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return to subject listingAlternative to... - alternativeto.net
Grades
K to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Click on one of the applications to see a great list of alternatives that may meet your needs or those of your students. Offer this site as a means for students to differentiate and express their understanding of the content in different ways. In a technology class, provide time for groups to explore the variety of options and report on ease of use and features for each. Be sure to check whether the sites listed are blocked by any filters in your school first.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College - Dickinson College
Grades
9 to 12In the Classroom
It goes without saying that this is a rich source of research, primary documents, and personal information about those on both sides of the Civil War, from those whose names would otherwise be lost to history to those whose names are familiar to us. Use selections from the digital classroom, which includes video lectures, a digital library, and virtual field trips, to extend your lessons on the Civil War. Consider dividing students into groups to research characters from both sides of the conflict. Challenge students to create a newspaper article, title of article, date, and body of article using the site Newspaper Clipping Generator, to explain who or what they learned about while researching.Trying using the daily "today in Civil War history" items as a lesson icebreaker. This is an exceptionally deep resource which you can visit over and over for further inspiration. Share the video lectures on your interactive whiteboard or projector.
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Flubaroo - Flubaroo.com
Grades
4 to 12In the Classroom
Users must be familiar with Google documents and forms. You must also have a Google account (FREE). Follow the demo and overview to become acquainted with this tool. This tool is best used by teachers for ongoing formative assessment. If allowing students to create formative assessments, be sure to create a separate class Google and Flubaroo account for use. Consider assigning groups to to make daily quizzes for the whole class to take as an ongoing formative assessment. Use for check point quizzes to check on terminology, general understanding, and to identify weaknesses in student understanding. Be sure to save this site in your favorites to use professionally to save time and keep your learning tasks organized.Comments
I would be curious to know how good you have to be with Google docs to be able to use this. Sounds like a summer project for me!Thinking, PA, Grades: 5 - 10
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Big Huge Labs - Big Huge Labs
Grades
K to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
You can choose images from Flickr, Instagram, Dropbox, your files or provide a URL. This tool is so simple with very few steps for creating. Simply upload your photo, select from a few options, and then create.Check out the Big Huge Labs educator account. Easily pre-register students to avoid creating logins, view and download their creations; view the site advertisement free. You will find information about the Educator Account here.
Options here are endless. Find out what students understand about a concept by creating a 6 word story. Students find a suitable picture and sum up the concept in 6 words. Students can use the Motivator tool, reviewed here, to create. Place their creation on a blog, wiki, or web site and have students write about how their understandings of the concept have changed throughout the study of it. Create Badges for field trips and other activities. Use the Trading Card Maker, reviewed here, to identify what a student understands about a concept. Create trading cards of the many species that exist in the world or of places to visit, past leaders of nations, or states and other countries. Create vocabulary trading cards. Use social networking in the classroom? Create an Avatar to use on these spaces. Reading a book or viewing documentaries? Create Movie Posters to share information or to inform others about various times in history. Whatever you use this tool for, it is powerful for students to use a great image and word captions to display their knowledge.
