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return to subject listingWeTheEconomy - 20 Short Films You Can't Afford to Miss - Vulcan Productions/Cinelan
Grades
9 to 12In the Classroom
Sign up to download the support materials and plan one or several lessons to demystify the economy as part of a civics/government class or an economics course. Transform the technology use in your class by assigning students to watch films in small groups and create digital booklets explaining the key concepts to the class using a multimedia tool such as Calameo, reviewed here. As economic issues come up in current events or during an election cycle, use these films to explain the underlying issues.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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The Center on Representative Government - Indiana University
Grades
7 to 12In the Classroom
Clearly, this is a great resource for those teaching civics or US government. These activities will also be useful to US History teachers, as the issues covered span important political eras. For example, there are activities related to women's suffrage, the child labor movement, the GI Bill and the development of the Interstate Highway system. Lesson plans range from those designed to cover several days, to short "Congressional moments" videos perfect for introducing a concept or sparking class discussion. A number of the lesson plans and activities are designed specifically for iPads. Of note also is the fact that the video clips on the site are not links to YouTube, so will not pose an access problem for school districts that block the site.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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IFL Science - IFL Science
Grades
7 to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Share this site for students to explore informational articles related to what they are currently studying or to explore the many aspects of science not included in standard school curriculum. Challenge student partners to find an article they enjoy and share it creatively as a poster or mock interview with the scientists involved. They can use a simple tool such as Magazine Cover Maker (reviewed here) or actually make a video "interview" and share it on TeacherTube (reviewed here). Have your gifted students explore articles to extend required curriculum. Use this site for career day explorations about the many places where scientists work.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Climate Time Machine - NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory/CIT
Grades
4 to 12In the Classroom
Want to get students attention? Begin with the Average Global Temperature on an Interactive Whiteboard or projector. Start the slider slowly at 1884 and be sure to pause and back up when global temperatures become cooler. However, be sure to point out to students that even though temperatures cycle a bit through time, as you progress to present day, much warmer temperatures persist. Follow this demonstration. How does this visualization compare to Carbon Emissions? Spend time in class looking at the Sea Level changes and list the areas that will be affected the most because of sea level rise. Create reports or posters about the various facts about those areas (populations, points of interest, culture, and history) to understand what will be lost. Have students create online posters individually or together as a class using a tool such as Web Poster Wizard, reviewed here, or PicLits, reviewed here. Create a campaign for halting climate change beginning with simple actions that EVERYONE can make. Take time to determine each student's carbon footprint and changes that matter.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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PBS Newshour Classroom - PBS NewsHour Productions LLC
Grades
7 to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Watch the news together on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Allow students to watch independently on laptops or at a learning station. Use any video or article as a current events writing prompt. Challenge students to create blog posts about them. If you are beginning the process of integrating technology, replace pen and paper and have students create blogs sharing their learning and understanding using Webnode, reviewed here. Don't forget the many free lesson plans (already aligned to Common Core standards). Click on the Lesson Plans link to explore the countless topics available (Poetry, Veterans, Elections, Ebola, Civil Rights, and more). For articles and videos about conflicts and tension, extend student learning by having your students engage in a debate using a tool such as Virtual Debate, reviewed here, which has online examples and resources for conducting virtual debates. Keep your class up-to-date on the news using this site. Provide this link on your class website for students (and families) to access both in and out of your classroom.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes - Lowell Milken Center
Grades
5 to 12In the Classroom
Share stories from the Unsung Heroes project on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Discuss traits that make a hero and find inspiration to search for heroes in your everyday lives. Use this site as a starting point for individual or group projects. All types of classes can complete a project about an unsung hero. P.E. classes can find out about veterans, surfers, or car accident victims who have lost limbs and used their challenges to make a difference. Math and science students can complete an Internet search for high school inventors. Students could also search through old Scholastic Scope magazines for articles about young people who have overcome adversity. Instead of a paper and pen written biography, extend students' learning by using Fakebook, reviewed here, to create a "fake" page similar in style to Facebook about a hero they have chosen. Modify student learning by challenging them to create an annotated image of a hero 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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25 Maps and Charts That Explain America Today - Washington Post
