TeachersFirst - Featured Sites: Week of Jun 24, 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
Design Wizard - Design Wizard
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Take advantage of the many features included with Design Wizard to upload and edit images. Have students use their images to create book covers instead of assigning a traditional book report. As students learn about advertiser tactics, use the ad template and have students create truthful advertisements for products. Create flyers to invite parents to school programs. Ask students to create a flyer that might have been used to invite others to a historical event. The possibilities are as endless as you and your students' imaginations.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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ABCYA Paint - ABCya!
Grades
K to 4In the Classroom
Share how to use this site on an interactive whiteboard or with a projector then allow students to explore on their own. Have students create drawings to demonstrate math problems, share science experiments, or draw scenes from a story. Include students' drawings in a digital portfolio like Seesaw, reviewed here. Seesaw offers tools for uploading images and creating an audio recording to share their reflections on their work.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Weather - Science Resources - TeachersFirst
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
If you can't find your ideal resource on the editor's choice page, check out the tagged resources list. Share the interactives on your projector. Use the content sites for deepening understanding prior to a test. Share this link on your class website for students to use both in and out of the classroom.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Get Your Hands Dirty Guide - Federation of City Farms & Community Gardens
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Download this guide as a resource for starting "growing" opportunities at school, or for suggestions on keeping animals in the classroom. If your school has a gardening club, this guide is perfect as a resource for new ideas. If you don't have a gardening club, use the guide as a starting point. Perhaps find a parent volunteer to get your club going!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Educators Guides to Lyme Disease - Bay Area Lyme Foundation
Grades
3 to 8In the Classroom
Explore these free materials when teaching about insects or disease. Are you integrating technology in your class? Instead of the traditional brochure suggested, enhance classroom technology use by having students use Lucidpress, reviewed here. As a follow-up, you could assign students to investigate and create reports on other insect-born diseases, then use PDF to Flipbook Converter, reviewed here to turn their Word documents, PDFs, and images into an online book. Have students create an interactive image describing ticks and Lyme disease including text boxes and related links using a tool such as Genially, reviewed here. Genially can be used for a variety of assignments in any classroom that is integrating technology as an enhancement, modification, or transformation.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Tread Lightly! - Tread Lightly! Inc
Grades
5 to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Take advantage of the many free materials for use in classroom lessons about the environment. Use the magnifying glass and search bar to find the Quick Tips Home Page. Then, have students explore the Quick Tips portion of the site and create their own environmental Quick Tips online posters individually or together as a class. For the novice technology user try these two tools to enhance technology use in your classroom: PicLits, reviewed here, or Web Poster Wizard, reviewed here. For the more experienced transform the use of technology in your class with Sway, reviewed here, or give students a choice of projects to complete with Genial.ly, reviewed here. Both Sway and Genial.ly will allow your students to create multimedia projects. Consider becoming a Tread Lightly! member as a class or school and apply for a recreation stewardship grant to organize a clean-up day in your community.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Ultimate Camp Resource - Ultimate Camp Resources
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Bookmark this tool for the first week of school or any time that you want to experience some "team-building" in your class. Use this site to find games and activities for classroom icebreakers. Find ideas on this site to build relationships among students. There is even an Art Project section (scroll to the bottom menu to find it) that has lots of crafts for your makerspace! Share this site with parent helpers to find ideas for classroom parties.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Ranger Rick - National Wildlife Federation
Grades
K to 7This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
In the Animals sections, elementary students can conduct research on different kinds of animals including their place in the animal kingdom. At computer stations/centers have students look at the sets of animal pictures and identify common characteristics that are found for each set of animals to determine why they are categorized into each part of the animal kingdom. Use the interactive games as a center at an interactive whiteboard/projector. The games are fast and simple and can be used as a lesson opener to engage and capture the students attention.As a culminating activitiy, challenge students to write an adventure story where Ranger Rick and his animal friends have to get our of a sticky situation. Use a tool such as Printable Comic Strip Templates, reviewed here, for a nontech rough and final draft. If you're new to using technology with your students, or teach younger students augment techology use with ToonyTool, reviewed here, for their final drafts. To modify tech use in your class and for more experienced, older students try Make Beliefs Comix, reviewed here.
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Roadtrippers - Roadtrippers
Grades
1 to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Bring the world of road tripping to your class! Plan journeys as math challenges to determine the amount of money required. Give students a budget and see what happens. Challenge students to create a dream trip and a budget trip. Find the difference between the two. You could use an online tool such as the Interactive Two Circle Venn Diagram, reviewed here, to replace a paper and pencil Venn Diagram. Bring the settings of your favorite stories to life! Introduce a travel blog by pursuing the saved trip journals. Again, preview what you will show students as not all journals are kid friendly. Post the trips with pictures and a travel diary on your class blog or learning management system (LMS) class group.Comments
This is a great tool to explore the world.Melissa, , Grades: 0 - 5
Great resource!Lacey, , Grades: 0 - 5
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How Does Your Garden Grow? A Project-Based Approach to Learning - TeachersFirst
Grades
K to 6In the Classroom
After reading one or two of the suggested books as a class, brainstorm what students know about gardens using your interactive whiteboard or projector. Consider setting up stations around the room with the other recommended books and their activities; be sure to request some of the books on inter-library loan if you do not have them in your school. After completing the stations, return to the brainstorm and revise what students know about gardens and planting. Use some of the ideas from Gather Information to implement spring garden planting, literacy, and a growing understanding of science. Next step, planting! Use one or more of the ideas in this article for planting your garden. You might even consider working across grade levels and subjects and planning a school garden together. Your health/PE teacher will probably join in the effort! Follow through with one or more of the Show What You Know suggestions.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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CurriConnects Booklist: Weather, Climate, and Earth's Atmosphere - TeachersFirst
Grades
K to 9In the Classroom
Encourage students to select from this list for independent reading to support your unit on disasters, weather, or the Earth's atmosphere. Share it with your school library/media specialist or public library, as well, for them to "pull" books in support of your science units. Extend the experience by having students create visual presentations of the concepts they learn. If you're a novice to using technology in your classroom, or you have young students, you may want to use a tool such as Fotor, reviewed here. For more experienced technology users try an online simple web page using WebNode, reviewed here, or a brochure, newsletter or poster using Sway, reviewed here. You could also look for a different tool for creation and sharing from this TeachersFirst Edge list of reviewed presentation tools .Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Kids Gardening - National Gardening Association
Grades
3 to 8This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
If you aren't lucky enough to have outdoor gardening space, take advantage of ideas offered for indoor gardens, such as terrariums and container gardening. Check out the extensive lesson library to search by theme, standards, season, and more. You will also find lessons and activities appropriate for science and math. Use the Growing Poems, found here, to enhance your classroom poetry unit. Whatever activities you choose, have students record the growth in their garden or container by taking photos. As a summation for your gardening project use Photo Joiner Collage Maker, reviewed here, to create a collage of your garden photos with special effects, text, frames, and more.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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