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Developing Thinking and Reasoning Skills in Primary Learners Using Detective Fiction - Yale University
Grades
1 to 3In the Classroom
Take advantage of the free lesson plans and activities hosted on this site! Be sure to save this site as a favorite to allow for easy reference later on. As a rainy day activity, read one of the featured mysteries together, and encourage students to notice the clues present as you read, stopping the reading to note each one. After you have finished the book, students retell the story to a partner, including the hints that helped the hero to solve the mystery.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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Squigly's Playhouse - Barb Willner
Grades
K to 5This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Have students check out the book reviews in the Writing Corner. Discuss which reviews are helpful and then have students write quality reviews to post onto the website. Complete one of the story frameworks with students. Using an interactive whiteboard or projector, have students add more detail or experiment with sentence structure and vocabulary. Students can then follow this process individually to develop revision skills.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Activity of the Month - Dr. Jean
Grades
K to 1This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
This site is excellent for enrichment. Share this link on your teacher web page and/or in a parent newsletter for those who trying to encourage the habit of reading and handling books.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Plagiarism Checker - Darren Horn
Grades
6 to 12In the Classroom
Students can use this plagiarism checker to be sure they are turning in original work. Teachers can use this service to check the work of students (submitted electronically). Students should create accounts with their parents to check their work at home. Model this site to explain what plagiarism IS and how students can avoid it. The hands-on experience will help them understand this challenging concept. You might even want to provide several examples of plagiarized writing as an exercise for student to check and correct before they copy/paste their way to trouble in a research assignment. Another interesting exercise for researchers is to locate an article on a how-to topic, such as "How to Paint a Room," then see how many sites use the exact same text. As a class, discuss whether this proliferation is good or bad (is the web spreading misinformation, too?).Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Printable Paper - printablepaper.net
Grades
K to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
This site is a must bookmark for classroom use. Use anytime you need graph paper, writing paper, music sheets, etc. Share a link on your classroom website for student use at home. Share this site with parents at Back to School Night. Share this site with older students the first week of school. Now there is no excuse for not doing homework because of not having the correct type of paper! Some of the papers have alternate uses, such as using quilting graph paper to create and study geometric shapes.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Uncle Tom's Cabin and American Culture - University of Virginia
Grades
8 to 12In the Classroom
Bookmark as an online resource for student research or as a teacher source for lesson development.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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To Kill a Mockingbird - Historical Perspective - Library of Congress
Grades
9 to 12In the Classroom
Take advantage of the free lesson plan to include with your book study of To Kill a Mockingbird both as a whole class unit, or modify for use with independent reading groups. If you don't have time to teach the entire unit, use portions of the activities as part of your lessons on racism or US history during the Great Depression era.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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BeeLine Reader Collection - Reading is Fundamental
Grades
K to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
These BeeLine Reader PDFs are an excellent addition to the already valuable reading materials found at Reading is Fundamental - Literacy Central, reviewed here. Be sure to bookmark this site to find leveled reading passages with the enhanced function of BeeLine Reader. These PDFs are wonderful to share with ENL/ELL and Special Education specialists to use with their students. Remember, all teachers are reading teachers. Share this tool with your science, social studies, and math teachers, too!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Groundhog Day: (Punxsutawney) Phil Your Day With Fun - Education World
Grades
K to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
These FREE lesson plans are ready to go for you on Groundhog's Day. Connect your students with current events, science, research skill, math, and more using these fabulous lessons.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Sight Words - Gajan Retnasaba
Grades
K to 3In the Classroom
Sight Words is an excellent resource to share with parents. Include a link to this site on your class website and newsletters. Share this site with classroom tutors and helpers for use when working with students. Share this link with student teachers as an excellent resource for beginning reading instruction. Find ideas to implement in your classroom. Create flashcards for your students. Try the Sight Word Games in your own classroom as a learning center or even whole class games!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Multicultural Book Review - Valarie Budayr & Mia Wenjen
Grades
1 to 12In the Classroom
Find recommended books under several top menu headings. The site provides and solicits teacher-reviews of multicultural literature including but not limited to African-American, Asian-American Latino, Jewish Eskimo and Native American. Suggestion: Challenge students to write their own reviews for a multi cultural book they read and then publish it with images using Book Creator, reviewed here. If your students need a refresher for writing a book review use Writing With Writers, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Do Something.org - Do Something.org Team
Grades
7 to 12There are suggestions, resources, and support to empower young people and give them the energy to take action and make a difference. Whether their passion is to feed the homeless, end bullying, help even the playing field of educational inequalities, or many more needy causes, this website is chock full of easy to access information and strategies that encourage teenagers to decide for themselves how they can contribute their time and desire to make a difference.
