TeachersFirst - Featured Sites: Week of Nov 21, 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
826 Digital - 826 National
Grades
K to 12
1 Favorites
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826 Digital provides materials and support that encourage students in the power of writing. By providing tools to educators that offer new approaches to writing, this foundation works...more
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826 Digital provides materials and support that encourage students in the power of writing. By providing tools to educators that offer new approaches to writing, this foundation works toward giving all students access to quality writing instruction. Create your free account to find mini-lesson Sparks, topic and genre-focused lessons, and larger projects based on topics or themes. View the Writing Gallery to find a large selection of student writing examples. Save materials located on the site to your Google Drive, Pinterest, or download a PDF document to your computer. After creating an account, use the filters within each type of content to find activities sorted by grade level or type of writing.
In the Classroom
Incorporate these free writing materials for use in all grades for both long-term and short-term writing activities. Each activity includes instructions and handouts for student work. Use the Sparks activities as prompts at writing centers or for homework. Consider using a tool such as Duck Soup, reviewed here, to convert the PDF student activities into a grade-able sheet activity. Use Duck Soup's tools to create activities in your Google Classroom that offer options for students to retry work and set question values. As students produce their final work, share it by creating individual or class ebooks using Book Creator, reviewed here. In addition to sharing their written text, ask your authors to create audio recordings to include with their work.
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Twitter Chat: OK2Ask Campfire: Digital Storytelling Strategies and Resources - TeachersFirst
Grades
K to 12
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This archived Twitter chat is from March 2021 and will open in Wakelet. The title of this chat is OK2Ask Campfire: Digital Storytelling Strategies and Resources. During this chat, participants:...more
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This archived Twitter chat is from March 2021 and will open in Wakelet. The title of this chat is OK2Ask Campfire: Digital Storytelling Strategies and Resources. During this chat, participants: 1. Defined and discussed the basic elements of digital storytelling, 2. Shared tech tools and resources that support digital story experiences, and 3. Explored ideas to integrate digital storytelling across your curriculum.
In the Classroom
Find resources and information about digital storytelling. Share this chat with your colleagues looking for tools and resources on digital storytelling.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Elementari - Nicole Kang and David Li
Grades
3 to 12
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Create interactive digital stories with Elementari. Features include drag and drop text, illustrations, and shapes. Choose from image filters and a variety of fonts to personalize the...more
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Create interactive digital stories with Elementari. Features include drag and drop text, illustrations, and shapes. Choose from image filters and a variety of fonts to personalize the look of your story. Other tools include the ability to animate illustrations or text, and to create interactions by touch. Use interactions to play a sound, go to a new page, or animate a feature. After creating your account begin by selecting the option to write your story. Follow the prompts to add Elementari's free images, backgrounds, audio, and more. When finished, preview your story then publish. After publishing, share using social media links or the provided embed code. You can also create 1 class with 35 students. Students do not need email to use Elementari. Students with existing accounts can also connect to your classroom. Students can choose an avatar from the ones provided and cannot upload any pictures. Teachers must approve stories before they can be published. Be sure to check out the Curriculum Guide!
In the Classroom
Create stories together, as a class, as you move through a unit or topic. Enhance student learning by adding ideas your students suggest. Use in a flipped or blended classroom to deliver course information. Assign several student groups a different topic and extend their learning by having each group create their own version as they learn more about the topic. Challenge gifted students to modify the "standard" class text with the additional material they discover, by going deeper and learning about related topics. In lower grades, create teacher-made digital stories for students to use as a learning tool.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Notebook.ai - Indent Labs, LLC
Grades
8 to 12
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Notebook.ai is a story planning tool for writers. After registering, choose from different sections of the site to begin creating different portions of your fantasy world. Options include...more
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Notebook.ai is a story planning tool for writers. After registering, choose from different sections of the site to begin creating different portions of your fantasy world. Options include universe, character, world, creatures, governments, and much more. Free accounts allow you to build up to five universes with unlimited characters and items. Upload up to 50 mb of images to use within your stories. The default setting for all story tools in Notebook.ai is private, turn on the public setting to share a link with others to view.
In the Classroom
Although created for fantasy storytelling, Notebook.ai contains many features for teaching story writing. Ask students to create an account and choose an option such as the character builder. This section includes many ideas for building features for your character including describing his history, looks, and social profile. The same idea is built into the other areas to help develop descriptions of locations and surroundings in a story. Consider displaying this site on your interactive whiteboard during story writing lessons to introduce these ideas of character and scene building into student writing activities. Have students begin rough drafts using Google documents, then share with peers for peer editing activities. Ask students to highlight well-written portions of their story, and add questions and suggestions for improvement. Upon completion, enhance classroom technology use and learning by having students share their stories in weekly podcasts shared onto your class website. Podcast Generator, reviewed here, is an easy to use tool for creating and sharing podcasts.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Imagine Forest - Imagine Forest
Grades
K to 6
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Imagine Forest offers free Writing Resources, tools, and ideas to create stories. Begin right away finding inspiration by exploring the blog. Example ideas from the blog are Creating...more
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Imagine Forest offers free Writing Resources, tools, and ideas to create stories. Begin right away finding inspiration by exploring the blog. Example ideas from the blog are Creating Comic Strips and 70 Fantasy Writing Prompts. Explore the Story Crafts for PDF downloads of craft patterns for stories like Red Riding Hood, Pirate Treasure Island, and others. Though Imagine Forest is not accepting new accounts, you can still access the free resources found on the site and the ideas in their blog.
