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Spelling Bee - Interactives - Annenberg Media
Grades
1 to 12In the Classroom
What a fabulous language arts resource - integrating reading, listening, and spelling skills. Project the stories on an interactive whiteboard or screen and have students take turns reading the story aloud to the class. Then have the students record their spelling words at their seats. Once you have gone through the entire short story, ask students to share how they spelled each word. Take a class poll to determine the correct spelling and have students take turns typing the "winning" word into the blank space. Or have teams take turns at the interactive whiteboard, trying to get the best possible score and "defeat" the other groups' scores. You will see some arguments, no doubt!You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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Spelling Bees - Arcademics
Grades
2 to 4In the Classroom
Use Spelling Bee as an entertaining way to practice spelling on your interactive whiteboard or classroom computers. This site could be used with all levels and types of students: ESL/ELL, gifted, learning support, and others. Any student needing to practice spelling skills can benefit from this site. Allow students to create private games and compete against friends. Challenge students to increase the number of words spelled and improve accuracy. Unfortunately, you cannot enter your own word lists.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Spezify (beta) - Spezify
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Use Spezify on an interactive whiteboard or projector as you introduce a new topic in science or social studies or when the class asks "What is ____?" . With very young students or non-readers, use Spezify to help them find information they can understand and to inspire them to try to read some of the short text excerpts alongside the images. Activate students' prior knowledge as they recognize the images and remark, "I didn't know Edison was the one who invented that!" Visually show the "big picture" on any topic. As you teach research skills, try a comparison of Spezify results with Google results for both functionality of the search engine and reputability of the results. NOTE: Preview any search terms you plan to display in class if the terms could possibly bring up inappropriate images. You may need to adjust your terms. Of course your students know what they are supposed to do if something inappropriate comes up when using a search themselves, right? If you have not discussed this, now is the time!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Spiral - The Social Learning Network
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Spiral is a terrific set of tools to use whether you are just starting to incorporate tech with students or if you are a long time user of tech with students. After creating an account, start out simply with Quickfire. Students must create an account (no email required) and select their school. Teachers must approve students to join a class. You can also download Spiral's spreadsheet, fill it out, and upload it. You could also use Quickfire for back-channel discussions which encourages timid students to participate.Edge Features:
Includes an education-only area for teachers and students
Parent permission advised before posting student work created using this tool
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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Spreaker - Spreaker Online Radio
Grades
1 to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Enjoy a live radio show from your classroom! Publish written pieces of writing, science reports, social studies reports, and any other reports you would like to share. Create a New Book or Book Review podcast for the media center. Link to your podcast URL on your class website. Publish directions to projects, explanations for difficult concepts, or even a radio show of you reading your favorite books for your students. Have upper elementary students take turns reading aloud for a podcast aimed at little reading buddies in kindergarten. Allow students to podcast to "pen pals" in faraway places. Record your school choir, orchestra group, poetry club, or drama club doing their best work or dramatic readings of Shakespeare soliloquies. Take your school newspaper to a new level with recorded radio articles. Be sure to include interviews with students, teachers, principals, parents, authors, artists, and almost anyone. In younger grades, use to save an audio portfolio of reading fluency, expression, or to aid with running records or even include writing. Be sure do this regularly throughout the year to analyze growth. Have fun at Halloween with your Halloween station filled with favorite spooky stories! Welcome your students to a new school year by sending them your message. Create messages for classmates who move away. Bring your foreign language classes an extra resource of your pronunciations whenever they need more practice. ESL/ELL, special education classes can often benefit from the extra explanations, practice, and elaborated instructions given at their own pace. The possibilities are endless! The site itself is a "web 2.0," social networking style site, so some schools may have it blocked. Ask about unblocking just YOUR teacher account so you can have students access it while at school and under your supervision.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)
Premium version (not free) includes additional features or storage
Products can be embedded
Products can be shared by URL
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Springboard - Parul Gupta and Gautam Tambay
Grades
8 to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Share Springboard with your gifted students as a resource for finding enrichment resources or content not taught by your school. Search for and share free courses for all students to use for review of any topic. Use the Springboard search engine to find professional development courses for your own personal use.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Squirt - Squirt io
Grades
2 to 12In the Classroom
Want to take away the distractions of advertising or annoying graphics on a page? Use Squirt to only look at one word at a time. Squirt can also help struggling readers to practice their speed and accuracy rate. Squirt aids readers who may have problems with tracking. Use as an example of speed reading versus comprehension. Discuss the difference between reading with and without illustrations, tables, pictures, and the difference they make to comprehension. Use as a way to challenge students for reward certificates or extra computer time using an interactive they love. Use Squirt yourself, to get caught up on articles you need to read.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Sqworl - Caleb Brown
Grades
K to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
In the classroom use this site to combine url's of online class projects into one group. Create a group of resources for students or parents for different subjects and share the url through your classroom website or newsletter. Create a group with videos relating to classroom content. Create a classroom account and let students add resources they have found to groups to share with others. Show students how to follow other groups on Sqworl and share resources by creating their own groups. Share this site with others in your building or district as an easy way to save and share online resources.Edge Features:
Parent permission advised before posting student work created using this tool
Includes Interaction w general public/ public galleries with unmoderated content
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
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StackExchange - English Language & Usage - StackExchange
Grades
