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Apollo 11 - NASA
Grades
4 to 12In the Classroom
Use the video clips over the interactive whiteboard to supplement the text in discussing the Apollo missions. The clip of the first landing would be a great way to introduce the topic, putting all students at the same level of understanding before beginning a lecture or class discussion. Great resource for a US history classroom!You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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Google Earth - Google
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Use tutorials from this site to learn more, or try some Google Earth files from TeachersFirst's Globetracker's Mission to get a taste of what the program can do. Get started by exploring the different LAYERS available in the left side and searching a location you know. Locate and try the tools to drag, tilt, zoom, and even measure distance. Extensive user forums are available through the help menus.Placemarker files created by you "live" on the computer where you make or save them and are not shared on the web. Note that your computer will ask whether you wish to save your "temporary places" (any places you have marked during a session) each time you close Google Earth. If many students use that computer, you may find you have a disorganized mess of saved places. Be sure to direct students to either name their saved places logically and file them into folders or NOT to save them to My Places! Students and teachers can create placemarker (.kmz or .kml) files and share them as email attachments, files on a USB "stick," or any other means you would use to share a file, just like a Word document.
Another practical tip: if students are using Google Earth on several machines at the same time, you may put a heavy load on your school network. Plan accordingly, perhaps having groups alternate their Google Earth time if it becomes sluggish.
Use Google Earth to teach geography or simply give location context to class readings or current events, especially on an interactive whiteboard or projector. Ex. you can tilt to show the peaks scaled by Lewis and Clark or volcanoes that rise in the Aleutians. Have students show the locations of historic events or literary settings and create placemarkers with links to learn more. Placemarker text is editable by going to the placemarker's "properties" or "info," so students can enter the text description, place title, and any inks they want to include, such as a link to a certain passage of text, an image of a character, or news image/article for a current events map. Students who know html code can get even more sophisticated in what they include in placemarkers. Have students/groups create and play a "tour" of critical locations for global warming, a comparison of volcanoes, or a family history of immigration. Navigate the important locations in a work of literature using Google Lit Trips or search the web for placemarker files connected to civil war battles, natural resources, and more. Turn layers on and off to look at population centers and transportation systems. Teach the concept of scale/proportion using a tactile experience on an interactive whiteboard and the scale and measurement tools. See more ideas at the teacher-created Google Earth 101 wiki reviewed here. Even if you do not venture into creating your own placemarker files, there are many already made and available for use by teachers and students. TeachersFirst's Globetracker's Mission includes a weekly file to follow the Mission.
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Ed Pubs - US Department of Education
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Share this site on your class website so parents can learn about this free resource. Include links to specific publications tha fit your class' needs. Or choose helpful information with your particular parents/students and share the pdf files as print-outs at conferences or via email to help parents.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Independence Day! - Mendy Martinez
Grades
3 to 5In the Classroom
This is a great tool to introduce your class to the meaning of independence, symbols and more. Get an interactive whiteboard and take your students back in time - to 1776.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Building Schoolwide Literacy With Free Web 2.0 Tools: A Grade by Grade Elementary Model - TeachersFirst
Grades
K to 8In the Classroom
Explore the tools and project suggestions by grade for your individual use as a teacher or work together with others in your school to build literacy across all subjects and grades by systematically adopting and repeatedly using a fixed collection of tools so students master the tool skills as an aside to reading, writing, speaking, and listening. Try the practical suggestions for implementing this model in your school or grade level team.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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World News - WN Network
Grades
4 to 12In the Classroom
Share this site with your school's foreign language teachers. Have students do comparisons between English and foreign language versions of the news. If you teach writing, you can find controversial topics as writing prompts for persuasive writing among the articles, as well, and have students find facts to support their positions. Make this site available from your teacher web page for current events assignments. Reading teachers will want to use the articles on an interactive whiteboard to teach main idea and summarizing: highlight key words to use in a main idea or summary sentence you write together below the article.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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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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America's Story - Library of Congress
Grades
3 to 8In the Classroom
Interested students could spend hours on this site, so provide some specific directions for use before turning them loose! Use to supplement the study of a particular era in American history or as an enrichment activity.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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Antarctica - BBC
Grades
3 to 12In the Classroom
With Global Warming issues being discussed frequently, use this website as a simple guide to group discussions on the topic or to introduce the lesser-known continent to your youger students. Don't forget to use a projector or whiteboard to share this authentic footage with your class.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Place the State - Sheppard Software
Grades
4 to 8In the Classroom
