TeachersFirst - Featured Sites: Week of Mar 24, 2019
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
CurriConnects Booklist: The Artist's Eye - TeachersFirst
Grades
K to 12
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This CurriConnects features books about artists and their style and Caldecott winning authors who have unusual or beautiful layouts. Treat your students to the possibility of exploring...more
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This CurriConnects features books about artists and their style and Caldecott winning authors who have unusual or beautiful layouts. Treat your students to the possibility of exploring color and its power to communicate feelings and ideas, that art can be in the eye of the beholder, finding art (and joy) in the shapes of nature, different ways to look at perspective, and much, much more! This thematic list includes fiction and nonfiction, interest and grade levels, ISBNs for ordering or searching, ESL levels and Lexiles (where available) to match with student independent reading levels to challenge, not to frustrate.
In the Classroom
This list will be a natural fit for anyone teaching art whether in elementary, middle, or high school. Use the books to introduce concepts in art and have students create digital sketchbooks about the styles and concepts they like. Replace the paper journal or sketchbook with one that can be accessed anywhere and never left behind. Use a digital "idea bin" collector like Padlet, reviewed here, that offers tools for creating shelves or grids to organize information about the concepts learned and post ideas and photos. Be sure to share this list of CurriConnects books about art with parents on your teacher webpage.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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Plum Pudding Illustration Agency - Plum Pudding
Grades
K to 12
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Plum Pudding Illustration Agency features the work of leading children's illustrators. Scroll through the home page to choose from images sharing the work of each artist. After selecting...more
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Plum Pudding Illustration Agency features the work of leading children's illustrators. Scroll through the home page to choose from images sharing the work of each artist. After selecting an artist, browse through their work to view the pictures shared. Be sure to click the illustration to see thumbnails of additional images and a biography of the artist.
In the Classroom
Use this site to find and compare the work of different children's book illustrators. When reading books with pictures by these artists, share their different images with your students to compare and contrast the different styles in the books. Ask students to browse through the site to find images that inspire them, then have them create illustrations to accompany their own work using the same style. Use those images when publishing student work using Book Creator, reviewed here. Don't forget to include a short biography of the author with the book!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Quick, Draw! - Google
Grades
K to 12
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Can this site guess what you are drawing? Find out with Quick, Draw! Select the Let's Draw! button to begin. Draw the item listed in 20 seconds or less and ...more
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Can this site guess what you are drawing? Find out with Quick, Draw! Select the Let's Draw! button to begin. Draw the item listed in 20 seconds or less and find out if their neural network recognizes your doodles. After six drawings, view how well this site identifies your work. Click on any of your drawings to see how others drew the same thing. Be sure to take a look at the link to the world's largest doodling set to observe other pictures and learn about the scientific research behind the doodles.
In the Classroom
Share this site with younger students to practice computer mouse skills. In art class, have students use this site to draw different images quickly, then have them use the links to view how others drew them. Discuss as a class what parts of drawings are essential in making the item identifiable.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Art in Schools Month Resources - TeachersFirst
Grades
K to 12
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This curated list of reviewed resources from TeachersFirst is all about art! Prepare for Art in our Schools Month or share these tools throughout the entire year. Find tools that ...more
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This curated list of reviewed resources from TeachersFirst is all about art! Prepare for Art in our Schools Month or share these tools throughout the entire year. Find tools that incorporate history, math, science, and more.
In the Classroom
Get your students geared up for Art in our Schools Month. Show the connection between art and math using various tools listed. Share tools on your interactive whiteboard or allow students to explore independently.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Of the People: Art and History of the White House - Discovery Education
Grades
6 to 12
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Go behind the scenes for an in-depth video discussion of the art and history of the White House with White House Curator William Allman. The actual discussion begins after the ...more
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Go behind the scenes for an in-depth video discussion of the art and history of the White House with White House Curator William Allman. The actual discussion begins after the 14-minute mark on the video with an interview led by a high school student.
In the Classroom
Before viewing this video, challenge students to brainstorm what a curator's job is and what kind of artifacts they might find in the White House. After viewing, extend learning by having students create a simple infographic of important White House artifacts sharing their findings using Venngage, reviewed here. Ask students to curate their own collection of items such as things found in their room at home, a collection of items from your school, or a collection of artifacts from your hometown. Create a book featuring these items using Ourboox, reviewed here. Ourboox creates beautiful page-flipping digital books in minutes, and you can embed video, music, animation, games, maps and more truly redefining learning.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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WordsEye - WordsEye
Grades
K to 12
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Create 3D scenes using descriptive sentences to make images. WordsEye is a must see tool! After signing up with email or a Facebook account, use WordsEye on the web or ...more
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Create 3D scenes using descriptive sentences to make images. WordsEye is a must see tool! After signing up with email or a Facebook account, use WordsEye on the web or iOS devices. There is an intro video that shows exactly how easy it is to use WordsEye. Click the blue WordsEye World text at the top of the page to find a thorough "About" page (with how-tos and FAQs). WordsEye also has an Instagram page with several other explainer videos, just click Word's Eye World on Instagram at the top of the page. Keep scenes private, publish to the gallery, or create a permalink (URL). A nice feature is that WordsEye will automatically credit you with any scene someone else uses or modifies (and vice-versa). If your district blocks YouTube, the videos may not be viewable.