In the Classroom
Imagine Forest is a must-have resource for elementary teachers of writing. Even your most reluctant writers will enjoy the ideas included on the site. Share how to use the site on your interactive whiteboard or with a projector then allow students to explore on their own. Challenge students to set daily goals using activities found in challenges. Publish and share student work to create your own classroom library of student-created books. Ask students to create books for any content area studied during class, be sure to upload and include images taken during activities for students to use in their books. Create a classroom chart for students to share accomplishments like badges and points earned while using the site.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Genially - Genial.ly
Grades
K to 12
2 Favorites
1 Comments
Create impressive, interactive presentations, images, infographics, charts, and anything else you can think of with Genially. Easily insert maps, surveys, video, audio, and more. Choose...more
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Create impressive, interactive presentations, images, infographics, charts, and anything else you can think of with Genially. Easily insert maps, surveys, video, audio, and more. Choose the type of project you want to create to see the templates available, then select from the free plan templates. Genially is an all-in-one tool that will soon become your go-to tool for creating visual content. All your projects are stored in the cloud making collaboration a cinch! Register for the free account with email, or a Google or Facebook account, and then start creating! A Genially must be saved to share. Share creations from your dashboard on different social networks, copying and pasting a link, using an HTML code to embed it in a website/blog, or sending it directly by e-mail. Click the arrow to the right of your account icon to find Help (FAQs), a blog, and tutorials (Tour).
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This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Click Create to find a category from which you want your students to work; present several using a projector or on an interactive whiteboard. Show the interactivity to students. Then, create one together as a class to try out the tools (don't forget to name it). Keep it simple or add all the bells and whistles. Preview as you work or return later to complete and publish. Of course, you will want to model and teach appropriate documentation of any sources of images and media you use and to use copyrighted works legally.There are limitless ideas for using Genially in the classroom! Here are just a few: Ask students to create their own Genially as a new way to assess understanding of a concept or unit of study: you could even provide links to images and raw materials they may use (especially if you have students who need extra scaffolding), and they can work with them to sequence, caption, and write about the pieces. After a first project where you possibly suggest "building blocks," the sky is the limit on what they can do. Even the very young can make suggestions as you "create" a whole-class interactive together using a projector or an interactive whiteboard. Consider making a new project for each unit you teach so students can "recap" by visiting the presentation long after the unit ends. Save student projects from year to year as examples, possibly even awarding prizes for "best" examples. Have upper elementary or middle school students create an interactive project to help "little buddies" two or three grades lower to understand a concept.
Comments
This is a wonderful interactive poster replacement for Glogster.Shirley, CA, Grades: 6 - 12
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ePubEditor - ePubEditor.it
Grades
K to 12
4 Favorites
0 Comments
Create multimedia and interactive ebooks that work on tablets and computers for free with ePubEditor. Create your account to begin, then follow prompts to upload images and text with...more
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Create multimedia and interactive ebooks that work on tablets and computers for free with ePubEditor. Create your account to begin, then follow prompts to upload images and text with optional image, video, or audio. Other options allow you to create quizzes with different responses such as multiple choice, matching, or drag and drop response. Allow others to edit and add to your book using the share editing option. When complete, publish and share your book using the created URL or download in different formatting options including epub and PDF.
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In the Classroom
Create books together, as a class, as you move through a unit or topic. Enhance student learning by adding images and ideas your students suggest. Use in a flipped classroom to deliver course information. Assign several student groups a different topic and extend and redefine their learning and technology use by having each group create their own multimedia versions as they learn more about the topic. Students can combine their books later as a class book. Make a digital bookshelf of all the versions for all to use. Challenge gifted students to modify the "standard" class text with the additional material they discover, by going deeper and learning about related topics. In lower grades, create teacher-made e-books for your young readers, perhaps adding audio - your own voice reading the text.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Ourboox - Mel Rosenberg & Ran Shternin
Grades
2 to 12
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0 Comments
Publish ebooks in any language with Ourboox. Keep track of how many readers you have and read their comments. Sign up with email to get a free account, and get ...more
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Publish ebooks in any language with Ourboox. Keep track of how many readers you have and read their comments. Sign up with email to get a free account, and get started right away. Click Create, add a title, choose the style of your book (Square Book - a picture book with up to 15 lines of text, or a text-oriented book, more like a long story or novel). Choosing a Square Book enables the ability to have an image (JPEG, PNG). You can also upload animated GIFs or embed a YouTube Video. Ourboox will step you through the process of getting your book online and publishing it. The pages of the book will flip, and the tool has an accommodation for languages that read from right to left. It can take up to 24 hours for new books to process. Before starting on your own book, you may want to look at others' books to get ideas about the format.