Grades
8 to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
This site is excellent for enrichment or critical thinking about the U.S. and societal/governmental issues. Display a map on your projector or interactive whiteboard during political campaigns to ask why different politicians/parties have gained a foothold in certain states or locations. Include links to specific maps from it on your class web page for students to access both in and out of class. Have students create a simple infographic sharing their findings using Venngage, reviewed here. Have students create maps including local information using MapHub, reviewed here. Students can add icons, URLs, text, images, and location stops!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Story of the Web - Jack Schofield
Grades
5 to 12In the Classroom
Story of the Web is perfect for use on your interactive whiteboard or projector in a unit on technology and invention or in a computer literacy class. Share this site with students who have grown up on the Internet to provide an understanding of how quickly technology has developed. Compare it to the development of a human being over 25+ years! Have students create a simple infographic sharing their findings using Venngage, reviewed here. Use an online tool such as Interactive Two Circle Venn Diagram, reviewed here, comparing communication 25+ years ago to 2018.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Time and Date - Steffen Thorsen
Grades
K to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Bookmark (or save in your favorites) Time and Date on your classroom computers for students to use throughout the year. Find out the local time and temperature in countries as you study them, count down the number of days until spring break or the end of the school year. Use the stopwatch or timer/alarm for timing class activities. Create a personal classroom calendar. This is a perfect addition to your Calendar Math lessons in elementary school. Share the site on your interactive whiteboard (or projector) as you count how many days you have been in school, daily weather, or a countdown to a special occasion. The possibilities are endless using all of Time and Date's features! Include time/date conversions for online conferences you will hold with parents who are deployed or traveling in different time zones. Share meeting dates/times for Skype sessions using the time conversions so everyone is "on time." Humor your fellow teachers by warning them of the upcoming full moon and its supposed effect on student behavior!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Knoema - World Data Atlas - Knoema
Grades
6 to 12In the Classroom
Bookmark this for student research, whether it be for individual country data or for comparative data by topic. Use the maps on an interactive whiteboard (or projector) to provide a visual representation of the data. This is a great source for authentic data for students to practice their analytic skills, or just to find out what the GDP of Antigua and Barbuda is. This is a resource that will see frequent use. Share it during math units on data, as well, so students have authentic numbers to "play with." Have them write their own data problems and questions for classmates to solve. Challenge your most able student to determine why two countries are so different.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Cartoons for the Classroom - The Association for American Editorial Cartoonists
Grades
6 to 12In the Classroom
These one-page discussion starters could help students keep up with current political issues, provide an opening or closing activity, or serve as an enrichment activity for students who move through other assignments more quickly. Available either with or without guiding questions, and covering a wide range of relevant and timely topics, they are perfect to keep as a Plan B or for an emergency substitute teacher activity. Elsewhere on the site are links to Weekly News Videos with prompts for discussion, and other information about political cartooning through history; most of these latter links connect to outside sites so be sure and preview carefully. In an art class, create a "political" option during a line drawing unit for current events enthusiasts to draw their own political cartoons. Include these cartoons during a unit on humor and satire in an English/Language Arts class or gifted program.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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What is Ebola? - KidsHealth
Grades
3 to 8This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Introduce this site on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Discuss together when you are answering children's questions regarding the Ebola virus. This site is perfect for use with weaker readers and ESL/ELL learners. Allow them to listen to the article on classroom computers or read in Spanish. Share this link on your classroom website for parents to use when discussing Ebola with their child. Have students create a word cloud of the important terms they learn from this site using a tool such as WordItOut, reviewed here. Have students create true/false quizzes using information from this site. Use an online poster creator, such as Padlet, reviewed here. Challenge older students to share what they know about Ebola before reading this article then research information on misconceptions using Snopes.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Geography Awareness Week - National Geographic
