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return to subject listingNavajo Code Talkers - Navajo Code Talkers Foundation
Grades
6 to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Share this site with your students on your interactive whiteboard (or projector) during your World War II unit or a unit on Native Americans. This would be a great link to share during Native American Heritage Month. Enhance student learning by replacing pencil and paper and use an online tool such as the Interactive Two Circle Venn Diagram, reviewed here to create a visual comparison of the Code Talkers vs other World War II battle units or cryptographers. Put a link to Fun Facts For Kids on station computors or your website for your students to learn even more.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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Laura Jernigan: Girl on a Whaleship - Martha's Vineyard Museum
Grades
4 to 12In the Classroom
Include this site as you study 19th century America, New England, or maritime history. Use the teacher link at the bottom of the page to find units and lessons. Introduce the site to students and allow them to explore on their own. Challenge students to create a talking avatar using a photo or other image (legally permitted to be reproduced). The avatars can be used to explain a day in the life of one of the Jernegan family members. Use a site such as Blabberize, reviewed here. HIgh school classes could compare the whaling industry with other practices that have had an impact on our natural resources. How does this approach to whaling differ from the Native Alaskans? How does it differ from today's use of ocean resources?Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Murder at the Met: An American Art Mystery - The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Grades
5 to 12In the Classroom
Whether teaching art history or a unit on mysteries and deductive reasoning, students will learn from using this program. Though there is a place for students to keep notes, they should also keep their own notes about the clues, especially why they chose the ones they mark "highly suspicious." Replace paper and pencil by using a tool like Memo Notepad, reviewed here, for digital note taking. If you and your students liked this site you might also enjoy "Mysterious Places: Ancient Civilizations Modern Mysteries," reviewed here, with its lovely photographs to go along with the mysteries. A natural follow up would be to have your students write their own mysteries. Expository Escapades - Detective's Handbook, reviewed here, is just the place to give you some ideas! Challenge gifted students to create similar mysteries using subject matter in any science or social studies class.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Take Me Back To - takemeback.to
Grades
4 to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Build context around historic dates using details of pop culture, magazines, and more. Have students search for their birthdate and write about significant events on that date. Use an online tool such as Interactive Two Circle Venn Diagram, reviewed here, to create a visual comparison of two different dates or of a past date with today. Ask students to generate questions about an important date, such as Pearl Harbor day, and use cultural details to generate a "snapshot" of what life was like before the world changed. What can you tell from the information shared here? How do you know? Challenge your students to use a site such as Timeline Infographic Templates, reviewed here, to create timelines of events in the 1900's.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Mr. Anker Tests - Henry Anker
Grades
K to 7In the Classroom
Create a link to activities and tests on classroom computers to use for review. Share a link to the site on your class website or blog for practice at home. Assign the "tests" for homework practice.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Fakebook - Class Tools
Grades
4 to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Engage and create interest in classroom learning with Fakebook. Fakebook is terrific for creating interest in many subjects. Instead of a typical biographical report in social studies, students create a Fakebook page about their famous person. Write about presidents, founding fathers, famous scientists or artists, Civil War soldiers, and more. Have students create a timeline of any historical event (name the page for the event, such as World War II). Use Fakebook to outline a book, play, or film plot, then share with students while studying the material. To use Fakebook to study literature, create a page for the central character, the book's author, or the book's setting. For a unique twist in science class, create a Fakebook page for a periodic element or another science topic. Use the page to describe "the life" of that atom or element. In world language classes, have students do this activity (about themselves) in the second language they are learning. Create a Fakebook page for the first day of school to introduce yourself to students or at Open House for parents. Challenge students to create and share a page about themselves during the first week of school. Share a Fakebook page with students to demonstrate proper netiquette and social sharing. Be sure to share a rubric with students for all expectations of what should be included on their page. Make Fakebook one of the options for your gifted students doing projects beyond the regular curriculum. With no membership required, this tool is simple enough for younger gifted students with parent permission to post work to the web.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Reading Like a Historian - Digital Inquiry Group
Grades
6 to 12In the Classroom