In the Classroom
There is no end to the ideas for stories! Now you can easily publish and share them with Ourboox. At the beginning of the year have students develop stories to tell about their summer and share with classmates. Enhance and modify student learning and technology use (depending on the project requirement) by having students create: a photo story for history, showcasing great people or specific historical events such as the signing of the Declaration of Independence, in the arts, create a photo story of achievements of various artists. In science, create a photo story of famous inventors or have students explain their understanding of cell division. ESL/ELL students can use the site to recreate folk tales from their home countries. Encourage your older students to use this tool for digital storytelling projects created in response to research or extra study. This is a great find for gifted students who want to include art work and use their creativity in productive ways. No matter the subject of the story, they all need to be planned before creating a book. Have students do this either with paper and pencil or try using a digital storyboard like Story Map, reviewed here, or Storyboarder, reviewed here. If students cannot have their own email accounts, consider using a "class set" of GMail subaccounts (managed by you), explained here. This tells how to set up GMail subaccounts to use for any online membership service. This would provide anonymous interaction within your class.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Story Maker - ABCya
Grades
K to 6
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Create simple and easy stories using ABCya's Story Maker. Without registering, draw a picture using the many drawing tools provided. Type the story, and add pages for a longer...more
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Create simple and easy stories using ABCya's Story Maker. Without registering, draw a picture using the many drawing tools provided. Type the story, and add pages for a longer story. Once finished, print in PDF format. This tool is so easy Pre-K students can use it. Since all pictures are hand drawn your older artists will love it, too.
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In the Classroom
Story Maker is so simple very young students can use it successfully after a demonstration on a whiteboard or with a projector. Use this tool to design simple projects using student drawings to tell the story. At the beginning of the year have students draw and annotate stories to tell about their summer and share with classmates. Students of any age love to draw, so why not enhance their learning by having them draw their impression of a message to the reader from a story and then explain it in writing on Story Maker?
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Sway - Microsoft
Grades
3 to 12
2 Favorites
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Use Sway to create interactive presentations across all devices. Drag and drop content from your device, social networks, and the web directly onto your Sway canvas. Log in using your...more
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Use Sway to create interactive presentations across all devices. Drag and drop content from your device, social networks, and the web directly onto your Sway canvas. Log in using your Microsoft account to begin or create a new account using your email and a password. Add content to your storyline using links to add text, images, and media. Change the look of your Sway using the Design tool to change the color palette, layout, and fonts. When finished, click the Share button for options to share to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, URL, or copy the embed code. Sway will work on any device with a modern Internet browser and an Internet connection. They also have an iOS app. The introduction video and tutorials are hosted on YouTube. If your district blocks YouTube, then they may not be viewable.
In the Classroom
Use Sway as an alternative to Prezi or PowerPoint presentations. Sway is perfect for use in your BYOD or 1:1 classroom. Use during your presentations to increase student engagement and interaction. Check understanding of your ENL/ESL students by having them respond or pose questions throughout the presentation. Enhance student learning and understanding by sharing with students for them to use during their own presentations, inviting other students to comment and answer questions. During Open House night with parents, demonstrate how Sway provides interaction. Use Sway during professional development presentations to invite discussions from colleagues.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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NaNoWriMo's Young Writers' Program - NaNoWriMo.org
Grades
6 to 12
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Give students the chance to write a novel, either individually or as a group, by participating in this annual event. Register for a free account, fill in your profile, go ...more
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Give students the chance to write a novel, either individually or as a group, by participating in this annual event. Register for a free account, fill in your profile, go to your dashboard, and start creating your classes; yes, you can have more than one class! Give your students the unique code for their class (the site also provides a Website Permission Form for districts requiring consent from student families). Click the "How it Works" tab at the top and slide down to "For Educators" to get complete instructions for the challenges and more. By its own admission, this is about quantity, not quality, but the idea is to get words on paper. Be sure to check out all of the tabs at the top; there is a wealth of information and resources for teachers, students, and families. All of the novel work students do remain the author's property, so there's no problem with ownership. You do have to register for an account (student or teacher), but it is free.
In the Classroom
Engage your students with the free classroom kits, workbooks, and Common Core-aligned K-12 lesson plans. Teachers can use this challenge and the resources to get their kids writing. It also offers the chance to be published online. Use your interactive whiteboard or projector to get your students started filling in their profiles. Show students that they are to click "yes" whether or not there is a current challenge (they can still get started writing). Then have them click the link for detailed instructions for getting started.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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