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Proverbia.net - Vicent Jorda
Grades
3 to 12In the Classroom
Ask students to find three proverbs unknown to them and explain them visually on a PowerPoint slide (can easily be printed into a big book or poster). Feature a proverb a week in your classroom or on a bulletin board to build analogous thinking, cultural literacy, and inferencing skills as you ask students to explain what it means. This will gently ease your concrete thinkers into broader understanding.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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NationMaster - Luke Metcalfe
Grades
6 to 12In the Classroom
Provide this resource as a link on your teacher web page or in class for supporting data to be used in discussions or debates. In math classes, use the data to create and compare alternate graphical representations of real-world data. In geography classes, use the site tools to see correlations provided for many types of data. World language classes can study and compare the various nations that speak the language they are studying. If you are lucky enough to have an interactive whiteboard, highlight data and create graphs for comparisons on the board using the board tools and spreadsheet software, as well.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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CIA World Factbook - Central Intelligence Agency
Grades
6 to 12In the Classroom
Provide this resource as a link on your teacher web page or in class for supporting data to be used in discussions or debates. In math classes, use the data to create and compare graphical representations of real-world data. In geography classes, use the information to draw connections between physical features of a nation and its economy. World language classes can compare the various nations that speak the language they are studying.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Paper Toys - PaperToys.com
Grades
3 to 10In the Classroom
The paper folding activities would work well with cooperative learning groups. For example, during a unit on architecture or structures, have each group recreate a different monument or architectural design. Then teach about the various concepts of architecture by using the groups' models. Ask gifted/talented students to analyze how the paper fold-ups work then design a model of your school. Some of the options are purely entertainment oriented. You may want to print the paper patterns yourself instead of sending students to the site.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Radio Days: A Webquest - Tori Kenel
Grades
6 to 10In the Classroom
Although this was written for 6-8th graders, it is a lesson easily adaptable to older students. The list of resources is very good, and the kinds of embellishments you can make on the tasks are limitless. It is a great project for students to work on in small groups, allowing students of all abilities an opportunity for success.If you ever considered podcasting, this webquest is the perfect lead-in. Your social studies(or language arts) students will love actually producing their scripts for "broadcast" on the web. Bring the 1930s to life in your classroom!
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Newpapers in Education - Capital Newspapers
Grades
2 to 12In the Classroom
All of the lessons described here require online versions of newspapers, but you may be able to find any article in a hard copy newspaper as well. You could also use online newspapers from this resource to find online papers and conduct some of the same lessons. In the course of the discussion, or possible read the article from a different point of view, a topic of basic information literacy in the 21st century.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Bibme - team exibeans
Grades
6 to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
This is a great tool for students who are both learning to cite correctly and as a helpful tool for those who forget some of the "little" things that count when writing a bibliography. It offers a great example, too, of the difference between what is in a "Works Cited" page and what actually appears in the text as a citation. Teachers can use this on a Smartboard or simply through a computer lab or projector to demonstrate the correct way to cite as well as mistakes to avoid. Be sure to include the link on your teacher web page for students finishing reports in the wee hours of the morning on the due date. Set up a free account for yourself so you can "save" example bibliographies. If you assign independent projects to your gifted students (or any student), be sure to make Bibme part of your instructions so they learn to organize their sources early on. If students are allowed to set up individual accounts, this tool is worth the time! They must be 13 or have parent permission.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Mayflower History - Caleb Johnson
Grades
2 to 12In the Classroom