Bookmark and save this site as a resource for American history lessons throughout the year. The final segment of each lesson, the "Central Historical Question," has been noted as the most important part. If you don't have time for the full lesson, incorporate the historical question into your lesson plans as part of your classroom discussion, or journal activities. Perhaps you can use it as an essential question for your unit. Challenge students to create a talking avatar using a photo or other image (legally permitted to be reproduced). The avatars can be used to explain the central historical question. Use a site such as Blabberize, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Center for Civic Education - Center for Civic Education
Grades
5 to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Share a link to the podcasts via your web page or blog. Have students answer the daily question then respond with a short journal entry or with comments on your webpage. Use lesson resources to supplement your current curriculum or commemorate events such as 9/11, MLK Day, Presidents Day, or Constitution Day. Assign podcasts to groups of students to use, then report to the class. Rather than a traditional report, challenge cooperative learning groups to collaborate on a topic found on the site using Netboard, reviewed here, to share ideas and information.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Best Word Book Ever - kokogiak on Flickr
Grades
4 to 12In the Classroom
Do you still have a favorite picture book from your childhood? Consider going to the library to find a more current version and compare the differences. Have your students ask their parents if they still have a copy of their favorite picture book, and they can pick up a copy of the current edition to compare. With older students, you can use the Best Word Book Ever comparison to see the changes in what is politically incorrect now that was in the earlier version. Students then discuss what society valued at the time of the older edition compared to what our current society values. There are not just the gender role differences (policeman vs the woman police officer). Look at the wording in the older version for behavioral expectations, too. Literature teachers could carry this one step further and make a comparison of the expectations of society at the time of a classic (Tom Sawyer, Pride and Prejudice ) and what society valued during that time. Students could make one of these comparisons using a program like Bookemon reviewed here, which creates interactive online books. Make sure your students adhere to Copyright laws if creating online. You may want to work offline using PowerPoint so student products can include copyrighted images under "Fair Use."Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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IWitness - USC Shoah Foundation
Grades
6 to 12In the Classroom
This is a tremendously rich resource for bringing home the reality of the Holocaust using the words and images of survivors. The number of Holocaust Survivors is dwindling, and we risk losing the full impact of their experience without sites like IWitness. Search the interview archives by keyword or subject and view individual stories. Use the editing tools to collect portions of interviews into a new video presentation, use this as an introduction of the Halocaust to your students. Then, choose an Activity that is appropriate for your class. You'll find several activities for upper elementary, middle school, and high school levels. There is also one for K-2 and one for the university level. Create class projects and group them by classroom section and collect multiple student presentations. The site is flexible and geared toward educators. Don't miss the lesson plans and activity plans as well as a good collection of other resources. The site has clearly delineated technology requirements; it would be wise to consult those prior to planning an activity.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Native Voices: Native Peoples - Concepts of Health and Illness - U. S. National Library of Health and Medicine
Grades
4 to 12In the Classroom
Bookmark and save this site as a resource for Native American, American History, health, and other units. Read on your interactive whiteboard (or projector) together. Have groups of students read about individual tribes, then enhance learning by challenging students to create a newspaper article using the online tool such as Interactive Two Circle Venn Diagram, to create a visual comparison of tribal beliefs-- or perhaps comparing with "mainstream" beliefs in their own culture.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Constitution Day - ConstitutionDay.com
Grades
5 to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Share this site with students as a resource for reading and viewing the Constitution. Use Read Ahead, reviewed here with these articles as a guided reading activity for younger students. Read Ahead is perfect for introducing any reading passage to struggling readers, special education students, and ENL/ESL learners. Along with Read Ahead you may want to use Wordsift, reviewed here to help students identify the most important words used in the text. Challenge students to develop a fake social media presence about one of the founding fathers using Fakebook, reviewed here. This is a great resource for Constitution Day!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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CurriConnects Book List: USA Regional Books - TeachersFirst
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Go beyond state "reports" to state experiences by encouraging students to select independent reading books. Looking for more information about the states? For history, economics, facts, famous people, and sights to see in each state, try TeachersFirst's 50 States, the perfect complement to these independent reading selections. Even younger students would enjoy a "tour" of the states using some of the easier books on this list. Maybe have a read-aloud tour featuring one or two states per week throughout the school year.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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CurriConnects Book List: Immigrants and Immigration - TeachersFirst
