TeachersFirst - Featured Sites: Week of Aug 29, 2021

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

 

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Virtual Manipulatives - Toy Theater

Grades
K to 6
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This site shares a large variety of virtual math manipulatives that are useful for many occasions. Select from virtual dice, number lines, place value disks, and much more. It even...more
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This site shares a large variety of virtual math manipulatives that are useful for many occasions. Select from virtual dice, number lines, place value disks, and much more. It even includes play money from several locations around the world! Many of the virtual manipulatives include interactive content to adjust settings, change color, and suggestions for use. Most items also include a link to further explanation of how to teach the content along with links to printables and worksheets. This site would be a good one to leave for your substitute to use; it's high interest, no sign-in, thorough directions, and some have worksheets.
This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

If you teach elementary math, this site is a must-have to include with your bookmarked sites. Include manipulatives from this site with blended learning and remote teaching lessons to provide students opportunities to explore and practice math content. Include a link to manipulatives and other student sites using Symbaloo, reviewed here, and share with students as a resource for practicing math concepts. Items to include might be instructional videos, online games, and other practice activities. Add manipulatives within a learning system such as Curipod, reviewed here, to create a complete online lesson that has opportunities for students to share and discuss their learning. Encourage students to share their findings by creating a screen recording using Free Screen Recorder Online, reviewed here. Ask students to conduct a math talk as a response to a teacher prompt after having the opportunity to explore and interact with the virtual manipulatives.

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PictureStem Project - Tamara Moore, Kristina Tank, and Elizabeth Gajdzik

Grades
K to 3
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The PictureStem Project offers STEM teaching units for grades K-2 incorporating the engineering process and correlated to science standards. These three units - one each for grades...more
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The PictureStem Project offers STEM teaching units for grades K-2 incorporating the engineering process and correlated to science standards. These three units - one each for grades K, 1, and 2 include modular features that contain content within different lessons throughout the school day. Each lesson within a unit provides science concepts based upon literary connections using picture books. Select any unit to view and download the entire unit including printables.

In the Classroom

Enjoy these free, high-quality STEM units to use in your elementary classroom. As you teach lessons found on this site, enhance learning using a portfolio-creation tool like Seesaw, reviewed here, to share student work and reflections. Upload images of student projects then use Seesaw to add video reflections, students' written responses, and more. Share Seesaw portfolios with parents during parent/teacher conferences to demonstrate student learning. If you are unable to use the complete units in your classroom, be sure to look through the many lessons to "mine" for shorter activities that work in your teaching situation.
 This resource requires PDF reader software like Adobe Acrobat.

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K-3 STEM Foundations - Life Science - BioEd Online

Grades
K to 4
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BioEd Online provides free curriculum units for grades K-3 aligned to NGSS Standards. Each unit includes a reading selection and worksheets for science and math. Also, the downloadable...more
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BioEd Online provides free curriculum units for grades K-3 aligned to NGSS Standards. Each unit includes a reading selection and worksheets for science and math. Also, the downloadable teacher's guide provides teaching materials including templates, guiding questions, and assessments. Other resources on this site include video and PowerPoint slide presentations.

In the Classroom

Reduce your planning time with these free lessons to use when teaching life science concepts in your classroom. Instead of printing worksheets for students, use a digital tool like Duck Soup, reviewed here, to scan the worksheet and create a digital activity. This tool allows students to "write" on worksheets digitally instead of using paper and pencil. Duck Soup includes features for allowing students to retry and submit work and also allows you to set a deadline for work submission. Enhance student learning by using Flip, reviewed here, to create video response questions for your students. Use the questions provided with the lesson units to challenge student thinking, then ask them to respond in Flip.
 This resource requires PDF reader software like Adobe Acrobat.

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STEM Resource Finder - The Concord Consortium

Grades
K to 12
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Do you struggle to find quality resources for teaching STEM lessons? Check out over 260 lessons and units provided on this comprehensive website. Use filters to choose grade level,...more
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Do you struggle to find quality resources for teaching STEM lessons? Check out over 260 lessons and units provided on this comprehensive website. Use filters to choose grade level, content, and type of activity, or use the keyword search to locate specific content. All resources include correlation to science standards and most include several interactives and online response options.

In the Classroom

Be sure to bookmark this site as a resource for many interactives and activities for teaching STEM topics. Place students in cooperative groups to complete activities or share ideas from this site for science fair projects. Ask students to share their research and projects and extend their learning using a tool like bulb, reviewed here. bulb offers a variety of options for building a personalized webpage without knowledge of coding.
 This resource requires PDF reader software like Adobe Acrobat.

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Curious George STEM Collection - PBS Kids

Grades
K to 6
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The Curious George STEM Collection contains a variety of hands-on lesson plans teaching STEM concepts through Curious George videos. Concepts taught include simple machines, measurement,...more
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The Curious George STEM Collection contains a variety of hands-on lesson plans teaching STEM concepts through Curious George videos. Concepts taught include simple machines, measurement, sorting, and more. Each lesson begins by watching a video, then using the concepts presented in the video to participate in a variety of learning activities. In addition to the complete lesson, each activity also includes several additional resources for extending learning. Lessons align to National and Next Generation Science Standards.

In the Classroom

Take advantage of these free lessons and videos to add to your current STEM teaching resources. Ask students to blog about their experiences as a substitution for handwritten journals using a tool like Seesaw, reviewed here. This tool makes blogging easy, even for the youngest students. To enhance learning for students, take pictures of class activities, then have students annotate images using Image Annotator, reviewed here, and Voxer, reviewed here. Use Voxer for students to extend their learning by adding a voice recording of their understanding of science and math concepts learned during lessons.

