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Archive of Recorded Poetry and Literature - Library of Congress
Grades
6 to 12In the Classroom
Share recordings on your interactive whiteboard to introduce literature readings in your classroom. Take advantage of the many biographies on this site for use when introducing poetry and literature. Include information from this site when transforming learning & creating multimedia timelines (with music, photos, videos, and more) using Timeline JS, reviewed here. View all of TeachersFirst's Editor's Choices for Poetry Month here. Have students use Fakebook, reviewed here, to create a "fake" page similar in style to Facebook about an author or poet found on this site.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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HistoryWorld - HistoryWorld
Grades
6 to 12Take caution when using the Google images search feature: the images that can be generated may not all be appropriate for classroom use.
In the Classroom
HistoryWorld is likely to be most useful as one of a set of resources to be included on your classroom favorites, for example, rather than for in-class use. Like Wikipedia and other broad encyclopedic references, it simply isn't deep enough to really provide more than a summary. This site would be a great place to get the basics of a topic or to use as a starting point for research.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Commercial Aviation - Smithsonian Institution
Grades
5 to 12In the Classroom
This site will work well in any social studies class. In language arts or social studies classes use a projector or interactive whiteboard and read a few entries from the Stories section with your students. Ask students to write about a flight they remember (or any mode of transportation for a trip) in the same manner as the examples. In addition, language arts or social studies teachers can use this site's nonfiction reading to help satisfy student's reading goals for the Common Core Standards.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Engaging Congress - Indiana University
Grades
5 to 12In the Classroom
Take advantage of the free games and materials on this site to use as a supplement to your current resources for teaching history and government. Instead of written notes, strengthen learning by having students use an online tool such as Holt Interactive Graphic Organizers, reviewed here, to create diagrams, mindmaps, and other visual graphic organizers. To compare and contrast information found in different primary sources, create a Venn Diagram. As students prepare to share their findings and summarize their learning, have them modify their learning by creating infographics using Canva Infographic Maker, reviewed here, to visually represent facts and information. As a final assessment for your unit using these materials, ask students to form teams to debate different sides of the issues presented. Share their debates as a podcast using Spotify for Podcasters, reviewed here. Spotify for Podcasters is a simple to use podcasting tool offering several free options for creating, hosting, and sharing podcasts. As an alternative, ask other students redefine their learning and to create multimedia presentations using Sway, reviewed here to share text, videos, images, and more.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Four Directions Teaching - 4D Interactive Inc.
Grades
5 to 12In the Classroom
The series of animated mini lessons are perfect for use on an interactive whiteboard (or projector) and help anchor the learning activities available for download. They could also be used as stand-alone resources to complement lessons you have designed. You might choose to look at creation myths across the various tribes or how each culture constructed shelters or conducted ceremonies. These themes make the lessons useful even for those not studying specifically Canadian history. Have students make a multimedia presentation on a chosen topic using one of the many TeachersFirst Edge tools reviewed here. Some tool suggestions are (click on the tool name to access the review): PBWorks (wiki), Site123 (blog), Renderforest (newscast video), and Genially (poster/bulletin board).Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Reading Treks: The Distance Between Us - TeachersFirst
Grades
5 to 9In the Classroom
Take advantage of the many suggested classroom uses for this resource found on the Instructional Guide (PDF). After reading this book and completing the activities found in the Reading Trek, ask students to document their identity using a tool like Odyssey, reviewed here. Use Odyssey to create a map-based story that includes images, text, videos, and photos. Find more ideas for teaching identity at this Discover My Identity Lesson Plan, reviewed here.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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World Population History - Population Connection
Grades
6 to 12In the Classroom
Try using this website in science class during environmental science units on human population growth. Start the class by sharing this site on an interactive whiteboard (or projector) for students to see. Provide time for students to look at the material and to generate questions about it. Brainstorm not only questions but what students learned from it. Allow groups time to research the economic and social issues that have caused such a change in population and how people live. Challenge students to make a multimedia presentation using Sway, reviewed here, about what they learned from the different time periods or themes. With Sway, you can have music, photos, videos, and even make it interactive.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Springboard - Parul Gupta and Gautam Tambay
Grades
8 to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Share Springboard with your gifted students as a resource for finding enrichment resources or content not taught by your school. Search for and share free courses for all students to use for review of any topic. Use the Springboard search engine to find professional development courses for your own personal use.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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ChronoZoom - Microsoft Research
Grades
8 to 12The site's creators freely admit that they don't really know where the project will lead, and what technologies might emerge that will help them create more content for the site. There are some caveats for using the site. First, the site assumes a particular theory of the creation of the universe, and the timeline of its existence. Second, the site can lend itself to aimless "mousing," or the temptation to simply click and move the mouse to see how the site will react, with no attention to the content at all.