Only a visit to a far away museum could get any better than having the full-text primary sources which are available with a click on the left menu. Enhance student learning and bring the Mayflower experience to life with Fakebook, reviewed here. Have students set up fictitious Fakebook page and become one of the voyagers. Perhaps students could adopt a Mayflower 'ancestor' and write how they are alike or unlike by setting up two Fakebook pages. Around Thanksgiving, teachers may want to try some of the original recipes for an authentic Mayflower 'flavor' to their lesson plans.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Bulletin Board Hang Ups - TeachersFirst
Grades
2 to 12In the Classroom
They look great printed on brightly colored paper! As an opening day activity, challenge small groups of students to interpret the quote hanging closest to them and predict how it may be important in your course this year. For younger students, ask them to write a paraphrase or to illustrate the quote. Be sure to change the quotes periodically and give a prize to the first student who notices. Or give a pop-quiz during the last week of school, asking students to recall as many of the year's quotes as they can (working in small groups will probably help). If you have classroom blogs, ask students to choose and reflect on a specific quote and its relevance to your class throughout the past year.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Beacon Learning Center: Student Web Lessons - Beacon Learning Center
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
If you want ready-to-go lessons guaranteed to work well on your interactive whiteboard, this collection is a winner. You simply open the activity on the whiteboard and have students tap and drag their way through as you talk with the class. (Invite your most "active" student to be "Vanna White" for a great behavior management solution). Many lessons would work well on laptops or on a computer cluster center, as well.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Guide to British Life, Culture and Customs - Mandy Barrow
Grades
3 to 8In the Classroom
So many famous people and inventions are from Great Britain - J.K. Rowling, Shakespeare, the hovercraft vehicle, Darwin, Newton and countless others. If your class is learning about these famous people or inventions, use this website to further enhance their understanding of the people, inventions and culture of Great Britain.As you study about what unites cultures into communities and countries, ask your class what they would include if they made a similar site about the city, state, or country where you teach. Use a wiki to start just such a site, including digital pictures. You can always start out simple and make a guide to your school itself -- including playground etiquette and favorite foods.
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Panoramas.dk
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Use a projector--or better yet, an interactive whiteboard--to take students atop the Eiffel Tower, to the high Sierras, or aboard a Mars explorer. Allow student to navigate on the whiteboard. Nte that Shift and Ctrl keys alow you to zoom, as well. Be sure to click at the top of the 3D view to Read More about the image. These tours will make landforms real, culture come alive, and science a visual art form. As you introduce terms and place, use images! You could even use a tour as a writing prompt for poetry or descriptive writing. Include the link on your teacher web page for students to "tour the world" outside of class or feature one location a week to broaden class horizons on a classroom desktop.Comments
What a GREAT idea! Thank you. I found one with mountain biking and vistas. I'll put it up early in the period and come back to it in the end and have them write their exit cards about it. Then I will revisit it in a week or two when we start talking about metaphorical language.Shirley, CA, Grades: 6 - 12
I plan to use this as a way to start the school year with my sixth grade G/T kids. I will display a panorama on an interactive whiteboard-- one of mountains with peaks and valleys. I will ask, "Why would I show you this and say that this is our classroom this year?" The students will write down an idea on a slip of paper, guessing why I might use this as an introduction to my class. They will most likely introduce all of the classroom conduct and learning environment issues that I want to touch upon that first day: peaks and valleys during the year, some rugged terrain, studying mountains and geography, some amazing views (everyone's opinions), and more. It will also get them thinking in analogies and allow me to see how quickly some of them do this and how literal others are.Thinking, PA, Grades: 5 - 10
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Interactive World Map - Mr. Nussbaum
Grades
4 to 12In the Classroom
Use this scavenger hunt as a competitive activity on laptops or interactive whiteboard while reviewing world geography. If your require students to learn the world map, be sure to include this link on your teacher web page for review. As an extra challenge, ask students to compose their own questions that may or may not be answered within the information available here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Acceptance Speech by Doris Voitier - Doris Voitier/ John F. Kennedy Memorial Library Foundation
Grades
K to 12TeachersFirst is fortunate to have Doris Voitier as a member of the board of directors of our parent company and is proud to congratulate her on this prestigious award.
