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World History for Us All - San Diego State University
Grades
7 to 12Present a sweeping historical overview with any of the nine Big Eras in a few class periods or delve into an era in deeper detail with their students. Each of the nine Big Eras of world history, plus the History, Geography, and Time and the Past and Future sections, offers one Panorama Teaching Unit with a PowerPoint Overview presentation. Panorama units address large-scale developments in world history through landscape and close-up teaching units.
Besides helping teachers meet state and national standards, this site offers fabulous research-based curricular activities and makes history a manageable content area for instruction. The site includes a clickable "Curriculum at a Glance" overview feature that takes you to the standards, teaching units, three essential questions, and seven key themes. This site requires Flash and Adobe. You can get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page..
tag(s): continents (31), evolution (85), industrial revolution (21), migration (45), oceans (142), world war 1 (87), world war 2 (169)
In the Classroom
World History for Us All provides teachers with pedagogical support to develop a curriculum and a mindset to present history, engage students and elicit curiosity. Use this informational, user-friendly site to augment your current curriculum. As you select materials from the site to share with your student, use Fiskkit, reviewed here to collaboratively annotate and discuss the information on any shared page. For example, ask students to highlight and discuss information that is opinion vs. fact, or focus on vocabulary terms to ensure student understanding. Be sure to include components of historical thinking using the poster reviewed here to encourage students to consider history from many different perspectives.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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DocsTeach - National Archives Foundation
Grades
4 to 12tag(s): civil rights (219), congress (40), courts (25), first ladies (4), immigration (85), inventors and inventions (88), Juneteenth (33), lewis and clark (15), presidents (153), primary sources (133), slavery (79), womens suffrage (64), world war 1 (87), world war 2 (169)
In the Classroom
Select a document, photograph, or artifact from DocsTeach and display it without providing background information. Have students act as historians, making observations and inferences about what the source reveals before learning its historical context. Students can use the site's Compare and Contrast tool to analyze two primary sources from the same historical event or time period. Have them identify similarities, differences, and what each source contributes to their understanding. Have students select primary sources around a historical theme, such as immigration, the American Revolution, civil rights, or westward expansion. They can create a digital exhibit using ThingLink, reviewed here with titles, descriptions, and explanations of why each source is important to understanding the topic.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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American Airlines: CR Smith Museum - learningbox.com
Grades
4 to 10tag(s): air (27), aviation (51), world war 2 (169)
In the Classroom
Use this website as a resource for a research project about inventors. Share the timeline on an interactive whiteboard or projector during a unit about inventors, engineers, or aviation.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Teachers' Guide: internet Field Trips - Scholastic, Inc.
Grades
K to 12tag(s): field trips (6), virtual field trips (139)
In the Classroom
This is a good practice site for working with students, particularly younger ones; and it advises you on how to accommodate the different skill levels students have with the Internet.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Test Maker - Help Teaching
Grades
K to 12tag(s): quiz (62), quizzes (91), vocabulary (251)
In the Classroom
Use this website to create personalized quizzes and tests for your students. You could also ask students to design their own tests for each other to review using your teacher log-in or appoint a student "quizmaker" each week for the content your class has covered, making this an assignment that each student does once per semester.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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You Quote It, You Note It - Acadia University
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): plagiarism (33)
In the Classroom
This is a great follow-up site when discussing plagiarism with students. If you have access to a computer lab, students can work independently or in pairs through the tutorial and then check each other's work.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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The Monticello Classroom - Thomas Jefferson Foundation
Grades
4 to 12tag(s): black history (131), jefferson (20)
In the Classroom
This site can serve a a hub for your unit on colonial life, Jefferson, or even inventors. If you wish your students to register for accounts, be sure to check the students' acceptable use policies or get parent permission in writing. Instead of students using their real first and last names, have students create their own colonial names for registration. Be sure to keep a list of these names to be able to review and assess student work. Give a class introduction to the Monticello Classroom using an interactive whiteboard or projector. Be sure to help your weaker readers and ESL and ELL students by sharing the vocabulary words prior to reading, either on a handout or by projecting on an interactive whiteboard or projector. Highlight the vocabulary words in the text as you come to them. Search the lesson plans, and teachers will find a few that will be particularly helpful for Black History month!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Digital Dialects - Craig Gibson
Grades
2 to 12tag(s): arab (9), arabic (11), chinese (38), french (72), german (49), greek (45), hebrew (17), italian (32)
In the Classroom
Try a few words in another language with your class as you study world geography and history! This site is especially useful in ENL/ESL and world language classrooms. Have your students plan a pretend vacation and study a few words of the target language before they go. Ask students to go beyond the games by guessing the answers before they appear on the screen.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Profile Publisher - ReadWriteThink.org
Grades
3 to 12tag(s): literature (215)
In the Classroom
Teach Internet safety by having students create a mock profile to use on social networking sites. Printing out those profiles makes editing in small groups a breeze. Yearbook or newspaper staff may want to use this Profile Publisher to gain more information about people of interest. History comes alive when you profile historical figures or interview veterans and generate profiles of local heroes. Imagine students creating a blog entry by George Washington. Or ask students to profile a type of cell, an endangered animal, or a science concept such as climate change. With this tool and some creative thinking, anything is possible.Be SURE to warn students to PRINT before closing. The site does NOT save work. You may want them to draft their work in a saved document before pasting it into the profiler, just in case work is interrupted by a fire drill or the bell.
