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EasyDefine - Prabbav Jain
Grades
4 to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
You must know where you are saving downloads on your computer to save the list as a document. Pay attention and name files with meaningful file names, such as "chapter17vocab." Enter your list with one term per line or separated by commas, etc. Click on advanced options to add other options to the search: number or alphabetize the definition results, maximum definitions, and hiding parts of speech.Create definitions easily for word lists in any subject area. Have students enter a series of similar words to see variations in connotations. For example, enter various words that mean "fat" and discover the variability in positive and negative connotations. Follow up with a ranking or sorting activity with the same words on interactive whiteboard to build word choice options. Have students generate individualized reading vocabulary lists for content are reading chapters or literature. Click on the synonyms tab to find related words. Save as a document for easy sharing in groups. Advise students to collect definitions and compare to those they write in their own words. As with any other reference, students should be cautioned to be sure these are accurate definitions needed for the context in which they are studying the words.
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International Kids Club - Planet Pals
Grades
2 to 10In the Classroom
Use parts of this site when doing units on prejudice, diversity, and discrimination. Refer students to do research in some of the books listed here on those subjects. Have students interview people from other cultures to check the information given here on aspects of their cultures. Do they agree with what is said here? Even younger students will enjoy learning about flags and peace symbols. Make the craft links available for students doing reports on different countries or preparing for an International Day. Have students copy flags or other country symbols. Ask them to create their own "country" from these models. Challenge cooperative learning groups to research a specific topic at this site and prepare a podcast to share with the class using podOmatic, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Vocabulary Web Games - Sheppard Software
Grades
2 to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Create links to games and practice vocabulary on classroom computers for students to practice language arts skills. Have students preparing for the SAT/ACT or GRE take vocabulary quizzes to find unknown words. Complement this site by creating your own vocabulary flash cards using an online flashcard maker, like Flashcard Stash, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Science (and more) to Music - Dr. Lodge McCammon
Grades
4 to 12In the Classroom
Play songs related to math, social studies, or science concepts in class to supplement current lessons. Download and play the tunes on iPods or mp3 players in a listening corner. Have younger students sing along with the songs (reading the lyrics). ESL/ELL students will benefit from such an alternate presentation of concepts, as will any who have strong musical/rhythmic intelligence. Give students copies of song lyrics, and have them create their own songs. After listening to a song, have students create their own song relating to current classroom topics. Suggest some familiar tunes so students do not have to start from scratch. Create a video of the songs and share using a site such as SchoolTube reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Witty Comics - WittyComics.com
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Create dialogues that introduce new content topics in your classroom. Students can use this "witty" tool to introduce topics from research or to practice a speech to be given in class. Use comics to create a dialogue discussing misconceptions in the content and a discussion of the actual facts to dispel the misunderstandings. To view more comic creator tools and ideas view this collection. Some suggested comic creators are Printable Comic Strip Templates, reviewed here, ToonyTool, reviewed here, Make Beliefs Comix, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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The Readability Test Tool - David Simpson
Grades
1 to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Use this tool to offer differentiated resources for the different reading levels in your class. At the beginning of the year, as you learn your students' capabilities, use this tool to find reading at the appropriate level to eliminate frustration. This is perfect for finding the "just right" level for your highly advanced/gifted students and those needing extra remediation. If you do discover that a website you want to use is over your students' independent reading level, you can still use it, just use Read Ahead, reviewed here 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. View readability levels of websites before sharing with students to find appropriate reading levels for differentiation. On an interactive whiteboard or with a projector, test passages of public domain texts from sites like Project Gutenberg, reviewed here, by famous authors to see how their writing ranks when discussing their writing style.Why not have students put in the URL for their blog or wiki (or simply paste in a writing sample) to see the level at which they are writing? This is one way to encourage writing as a craft and challenge students to include more varied vocabulary and sentence structure in their writing.
