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SoundCities - Stanza
Grades
4 to 12In the Classroom
Use SoundCities as a complement to information found on any map to give students another perspective of what it would be like to be in any city. Compare and contrast sounds from any included city to what is found in your community. Talk about what development does to noise and sound. Ask students to create a list of sounds found in your community (or school) that could be included in the site. During a unit on sound, talk about the ways communities handle excessive sound, applying principles of sound waves and sound transmission. In world language classes, use this site to "hear" the culture in far off cities. Allow students to create similar projects using Zeemaps, reviewed here. This tool allows students to create audio recordings AND choose a location (on a map). Students could also use Google Earth, reviewed here.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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Newsola - Nick Nicholaou
Grades
6 to 12In the Classroom
Use this site to select current events for the day. Follow the same news thread for a period of time to look at changes and possible reasons for the change in the news. Be sure to check news stories from other countries for a different viewpoint on issues. Create a class discussion for the differences in viewpoints. Challenge cooperative learning groups to explore ONE of the subtopics (Showbiz, World, Finance, etc..) and present the highlights to the class. Have students make a multimedia presentation using one of the many TeachersFirst Edge tools reviewed here.Comments
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UnShortenMe - Unshort.me
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Use this to access sites especially those shared with your PLN through RSS or Twitter. Many times, the original link is not blocked but the shortened URL is because of the shortener service's URL. Save this tool in your favorites to access when needed.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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My PBLWorks - Buck Institute for Education
Grades
3 to 12In the Classroom
There are a variety of projects presented at different grade levels. Don't hesitate to look at one that seems beyond or below your grade level. They are easily adaptable. For instance, the one by Biz World created for third through fifth grade students to experience entrepreneurship can easily be adapted to a product that high school students might be interested in such as earrings, designing a class ring, or a video explaining how to conquer levels in a video game.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Desktop QR code reader - DANSL
Grades
K to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
The use of QR codes in the classroom is limitless. Set up student computers with a QR desktop code reader, and it is easily assessable by all students young or old. Share this link on your website so families can download the QR reader onto home computers. Create QR codes for assignments for directions, rubric information, editing instructions, or the places in which to find resources. For a model, create QR codes to describe any part of the model. Create a QR code to go home on student planners reminding them about homework. Place outside your classroom door to describe your classroom. Add another QR code to tell your schedule, or learning goals. Send home audio announcements of special events to your families. When students are absent, create podcasts of missed class discussions, shared on a QR code. For study guides, provide a QR code with answers so students can self -check. Create a living history museum with in-depth explanations in QR codes. For vocabulary words in English or any other language, provide correct pronunciations and definitions of each word. Have student create QR codes as study guides or a way to present information. Create a problem solving page which is completed by each student. Using a QR code, scan to self check. QR codes can be used everywhere!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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ClassTools - Russel Tarr
Grades
K to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
The possibilities abound in nearly any subject area. Be sure to check out all of the free templates to use. Use the many tools yourself or have your students create a Fakebook page or use the Z (still called Tweet) Generator to present information in any subject area. Create a Fakebook page about a famous historical person or government figure in social studies or science class. Share the Burger Diagram for writing essays. Use the Arcade Game Maker to create practice activities for students who need the extra help. Create a random word generator with vocabulary from a science or social studies unit to review before testing. Allow students to create Venn diagrams to be posted on the class website using information from current lessons. Use an online tool such as Interactive Two Circle Venn Diagram, reviewed here. Save this site in your Favorites on your teacher computer! Use the embed code or URL created when saving your project to include with other items such as maps, videos, and images within class presentations made using Sway, reviewed here or Adobe Creative Cloud Express for Education, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Wright Brothers - Vocabulary University
Grades
3 to 12In the Classroom
This is a perfect addition to a lesson about the Wright brothers or a science unit about aviation (physics and more). Share the puzzles on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Provide the link on your class website for students to explore at home.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Infographic Visual Resumes (A Pinterest Pinboard) - Randy Krum
Grades
6 to 12In the Classroom
