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Payscale Cost of Living Calculator - Payscale, Inc.
Grades
7 to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Use this tool to determine how far a dollar goes in various locations. Allow students the opportunity to play with a standard salary and occupation to look at the differences in costs of living. Report on trends for cities in different areas of the country. Create a list locally of the various items that would be found in each category and the salary for that occupation where you live. Create a budget that allows for savings and vacation or large purchases. Use the data for practice with graphing and creating infographics. In government classes, use this tool and census data to make hypotheses or draw conclusions about patterns of population movement and economic trends in various areas of the country, especially in connection with political trends and election data.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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Kaseta - Dragontape Ltd. (Tamas and Peter Szakal)
Grades
5 to 12In the Classroom
In class, register and use this to provide a single link to multiple video clips you can use or assign for a single class period. Pull different sources together to create a more complete and informative video presentation for your students. Or have students create their own Dragontapes for online, multimedia collage projects. Great for any class, but especially great for music, drama, and art classes. Some other project ideas: juxtaposing politicians, critics, authors talking about writing, or anything you want to compare/contrast. Student organizations could create playlists of current music for a school dance, saving money on a DJ as long as the school has the proper sound equipment to amplify the playlist.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Embracing Research - Identifying Reference Resources - TeachersFirst
Grades
1 to 8In the Classroom
Mark this Help! guide in your Favorites for use and review when planning your next research project or whenever students need to "lookup" something. The resources and ideas will help every student be successful. Adapt for weaker readers by using resources or ideas from lower grades. Don't forget to look at other resources "tagged" research here on TeachersFirst.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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IDroo Online Educational Whiteboard - idroo.com
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
IDroo would be great for any online collaboration session with other classrooms, teachers, or virtual classroom visitors. Use this to tutor students virtually by setting up a time for online work sessions.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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DIY chart builder - CUI WEI
Grades
7 to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
You will want to play with this tool before using it in class. Use anywhere numerical data is collected and is best shown on a chart. Collect data in a science, survey, or math class and display it using different graphs to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using each graph type. Use for quick creation and sharing of created graphs. Create charts together easily on an interactive whiteboard when introducing the different types.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Eclipse Crossword Creator - Eclipse Crossword
Grades
1 to 12In the Classroom
Create puzzles for any subject or topic for review or introduction to new materials. Allow students to create puzzles for other students to solve. Add a puzzle to your classroom newsletter or blog to create interest. Share puzzles on your interactive whiteboard for students to solve together.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Digg.com - Digg Inc.
Grades
7 to 12In the Classroom
Try using Digg as a warm up Internet activity in the beginning of the school year by having older students sign up for their own account. Have them scan and read as part of current events teaching. The articles can be controversial which provides a great place to start debates. Are you beginning to integrate technology into your classroom? Use a tool such as WeJIT, reviewed here, or if you are a more experienced technology user try Virtual Debate, reviewed here, which has online examples and resources for conducting virtual debates, to formalize a debate topic. Digg also provides an excellent resource for research. Have students make a multimedia presentation using Genial.ly, reviewed here. Genial.ly allows you to add polls, videos, embeds, web links, PowerPoint, PDFs, and you can create a variety of formats like interactive posters, images, infographics, charts, presentations, and more.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Copyright free/Public domain images - Jen Presley
Grades
K to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
When looking for copyright free materials for use in projects or to place on websites, begin your search here. Be sure to keep a link to this site on your wiki, blog, or web page for students to use whenever they are working on a project.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Educreations - Educreations, Inc.
Grades
6 to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Use this resource to create homework help for students to peruse when they are stuck on their own trying to complete assignments. Create mini lessons for students to review or learn the material they may have missed. Consider allowing students to use your account to write a script and record mini lessons for use by other students. Even two recordings of the same lesson is valuable as information can be explained differently from more than one person. Be sure to include this link on your class website for students (and parents) to access at home.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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World Population Clock - Galen Huntington
Grades
6 to 12In the Classroom
Try using this website in science class during environmental science units on human population growth. Start the class by sharing this website on your interactive whiteboard (or projector) for students to see. Explain the concept of a population counter, and pause the clock. Have students copy down the number in their notes. Continue with class discussion and activities. With five or so minutes left in the class, bring the students back to the website and quickly unfreeze and re-freeze. Have students compute the change in population during their class. This site offers a real connection to the concept of population growth, easy for students to SEE.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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QR Treasure Hunt Generator - Classtools.net
Grades
4 to 12Note: QR code readers exist for every type of phone and are easily found on the Internet. For computers, add-ons exist for Firefox and Chrome as well as a desktop application from Adobe.