Edge Features:
Includes an education-only area for teachers and students
Parent permission advised before posting student work created using this tool
Requires registration/log-in (WITH email)
Requires registration/log in (NO email)
Products can be embedded
Products can be shared by URL
Includes teacher tools for registering and/or monitoring students
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CNN 10 - Journalists and Educators at CNN
Grades
5 to 12In the Classroom
Choose whatever fits your curriculum or as a daily warm-up for current events. This provides a great alternative to reading news articles and is especially motivating for visual learners and students who struggle with reading comprehension. After your class views the video, use the daily discussion activities designed to promote critical thinking. You are also able to print the learning activities to assign as group work or for homework. There is even a news quiz. You may want to distribute copies of the transcripts for ESL students to refer to, for use as a research source, or to use for practicing reading comprehension for state exams and other assessments. Enhance learning by challenging cooperative learning groups to research one topic at this site and share their findings with the class by creating an interactive online poster (infographic) using Canva Infographic Maker, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Treasury Direct Kids - U.S. Department of the Treasury
Grades
4 to 8In the Classroom
After presenting the basic info on this site, view the posters under the tab Art of Debt. Discuss and then have students make online posters parallel to the old ones they see displayed here. Use an online poster creator, such as Padlet, reviewed here. Have them make their own graphs of funds and debts based on their own finances using ChartGizmo, reviewed here. Use this site when teaching percentages; have students do problems figuring the interest on today's debt. Introduce them to the concept of buying a bond today and have them calculate its accrued interest and how many years it will take to gain face value. Have students in a team create modern day videos using a tool like moovly, reviewed here, to advertise and sell savings bonds. Share the videos using a tool such as SchoolTube, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Teacher's Portal - American Bar Association
Grades
6 to 12In the Classroom
Use the lesson plan suggestions to meet the mandate for instruction on Constitution Day, but be sure and check out the other resources for lessons on civics, government, current events and the Constitution itself. The section called "Dialogues" provides resources to engage students and community members in discussion of fundamental American legal principles and civic traditions.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Image Detective - Library of Congress
Grades
5 to 12In the Classroom
Share the photos on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Use the series of steps on this activity to teach students the skills of observation, deduction, and drawing intelligent conclusions. Have students do this activity in pairs in a computer lab. The steps are available to use on paper or printable in pdf format, so students can select their own mystery photos and create a similar activity away from the computer. ESL/ELL students can benefit from using the steps in this process. Images will help them understand material better, and they can also create their own presentations. Have students bring and exchange mystery photos; see if the conclusions they draw match the family stories the photo owners have. Science teachers can use this photo activity to teach about scientific method and, in particular, making observations. Start with the offerings on this site, then try it with more "scientific" images.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Penzu - Alexander Mimran and Michael Lawlor
Grades
4 to 12In the Classroom
A class journaling program has limitless possibilities. Engage students in discussions using a topic from current events, current social issues, independent reading, literature, and more. Any class using a journal can use Penzu. For example, science lab write ups or the problem of the week in math. Penzu can even be used for homework. Just think, no more lugging heavy boxes full of notebooks around! In language arts have students journal daily and harvest from their musings and ideas to create a short story or a poem. They can even use Penzu to develop their brainstorms and rough draft. For social studies classes, students can write posts and ideas about famous people or daily life in a time period being studied, then create a "diary" for the famous person in Bookemon, reviewed here or a poster using Genially, reviewed here about daily life. For either of these ideas, once they are ready to present a final project have them hare with their peers and others and possibly add other media. See more ideas for student blogging/journaling at TeachersFirst's Blogging Basics for the Classroom. Share journals with parents as appropriate by URL. Be sure to respect student privacy before sharing.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Independence National Historic Park - NPS.gov
Grades
5 to 12In the Classroom
Share this and other sections of the TeachersFirst Colonial America tour as part of your study of the colonies so students can see what these historic locations look like today.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Fort Caroline - NPS.gov
Grades
5 to 12In the Classroom
Share this and other sections of the TeachersFirst Colonial America tour as part of your study of the colonies so students can see what these historic locations look like today.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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How the Pilgrims Lived - Amy Ridenhour
Grades
4 to 12In the Classroom
Share this and other sections of the TeachersFirst Colonial America tour as part of your study of the colonies so students can see what these historic locations look like today.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Mayflower Compact - Amy Ridenhour
Grades
5 to 12In the Classroom
Share this and other sections of the TeachersFirst Colonial America tour as part of your study of the colonies so students can see what these historic locations look like today.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Cape Cod National Seashore - NPS.gov
Grades
5 to 12In the Classroom
Share this and other sections of the TeachersFirst Colonial America tour as part of your study of the colonies so students can see what these historic locations look like today.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Plimoth Patuxet Museums Digital Resources - Plimoth.org
Grades
4 to 12In the Classroom
Share this and other sections of the TeachersFirst Colonial America tour as part of your study of the colonies so students can see what these historic locations look like today.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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A First Hand Account: Roanoke - Ralph Lane
Grades
6 to 12In the Classroom
Share this and other sections of the TeachersFirst Colonial America tour as part of your study of the colonies so students can see what these historic locations look like today.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Weebly - Weebly
Grades
2 to 12In the Classroom
If you plan to have students create their own web pages, under your account, no email is needed for them, and they will have a special log in page. You will have to enter each student's name, username and a password. What's nice about Weebly is they will print out a list for you to give to students with their log in information. Though you can make your site private, you want to be sure not to use student's real names. Use a code or acronym. Suggestion: You can use the first two letters of the students last name, the first three letters of their first name, and if you have multiple classes, have them put the class period or code after the last letter. This works well if you're going to be grading web pages, since most grade books are in alphabetical order by last name.Possible uses are only limited by your imagination! Create your own Weebly website for parents and students where they can stay updated about what is happening in your classroom, where students can submit their assignments, contact information, and anything else you might want to put on your website. You can add up to 40 students on one free website, so students can use their pages for projects and assignments. There is a free blogging tool that you may want your students to use for writing assignments, reflection, or reading journals, just to name a few ideas. You can have everything you need on one Weebly website! Find more specific blog ideas in TeachersFirst's Blogging Basics ideas.
