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E.ggTimer.com - David LeMieux and Ben Lew
Grades
K to 12
5 Favorites
0 Comments
This site provides an online FULL-SCREEN timer. Set the online timer to count down from any number. Simply type in the exact amount of time that you want to countdown ...more
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This site provides an online FULL-SCREEN timer. Set the online timer to count down from any number. Simply type in the exact amount of time that you want to countdown into the white text box. You can count by seconds, minutes, hours, days, or even years!
In the Classroom
What a fabulous alternative to a traditional egg timer. Project the time on an interactive whiteboard or with a projector while students take a test, solve a drag and drop, practice speeches, rotate between learning centers, or during cooperative learning groups. Be sure to turn up the volume for the "time's-up" alert! As you teach basic concepts of time in primary grades, use this timer for students to understand the real concepts of one minute or ten seconds. Show the relationships between minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, etc. You can even use it to teach counting backward from 60!You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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Mathematical Fiction - Alex Kasman
Grades
K to 12
4 Favorites
0 Comments
This site provides countless books, films, plays, and television shows that all relate to specific math concepts. What a fabulous way to integrate math, language arts, history, and...more
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This site provides countless books, films, plays, and television shows that all relate to specific math concepts. What a fabulous way to integrate math, language arts, history, and more! The site includes the title, year, and brief description. Teachers can browse by genre, medium, motif, and/or topic. Media include everything from comic books to plays to television series. Genres include historical fiction, children's literature, adventure/espionage, fantasy, science fiction, and more. Sixty-three fiction offerings are even available FREE (in their entirety) online! The site is still developing and frequently adds additional fiction titles. Students who enjoy fantasy will also enjoy choosing books from this site, since the author admits that not all math mentioned in all the books is "real" math!! The site allows teachers to search by keyword and also to browse new offerings in the compilation of titles.
In the Classroom
Use this site to find extra reading choices for reluctant readers who are interested in technology and math. Use it also to show students that math processes are inherent in a lot of life's experiences. Search the site for your current math topics. Share this link on your class website for students (and parents) to use at home. Share it with your school librarian for a featured reading shelf. Challenge your more verbal/linguistic gifted students to write similar stories that feature a math concept and create an online book using a tool such as Bookemon, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Neil Gaiman's Mouse Circus - HarperCollins
Grades
4 to 10
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Not only did Neil Gaiman's book Coraline become a movie in 2009, but his book The Graveyard Book, won the Newbery Medal at the same time. Explore the world of ...more
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Not only did Neil Gaiman's book Coraline become a movie in 2009, but his book The Graveyard Book, won the Newbery Medal at the same time. Explore the world of Nobody Owens, the main character in The Graveyard Book. But, if you want to know more about Nobody's creator, definitely explore this site. Listen to Neil read from his award-winning book. Read interviews to learn more about this fascinating man. Print posters, enjoy wallpapers, and play games based upon Gaiman's work. Enjoy video and audio of his books by clicking on "Extras."
In the Classroom
If you are doing an author study, this site is loaded with information about this award-winning author. Compare the movie version of Coraline with the book using Venn Diagrams. Why not try online Venn Diagrams, using a site such as "Interactive Two Circle Venn Diagrams," reviewed here. Compare and contrast this Newbery book with other recent Newbery books. Print posters of his books for an eerie Gaiman bulletin board at Halloween. Use an online poster creator, such as Padlet, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Diffen - Diffen
Grades
2 to 12
1 Favorites
0 Comments
Do you sometimes just want to compare two things and not need a lengthy explanation of either? Diffen offers the simple goal of entering two terms and instantly receiving the ...more
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Do you sometimes just want to compare two things and not need a lengthy explanation of either? Diffen offers the simple goal of entering two terms and instantly receiving the similarities and differences in a table format. View simple definitions under the information table. Need more information? Wikipedia style entries of information area also available on the page. There is a Top 5 list. At the time of this review, the Top 5 included "Gross vs. Net," "Affected vs. Effected," "Meiosis vs. Mitosis," "DNA vs. RNA," and "Fruit vs. Vegetable. While not ALL topics are included, the variety is impressive. You can add your own comparison of terms to the list. You may want to discuss with your class the fact that the information here is only as reliable as the people who submitted it, and ask them whether they agree with the comparisons you find here. NOTE: If you explore some of the ready-mades or requested topics, there are some topics "compared" that are not school oriented, such as comparisons of popular television characters. Preview before turning students loose or simply direct them to a specific "diffen."