In the Classroom
Educators anywhere will respond to this account on a very personal level. In the classroom, however, this account can also spark discussion about the role of the government in natural disasters, the structure and functions of local government agencies, such as the schools, and the very nature of local economies. Share this real-life story as the beginning of a class discussion on history, government, or economics at the local, state, and federal level.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Protopage - Protopage
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
How would you use this in your teaching? Create a set of RSS feeds for current events or a specific curriculum topic such as weather and make them available for an in-class activity, complete with directions. World language, world cultures, or geography teachers can profile a location on the globe, complete with local weather and news. Make separate tabs for separate activities. Students can access them by password or publicly from outside of class, as well. For primary grades, make simple instructions right on the desktop for a computer center activity. Use color coding of the instructions to differentiate for different children (Sam, I want you to do the yellow one). If your school permits students to set up accounts on web services, have groups make Protopages on an assigned topic, collecting and organizing resources, images, and information: "A Protopage Guide to Cells" or "Shakespeare's Times." Gifted and highly-able students will go crazy!Skills needed: Join (free). Check out the Intro, Overview, and Quickstart to see how it works. Play to your heart's content, including making tabs. Learn about RSS feeds and other Widgets-- including sticky notes. Share the URL with those you wish to have use it. Note: this works on Internet Explorer 6 and higher and on Firefox. If your users are on older web browsers, the developers recommend upgrading. This may be a problem for some. Check with your end-user computers before you spend too much time making the perfect Protopage!
If you allow students to create their own Protopage, you will need to have very specific rules about content, since there are non-educational elements available.
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National Women's Hall of Fame - National Women's Hall of Fame
Grades
6 to 12In the Classroom
This site would be useful as a resource for teachers who assign "heroes" biographies, particularly during Women's History month. As a class activity, or in small groups, brainstorm a list of modern women, not included on this site, for a future nomination. Challenge students to research one of these modern women and write up nominations. Create the new biographies, using the same format as this site, by using a tool like Sway, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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NOVA--World in the Balance - PBS
Grades
6 to 12In the Classroom
Several excellent interactives might make a strong visual impact if used on an interactive whiteboard. There is an interactive quiz that might be a good discussion starter, and matching "game" that shows demographic trends in four contrasting countries: the US, Japan, Kenya and India. These interactives give impact to discussions of the global economy, world wide environmental changes and the balance of power between "developing" and "developed" countries. Put the population counter up on a projector as student enter the room to activate prior knowledge or provide an anticipatory set.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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American Bald Eagle Information - Hope Rutledge
Grades
3 to 12In the Classroom
Use this site as the starting point for individual and group projects. Save it on your desktop as a center or enrichment activity, especially during a unit on American symbols. Note that the images are strictly copyrighted (see the notice at the bottom).Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Renaissance: The Elizabethan World - Maggi Ros
Grades
4 to 12In the Classroom
Share this resource on your teacher web page for students to choose different research topics related to Elizabethan or Renaissance times. As you teach Shakespeare, bring up a daily "factoid," text snippet, or image on a projector to take students back in time before you start class.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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The History of Costume - Braun & Schneider
Grades
6 to 12The "History of Costume" was printed from 1861 to 1880 in Munich by the publishing firm of Braun and Schneider. It was originally published as individual plates in a German magazine. Later, these plates were collected and bound into book form. The total publication consisted of 125 pages, with four pictures per pages, for a total of 500 costume designs. These plates consisted of historical dress from antiquity to the end of the 19th century. This book is an excellent source for students who are studying the history of fashion and for costume designers. One must be aware though, that these illustrations have a Victorian perspective to their designs. The last 35 pages consist of contemporary folk dress (c.1880) from most European, Asian, and African countries. These provides a source for researching plays which take place during the Victorian period, such as "The King and I" or "The Sea Gull". The original book was published in German, so at times, the English translation is confusing. This is especially noticeable in the contemporary folk dress plates where many of the countries mentioned now have different names or no longer exist.
In the Classroom
Share some of the images on a projector as you read literature or study the cultures of these time periods. You should also make the link available as students create their own plays, presnetaions, or posters about people from history. FCS students could also use the images to help them plan advanced sewing projects.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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