Try using Weebly for: "visual essays;" digital biodiversity logs (with digital pictures students take); online literary magazines; personal reflections in images and text; research project presentations; comparisons of online content, such as political candidates' sites or content sites used in research (compared for bias); science sites documenting experiments or illustrating concepts, such as the water cycle; "Visual" lab reports; Digital scrapbooks using images from the public domain and video and audio clips from a time in history -- such as the Roaring Twenties; Local history interactive stories; Visual interpretations of major concepts, such as a "visual" U.S. Constitution. Imagine building your own online library of raw materials for your students to create their own "web pages" as a new way of assessing understanding: you provide the digital pictures, and they sequence, caption, and write about them (younger students) or you provide the steps in a project as a template, and they insert the actual content of their own.
After a first project where you provide "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 product together using an interactive whiteboard or projector. Consider making a new project for each unit you teach so students can "recap" long after the unit ends.
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Timelines.tv - timelines.tv
Grades
6 to 12In the Classroom
If you are trying to create a visually rich lesson plan, this site is easy to navigate, and the video clips are classroom friendly: short and focused. There are links to related content off-site, and a message board, so preview these individually before using. While studying similar topics, modify what students learn by asking them to create their own timelines using a tool such as Sutori, that can include images, text, and collaboration.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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The Brooklyn Nine WebQuest - Karen Steinberger
Grades
5 to 8In the Classroom
September and October are perfect months for baseball fever, with the World Series right around the corner, so why not get on base with The Brooklyn Nine: A Novel in Nine Innings and make a double play by introducing your class to the historical fiction genre. Divide your students into teams of two or three players to complete this WebQuest over the course of several days, using a class set of computers for a "home game" or take them to the computer lab for an "away game." There are many projects to choose from; assign all of them, select just a few, or have different teams be responsible for various activities. One of the tasks involves students creating an information web, using Inspiration software. If your school does not have a license for that software or it is not already downloaded on your school's computers, you can use free web-based alternatives, such as bubble.us reviewed here or one of the many tools available from Teachersfirst toolbox. Even if you do not have time to do the entire WebQuest, the links provide valuable background information for shorter investigations.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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JFK 50 - John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum
Grades
7 to 12In the Classroom
Use this website as your online destination for teaching, researching, and starting a conversation about the primary people, changes, speeches, and events of the John F. Kennedy era. Do not miss the links at the upper left corner of the home page for the Legacy Gallery, Downloads and Resources, and "History Now" which provides an interactive timeline that links today's date to details of what transpired during JFK's presidency. Highlight the ideals articulated fifty years ago to serve as a springboard for today's students to become actively involved in public service by projecting the authentic broadcast reports, videos, newspaper accounts, and other media on your classroom whiteboard or projector. Team up with colleagues in other departments to engage in interdisciplinary learning projects. You may want to have students collaborate to put a new spin on a research report. Challenge them to create a newspaper article about the domestic affairs, foreign policies and diplomacy, the arts, or any of the other extensive topics found on JFK50 by using the Newspaper Clipping Generator. Polish it off by having students create magazine covers that reflect the content of their articles, essays, or reports by using Magazine Cover Maker reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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