In the Classroom
The options are endless. Search the differences between two types of soils, mitosis and meiosis, presidents or those running for office, of geometric figures, artists or musicians, places to visit. As a way to build higher order thinking skills, this site is ideal, since comparison of attributes requires analysis.Try creating some lists of your own as a class after using the ready-made ones here. This activity would be easy to do on an interactive whiteboard, with students hand writing the characteristics and dragging them into Similarities and Differences columns before entering them into Diffen. This site could be used in nearly every subject area. Share this site on your class blog or website, for students to access both in and out of the classroom. This is definitely one to save in your favorites.
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Spezify (beta) - Spezify
Grades
K to 12
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0 Comments
Get an overview of any web search visually using Spezify. Spezify is a search engine that provides both visual and verbal results for the search terms you enter. It pulls ...more
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Get an overview of any web search visually using Spezify. Spezify is a search engine that provides both visual and verbal results for the search terms you enter. It pulls in images from Flickr and anywhere on the web as well as print excerpts, and (coming soon) video. Click on the image or text box you wish to read just as you click on text in search results lists. Visually display the "big picture" on any topic. Searching "edison inventions" brings up pictures and articles for visual learners, ELL/ESL students, or non-readers to get the gist of the topic at a quick glance. Spezify also suggests possible additional search terms and related topics across the top of the page as white text within the narrow black stripe. If you click the plus sign (+) next to one of these terms, it will add that term to your search, narrowing the results. If you click on the word itself, Spezify will search that term instead (not adding it to your previous search). There does not appear to be any specific ranking (as Google has) or sorting of the results by reputation, popularity, etc. No "about" information is provided to explain how Spezify determines which results show first. The tool is still in beta and provides a way for you to provide feedback, as well. NOTE: as with any online image search, you should be careful what you enter as search terms, since Spezify will pull up images without any "filter."
In 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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July 4th Vocabulary - Myvocabulary.com
Grades
3 to 9
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As part of their extensive site for vocabulary, roots, and more, MyVocabulary.com has added a themed area for the 4th of July. Find interactive vocabulary activities using July 4th...more
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As part of their extensive site for vocabulary, roots, and more, MyVocabulary.com has added a themed area for the 4th of July. Find interactive vocabulary activities using July 4th vocabulary words. You will also find printable crosswords, fill in the blanks and more, all using the same theme words. This and other "themes" available on the site will make vocabulary development fun.
In the Classroom
Share the puzzles on your interactive whiteboard or projector or make them available as links on your teacher public page. Have students (or groups) create their own illustrated dictionaries of terms using a tool such as Bookemon, reviewed here. As you add more vocabulary lists during the year, have them select their favorite 6-10 terms from each list to add to their "book."Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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This I Believe, Inc. - Jay Allison, NPR, et. al.
Grades
7 to 12
6 Favorites
0 Comments
This site offers essay-writing tips, podcasts, and more. Useful across a wide array of humanities topics, including English, social studies, art, music, religion, and speech, this site...more
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This site offers essay-writing tips, podcasts, and more. Useful across a wide array of humanities topics, including English, social studies, art, music, religion, and speech, this site is an inspiration to students and can serve as an essay starter, a discussion starter, or contemporary information about politics, economics, and the world. On its home page it states that this is "an international project engaging people in writing, sharing, and discussing the core values that guide their daily lives." There are essays from the 1950's when the first incarnation of this idea was heard on the radio from famed journalist Edward R. Murrow. There are essays from those who are famous and those you never heard of.
All of the essays are short--usually no more than 400 words. You can hear some of them as they were first broadcast on NPR, and there is a general podcast you can play which defines the site. Anyone can submit their own "This I Believe" essay as long as it follows the guidelines given, and they include essay-writing tips and advanced essay searches to assist anyone interested.
The site includes special features which deal with specific topics and there are ideas for educators, students, and community leaders. The printable curricula require Adobe Acrobat. You can get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.
In the Classroom
Searching the "For Educators" page gives you a wide variety of ideas for using this site and these essays. Since students enjoy using first person point of view in their writing, this might be an inspiration for some. You can use some of these essays as conversation starters on topics you are studying in class. (Example: Penn Jillette wrote his essay stating that he believes there is no god. This could be related to many books studied, such as 1984 or Brave New World.) Have students write their essays as blog entries or record them as podcasts using a tool such as Podomatic, reviewed here, or as an illustrated essay using ThingLink, reviewed here. Spanish teachers will want to explore the options to listen to or write essays in Spanish, as well.