8 to 12In the Classroom
Explore this site with students using an interactive whiteboard or projector. Sometimes students ask a question that stumps you. Use StackExchange English & Usage to get the answer. There are times when we know the approximate meaning of a word we want to use but not the word. That is when this tool will come in handy. ESL/ELL students will find this site helpful when it comes to understanding the idiosyncrasies of the English language. Put a link to this site on your class website for students and parents to use. Share with other staff members and teachers on your campus.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Starfall - Starfall Education
Grades
K to 3This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
This website could be used for an entire class using your interactive whiteboard or projector. You could also set up a learning center for use during your L.A. block. Use this site to differentiate reading levels for your students. Be certain to save this site in your class favorites and list this site on your class website for students to access both in and out of the classroom.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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Story Jumper - storyjumper.com
Grades
2 to 8In the Classroom
Although the sentences and graphics available appear juvenile, the fact that writers can delete the text and add their own original text, photos, and drawings makes this site flexible enough to use with older students, as well. This activity would work well for individual or pairs of students in a lab or on laptops. Ask your students to visit the site and create an online book with their original writings, drawings, and photos. ENL and ELL students will be able to use the site easily, and will learn appropriate sentence structure and add to their vocabulary by selecting new items to put into the graphic. Older students can also create "little buddy" books for younger students to read and share.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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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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Story Shares - Louise Baigelman and Gary Herman
Grades
6 to 12In the Classroom
Introduce this site to your reluctant or struggling readers on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Then have students explore this site independently or in small groups to find interesting reading material. Be sure to provide a link to Story Shares on your class website or blog for students to explore at home. Use this site to differentiate for students of all levels and for use with special education or ENL/ESL students. Have students write their own comprehension questions and answers based on the book to check their own comprehension and to exchange with classmates.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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StoryCorps - Dave Isay
Grades
4 to 12In the Classroom
Grandparent's day is in September. What better gift to a grandparent than to be able to spend time with their grandchild and tell them a story about an important time in their lives? Of course, you'll want to prepare students with some interviewing skills and questions before they interview their grandparents, and show them how to record the interview with some type of recorder (tape recorder, cell phone, video camera, etc). This recording can then be submitted to StoryCorps and it will then reside at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. Students can also interview parents about their first memories of school, and what they remember about the grade that the student is currently in. Share these interviews during the first week or month of the school year. Not only can these interviews be submitted to StoryCorp, but students could then do a write up of their interviews and publish them in a classroom book of memories. Have students create online books to share with the class about their interview. Use a tool such as Bookemon, reviewed here. Or have students narrate a photo of the person they interviewed using a site such as ThingLink, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Storynory: Kids Audio Stories - Blog Relations: Matthew Lynn and Hugh Fraser
Grades
K to 5In the Classroom
Beginning readers will enjoy this site as much as more capable readers, listening intently to the high quality presentation. Share this site with parents in your class newsletter or from your teacher web page. Use it also when you read Alice in Wonderland, and when you teach the concept of "series" stories (try the "Bertie" stories). ENL/ ELL and learning support students will benefit from reading and hearingstories at the same time. Project the story on an interactive whiteboard or projector with small groups of readers so students can follow along and even highlight words during the audio reading.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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StoryToolz - Chuck Heintzelman
Grades
2 to 12In the Classroom
Enhance and modify student writing by having them use StoryToolz. First, share it with students with a projector in your writing class to generate ideas for stories, possible centers of conflict to map out the new tale, and show them how to use the tool. Use the readability section with any writing to determine appropriateness for use with students. Have students paste their writing in the readability section to determine if their writing is at an appropriate grade level or to note information such as words per sentence or use of various parts of speech. Paste into the cliche buster to point out ho-hum wording and overused expressions. Suddenly, students may begin to write more complex sentences or use more vivid language. Be sure to include a link to this site on your class webpage and classroom computers for use throughout the year. The readability portion of the site is a great resource for ESL/ELL and Special Education teachers to help determine the appropriateness of reading materials.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Study English - Australia Network
Grades
4 to 12In the Classroom
Use this site with ESL/ELL learners as designed. Share the lessons on your interactive whiteboard or projector. If individual computers are available, have students view the lessons independently (with headsets) and create multimedia projects to demonstrate what they have learned. Have students create an interactive online poster using Genial.ly, reviewed here. Better yet, if students get used to the video and exercise formats, have them produce similar videos teaching a few lessons about their home cultures! Share the videos using a tool such as SchoolTube, reviewed here.Special ed teachers and those seeking combination video/text lessons to use to teach listening/reading comprehension may find these lessons valuable, as well.
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Study Ladder - Study Ladder
Grades
K to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
This site is perfect for use with interactive whiteboards, download and use activities to supplement current classroom curriculum. Create an account and set up student accounts for students to use on classroom or computer lab computers. Take advantage of the progress reports to track and monitor student progress within the site.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Study Skills Resources - TeachersFirst
Grades
3 to 12In the Classroom
Make learning how to learn part of your class routine at any grade level and in any subject. Feature one or more new study strategy each month and share this entire list as a link from your class web page for students and parents to access both in and out of school.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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