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The Biography Maker - Jamie McKenzie and the Bellingham Public Schools.
Grades
4 to 12tag(s): questioning (37), writing (308)
In the Classroom
All material at this site is copyrighted, so it must be viewed online. For students who do best with step-by-step instructions, this site is a gem! You might have one group research authors from a particular country while others do artists, musicians, scientists, etc. A class report from each of these groups would do a good job of encapsulating a country or area of the world within any given time period. Teachers seeking independent projects for students who "test out" of a unit can assign this site's step-by-step instructions as a meaningful alternate activity.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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The Wilderness Classroom - The Wilderness Classroom Organization
Grades
3 to 8tag(s): amazon (11), mississippi (5), peru (6)
In the Classroom
Use the downloadable lesson plans, printable pages, standards, and kid libraries to organize the unit in conjunction with the expedition. Follow upcoming expeditions in real time live in the classroom. Project the expeditions on an interactive whiteboard or screen. Allow students to participate in scheduled live chat sessions with the expedition members or e-mail them personally, using a class email account or student email within school policies.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Presidential Election Interactive Map and History of the Electoral College - 270 to win
Grades
6 to 12Be aware: during election season, this site opens slowly. But it is well worth the wait.
This site includes advertising.
tag(s): college (44), elections (87), electoral college (24)
In the Classroom
Use the site on an interactive whiteboard to illustrate the impact of Electoral College voting on the election of the US President, both today and in the past. Perhaps we will finally raise a generation who completely understands the Electoral College and how it works!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Mysterious Places: Ancient Civilizations Modern Mysteries - Mysterious Places
Grades
4 to 12In the Classroom
This site might be offered to students doing independent research or included as "real" mysteries during a reading or literature unit on mysteries. The information could augment a lesson plan from a standard text with its lovely photos. It could be an option for exploration by accelerated students who have completed a unit on ancient history. Teachers should be aware that there is an on-line forum as a part of this site which requires registration. Its content is completely peripheral to the site, and students should simply be instructed to avoid it.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Building Big - PBS
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): bridges (9), engineering (141)
In the Classroom
Use the database of structures to search out local engineering masterpieces, or to get information about important buildings that are associated with historical or geographic areas that the class is studying. For students considering a career in engineering, there is good information about the real lives of professionals in the field. The labs are perfect for an interactive whiteboard, and can illustrate physical properties in a visually powerful way. The short simulations could be used by students individually, or by teams of students investigating the principles of "building big."Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Online Newspapers - Web Wombat Pty Ltd.
