TeachersFirst - Featured Sites: Week of Apr 15, 2018
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
MakerSpace Resources - TeachersFirst
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Use these resources for your digital MakerSpace. Find tools for all grades. Don't miss the Twitter Chat for teachers just starting a MakerSpace. There are also a few sites that have more information for educators just learning about MakerSpace. Some of these resources are ideal for individual devices.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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Twitter Chat: Ideas for Infusing STEM - TeachersFirst
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Do you teach STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math)? Check out this archived chat for tools and tips to use in your classroom. Share this tool with your colleagues interested in learning more tips and tools to use in STEM lessons.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Life of a Can - Novelis
Grades
3 to 6In the Classroom
Take advantage of the free lesson plans shared on this site for use with Earth Day activities, or recycling and conservation units. Share a link to the interactive on classroom computers or your class website. Ask students to create a concept/mind map to organize the information they are learning. This could be done conventionally or digiatally. Consider using a digital concept mapping tool to replace the paper/pencil version of a concept map with MindMup, reviewed here. Next ask students to create a simple infographic sharing information on recycling using Visme, reviewed here, or create an interactive poster using Adobe Creative Cloud Express for Education, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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STEM in 30 - Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
Grades
5 to 10In the Classroom
For your blended or flipped classroom, share webinars on your class website for students to view at home. Replace pen and paper writing journals by writeing a blog entry that shares their learning and understanding. Use a tool like Telegra.ph, reviewed here. This blog creator requires no registration. If you are teaching younger students and looking for an easy way to integrate technology and check for understanding, challenge your students to create a blog using Edublog, reviewed here. Check the site's homepage for upcoming webinars, then participate with your class. Check Twitter to see if your class can follow any of the presenting scientists. If you are lucky enough to live in the Washington, DC area, contact the museum to attend a live taping. After viewing a webinar, have students enhance their learning by creating a multimedia presentation using Slidestory, reviewed here. This site allows you to narrate a picture. Challenge students to find a photo (legally permitted to be reproduced), and then narrate the photo as if it is a news report. STEM in 30 is also a great resource for gifted students to get involved with their own challenges and pursuits.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Robo Boogie - Code Club & Nesta
Grades
6 to 12In the Classroom
Demonstrate how to use this site on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Show students how to switch back and forth between Code Mode and toolbars. Ask one student to change a dance move and other students to adjust the code to match the change. After school clubs and activities can use Robo Boogie to learn to code. Use this tool with gifted students for an interesting challenge. Set up a coding activity center for interested students when they finish class work or for rainy days and snow days. Share this link on your class website for students to access both in and out of the classroom.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Kodable - Surfscore, Inc
Grades
K to 4This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Use this tool to learn basic coding skills. Students will quickly catch on to this program when allowed to experiment while viewing their results. Kodable is great for differentiating for students with different abilities and learning styles. Set Kodable up as a learning center and have students work in pairs to complete the challenges.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Get Caught Engineering - Wendy Goldfein and Cheryl Nelson
Grades
3 to 8This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Take advantage of the free lesson plans and activities to introduce STEM activities into your classroom. Use lesson plans as ideas for starting an Engineering Night program at your school. Transform learning by having students create an annotated image of projects including text boxes and related links using a tool such as Image Annotator, reviewed here. Redefine learning by challenging cooperative learning groups to create videos explaining each step of their process using Clipchamp, reviewed here, and share them on a site such as TeacherTube, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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CurriConnects Booklist: Living Green - TeachersFirst
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
This is a great match during units on the environment, current events, or world issues. As students select and read from this list, they will have many opportunities to interact and find meaning from informational texts. This list is ideal during April for Earth Day or as you study the environment--or even geography and human impact on our planet.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Learning to Give - Points of Light Institute
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Use this site as a resource for all subject matters, search for subject and browse resources. Share with other teachers in your building or district including teachers of the arts. Get your students involved! Challenge cooperative learning groups to create a multimedia presentation using one of many TeachersFirst Edge tools reviewed here discussing one of the topics at this site. Some tool suggestions are (click on the tool name to access the review): Canva Infographic Maker, Lucidpress, Powtoon, and MoocNote.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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National Environmental Education Week - National Environmental Education Foundation
Grades
4 to 12In the Classroom
Use this resource to plan great activities, lessons, and events for students leading up to Earth Day. For example, use the search function locateed under the menu symbol in the upper left corner and search Greening, STEM, video, for videos and information about water shortages, drought, climate change, and resources. Use the articles and reports to pique student interest, use short videos in the classroom, and find great websites and programs linked from the page. Use these resources not only for a greater understanding of issues but to create awareness campaigns for change in the home, school, or community. Exchange pen and paper and enhance learning by asking students to keep a digital journal sharing their learning and understanding using Telegra.ph, reviewed here. With Telegra.ph you just click on an icon to upload images from your computer, add a YouTube or Vimeo, or Twitter links. This blog creator requires no registration. If you are teaching younger students and looking for an easy way to integrate technology and check for understanding, replace pencil and paper and challenge your students to create a blog using Seesaw, reviewed here. Partner with local groups (conservation or not) to create action plans and events, and provide opportunities for change in the community. Enhance and transform student learning by challenging them to create interactive brochures, magazines, or posters of information learned using Lucidpress, reviewed here, or Genially, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Earth Day - Myvocabulary.com
Grades
4 to 10In the Classroom
Share the puzzles on your interactive whiteboard or projector or make them available as links on your teacher public page. Have students (or groups) create their own illustrated dictionaries of terms using a tool such as Bookemon, reviewed here. As you add more vocabulary lists during the year, have them select their favorite 6-10 terms from each list to add to their "book."Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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