In the Classroom
Do you believe that kids can change the world? What are you doing about that? If you have been thinking about involving your class in some type of community service and project based learning, but need some direction, DoSomething.org is a phenomenal place to "shop" around for ideas. Perhaps you may want to start by showing the film, Pay It Forward, or with a writing prompt, "If you were given time in school to come up with one idea that could be put into action right now by people your age that would make this school or this community a better place, what would it be and how would you put your plan into action?" Have students share ideas in small groups, then introduce them to DoSomething.org by projecting it on your classroom whiteboard or projector, viewing some of the short videos, and using the power of the internet to empower them to act now. Challenge students to collect Internet resources for their cause using Wakelet, reviewed here, where they can add a cover image, background, collaborate with others, and chose the layout they prefer. Next, enhance learning by asking your students to create an interactive infographic using Canva Infographic Maker, reviewed here, to explain their ideas about their cause and how they would put their plan into action. Club advisers, school counselors, and teachers of gifted can use the empowering resources of this site to inspire students to ACT.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Paper Rater - paperrater.com
Grades
6 to 12In the Classroom
Users must be able to find their document and copy and paste into the correct fields. Follow the easy directions to determine grammar errors and create a better document. Use without a login or sign up.Have students use Paper Rater to check their rough drafts. Have students work in pairs, as a peer review, to help each other improve their papers using the suggestions given by Paper Rater. Provide this link on your class website for students to access both in and out of the classroom.
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Starfall ABC's - Starfall Education
Grades
K to 1In the Classroom
Combine the explicit instruction provided on the site with phonemic awareness instruction in kindergarten or with ESL and ELL students for better letter-sound relationships. Allow students to use this site during center time for reiteration of the lesson or for areas in which they are struggling. Be sure to have students check out the sign language tab for enrichment to the traditional spoken alphabet. Add this link to your class website so students can use this outside of class.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Story Map - Read Write Think
Grades
1 to 8In the Classroom
Substitute paper and pencil story mapping by introducing your class to Story Map and writing a class story. Use an interactive whiteboard or projector and be sure to point out the prompts to answer with each organizer. Bookmark Story Map on class computers as part of stations when developing a writing project. Put a link to this tool on your website or blog for students to access at home.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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A Family Farm Album: The Photographs of Frank Sadorus - Illinois State Museum
Grades
3 to 12In the Classroom
This site is a good site to use if you want to introduce more primary sources into your teaching. There is an extensive activities and resource section that covers the topics of photography, history, farming and genealogy. In addition, the PDF entitled the Turning Point would be a good resource to use in a lesson on narrative writing. Share the photos in art (or photography) class on your projector or interactive whiteboard. Have students create blog entries from the perspective of Frank Sadorus. Use the pictures for creative writing exercises. Why not have a photo of the week and have students write a short piece on the class wiki about what they feel the picture represents, what is happening in the photo, what the animal or person was doing/thinking in the photo, or whatever else is applicable in your class. Do you want to learn more about wikis? Check out the TeachersFirst's Wiki Walk-Through.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Magazine Literacy - Magazine Publishers Family Literacy Project
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Click on "Ideas" for downloadable, personalized labels for magazines. Also at this link, you will find information on organizing a literacy campaign for the homeless in your area. Invole your student service organization -- or even your class- in a literacy campaign that can also help students within your own schools.Check back in September to learn new ideas on how teachers use magazines in their classrooms. October is Children's Magazine Month and "real" teachers' ideas are featured.
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Dramatizing History in Arthur Miller's The Crucible - National Endowment for the Humanities
Grades
9 to 12In the Classroom
While this site includes lesson plans for 10-12 days, it is easy to dip in and out of the activities, molding them to whatever it is you want to teach and the approach you want to take. It deals culturally with why Miller's plan "outdoes the historians" when making this history come alive as well as show the lessons in history as well as literature.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Vocabulary Word Lists for Academic Vocabulary - Gerry Luton
Grades
8 to 12In the Classroom
The interactive nature of this site makes it good way to involved students in their own learning. While it offers a purchase of the software used to create the list, you can use the exercises offered on the website for free. This is possible only if you use the list of words available on the site as sublists. Having students check their own work (the sentences offered are upper level, 8-12) frees you to work with individual students and allows all students to work at their own pace. You could also use selected lists (with credit, of course) as the basis for a student-generated class vocabulary wiki. Ask students to "define" the words creatively on the wiki and see what happens!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Frankenstein - Shmoop
Grades
9 to 12In the Classroom
This site includes standards, procedures, and extensions for studying Frankenstein as well as an intersting way to approach a trial for student discussion. Certainly worth a look for anyone who teaches this novel. The link to the "Penetrating the Secrets of Nature" site would be a great one to share on a projector or interactive whiteboard as an anticipatory set or activator as you start this novel unit.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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