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Robotics Resources - TeachersFirst

Grades
K to 12
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Bring robotics into your classroom using these fabulous tools and resources. Learn about National Robotics Month, celebrated in April. Use these resources for STEM or Makerspace activities....more
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Bring robotics into your classroom using these fabulous tools and resources. Learn about National Robotics Month, celebrated in April. Use these resources for STEM or Makerspace activities. Find resources for all grade levels.

In the Classroom

Use these robotics resources during National Robotics Month (April) or any time of the year. If you are just getting started with Makerspace, and looking for some new resources, check out these sites!

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Siemens STEM Day - Siemens Foundation and Discovery Education

Grades
K to 12
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Created to support the annual National Day of STEM on May 16, this site offers student tools for all grade levels for use throughout the year. Choose activities by grade ...more
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Created to support the annual National Day of STEM on May 16, this site offers student tools for all grade levels for use throughout the year. Choose activities by grade level and STEM topic or career path. Options also include sorting by difficulty, most downloaded, or newest activities. Download activities in PDF format that include correlation to science standards, background information, and complete lesson directions. Check out the educator section for 5-minute thematic refreshers to support and help you prepare your STEM lessons.

In the Classroom

Bookmark this site for STEM activities and support throughout the year. Reduce your planning time by using the free lessons available on the site. Before starting activities, have students create a word cloud of terms they know using a site such as Word Clouds for Kids, reviewed here, for younger students, or WordClouds, reviewed here, for older students.
 This resource requires PDF reader software like Adobe Acrobat.

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STEM Careers Coalition - Discovery Education

Grades
K to 12
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The STEM Careers Coalition will help you and your students take a real-life view of STEM concepts in action with the activities on this site detailing careers and projects. Click ...more
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The STEM Careers Coalition will help you and your students take a real-life view of STEM concepts in action with the activities on this site detailing careers and projects. Click the Getting Started tab at the to and slide down to Educators to find Classroom Activities for interactive lessons correlated to math and science standards. Two examples of the activities are: analyzing irrigation systems (after trying to build a mini one of their own), and discussing renewable and non-renewable energy sources and creating a proposal for a power solution for a ranger station in rural Alaska. There are several others of the same quality. All of the activities include materials lists (when needed) and handouts for students. The Career section contains videos (2 to 5 minutes long), career profiles, and student activation PDFs.

In the Classroom

Take advantage of the free lesson plans and interactives. This site is excellent for enrichment; consider using the lessons with gifted students for independent learning or as project ideas for math and science fairs. Enhance student learning and classroom technology use by challenging students to make a multimedia presentation demonstrating ideas from this site using Sway, reviewed here. Sway creates unique multimedia projects using text, images, and media. Change the look of your Sway using the Mood and Remix tools to change the color palette, layout, and fonts. Challenge students to find photos or diagrams about what they learned (legally permitted to be reproduced), and then narrate and annotate the photo with essential information. Use a tool such as Google Drawings, reviewed here. 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 it: OK2Ask Google Drawings, here.

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City Technology - The City College of New York

Grades
K to 6
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City Technology offers resources for students and educators to learn about engineering. You learn through the creation of projects and integration across curricular areas such as math...more
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City Technology offers resources for students and educators to learn about engineering. You learn through the creation of projects and integration across curricular areas such as math and science. The page for kids shares projects for kids to create on their own. Each project features a video showing how to make the item and a list of materials needed. Choose the section for educators to find complete units on Energy Systems, Force and Motion, and Stuff that Works correlated to math and science standards. Each unit includes a video and downloadable lesson plans.

In the Classroom

Use this site as part of any unit about force, motion, or energy. Have student groups create the different projects found on the site, and share their creations with classmates. Have students upload a photo they took of their project, and add voice bubbles to explain what they learned using a tool such as Phrase.it, reviewed here. Have students create projects found on City Technology, then host your own Science Fair!

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CurriConnects Book List - Solar System and Space - TeachersFirst

Grades
K to 12
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Launch into books about space and space exploration. Delve into black holes, or get to know famous astronomers. This list includes books at all levels from young "astronauts to be"...more
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Launch into books about space and space exploration. Delve into black holes, or get to know famous astronomers. This list includes books at all levels from young "astronauts to be" to high school space scholars. There are books at all interest and reading levels, so every student can reach for the stars. CurriConnects thematic book lists include ISBN numbers for ordering or searching, interest grade levels, ESL levels and Lexiles'''''''® to match with student independent reading levels to challenge, not frustrate. Don't miss other CurriConnects themes being added regularly.

In the Classroom

Include this booklist as you count down to a unit on space so each student can do some personal exploration - and sharing with the class during the unit. Reading a book or two independently will help them will build "prior knowledge" and personal connections with the science concepts and give them more experience to bring to class discussions.

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Free Online Science Games - Sheppard Software

Grades
K to 8
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Enjoy science interactives ideal for elementary children through middle grades. Topics include Life Cycles, Seasons, Dinosaurs, Cells, Consumers, Nutrition, Digestion, Skeletal system,...more
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Enjoy science interactives ideal for elementary children through middle grades. Topics include Life Cycles, Seasons, Dinosaurs, Cells, Consumers, Nutrition, Digestion, Skeletal system, and many others. Most resources indicate the appropriate level for their use.
This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Bookmark and save this site for use throughout the year with science lessons. Nearly all activities would work well on your projector or interactive whiteboard. For Example, use the Cell Games (including animal, plant, and bacterial cells) to introduce and explore parts of cells. Create a link on classroom computers or use on laptop carts for students to explore on their own. Simple online coloring science activities require no reading. Share this site on your school website with parents for exploration and reinforcement at home.

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