Grades
5 to 12tag(s): africa (162), asia (138), australia (27), central america (26), europe (82), middle east (51), news (223), newspapers (88)
In the Classroom
Students can update reports and research by accessing newspapers from around the world. Any of your favorite newspaper learning activities can transfer to a newspaper in another part of the USA or world. Foreign language teachers and students will enjoy using the foreign presses for authentic learning. Social Studies teachers can assign students to compare points of view on world issues or perceptions of the U.S. via various newspapers.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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MLB.com - MLB Advanced Media
Grades
4 to 12tag(s): baseball (28), statistics (128)
In the Classroom
Get your students excited about statistics, using this baseball website. Share the video clips on an interactive whiteboard. Talk about the current events in baseball. Visit the stats page for some mathematical fun!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Baseball Reference - Sports Reference, LLC
Grades
4 to 12tag(s): baseball (28), sports (88), statistics (128)
In the Classroom
Use the information at this website in math or history class. This is great supplemental material for statistics, U.S. history (since 1880s), African-American history, and others. Have students use this site for individual research projects about topics provided at this website. Use the "Stathead" information as an anticipatory set for a math or statistics lesson.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Baseball Stats 101 - Baseball Almanac
Grades
4 to 10tag(s): baseball (28), statistics (128)
In the Classroom
There are lots of class possibilities here: let students create formulas from the definitions, compare stats for the favorite teams, research the history of the sport or a specific player, or try to write their own original quotes about baseball.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Scratch - Lifelong Kindergarten Group, MIT Media Lab
Grades
1 to 12Material created can only be viewed within the program. Drawings are not saved as a JPG or pic file. However, a "snapshot" of the screen can be created by using these keys in Mac: apple, shift, and 4 and click/drag to surround the portion to save. In PC use: control/print screen. These snapshots can be uploaded or used as a picture in other applications.
tag(s): animation (61), coding (109), computational thinking (45), critical thinking (179), design (76), drawing (57), problem solving (275), STEM (371)
In the Classroom
Be sure to "play" with this program before you present it to students; or, you could have computer savy students in your class pair up with not so savy students to investigate together. There are many tabs, folders; and icons to investigate. You (or students) could click Create and in the center pane, click on the tutorial. To begin your creation follow the steps in the tutorial. Once you have the idea, choose your own features from the menu on the left, and on the bottom right are two more menus; Look for the cat icon and the backdrops. Different colors, pens, and materials can be used to create the background or an image can be brought in from your computer. Objects in Scratch are called a Sprite and can be added in by choosing the folders below the screen. By clicking the script tab, blocks can be moved in to create motion, add sounds (even record your own message), and change the look of the Sprite. Blocks are linked on to each other to create a series of events. A control block dragged to the top of the blocks control which key starts the event. Advanced options include adding variables and other controls.Be sure to check with your Technology Department, as many districts require authorization to download or install new applications. Projects can be shared online; however an account is required.
Work is saved to the computer itself and only shared online via an account. To avoid problems concerning content made by outsiders or issues with sharing, save the work locally and either create your own gallery on a supervised class website/wiki or set up a single account where you share the "best" projects online via your own log-in. Remind students of the school's Acceptable Use Policy and consequences of violations, if you do allow them to join/share. Images used should adhere to all copyright rules. Use pictures taken in class or those with Creative Commons licensing (and provide attribution!).
Practical tips: Students quickly catch on to this program when allowed to play and easily see what they can make from it. Provide a simple assignment with defined rules/tasks to learn the tools. Younger students may familiarize themselves more easily working with a partner. Have students use a storyboard to write down what they will do/draw/say in their creation in order to keep tabs on what students and their creations.
Possible uses: For the lower grades, Scratch provides unlimited possibilities. Use as a new way to show vocabulary usage. Use the paint program to add information to a picture from your class field trip or science experiment. Use Scratch to help in storytelling a concept in a new and unique way, such as how rocks are formed. In the upper grades, use Scratch to show complex material in a new way. For example, students can draw DNA and show replication, etc. through their drawings and storytelling. Draw the different movements of landforms in plate tectonics. Draw or illustrate solutions to Math problems.
Edge Features:
Includes an education-only area for teachers and students
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)
Products can be embedded
Products can be shared by URL
Requires download/installation of software
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Exploratorium - Science of Baseball - Exploratorium
Grades
4 to 10In the Classroom
Treat your students to this content-rich website using your interactive whiteboard or projection screen. Take your class outside to try their hands at some of the experiments. Or have cooperative learning groups explore different sections of this multi-faceted website. What a fantastic way to excite your students about learning science.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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