In the Classroom
Turn on your students' creative side with WordsEye! There are SO many ways to use WordsEye in classrooms: ENL/ESL students can create sentences, and correct them if the image doesn't look right. Have ENL/ESL and world language students set up their own visual dictionary. Challenge students to create images and then use them with the class as a writing prompt. Tell them they have to create a story, not try to recreate the sentence that produced the image. Show your students how to embed media transforming their work into a true digital story using a multimedia presentation about class content with their created images and sentences and Presentious, reviewed here. Digital storytellers can use the 3D images for the reader to see what is happening in the story. Alternatively, they can upload their image to Google Drawings, reviewed here, and tell the story around the image. Google Drawings allows you to annotate an image with links to videos, text, websites, and more. Not familiar with Google Drawings? Watch an archived OK2Ask session to learn how to use: OK2Ask Google Drawings, here. Share the link for this tool with your school's art teacher as an excellent tool for use with art projects, and post the link on your website for students to use at home. Since registration is via email, for young students consider using a "class set" of Gmail subaccounts, explained here; this tells how to configure Gmail subaccounts to use for any online membership service. Using Gmail subaccounts will provide anonymous interaction within your class.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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The Walters Art Museum - The Walters Art Museum
Grades
K to 12
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The Walters Art Museum opened in 1934 in Maryland. This site has information about the museum, its founders, the long history, and more. Take a deeper dive by looking at ...more
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The Walters Art Museum opened in 1934 in Maryland. This site has information about the museum, its founders, the long history, and more. Take a deeper dive by looking at exhibits and the pieces of art found there.
Use this link to find the PreK-12 Educators page. Scroll down the page to find resources to support your classroom. You will also find Art Lessons for Integrating the Arts to teach cross-curricular lessons in any of the core subject areas. Use the Search bar to find the Teacher Resource Kits with integration lessons for ancient civilizations such as China or Islam. Also, there are quite a few lesson plans that include different topics such as Ancient Storytelling, Egyptian Symbols, Coat of Arms, Warhol Stained Glass, The Nutcracker, Mapping the Past - Mapping the Present, and many more.
In the Classroom
Find printable lesson plans to create cross-curricular lessons. The lesson plans include objectives, multiple activities, examples, and a wrap-up. Students can then use the site to find other pieces of art that demonstrate or support the same concept.Connect middle and high school students to the museum through one of the prescheduled video conference calls to learn about specific topics. Be sure to prepare students for the conference call, and encourage students to participate with comments and questions to enhance the learning experience. After the conference, have students navigate through the pieces of art on the site that relate to the topic from the video conference. Enhance student learning by posing questions on Flip, reviewed here, for students to answer and comment on each other's answers.
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Sketch Toy - Hakim El Hattab
Grades
K to 12
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Sketch Toy is an intriguing, online drawing tool. No membership is required. Click in the blank graph paper to begin drawing. Click buttons/menus to adjust the line size and color,...more
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Sketch Toy is an intriguing, online drawing tool. No membership is required. Click in the blank graph paper to begin drawing. Click buttons/menus to adjust the line size and color, undo, or erase. Note that you must click Erase a second time to turn it off! Set your line to vibrate using different options. One of the best features of this site is the ability to take an image from your desktop and drag it onto the drawing screen. Once your image is on screen, use the image to trace and create a stencil. Then choose "SAVE" to view your artwork in a step-by-step replay. Copy the image URL and/or share using social networks. Going to the URL will "play back" the drawing process. Click Refresh to watch it over again. You can also download your image. This tool works nicely on tablet browsers. Important: Be SURE to save your image URLs in Favorites or paste them somewhere so you can find them again later. With no registration, you have no way of "saving" your works of art within the tool!
This site includes advertising.