This resource requires PDF reader software like Adobe Acrobat.
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Writing for Business and Pleasure - Stephen Wilbers
Grades
7 to 12
2 Favorites
0 Comments
While this is a commercial site that does sell email courses and email columns, there is quite a bit of useful "free" information on this site. Combing through this site ...more
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While this is a commercial site that does sell email courses and email columns, there is quite a bit of useful "free" information on this site. Combing through this site gives some good ideas on helping students find errors often missed with subject/verb agreement, misplaced modifiers, pronoun/antecedent agreement, and word choice. There are two 30-second writing exercises that are updated weekly as well as several "challenges" for grammar, proofreading, punctuation, and word choice that are good practice with students and could be used regularly for review.
In the Classroom
Share this site on your interactive whiteboard or projector. These challenges are interactive, so students can test themselves. This might also be good for extra credit points for those students who are a little more advanced as writers. Challenge students to create their own writing exercise quizzes and share them on a class wiki. Not sure what a wiki is? Check out the TeachersFirst's Wiki Walk-Through.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Reading Suggestions - TeachersFirst
Grades
K to 12
8 Favorites
0 Comments
This site, created by our teacher-editors, offers a reading list for students in all grades. Simply click on the grade level that you wish to explore and a book list ...more
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This site, created by our teacher-editors, offers a reading list for students in all grades. Simply click on the grade level that you wish to explore and a book list will be provided. Most books offer a short description and some link to other titles by the same author. New titles are added frequently, so be sure to check back.
In the Classroom
Save this site in your classroom computers' favorites, so students can easily access the site to find new books to read! Share this link on your class website. This is an excellent resource to provide for summer reading.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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A Way With Words - A Way with Words & Wayword LLC
Grades
7 to 12
1 Favorites
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If you are looking for podcasts to lure your students to the study of language and words, this is a great site to investigate. A Way with Words is an ...more
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If you are looking for podcasts to lure your students to the study of language and words, this is a great site to investigate. A Way with Words is an hour-long radio show on PBS, currently hosted by Martha Barnett and Grant Barrett. The show features lively discussions about "slang, grammar, old sayings, word origins, regional dialects, family expressions, and speaking and writing well." Listening to any of the old shows is entertaining as well as informative. The topics are listed on the home page along with summaries. Get more programs by clicking on "Get the podcast" in the right-hand menu. They are appealing, with provocative titles such as "What the Cluck?," "Elvis in a Cheese Sandwich," and "Coinkydinks and Big Boxes." There are full hour podcasts and mini-podcasts.
In the Classroom
Plug in your students to get discussion started about any relevant-to-your-class topic. Students increasingly want to listen through headphones; let them enjoy these entertaining and informative podcasts on language, then use class questions posted on an interactive whiteboard or projector to generate full-class discussion. Language never sounded so good! Have students create similar projects in cooperative learning groups. How about podcasts using a site such as podOmatic, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Arcademic Skill Builders - Arcademics
Grades
1 to 9
2 Favorites
0 Comments
Looking for engaging interactives for math, language arts, geography, and even more? Look no further than this colorful site. These activities are great ways to build skills and work...more
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Looking for engaging interactives for math, language arts, geography, and even more? Look no further than this colorful site. These activities are great ways to build skills and work on math and language arts concepts for all students. The activities are divided into multi-player and single-player games in such categories as "Addition and Subtraction," "Multiplication and Division," and "Fraction and Ratios." There are also language arts interactives! After signing up, enroll your students in the Free membership, assign games, and keep track of student progress. Arcademics uses HTML5, so you can use any device with a web browser. Find apps for Android and iOS, too. HTML5 allows students to play together from any device, anywhere; this means students can play some of the games with classes around the world. Talk about collaboration! Need help? See the step by step instructions for troubleshooting available at the FAQ link. Access information for grade levels, subjects, and more across the top of the website. To choose a game, roll your mouse over it to see its title, then click. Read the quick introduction to understand the activity. Provide direction in whether students should enter a player name or use the randomly generated name from the site. Choose to play a new game or join an existing game. Create a private game if you wish, which requires password creation. No email address or personal information is required for these excellent practice activities. There is a subscription (at a cost) offer for this site. This review is for the free portion of this resource "The free Arcademics Basic includes student powerups and achieivements, but no data analysis."