In the Classroom
Use to make any class content into a treasure hunt for knowledge. Keep students engaged by creating learning centers that have a question requiring an answer and perhaps another activity at the center before going on to the next. Have students learn and answer questions about mystery objects, art prints, or books/authors with accompanying QR codes. Identify trees by creating a QR code with a question about the tree and perhaps another link taking them to specific information. Create a scavenger hunt around the school asking questions about activities in the school or certain student projects found in showcases. (The first QR code could be printed in the school newsletter.) Create a treasure hunt with books in the library to test library search skills or to find a specific book and answer questions from the index, table of contents, etc. Use QR codes on objects in Geometry to ask questions about the shapes or solve a problem based on a physical object. Any subject area and content could find a use for this Treasure Hunt Generator. Challenge students to create their own QR treasure hunts as a way to "present" research projects. Use in social studies for the entire class to create a QR code hunt around your community to bring local history to life for all residents.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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SoundCloud - SoundCloud Ltd.
Grades
K to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Add the dimension of sound into your language arts classes with SoundCloud! Turn written stories or poetry into works of spoken art. Use SoundCloud recordings of places such as; the city, the forest, the beach, or a cafeteria to bring settings to life. Make and share audio writing prompts. Challenge students to create their own story using sounds. Add sound into projects such as webquests, PowerPoints, podcasts, or blogging to hear the results! Emphasize important messages to your parent or student emails using sound. What a practical solution for ENL/ELL learners. Record and share poetry readings during Poetry Month. Save quarterly recordings of speech articulation students s they can hear their own progress (and you can share it with parents). Check school policies, of course, before uploading any student recordings to the web. Instrumental music teachers can share clips of musical pieces for students to emulate during at-home practice.Edge Features:
Includes an education-only area for teachers and students
Parent permission advised before posting student work created using this tool
Includes Interaction w general public/ public galleries with unmoderated content
Includes social features, such as "friends," comments, ratings by others
Requires registration/log-in (WITH email)
Premium version (not free) includes additional features or storage
Products can be embedded
Products can be shared by URL
Multiple users can collaborate on the same project
Requires download/installation of software
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IndyKids - IndyKids
Grades
3 to 8In the Classroom
Share this site with students and have students choose an article to read, summarize, or expand upon. After reading articles on the site, have students choose a current topic that interests them and have them write an article as practice of informational writing. In science or social studies, study the newspaper format as students write articles reporting on scientific discoveries or famous people. Use the format of this newsletter as a resource for extending learning and creating and publishing your own classroom newsletter online. During newspapers in education month, use this site to find accessible articles for any age. Create a newspaper using a site such as Printing Press,reviewed here).Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Infographics Archive - Infographics Archive
Grades
7 to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Use as an introduction to a lesson or unit. Use Think-Pair-Share to list and share information provided by the graphic. Develop questions to be answered to understand the information or questions that they just wonder. Allow students or groups of students to choose an Infographic that interests them and report on the information given. Consider assigning the creation of an Infographic as an assignment to understand content and connect it with the real world, such as showing the many ways electricity is used in the world or the impact of slavery on an economy. Or have them explain an experiment and report the results with graphical information to provide meaning. Since infographics are often key to understanding an article, reading teachers will appreciate this large collection to use in teaching/practicing how to interpret informational graphics within a text. Share one each day for students to practice telling you the "main idea" of the graphic.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Wridea - Octeth Ltd.