Grades
5 to 12In the Classroom
Have older students pair up with a younger classroom to create and share events for Geography Awareness Week. Celebrate Geography Awareness Week in your classroom or school using supplies and resources provided on the website. View all of TeachersFirst's Editor's Choices for Geography Awareness Week here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Red Ribbon Campaign - National Family Partnership
Grades
K to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Be sure to take advantage of printables and information from this site. Have students sign Red Ribbon pledges and display them on a classroom bulletin board. Challenge students to participate in the Red Ribbon photo contest (if using this site during the yearly contest). Be sure to share a link to the adult pledge with parents through your class website to make them a part of Red Ribbon week too!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Wall Street Survivor - Greg Isenberg and Rory Olson
Grades
8 to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Introduce this site on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Share articles on personal finance, investing, and more. Challenge students (or groups) to create their own Stock Market Leagues to learn about investing and trading. Use Wall Street Survivor as an after-school program for students to learn about finances and investing. Share this link on your class website for students to explore on their own. Your math-savvy gifted students and finance aficionados will love this one.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Voting America: United States Politics 1840-2008 - University of Richmond
Grades
7 to 12In the Classroom
These maps, powerful when projected on an interactive whiteboard (or projector), make the impact of changes in population demographics and distribution visual. The maps might also provide a good resource for students studying a particular President or time period. Challenge students to create a newspaper about what they have learned (about the President or time period). Use a tool such as Zinepal (reviewed here). Click to "Start with a blank e-Book."Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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National Geographic and the Common Core - National Geographic
Grades
K to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Use this National Geographic site to find high quality, high interest, non-fiction reading material for your students. Ask students to visit sites found through your search. Challenge students to share what they learned by creating multimedia presentations using one of many TeachersFirst Edge tools reviewed here. Use this site as an anticipatory set to introduce a unit or lesson on a projector or interactive whiteboard.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Start.me - Arjen Robijn
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Create a classroom Start.me with frequently used websites and resources for classroom computers. Add pages for specific subjects or topics such as math and science, or for curriculum topics like explorers. If you work with students in several different grade levels or subjects, Start.me is the perfect organization tool for your online resources. Share login information with students for access at home and school. Students working on a group project could put the resources they find on Start.me so everyone in the group can access them. Encourage your gifted students to use this tool to curate and collect resources for extensions of the curriculum beyond the classroom, such as articles and connections with real world applications of science or resources about current events. World language teachers can collect a home page filled with cultural sites and publications in the new language so students can immerse themselves.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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The Free Dictionary - Farlex, Inc
Grades
4 to 12In the Classroom
Set this site as the home page on classroom computers for students to read and find interesting articles and games. Create an account to customize the page to display information to suit class needs. Use information found on this site for quotes, interesting trivia, and much more. Display on your interactive whiteboard (or projector) and discuss articles and information with your class.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Created Equal - National Endowment for the Humanities
Grades
9 to 12In the Classroom
The documentaries, or the excerpts presented, are all available to stream from the site. While they may be too lengthy to show in their entirety during one class period, they have also been divided into clips according to themes. For example, Equality is part of the full video about Law and the Strategy of Nonviolence. This makes them more adaptable for classroom use. Share the videos on your interactive whiteboard or projector, or flip your class using EdPuzzle, reviewed here, and have students watch clips at home and come back to class ready to discuss. EdPuzzle is a great way to take sections of videos and add your own voice or add questions within the video. Alternatively, you could use VideoAnt, reviewed here, to enhance student learning with students asking questions about the parts where they need clarification. The issues raised by these Created Equal documentaries may be easily incorporated into lessons related to the Civil Rights Movement, modern U.S. history, Black History Month, or civics and government. Use these videos as conversation starters in the classroom.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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