This site includes advertising.
This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Use these games for individual practice for students who need extra help. The instant feedback provides great learning opportunities for students and builds confidence. Group students in multi-player games that is engaging and interactive. Focus on students' honing skills, building confidence and working together as a group of learners. Use these activities with an interactive whiteboard or projector to elicit large group participation or when computers are limited. Provide this link on your class website, for students to access both in and out of the classroom. The instant feedback for students and keeping track of student progress makes Arcademic Skill Builders perfect for remote learning or the blended classroom! Extend student learning by having students use Flip, reviewed here, to ask clarification questions and to reflect on their learning. Require students to comment on their peers questions and reflections.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Padlet - Padlet
Grades
2 to 12
13 Favorites
0 Comments
Padlet offers many tools and resources for creating online bulletin boards to display and organize information on any topic. Create a new board from scratch or choose from many templates,...more
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Padlet offers many tools and resources for creating online bulletin boards to display and organize information on any topic. Create a new board from scratch or choose from many templates, including timelines, maps, storyboards, KWL boards, and many more options. Padlet also offers AI features to use as a tool to automatically create interactive activities and custom boards based on topic, grade level, and additional details such as standards or teaching objectives. Customize the appearance and format of your Padlets using options such as allowing comments on posts, moderating posts and comments before they are publicly posted, and sorting options for easier viewing. When adding posts, you can add links, images, videos, documents, polls, and more. This is a link to Padlet's Help section for posting video or an image. Free accounts allow you to make 3 Padlets that include search, themes, stats, premium wallpapers, and cross-device support for uploaded videos. You can always delete an old Padlet to create a new one. Find video tutorials and examples by scrolling to the bottom menu and clicking "Support" on the left side of the page. Padlet is a device-agnostic tool, available on the web but also available for free as both an Android and iOS app. Use it from any device or move between several devices and still access your work. App and web versions vary slightly.
In the Classroom
Use a Padlet to collaborate in collecting ideas, brainstorming, and more. Use this tool easily in your Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) classroom since all students can access it for free, no matter what device they have. Padlet does not show which work is attributable to which student, so you may want to require that students initial their contributions in order to get credit. If allowing all students to post to the wall or make comments, you may want to discuss internet safety and etiquette and establish specific class rules and consequences. Making the setting private again will prohibit content from later being replaced by classmate "vandalism."Use a Padlet to collect Webquest links and information to share with students. Leave the wall open to comments, and solicit input, discussions, or viewpoints from students. They can even contribute other sources they find. Color code resources to indicate different reading levels or "high challenge" sources for your more able students. Assign a student project where students choose their theme and design a wall around it. For example, have students create a wall about an environmental issue. They can include pictures, audio or video, links, and other information to display. Use as a new format for book reports. Do your students have favorites such as music or sports? Create a wall around these favorites or hobbies. Use a wall for grammar or vocabulary words. Create walls for debates or viewpoints. Post assignments, reminders, or study skills on a wall. Do you use student scribes or reporters? Use the Padlet site to create a wall with the goings-on in class. Embed your walls in a blog, wiki or website. See a similar tool (and more ideas to use either tool) in the TeachersFirst review of Lino here. Decide which one you prefer! Unfortunately, the Padlet embedded viewer is very small but can be scrolled in both directions.
Use Padlet as a class space during snow days and school breaks. Share the link to a teacher-created, public wall where students can share notes about what they did during the snow day or respond to a thought-provoking question.
Encourage creativity and organization by having your gifted students (or anyone doing independent projects) create Padlets to collect ideas, images, quotes, and more in an "idea bin." Require them to share a brainstorming Padlet to show you the ideas they considered before they launch into a project. Have them brainstorm (and later sort/color code) the possibilities for a creative problem solving or "Maker Faire" project. In writing or art classes, use Padlet as a virtual writer's journal or design notebook to collect ideas, images, and even video clips.
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 embedded
Products can be shared by URL
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Happy Father's Day
Grades
K to 8
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This simple website offers information about the history of Father's Day, quotes about fathers, puzzles, cards, music, a countdown, and more. The music requires QuickTime. You can get...more
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This simple website offers information about the history of Father's Day, quotes about fathers, puzzles, cards, music, a countdown, and more. The music requires QuickTime. You can get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.