Share this visual collection with students as an example of one way they can portray their strengths and interests to potential employers or college admissions offices. Don't wait until they are seniors, however. Middle school students in an art or career exploration class can create a resume infographic about themselves to use for summer jobs or even on a flyer to get part time work around the neighborhood. Not creative? Allow students to explore the "resumes" to learn more about digital careers and the credentials they require. In high school art classes, have students explore the hot topics in digital design by checking out the resumes. In history or literature classes, offer the infographic resume as a possible project alternative for students for literature study or researching a figure in history. They could create an infographic resume for their figure, literary character, or author. These examples can inspire them.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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Mail Chimp - Ben Chestnut
Grades
K to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
This is a great resource for schools and classrooms to manage newsletters. Your class can generate a monthly newsletter or create newspapers from a period in time and share them with parents, school principals, and the school community. Share this site with the person responsible for creating and sharing content at your school. Send a nice end of the year message of thanks to parents with links for summer activities and even a year-end online slideshow. Send an informative beginning of the year newsletter with classroom information and introducing yourself to parents. Send out departmental information to parents through the group feature of MailChimp specifically to those involved. Use the merge feature to make emails personal. How much nicer would it be for parents to see news addressed to Dear Mr. & Mrs. Jones, as opposed to Dear Parent(s)? School counselors can share information about college and career fairs, important deadlines, and more using Mail Chimp.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Common Curriculum Planner - CommonCurriculum.com
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Use CommonCurriculum for all of your lesson planning. Copy and paste current lesson plans into the site to view standards that match your lessons. Share public areas such as homework with parents through the email option provided in the site. Use this site to align your lessons to the Common Core standards.Comments
Excellent planning tool. It helps organize my plans and share them with students. I can link to my files in Dropbox and then share those links with students -- no more uploading! Also, I can do long range planning easily. When I reorder my units, my lessons are automatically shifted around on the calendar. It's magic.Scott, , Grades: 1 - 2
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CPalms - Standards Based Resource Information - Florida Department of Education
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Bookmark and save this site for use throughout the school year when searching for resources for any topic. Share with other staff members as a teaching resource.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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AirPano - AirPano.com
Grades
3 to 12In the Classroom
Bookmark and save this site for use when discussing well-known places around the world. View 3D panoramic images on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Take your students to Moscow, Paris, Vietnam, the Grand Canyon, on a hot air balloon, or many other options. This tool could be useful in science, social studies, and current event classes. Share these panoramas with world language and world cultures classes and when literature settings include some of these famous sites. Have students give a class tour, explaining as they navigate on an interactive whiteboard or projector. Use the embed function to embed panoramas on your website or blog for student use at home. Share this site with students to use for research projects.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Surging Seas: Sea Level Risk Finder - Cimate Central
Grades
6 to 12In the Classroom
Use this tool to discuss how climate change is affecting sea level, as well as other weather events that have been in the news. Be sure to talk about energy and how it is produced and why all combustion reactions produce carbon dioxide. Research the composition of the atmosphere and why changes in certain gases can cause such a problem. Be sure to have students check out the validity of different sources and sites for accuracy and statistics and data that backs up the viewpoint. Rather than scare students, discuss ways that everyone in the world can create a greener Earth for tomorrow. Challenge students to research and then create multimedia presentation using one of the many TeachersFirst Edge tools reviewed here. Some tool suggestions are (click on the tool name to access the review): Adobe Creative Cloud Express for Education, Vevox, Animatron, Renderforest, and Presentious.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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Pandora - Pandora Media, Inc.
Grades
K to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
In music classes, use Pandora to open discussion about elements and styles of music. Play a channel long enough for students to hear a few selections, then ask them to figure out what the different songs have in common, perhaps besides an artist. Why does the work of another artist show in the same "channel"? While studying lyrics as poetry in an English/Language Arts class, compare lyrics of songs from the same channel. How are they similar? What other song lyrics might you add to this channel?Use a Pandora channel as background during a discussion of certain decades of the 20th century or have students find/create channels that represent an era such as the Civil War period. Have them explain their "mix" and why it is representative. Play a Pandora channel as a writing prompt or during art activities to promote creative expression. During a unit on how to study, be sure to offer Pandora as a customizable way for students to create an auditory "study environment." World language teachers can find artists whose lyrics use the language they are teaching to build listening skills. Elementary teachers and ESL/ELL teachers can use channels with children's songs for vocabulary or other class activities.
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