In the Classroom
This is a big idea, still in its early stages. Obviously it has usefulness as a way of visually demonstrating the sheer immensity of time, and the relative insignificance of human existence in comparison. You could use this site as an intro to any history or geology class simply to generate BIG questions that students want to know. Consider asking gifted students, or students interested in technology applications to imagine what the site COULD be. How would they create a visual overview of--forever? How can one prioritize what matters? But on an interactive whiteboard--WOW! If you, as current students seem to be, are comfortable with imagining the world as a series of hyperlinks rather than a linear march, this site has limitless potential.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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The Music of Hamilton: The Musical - Genius.com
Grades
6 to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Use lyrics from Hamilton to introduce your unit on the Constitution. Have students explore the site on their own, ask them to take the time to through the annotations that provide historical context to the music. Challenge cooperative learning groups to create their own music related to the Consitution and record their music videos. Share them on a site such as TeacherTube, reviewed here. Have students make a multimedia presentation about events leading to the writing of the Constitution using a tool like Sway, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Teach World War One History with Food - American Historical Association
Grades
7 to 12In the Classroom
Use these short videos to make life during World War I come alive. Consider asking students to make some of these recipes themselves at home, or if it's feasible, prepare an authentic meal at school as a treat during the unit. Students might discuss the issue of food rationing during both World War I and II as a contrast to the widespread availability of all kinds of food today. How is food rationing a patriotic act? Challenge students to find other popular recipes from this time in history. Have students video the preparation and explanation of the recipe. Share the videos on a site such as TeacherTube reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Problem-Attic - EducAide Software
Grades
6 to 12In the Classroom
Save this site as an excellent practice for end of year testing, state tests, and national tests. Use Problem-Attic to personalize learning for students. Share this tool on your class website for students to use both in and out of the classroom to prepare for state testing. Challenge your students to create (and print) practice tests for other students. Coaches for academic competitions can use this site for team practice. Teachers of gifted can use it for students to practice for out-of-level testing used to screen students for special gifted opportunities.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Do's and Don'ts of Teaching Black History - Learning for Justice
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Bookmark and use the information provided in the article as a guideline for teaching Black history, not just during Black History Month but throughout the year. Find many Black History resources at the TeachersFirst Black History Special Topics page, found here, or within many of the Reading Treks, found here. The Reading Treks share virtual field trips of resources based upon literature and include many Black history selections. Celebrate your students' learning throughout the year using digital tools to create virtual field trips using Google My Maps, reviewed here, or creating interactive infographics using Canva Infographic Templates, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Civil War Read-Alouds - TeachersFirst
Grades
K to 6In the Classroom
These read-alouds are perfect during February celebrations of Presidents Day and Black History Month but could be used any time. If your social studies curriculum includes the CIvil War or you simply want to connect the interrelated topics of Lincoln, slavery, and the Civil War, this is a great place to start.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Create Your Visited States Map - Jeremy Nixon
Grades
3 to 12In the Classroom
Creating this would make an interesting map to create as a class project when learning about the 50 states. Go through the states list on your interactive whiteboard and create your class map to print or share as a digital image on your class website. Do a map as a class to see which states MOST students have visited. If you feel students may be embarrassed at their lack of travel, this may be better done on individual computers or on a personal response form given to you to input privately. For a whole class activity, divide your class into groups to create separate maps. Compare and contrast states visited. Send home a link to the website for students to create a map with their families. For older students, use the map for content and reassign colors as needed. For example, create a map showing the birthplace of U.S. Presidents: assign red to states without a president, yellow with one president, and green with two or more. This same format could be used in nearly any subject while studying differences in states (democrat or republican, most popular agriculture product, how many - if any - NFL teams, teen pregnancy rate, and much more).Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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OK2Ask: 3 Cool Tools for Social Studies - TeachersFirst
Grades
5 to 12Explore, compare,...more
Explore, compare, and contrast three different online tools designed to engage students in grades 5 - 12 in meaningful civics and historical learning. Participants will learn about the features of these three free tools and then explore ways to use them in upper elementary through high school classrooms. Pairing these tools with pedagogically sound instructional strategies will provide a foundation on which to build critical thinking skills. Participants will: 1. Understand how the use of simulations and primary sources can convey difficult material in a way that's interesting and accessible; 2. Explore three free educational tools to support social studies instruction in grades 5-12; and 3. Plan for the use of one of the three tools in the educational setting. This session is appropriate for teachers at all technology levels.
In the Classroom
The archive of this teacher-friendly, hands-on webinar will empower and inspire you to use learning technology in the classroom and for professional productivity. As appropriate, specific classroom examples and ideas have been shared. View the session with a few of your teaching colleagues to find and share new ideas. Find additional information and links to tools at the session resource page. Learn more about OK2Ask and upcoming sessions here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Getting Started With Primary Sources - Elementary Students - Library of Congress
Grades
K to 8In the Classroom
Use information from this article when including primary sources in your Common Core based lessons. Take advantage of the free included lesson plans. Be sure to click on the links in each lesson activity to be directed to the complete lesson plan. Share information with your teaching colleagues. Use images from the lessons (with proper credit, of course) and create an annotated image including text boxes and related links using 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: OK2Ask Google Drawings, here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Docs Teach - The National Archives
Grades
6 to 12In the Classroom
If you teach history or social studies, you know what a great emphasis is being placed on the use of primary documents in helping students develop an awareness of the perspectives of those who lived during a particular era. Use this site to develop sophisticated lessons using primary documents on US History with the activity builder. Use the ready-made activities (the majority of which are available once you've registered), on an interactive whiteboard or projector for the whole class or assign groups of students to work independently at a computer workstation or at home. These activities encourage higher order thinking among students rather than simply the memorization of facts.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Jewish Women's Archive - Jewish Women's Archive
Grades
8 to 12In the Classroom
This site offers an outstanding addition to your resources for student biographical projects, particularly focused on Women's History Month. Students will find stories of women from every walk of life, whose stories have not been often told. Consider browsing the lesson plans and incorporating one of them into a preexisting unit to provide balance and diverse viewpoints.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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