In the Classroom
Challenge your students to think about the meaning behind the various quotes. Have students create their own quotes about their fathers. Using a picture (or student drawing) use a program such as ThingLink, (reviewed here,) to have students narrate the picture (sharing their quote or a memory).Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Educators' Top 100 Children's Books - NEA
Grades
K to 12
3 Favorites
0 Comments
As a result of a teacher survey in 2007, NEA has compiled this list of 100 Best Books for Children from an online survey The list is unfortunately not labeled, ...more
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As a result of a teacher survey in 2007, NEA has compiled this list of 100 Best Books for Children from an online survey The list is unfortunately not labeled, as the 1999 listing from NEA was, with age/grade ranges. You will find many classics as well as some newer entries onto the shelves.
In the Classroom
Share this list with parents via handout or a link from your teacher web page or use it to help make selections for you classroom library. If you provide independent reading incentives, be sure to make this list available to your students as they make book choices. Perhaps you would like to let them "review" books from the list on a class reading wiki or include student mini-reviews on your teacher web page. Or print the list out in a large font and cut strips for books appropriate for your class in general. Allow any student who reads and reviews one of the books to sign the strip and hang it, along with a review, on an "Our Reading Accomplishments" bulletin board.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Father Figure - Lesson to Honor - Education World
Grades
K to 12
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This site offers five "ready to go" lesson plans for Father's Day. Lessons include art, history, writing, and more. Standards are provided. There is also some general history of Father's...more
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This site offers five "ready to go" lesson plans for Father's Day. Lessons include art, history, writing, and more. Standards are provided. There is also some general history of Father's Day provided.
In the Classroom
Take advantage of these FREE lesson plans to honor the dads in your students' life.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Banned Books Week - American Library Association
Grades
3 to 12
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To celebrate America's history of the freedom to read, the American Library Association sets aside one week every year to celebrate that freedom by bringing the most important banned...more
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To celebrate America's history of the freedom to read, the American Library Association sets aside one week every year to celebrate that freedom by bringing the most important banned books to the attention of everyone. Traditionally held the last week of September; go to the website and vote for your favorite banned book and have your older students do the same! Find out what books have been most frequently challenged. Find out about the history of book burning, print out posters for your classroom, and find out how support of this week adds to the intellectual freedom of all readers: students, teachers, librarians, and other adults.
In the Classroom
Compare the banned book list with your curriculum. Find out how many of your students' favorite books (like To Kill a Mockingbird) have been on the list.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Too Good to Miss - Top 100 List of Novels - Madison Public Library
Grades
1 to 12
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Ever wonder what the next best book to read is? Here's a helpful list of 100 Top Books complied by the Madison Public Library. The most recent books added are ...more
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Ever wonder what the next best book to read is? Here's a helpful list of 100 Top Books complied by the Madison Public Library. The most recent books added are listed in red. In additon to this list, be sure to check out the two menus on the left - More Reading & Viewing and Even More Lists (which has a link for The New York Times Best Seller Lists). Never again feel like you don't know what to read next!
In the Classroom
Choose age appropriate books for your students to read. Older students can choose their own books to read (with parental approval). Have students share their own Top Books using a tool like Padlet, reviewed here, or a video tool like Flip, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Video: X (formerly Twitter) in Plain English - Common Craft
Grades
5 to 12
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Are you "twying" to understand the "tweet" world of X (formerly Twitter)? Watch this short (less than 3-minutes) video about the "Twerrific" world of X (formerlyTwitter). This social...more
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Are you "twying" to understand the "tweet" world of X (formerly Twitter)? Watch this short (less than 3-minutes) video about the "Twerrific" world of X (formerlyTwitter). This social networking site asks the question, "What are you doing?". This site shares how to use X (formerly Twitter) to stay connected. Despite a paid membership model, Common Craft still offers this video for free, but it does have a watermark saying, "For evaluation only." If you wish to share this with a group, they will need to view it on individual/partner computers (or IOS devices) or on a projector that has a zoom function to enlarge a selected area of the screen.
This site includes advertising.