This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Use Sketch Toy to demonstrate symmetrical drawings. This tool is great for enhancing, creating and visualizing math concepts from basic geometric shapes and area to complex constructions and trig. Use on an interactive whiteboard or projector. Use for hands-on work with any geometry or trigonometry functions. Since this tool works on such a variety of devices, it would be ideal to use in a BYOD (or 1:1) geometry class. Art teachers who want to "draw in" their more mathematical students can offer this as a design option, especially when teaching about perspective. Drag in images of alphabet letters for younger students to practice tracing. In art class, pull in images of artworks (even students' own work) and have them highlight design principles such as the path of your eye in viewing this image. Annotate any image using freehand drawing and writing. Use this tool as a visual writing prompt. Transform learning by creating drawing stories where a small group adds to the drawing as they pass it around on a tablet, narrating the story among themselves. Save it and play it back for them to write down their own versions of the story. Drawing stories would be a great way to practice world language skills or for ENL students to master vocabulary!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Artyfactory - Artyfactory.com
Grades
1 to 12
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Learn to draw, paint, or design following step-by-step tutorials from Artyfactory. Discover basic techniques of drawing and painting through Still Life lessons. Practice perspective,...more
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Learn to draw, paint, or design following step-by-step tutorials from Artyfactory. Discover basic techniques of drawing and painting through Still Life lessons. Practice perspective, proportions, drawing animals and portraits, and more. Artyfactory's slideshows are an engaging way to increase your knowledge of art, art appreciation, and design.
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This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
In the art classroom, find ways to add technology to instruction using your projector or interactive whiteboard and demonstrating different techniques found on Artyfactory. For project based learning in any class, share this tool as a resource to add visual impact to students' research projects. Social studies teachers can include lessons about making African masks during units about that continent. Include Egyptian Hieroglyphic Alphabet, Cartouche, and Gods during a unit on the Egyptians. Science (or geometry) teachers will want to explore the lessons on visual patterns in nature as a way to capture the interest of your visual learners. Use these tutorials to integrate visual arts into any topic. Encourage your artistically inclined students to explore on their own. Explore this site before a trip to an art museum or to find inspiration for a display or culminating project in any teaching unit. You may even find some bulletin board ideas for your classroom! Ask students to extend their learning and document the stages by taking photos of their art and editing them and making a collage with Photopea, reviewed here. Encourage older students to keep their work in a portfolio for future use with Spaces, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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CurriConnects Book List - Light and Color - TeachersFirst
Grades
K to 10
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Enjoy books of photographs and about photography in conjunction for student independent reading in conjunction with art classes or in science as you learn about light and the spectrum....more
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Enjoy books of photographs and about photography in conjunction for student independent reading in conjunction with art classes or in science as you learn about light and the spectrum. This list includes nonfiction about light and how it works. The interest levels are predominantly elementary and middle school but include selections for more able readers. CurriConnects thematic book lists include ISBN numbers for ordering or searching, interest grade levels, ESL levels and Lexiles''''''® to match student independent reading levels to challenge, not frustrate. For more on text complexity and Lexiles'''''®, see this information from the Lexile Framework. Don't miss other CurriConnects themes being added regularly. If your library does not have the books, try interlibrary loan!
In the Classroom
Have students choose a book they can connect to your light unit in science, to art projects, or simply a book of interest. Extend the experience by having them collect their own photographs as examples of the concepts they learn. Transform and share projects using one of these reviewed presentation tools from the TeachersFirst Edge. Some tool suggestions are (click on the tool name to access the review): slides, Animatron, MoocNote, and Desygner. The non-fiction selections offer possible informational texts to practice Common Core science literacy skills.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Murder at the Met: An American Art Mystery - The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Grades
5 to 12
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Find a mystery in art, and use art to solve the mystery. Tour American paintings, sculpture, and decorative arts that reside at The Metropolitan Museum of Art to solve the ...more
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Find a mystery in art, and use art to solve the mystery. Tour American paintings, sculpture, and decorative arts that reside at The Metropolitan Museum of Art to solve the murder of Virginie Gautreau AKA Madame X, painted by John Singer Sargent. The scenario is an evening gala in 1899, and you put clues together using either your mobile devices or a computer. Players must examine the art work since you are witnesses. There are possible weapons and crime scenes. There are three possible avenues to take to reach the solution, so the game can be played multiple times.
In the Classroom
Whether teaching art history or a unit on mysteries and deductive reasoning, students will learn from using this program. Though there is a place for students to keep notes, they should also keep their own notes about the clues, especially why they chose the ones they mark "highly suspicious." Replace paper and pencil by using a tool like Memo Notepad, reviewed here, for digital note taking. If you and your students liked this site you might also enjoy "Mysterious Places: Ancient Civilizations Modern Mysteries," reviewed here, with its lovely photographs to go along with the mysteries. A natural follow up would be to have your students write their own mysteries. Expository Escapades - Detective's Handbook, reviewed here, is just the place to give you some ideas! Challenge gifted students to create similar mysteries using subject matter in any science or social studies class.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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