What a great way to have students know American geography better than physically moving the states in their places? Introduce this site on the interactive whiteboard before allowing cooperative learning groups to complete the activity on classroom computers. Have a class challenge as students try and compete to see which group can get the lowest average error mileage. This would be a great refresher before a US history class (particularly before a unit on the Civil War where state geography is important) or during a Geography class first learning the basics!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Community Club - Scholastic
Grades
K to 3In the Classroom
Use this site to help your students understand the concepts of community and community helpers. Use your interactive whiteboard or projector to share these useful people with your class. Highlight a career each week (or day) during a unit about community. Divide students into 8 groups (2-3 students per group) and have each group learn about a different career. Have the groups create simple PowerPoint presentations with the free Microsoft PowerPoint Online, reviewed here, to share with the class on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Remember that PowerPoint shows print well into "big books." Extend your "community" by creating a class wiki about your school community, complete with digital pictures and interviews! If you want to learn more about wikis, check out the TeachersFirst Wiki Walk-Through.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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Photovisi - Photovisi
Grades
K to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Select pictures from your computer or Flickr photo stream. Choosing a collage type is important and users will need to already have an idea of the number and orientation of the pictures in order to choose the right collage. Download your collage easily. An additional link to purchase items with your collage is also found on this site.Students can use the collage picture as part of a presentation to the class in order to guide their discussion. This would be great to use on an interactive whiteboard or projector. Use this to create a picture collage in order to get students thinking or brainstorming about a topic or unit of study.
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Public Domain Clip Art Blog - sookietex
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Find images to illustrate curriculum topics, such as historical photos and cultural images. Include them in activities on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Art teachers can use images freely to illustrate design concepts. Create montages of images from eras in history, a culture, or scientific concepts to give visual learners a way to remember new content. "Harvest" images for students to use in their own projects, saving them on a local drive or computer (copying these images is OK!). Have students select an image as an inspiration for a writing assignment or blog post. Upload images to Google Drawings, reviewed here, and have students critique or explain it orally in a world language, science, or social studies class. Google Drawings allows you to annotate an image with links to videos, text, websites, and more. Not familiar with Google Drawings? Watch an archived OK2Ask session to learn how to use: OK2Ask Google Drawings, here. Have student groups use these copyright-safe images (with credit, of course) in their online Bookemon books, reviewed here, about a curriculum concept.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Travel Back to Colonial Times
Grades
4 to 6Note: 2-3 of the links are not working anymore, so teachers using the site should find replacements before using the webquest.
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Literary Bash - Cara Bafile
Grades
3 to 12In the Classroom
Use this lesson plan, and tailor it to fit your unit in almost any content area - math, english, history, science, etc. Though this lesson was intended just for Language Arts classes, most content areas also have books or common themes that this could apply to. Use this lesson plan after a test or towards the end of the year when students might need a break from the traditional classroom routines. This is a great way to make sure students get some substance of a "break" while keeping it academic! Be sure to save this as a favorite on your classroom computer to allow for easy reference later on.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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iRubric - Reazon Systems, Inc.
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
To save rubrics and modify existing ones, educators must create an account. Find great project ideas, rubric examples and criteria. Build on the expertise of others to create excellent rubrics. Consider creating categories and using the advice of students to help identify criteria that is important to the project. You might even want to create differentiated rubrics to match multiple intelligences, learning styles, or varied ability levels. With such easy adaptations, you can start alter different versions very easily.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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The Nile File - Liverpool Musems.org
Grades
3 to 6In the Classroom
This site can be a great introduction to a unit on Egypt for young learners. Put a link to this site on a classroom computer that can be used as an activity center for the Egyptian unit of study. Use an interactive whiteboard or projector to take the entire class on an interactive tour of life on the Nile.As a language arts activity, have students adopt the persona of an ordinary Egyptian and write a week-long journal or blog entries about their daily life. Tie in the visual arts by posing and tracing students' outlines on butcher paper on the floor. Students can strike an Egyptian-style pose that reflects their chosen person or occupation, and then draw in the clothing, headwear, and jewelry. Cut out these life-size images and combine them to create an Egyptian wall of stories. Let students fill in the background with hieroglyphic symbols.
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Snowflake Bentley - Jericho Historical Society
Grades
3 to 8In the Classroom
Use this site as the starting point for individual or group projects about famous pioneers, weather research, or famous characters from books. This site is a perfect addition to any winter activities. Have cooperative learning groups investigate a specific section of this site and share their findings on your class wiki. Not comfortable with wikis? Have no wiki worries - check out the TeachersFirst's Wiki Walk-Through.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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