This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
This is a great site for professional development and further understanding of the current microblogging "twend": X (formerly Twitter). Share this site on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Use X (formrly Twitter) in the Classroom (with parental permission). Have students create writing prompts and share them on X (formerly Twitter). Have your government students follow the "Twitter News" of politicians they can find on X (formely Twitter). Have students in science class follow the X (formerly Twitter) Feeds like Science News. Challenge students to create their own virtual collective X (formerly Twitter) scavenger hunt. The possibilities are endless! You can also use X (formerly Twitter) as a springboard for discussions about the changes in the political landscape and society with the advent of social networking tools. Ask them: are there any negatives or cautions to sharing your life on X (formerly Twitter)?Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Shmoop Poetry Study Guides - Shmoop University Inc.
Grades
6 to 12
3 Favorites
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As a companion piece to the Shmoop literature site, reviewed here, this is a wonderful addition if you teach poetry. Shmoop provides students (and...more
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As a companion piece to the Shmoop literature site, reviewed here, this is a wonderful addition if you teach poetry. Shmoop provides students (and teachers) with so much more than summaries. This is a great site with a unique voice. It is written by Ph.D. and Masters students at top universities (such as Harvard, Yale, Stanford, etc.). While the list of poems is always growing, it includes many of the poems and/or poets commonly studied in high school. These include some of Shakespeare's sonnets, Whitman, Coleridge, Shelley, Dickinson, Browning, Rich, Yeats, and others. Especially appealing are the "Intro" sections, which tell the background of the poem. These should interest students as it places a very human "face" on the poem and sets it in context for them. From the menu on the left find summaries, techniques, quotes, and study questions, this site also gives a "did you know?" page. It includes random trivia about the poet, poem, or topic, as well as a "sex rating" ("Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" is rated "G"). This in itself will amuse students-- and amused students are likely to stay focused!
In addition to the literary content, some poems also have a photo slideshow that accompanies the poem and their authors. The slideshows would be great for readers who may need some assistance in comprehension or may just need something to sell the content and heighten their interest. While actually signing up (which is free) gives you the ability to "clip" files and keep them in a folder, you can access the majority of the information without signing up. Registration does require an email address. If you plan to have students register individually, you may want to create your own Gmail account with up to 20 subaccounts for each group of students (by code name or number) within your classes. Here is a blog post that tells how to set up GMail subaccounts to use for any online membership service.
This site includes advertising.
In addition to the literary content, some poems also have a photo slideshow that accompanies the poem and their authors. The slideshows would be great for readers who may need some assistance in comprehension or may just need something to sell the content and heighten their interest. While actually signing up (which is free) gives you the ability to "clip" files and keep them in a folder, you can access the majority of the information without signing up. Registration does require an email address. If you plan to have students register individually, you may want to create your own Gmail account with up to 20 subaccounts for each group of students (by code name or number) within your classes. Here is a blog post that tells how to set up GMail subaccounts to use for any online membership service.
This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
There are many possibilities at this website. Use it for reference, share the highlights on your interactive whiteboard or projector, or talk about the constructive use of a site like this without plagiarizing. One activity after reviewing a poem through Shmoop's process might be to have students use a poem not included on Shmoop and make their own entry for it, following the Shmoop template as an example. Try augmenting classroom technology use by using a simple slideshow tool like Slides, reviewed here and use voice narration and images. Why not make your own wiki to include some of the same features for other poems? Not comfortable with wikis? Check out the TeachersFirst Wiki Walk-Through. Note: one popular poem on Shmoop is Poe's "The Raven." Be sure to have students explore TeachersFirst's interactive Raven as yet another rich way to experience the poem along with Shmoop.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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ESL Bits - Skip Reske
Grades
3 to 8
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This site is an excellent way to help ENL and ELL students improve reading and comprehension skills using short passages of different kinds of reading. The site includes signs, ...more
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This site is an excellent way to help ENL and ELL students improve reading and comprehension skills using short passages of different kinds of reading. The site includes signs, multiple choice, true-false for details, questions on getting the "gist" of a reading, matching questions, and gap (fill-in) questions. This site is excellent for reading comprehension in the regular classroom too! Students select a "set" which contains a short sampling of each kind of question. Once they answer, they get immediate feedback.
In the Classroom
Since the subtitle for this page is "Reading Comprehension and Test Preparation," recommend this site to ENL and ELL students preparing for standardized tests. Save it in your favorites on class computers and provide the link on your class website for students to access both in the classroom and out. The activities would also work well on interactive whiteboard.Share the "Signs" link with your students. Challenge students to create their own signs, similar to those used at this site. Have cooperative learning groups create interactive posters featuring their signs using a tool such as PicLits - reviewed here. Share the "PicLits" on an interactive whiteboard or projector.
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