elsewhere, and WATCH CAREFULLY! Some videos explain "how to" do things that are unsafe or inappropriate for school-age audiences. Wonder How To does include unobtrusive advertisements.
This site includes advertising.
tag(s): aircraft (25), business (50), money (113), russian (25), sign language (16)
In the Classroom
Use these fabulous "how-to" videos for informative writing projects in speech, science, or even with your gifted students. The site does provide excellent research. You may want to link directly to the specific videos you want students to see to avoid other, less desirable options. Share the "how to" videos on an interactive whiteboard or projector as an anticipatory set for a new lesson. For a final project, have students create and submit their own "how to" video using YouTube or using a tool such as SchoolTube..Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Geni - Everyone's Related - Geni, Inc.
Grades
4 to 12tag(s): family (53), genetics (82), immigration (85), migration (45)
In the Classroom
This site is fairly simple to use. Join the site (free) and log in. Navigation of the site is simple. Click on Tree to start your family tree or Timeline to use that free resource. For the family tree, arrows are provided to add family members. The arrows pointing up indicate a parent, arrows to the left or right are used to add a wife/husband or brother/sister, and arrows pointing down are used to add a son or daughter. This site allows users to set-up their family tree or timeline as PRIVATE. It allows you to control who can and can't view your profile, family tree, and other information. For more information about this feature, visit the Settings link (on the top right corner). Before you plan your family tree project, be sure to get parental permission. Possible Uses: Use this site to create family tree projects in elementary or middle school classes. Have high school students create family trees as part of an immigration unit studying patterns in social studies classes. In science class, have students create fictitious "people" as they study genetics. With younger students, create a class timeline sharing important dates for individuals (i.e. birthdays) and class dates (field trips, tests, or other special events). Have students share their family trees on an interactive whiteboard or projector. Be sure to "advertise" this project on your class website (and newsletter, if applicable) so students have time to gather names, birthdates, and other information about family members. In world language classes, have student create a family tree using the correct vocabulary for relatives and talk about it as they share it on the interactive whiteboard. When researching famous people, reading biographies, or even reading literature have students create a family tree illustrating their discoveries about their famous person, writer, artist, musician, explorer, literary character, etc.Edge Features:
Parent permission advised before posting student work created using this tool
Includes Interaction w general public/ public galleries with unmoderated content
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
Products can be embedded
Products can be shared by URL
Multiple users can collaborate on the same project
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The Online NewsHour Extra: Video Clipboard - Archives - PBS
Grades
6 to 12Tip: rather than using your personal or work email, create a free Gmail account to use for memberships. If you plan to have students register individually, you may want to create your own Gmail account with up to 20 subaccounts for each group of students (by code name or number) within your classes. Here is a blog post that tells how to set up GMail subaccounts to use for any online membership service.
tag(s): news (223)
In the Classroom
Share these video blogs with your students on an interactive whiteboard or projector as you discuss current events and related issues. Share this link on your class web page as an option for weekly current events articles you require from students. Take advantage of the free resources (quotes, warm up questions, discussion questions, printables, and other resources). If you teach reading or are working to help learning support students build comprehension, you will find terrific passages for teaching comprehension, inferencing, summarizing, and more, all with meaningful news stories as the focus. If your school's Acceptable Use Policy allows, have students post their own comments to the video blogs. Another idea: have your students create their own wiki about current events in local and/or national news. Invite students to create their own multimedia packages using video clips and their own text to explain an issue and its history.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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ScreenPal - ScreenPal
Grades
4 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): communication (122), tutorials (50)
In the Classroom
You will need to know how to use whatever computer software, website, or skill you are demonstrating. Following basic directions and managing browser windows or tabs are a must, as well as the managing settings of the computer being used. There are plenty of tutorials to explore for PC's, Chrome Books, Mac's, and downloading their apps.Click the Create button in the upper right corner of the page to start. You will find a selection of activities there like Capture Screenshot, Record Screen/Cam, Upload Content, Create a Quiz, and several others. Select Capture Screen Screenshots. As a first-time user files for the Screen Recorder will need to be downloaded to your computer. Follow the prompts as they appear. Choose the screen size when played and whether audio will be needed (audio can be tested here as well, which is recommended: settings may need to be adjusted for different microphones.) Open a new tab or browser window and enter the web address of the site (or software) that will be the subject of your screencast. Drag the black frame by clicking the line and dragging it in order to choose what will be recorded during the screencast. The microphone icon has a green bar that shows recording levels. A green arrow showing instead of a green bar denotes that sound is not being captured. The red button is used to start recording while the black "X" stops the recording. Once you stop recording, click on your screencast tab or browser window and preview your recording. You can then either upload or discard your screencast. At this point you can create an account easily. Save your screencast to a channel of your own. Use the embed code to place your screencast into a blog, wiki, or other site. You can also use a widget code to embed the screencast player into a website. Screencasts can then be made from your other site and will save directly to your screencast channel. Screencasts can be set to different levels of privacy and comments can be turned on or off.
Teachers who must request certificate approval by tech staff may want to try this tool at home and create some sample projects to convince administration of its educational value. Unless checked to turn off comments, this site will allow comments on your work. Many districts prohibit such interaction and steps should be taken to prohibit commenting from others. When using the widget, the tool does not attribute work to specific students. You may wish to have the students identify their work while creating the screencast. Screencasts will only be able to be viewed when using an embed code in a site, wiki, or blog. By marking the screencast "searchable," it can be available to the public. Recently created screencasts do not appear on the home page of screenPal. Students are able to self-register, but you may want to keep a record of logins and passwords for students who forget.
Make how-to demos for communicating instructions on using and navigating your class home page, class wiki or blog, or other applications you wish the students to use in creation of classroom content. By narrating how you want students to navigate through a certain site or section, you can eliminate confusion, provide an opportunity for students to use the information as a refresher for the future, and maintain a record for absent students. Software demonstrations add an increased flexibility with helping students who need it while allowing students to begin and work at their own pace. Added audio is a great asset for many students including learning support and those who might need to access the material in smaller "chunks." Use this site for students to give "tours" of their own wiki or blog page. The presentation of their web-based projects and resources can be more engaging. Use screencasts to critique or show the validity of websites, identify a resource site they believe is most valuable, or explain how to navigate an online game. Challenge your gifted students to create a screencast as a final project rather than a more traditional project. Social studies teachers could assign students to critique a political candidate's web page using a screencast. Reading/language arts teachers could have student teams analyze a web site to show biased language, etc. For a powerful writing experience, have students "think aloud" their writing choices as the record a screencast of a revision or writing session. You will probably need to model this process, but writing will NEVER be the same! Math teachers using software such as Geometer's Sketchpad could have students create their own narrated demonstrations of geometry concepts as review (and to save as future learning aids). Teachers at any level can create screencasts to demonstrate a computer skill or assignment, such as for a center in your classroom or in a computer lab. Students can replay the "tutorial" on their own from your class web page and follow the directions.
Edge Features:
Parent permission advised before posting student work created using this tool
Requires registration/log-in (WITH email)
Premium version (not free) includes additional features or storage
Products can be embedded
Products can be shared by URL
Multiple users can collaborate on the same project
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