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Allow students to select books at their own level to understand immigrants and how their own ancestors may have felt upon arriving in the U.S. Perhaps have them write a blog post as if they had just arrived. Have students meet in literature circles as they discuss these books or hold an immigration day where students share the experiences they have read and how immigrants contribute to the many cultures in the U.S.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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CurriConnects Book List: Slavery - TeachersFirst
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
As you study the Civil War and slavery, let students select books from this collection of fiction and historical fiction. As we honor and move beyond the 150th anniversary of many Civil War events, what better way for students to make a more personal connection to the people who lived during those tumultuous times.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Electing the President - How Do You Make Up Your Mind? - History News Network
Grades
5 to 8This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Select components of the lesson as a supplement to your current election unit. Print the worksheet for students to use to identify topics that are important to them. Use information from this lesson to study and consider the influence of Social Media on elections, Have students use Screencast-o-matic, reviewed here, or Screencastify (Chrome app), reviewed here, to make narrated recordings about the use of social media, political advertisements, or any other election topic after completing the lesson on this site.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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In Their Footsteps: Walking the Picket Line - Brett Kelley
Grades
6 to 12In the Classroom
Include this journal as part of your Civil War unit. Have students read this along with diaries and journals of actual Civil War soldiers. Compare and contrast his experience with those of the soldiers. Share one entry per day and have students create their own blog posts in response with possible questions they may have, how they would feel in the same situation, etc. If you are beginning the process of integrating technology, have students create blogs sharing their learning and understanding using Tumblr, reviewed here. For a more major project, create a blog as a class, having students take turns playing the role of one civil war soldier and adding to the blog daily.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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The Mind is a Metaphor - Brad Pasanek
Grades
7 to 12In the Classroom
High school AP literature and history teachers or IB capstone classes will especially love this site. Share a metaphor a day as students are entering the class or on your class web site. Allow a student to choose one as today's Metaphor Master! Discuss the meaning together or use it as a quick writing prompt. Use the time period to discuss the historical context of the metaphor. Use these in your own presentations or require students to create a presentation explaining the metaphors you assign. Younger students just beginning to study metaphors can benefit from trying to interpret the metaphors as a group and presenting them to the class. Challenge students to try to create their own metaphors. Develop a class Metaphor Wiki for students to share metaphors. Not familiar with wikis? Check out the TeachersFirst Wiki Walk-Through.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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American Battlefield Trust - American Battlefield Trust
Grades
6 to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Bookmark and save this site as an excellent resource for Civil War materials. Display different battle information on an interactive whiteboard or with a projector to discuss as a class. Share this site with students to use as a resource for class projects. Ask them to collect facts and resources using a bookmarking tool such as Wakelet, reviewed here. Have students use a mapping tool such as Google Earth, reviewed here, to create an audio (and visual) tour of pertinent battle sites. Challenge your students to use a site such as Sutori, reviewed here, to create an interactive timeline of important battles. With Sutori you can include text, images and collaboration. Have students make a multimedia presentation using Genial.ly, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Promethean Planet - Promethean, Inc
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Before you try any of these activities, think about how you can make the lesson more student-centered. Find ideas in TeachersFirst's Hands off, Vanna! Giving Students Control of Interactive Whiteboard Learning . Browse the site for interactive whiteboard resources to download for classroom use. Bookmark and save favorites for later use. Download any resource, then tweak it to your individual needs. Have questions about creating Promethean Flipcharts? Post your question on the technical board to receive helpful replies. If you have a SmartBoard, be sure to check out the SmartBoard lessons and resources page located here. You will need to download the ActivInspire software (free).Comments
This is the go-to site for Promethean flipchart downloads. Most files were created by teachers. The only downside is that the files are hit-or-miss. There are many gems, but you might have to browse some not-so-great files to find them.Tim, , Grades: 0 - 6
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