Grades
4 to 12In the Classroom
Demonstrate the activity on an interactive whiteboard or projector, and then allow students to create their own Wridea tool. Use this site for literature activities, research projects, social studies, or science topics. Have students collaborate together (online) to create group study guides or review charts before a test. Have students use Wridea as a study guide by brainstorming all the important concepts they remember about the unit being studied in history or science, and then have them share their Wridea with another student who will add concepts that were left out. Build student creative fluency by having them use Wridea to create categories of wonder, question, and answers for research; map out a story or plot line, or map out a step-by-step process (life cycle); map a real historical event as a choose-your-own-adventure with alternate endings based on pivotal points.Comments
This resources looks like it has a wide variety of applications suitable to upper elementary and secondary classrooms. Sign up was quick and easy, but I received a message upon completing those steps that Wridea doesn't support Internet Explorer. It "suggested" using Mozilla Firefox instead. I'm a strong advocate for being comfortable with using several browsers, so, this doesn't throw up any huge roadblocks to me, but if you do not have or use Firefox, you will need to take that extra step as well before actually making use of this tool.Rita, WA, Grades: 6 - 12
Editor's Note: the review has been updated to reflect this new information.
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Tricider - tricider.com
Grades
3 to 12In the Classroom
Introduce Tricider on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Use this site to develop arguments sides for an upcoming debate or persuasive writing assignment. Promote higher level thinking by asking students to brainstorm options and set criteria to choose. Build mental flexibility as they see alternate points of view on an issue. Encourage your students to use this tool for projects, decision making, and organization.If you have students create book ads in your class, or projects, your students can vote on which book they want to read next or which project they would like to investigate further, etc. Teachers can also use Tricider to survey students about what resources on your website are the best, what further explanation they may need about a unit in math or science, which project students would like to do as a summative assessment, or ways to encourage "green" practices in your community. Be sure to have your students use a code or number instead of an actual name.
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Pinterest - Pinterest.com
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Use this site as a resource for finding printables and other items for classroom use. Create your own pinboards for organizing classroom resources found on the web. Create pinboards for students to view and/or add to as a whole class activity, such as "things that use energy," food groups, or groups of items for primary level vocabulary/practice (clothing items, farm animals, clock faces for telling time, etc.). Maybe even create "which one does not belong?" pinboards for PreK and early grades to view and change on an interactive whiteboard and repeat at home. In higher grades, make pinboards for different subjects or units where you collect videos, images, classroom blogs and websites, etc. Share your pinboards with students and parents by putting the link on your class website. Challenge your older students to create their own pinboards as a research project. Use Pinterest to show their hobbies/passions, wise quotes, recipes that fit a specific theme, art/lyrics, or a travel Itinerary. Follow other teachers using Pinterest to see items that they are adding and using in their classrooms. Add TeachersFirst to your pinboards! Note: Take a screenshot of something you find to upload to Pinterest!Edge Features:
Parent permission advised before posting student work created using this tool
Includes Interaction w general public/ public galleries with unmoderated content
Includes social features, such as "friends," comments, ratings by others
Requires registration/log-in (WITH email)
Products can be shared by URL
Multiple users can collaborate on the same project
Comments
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Smarthistory Art History Conversation - Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker with Khan Academy
Grades
3 to 12In the Classroom
A must for any art classroom, Smarthistory adds an extra dimension and deeper understanding to any history, social studies, or cultural studies classroom. Use the Smarthistory videos on YouTube to engage and enhance student learning. If the videos aren't viewable in class assign students to watch them at home; that's perfect for the flipped or blended classroom. If you are going to require students to watch the videos from home, consider using edupuzzle, reviewed here, to add your own voice or add questions within the video. Use in writing workshops to provide insights to art and culture and to into thoughts and feelings. Study written works alongside the art of past time periods. Bring unlimited, world-class resources to each class. Gifted classes will devour this website. Provide this link on your class website to offer students extra challenge and exploration.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Public Domain Pictures - Bobeck Ltd.
Grades
2 to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Share this website on your class web page so that students have easy and legal access to pictures for their projects and presentations. Of course, you will still require proper image credits! Be sure to offer clear instructions about how to download FOR FREE. In an art or photography class, have students post their work to get exposure and recognition for their great images. Read tips for safely managing email registrations here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Docs Teach - The National Archives
Grades
6 to 12In the Classroom
If you teach history or social studies, you know what a great emphasis is being placed on the use of primary documents in helping students develop an awareness of the perspectives of those who lived during a particular era. Use this site to develop sophisticated lessons using primary documents on US History with the activity builder. Use the ready-made activities (the majority of which are available once you've registered), on an interactive whiteboard or projector for the whole class or assign groups of students to work independently at a computer workstation or at home. These activities encourage higher order thinking among students rather than simply the memorization of facts.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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