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Story Rhyme - storyrhyme.com
Grades
K to 6In the Classroom
Share this site on an interactive whiteboard or projector. Assign your students some of these stories to read to use as models for their own creative writing. Try the online spelling bee and ask your students to compare that to the live version! Have students read their own creative stories on a podcast. Use a tool such as PodOmatic, reviewed here, or upload illustrations and read the story on ThingLink, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Presidents' Day - Myvocabulary.com
Grades
4 to 12In the Classroom
Have students work in cooperative learning groups, divide up the vocabulary words, and have each group find the definitions for their assigned vocabulary words. Have them create word games for interactive whiteboard, if you have one, such as matching or ranking activities that use these words. Have the groups share their words and definitions in an online book, using a tool such as Bookemon reviewed here. Have the groups share the online books on your interactive whiteboard or projector. If you don't have the time to complete online books, have students share the definitions using a class wiki. Be sure to also check out the interactive word puzzles!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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WriteReader - WriteReader
Grades
K to 5In the Classroom
WriteReader is so simple that very young students can use it successfully after a whiteboard or projector demonstration. While creating their books, students will be able to add images, multiple pages and delete pages, include voice-over, use color on the pages, view one page at a time or the entire book, and toggle between letters' names/sounds or no audio. Use this tool to design simple projects using student drawings to tell the story. Have students draw and annotate stories about their summer at the beginning of the year and share them with classmates. Students of any age love to draw, so why not have them draw their impression of what the message to the reader was after hearing a story and then explain it in writing? Nonreaders and ENL/ESL students especially will benefit from hearing the letter sounds as they begin writing in their new language.Edge Features:
Includes an education-only area for teachers and students
Parent permission advised before posting student work created using this tool
Includes social features, such as "friends," comments, ratings by others
Requires registration/log-in (WITH email)
Multiple users can collaborate on the same project
Includes teacher tools for registering and/or monitoring students
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Digital Books - librophile.com
Grades
2 to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Make a shortcut to this site on classroom computers as a reference. Suggest it to students as something they can use on their digital notebooks and lap tops. Share a story on your projector or interactive whiteboard (with speakers for audio). Provide this site on your class blog, wiki, or website for students to access both in and out of the classroom. Learning support and ESL/ELL teachers can suggest this as an alternative source of books for book reports. Students can listen and read instead of feeling saddled by tough text.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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REFORMA - UCLA
Grades
4 to 12In the Classroom
Familiarize students with this site and what the REFORMA goals are: The goals of REFORMA include: Development of Spanish-language and Latino-oriented library collections, Recruitment of bilingual, multicultural library personnel, Promotion of public awareness of libraries and librarianship among Latinos, Advocacy on behalf of the information needs of the Latino community, and Liaison to other professional organizations. Then have them investigate your school library and local libraries to see if they meet those goals. If some of the goals are not being met, there is an opportunity for community service.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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English Worksheets Land - English Worksheet Land
Grades
K to 5In the Classroom
Why reinvent the wheel? Bookmark this site for use all year. Use these worksheets to help differentiate for students. Many of the topics are covered at different levels and with different activities. Use some of the worksheets as review of a topic you already taught or to prepare for a test. Set up stations with worksheets from different topics for different days of the week, i.e. Monday is always spelling day and Friday is always poetry day. Choose individualized options so students are working at the appropriate level. These worksheets would be great practice for ESL/ELL and learning support students. Hate worksheets? Have students access this site and create their own learning activities to challenge each other based on the content here, but adding their own creative touches. They could use a quiz creator or multimedia tool from the Edge. Create "free and easy" interactive polls/quizzes using Kahoot (reviewed here).Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Technology and Reading Ebooks in Education - Drs.Cavanaugh
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Capture your student's interest in technology and reading with eBooks. Join the latest craze to promote life long reading. Join blogs to see what other teachers are doing. Use as a parent resource to help promote interest. Use as background information while writing grants or proposals for technology grants. Be sure to investigate the variety of classroom ideas for using technology and eBooks.Consider incorporating technology into your literature circles. You might want to start with a whole class novel, having students listen to certain chapters using an eBook. Have the "discussion director" for the group post questions on Canvas Free LMS, reviewed here with the understanding that they may answer the questions on Canvas, but these are "discussion starters" for the circle meeting in class.
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Online Voice Recorder - 123apps
Grades
K to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Have students practice spelling words orally, record speeches, practice reading fluency, and much more using Online Voice Recorder. After recording, allow students to listen to the playback and reflect upon the quality of their work. Do before and after recordings of students to share with parents during conferences to demonstrate reading progress. Have students record weekly summaries for what has happened in your class to share on your class website or blog (you will have to upload the files). Record weekly or daily homework assignments and share as a voice recording on your website. Save file space by replacing old files with new ones. Online Voice Recorder would be an excellent resource for recording and sharing more complicated directions for projects and assignments (adding you voice intonation and cues!). Your weaker readers and ENL/ESL students may do better with a combination of written AND auditory directions. Provide the link on your class website for students to use at home for additional practice in spelling, reading, practicing reports, and more. Share this site with parents at Back to School Night. Have students write and record audio book reviews others can play on iPads in the school library. If you have gifted students in your classroom, this tool is simple enough for even the youngest to be able to record audio mini-dramas portraying a historic figure, poetry readings, and more. Be sure to show them how to NAME and download the files to the local computer! Anything they can say out loud can become a creative project recording. Don't forget about recording musical performances or practices.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Stories to Grow By - Whootie Owl Productions
Grades
1 to 6Be aware: this site does include some advertising. This site requires Quicktime. Get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.
