TeachersFirst - Featured Sites: Week of Aug 23, 2020
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 12In 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 12In 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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AutoDraw - Google Creative Labs
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
AutoDraw is an excellent tool for artists and non-artists. Use this site to quickly draw professional looking images for any number of classroom purposes. Create images to accompany presentations on an interactive whiteboard (or projector) or for use on your class website. Ask students to create drawings when retelling stories or creating math problems. Use with students who have any disability as an aid for conveying information through pictures. When teaching ENL/ELL and world languages, use AutoDraw to create images to replace words in texts. Have students create and personalize their images to include with multimedia presentations.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Jamzone - Music Will
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Be sure to check out the Teacher Zone and its free lesson plans and resources. This site is perfect for differentiation in the music classroom. Allow students to choose an instrument and learn at their own pace and level. Share a link on your classroom website for students to practice at home. Take advantage of the vocal lessons to learn about songwriting. After watching videos, have students write a song to summarize a novel, share information on climate change, or sing about an event in history.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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The Museum of Modern Art Exhibition History - The Museum of Modern Art
Grades
3 to 12In the Classroom
Art teachers will love this collection for use when teaching various types of arts and artists. Be sure to take advantage of the audio tours for a wide variety of art information for students. Include a link with specific information on your class website for students to view (and hear) at home. Have students create a multimedia presentation using My Storybook, 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.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Noteflight - Noteflight, LLC
Grades
4 to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Share students' musical creations online! Demonstrate the art of composition while using Noteflight on an interactive whiteboard or projector. Explore different musical instruments and how they affect the tone and mood of the piece. During a multimedia presentation, have students create their own music. In Destination Imagination or Odyssey of the Mind, use your scores to showcase talent. In honoring multiple intelligences, highlight the students' with musical talent. While reading historical fiction novels, have students compose a song typical of that period with the commonly used instruments and style. Offer in your after school clubs for music, guitar, or band.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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The Color - TheColor.com
Grades
K to 2This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Bookmark this site as a resource for coloring pages in many different topics. Share a link to the site with parents for practice at home. Color pictures of the continents during geography lessons. Explore the dinosaur coloring pages during dinosaur month.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Sumo Paint 3.0 - Lauri Koutaniemi and Aaro Vaananen
Grades
6 to 12In the Classroom
Previous experience with layer-based design software editing such as Photoshop is extremely beneficial. The "Sumo Paint Help" page provides helpful tutorials but individuals without previous training may need additional support.Challenge students to learn about the tools professional designers use today. Select and then project video help tutorials to the whole class. Before sending students off for independent practice, demonstrate how to use the image editing and painting tools on an interactive whiteboard or projector. The videos in this section link to YouTube, so systems that block YouTube access may not be able to access this. Rather than a traditional report, challenge students to write articles and create magazine covers for biographies, history or science reports using Magazine Cover Maker, reviewed here. Have students create icons for logos for websites. Have students create artwork for CD labels for portfolios or multimedia projects using CD Cover Maker, reviewed here. Post a link to Sumo Paint on your class website for student access outside of school. The beauty of this free cloud based software is that students can start a project in school, collaborate on a single image, and continue to work on it after school hours.
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 shared by URL
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Drop Me Off in Harlem - Artsedge
Grades
6 to 12One of the nice things about this site is the easy access to the section they call "Classroom Activities." Scroll down to the bottom of any page to find it. Here they provide activities for grades 6-8 and 9-12 that are specific to grade level as well as links to lesson plans if you choose to use those. Under A Place Called Harlem, you will find the Media Player which still requires Flash, however there is so much information on this site that the media player will hardly be missed.
In the Classroom
Because of the sheer variety of links offered, this is an ideal lesson to spread among a class. As a culminating activity have a "Harlem Day" where students present their information. They might dress and speak as the person they studied; they might present music, poetry, or art from that time, or even create a Harlem "nightclub" to share their information.Why not extend student learning and have them create video clips using Adobe Creative Cloud Express Video Maker, reviewed here, to share on your interactive whiteboard or projector via TeacherTube, reviewed here. Other project ideas could be a blog using Edublogs, reviewed here, written from the perspective of someone living in Harlem during the great depression, or a wiki written between one of the famous artists and the president at the time (Herbert Hoover, for example). A good wiki tool to use is PBWorks, reviewed here.
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Science Coloring Books - NIEHS
Grades
K to 2In the Classroom
Use this site as an engaging way to reinforce science concepts introduced in class. Share the printables with children to take home. Show children how the spectrum appears naturally in biology. You can also use the pictures as jumping off points for discussion. Another option that encourages creativity is a drawing game using javascript.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Art 21: Art in the Twenty-First Century - PBS
Grades
9 to 12In the Classroom
Make this site a link from your teacher web page for your art students to explore for inspiration. Many of the video clips would also be great introductions to studio assignments, cultural discussions, or writing assignments if shown on a projector. Find Teacher Guides for Art 21 here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Coloring-Page.net - Coloring-Page.net
Grades
1 to 2In the Classroom
Bookmark Coloring-Page as a resource for teaching materials throughout the school year. Take advantage of the free printables for use on bulletin boards, classroom management, and centers. Choose materials from the site to use in substitute folders. Be sure to share this site with your fellow teachers! You might consider finding snow day and vacation day activities to post on your class website for parent and student use.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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National Museum of Women in the Arts - National Museum of Women in the Arts
Grades
7 to 12In the Classroom
Introduce this site on your interactive whiteboard (or projector). Take advantage of the free art lessons then allow students to explore on their own or in collaborative groups. Since many of the lessons include writing, enhance learning by having students create online posters individually or together as a class. Use a tool such as Web Poster Wizard, reviewed here, or PicLits, reviewed here, to display a photo of the artwork or artist and explain what they learned. Then use the poster makers once again as a final project for the students "on their own" exploration.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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