In the Classroom
Check with your administrator about students submitting their own names or making comments about the stories. You may want to give the students a classroom name so their identities remain anonymous. Use this site to find stories that represent cultures of the students in your classroom, whether they are ESL or students with different ethnic backgrounds. Use this site also to find stories for various school holidays. Play a story aloud on your speakers, then allow students to record their own stories with musical backgrounds.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Caldecott Winners - American Library Association
Grades
K to 10In the Classroom
Save this site on your classroom favorite's on your computer to assist students in finding books to read and sample illustrations for art class and students' own stories. This is a great link to provide on your class website for students to access at home. Within the classroom, have students choose a former Caldecott winner to read and create a multimedia presentation. Use a tool such as bubbl.us (reviewed here) to create and share concept maps about the books.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Poetry Month Editor's Choice Resources - TeachersFirst
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Make Poetry Month a participatory experience. Have students compose a limerick explaining a science term or historic figure. Have students collect a list of words from your current unit. Then offer extra credit for a poetic interpretation to be shared as a daily "poetry break" during April. Use one of the tools featured here to share poetic visions of biology, geometry, and more during April. Cover a classroom wall with white paper for "curriculum poetry" during April. Encourage students to share poetry graffiti (classroom appropriate, of course). Or, replace the papered wall for an online bulletin board like Padlet, reviewed here. For more poetic ideas check out the "In the classroom" suggestions included in each review.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Free English Lessons Online - esolcourses.com
Grades
2 to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
You may want to complete some of the selections with a projector and your interactive whiteboard for the whole class as there are listening activities, reading activities and quizzes about holidays, etc. You could differentiate by having small groups of students or individuals listening and reading at their different levels while you work with another group, or small groups of students can listen at a station that is one of several literacy stations in your classroom. Since each of the selections has activities in several language arts strands, one selection could make up your student's instruction for the day, or week. Students could rotate through a station for listening, one for vocabulary development, etc.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Madlibber - Sean Huber
Grades
2 to 12In the Classroom
Create a Madlib using Madlibber and share it with your class using your interactive white board and projector to reinforce curriculum topics such as types of plants or famous inventors. Either show the students how to make one about the curriculum topic, or have students operate the board/computer while others suggest words to fill in the blanks in one you have prepared. Madlibs can be used in so may ways: teaching parts of speech, reviewing for a quiz, introducing a new subject, or even as a "Cloze" reading story. Use this site as a station on one of the computers in your class. Put the direct web address (URL) for your Madlibber on your class web page, since some of the public Madlibbers may not be appropriate for your students. Give extra credit to those who work outside school to create classroom-appropriate madlibbers for others to use as review (and share the direct links on your class web page).Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Ninjawords - Phil Crosby
Grades
3 to 12Be careful, since the site is nondiscriminatory and will give a response to any word you enter, regardless of the propriety of the word!
In the Classroom
Use the "random" button to generate a word of the day in an instant! Create pre-made word lists for students to access online from your teacher web page by entering them all , separated by commas, and clicking "Link to this page" at the end of the page. The URL that then shows in the address bar IS the URL to access that word list any time from any computer. Have students make personal lists of their own for individualized vocab study. Open Ninjawords as students read a selection in class--even in science or social studies texts, and allow students to take turns entering new words they encounter. If you have a projector or interactive whiteboard, the entire class can "see" the current "word wall" created by the history function. Or you can simply keep it on a classroom desktop to help those who need it. If you mark each "glossary" page as a Favorite on your computer, you can NAME IT "Chapter 3 Glossary" or "Amphibian Unit Glossary" etc and make it available for students to use any time. The history feature allows you to "track" whether students have entered inappropriate words. The history list seems to remain on your computer for a period of time, probably by leaving "cookies" on your computer -- in this case a useful thing! Use it on your machine to recall vocab from day to day for continuing lessons.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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