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China Blue - PBS--Independent Lens
Grades
9 to 12The site would be useful in an economics class during a discussion of the emerging global economy. In addition, it would be a good supplement to a discussion of China in general, or as part of a comparison with 19th century sweatshop labor in the United States and the development of the labor union movement. There are also links to other web-based sources on human rights, China, and the global economy.
In the Classroom
Share the film clips on a projector or whiteboard (in either RealPlayer or Quicktime formats). Discussion could work well in either a whole-class format or in a follow-up small group activity where each group creates a Venn diagram comparing the sweat shops of today with those in Weestern countries in the 19th century.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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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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Map of Philadelphia - TeachersFirst
Grades
2 to 12In the Classroom
Share this and other sections of the TeachersFirst Colonial America tour as part of your study of the colonies so students can see what these historic locations look like today. Share the map on an interactive whiteboard and use the tools to highlight important aspects of a colonial city.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Franklin Institute - The Franklin Institute Science Museum
Grades
2 to 12In the Classroom
Share this and other sections of the TeachersFirst Colonial America tour as part of your study of the colonies so students can see what these historic locations look like today.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Mindomo - Expert Software Application
Grades
1 to 12In the Classroom
Have students create graphic organizers in cooperative groups as a study guide for unit content, to collect information for a group research project, or show examples of an important concept. Share and compare the organizers on an interactive whiteboard or projector in class and allow classmates to suggest changes. Skills needed: join the site, practice with the tools (don't miss the notes feature!). Save up to 7 "private" maps and an unlimited number of "shared" maps.Make a map available online by saving and clicking "yes" for sharing, then clicking the Save by URL icon. This will copy the URL onto your computer's clipboard so you can paste it into a word doc or even your teacher web page. Imagine sharing several student made "study guides" in the days before the unit test.
Note that maps that are shared can be seen by the public, but not altered. You specify members who may collaborate and make alterations. For students to collaborate using this tool they must have individual memberships, requiring an email account. These memberships must be activated from their email. So, if students do not have email that is accessible from school, classroom use BY STUDENTS will be severely limited. Editor's note: we asked the Mindomo folks about spell check and student safety issues. They are still developing this tool, so they MIGHT address these issues at a later date.
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Pyramids: The Inside Story - NOVA: PBS
Grades
5 to 12In the Classroom
Use the lesson plan to build a scale model of a pyramid in your classroom or assign your students to explore the pyramids and collect information to compare them to burial customs of other ancient civilizations. You will definitely want to make this site available as a link from your teacher web page for further exploration. Teachers of gifted could use this as a springboard for an entire Egypt unit.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Colonial Williamsburg: Virtual Tours of the Town - Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
Grades
5 to 12In the Classroom
If you have a whiteboard or projector, you will have a captivated class. Individual or paired computer experience will allow your students to walk through the streets on their own. How about having a cyber-scavenger hunt? You will need to walk through the town yourself to find tidbits along the way, then later, ask the students to find them. They must give you the location where they were found.Younger students will need to be shown how to cyber-walk through the streets. You can ask them to report to you about the citizens they meet along the way. Ask students to draw their own colonial town based upon a layout like Williamsburg.
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Mythology - Myvocabulary.com
Grades
5 to 12In the Classroom
Use this site to reinforce and support vocabulary as you study Mythology. Share the word puzzles on an interactive whiteboard or projector. Have students create their own word activities from the same vocabulary list, such as matching or ranking challenges for their peers to try on the interactive whiteboard.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Academy of Achievement - Academy of Achievement
Grades
5 to 12In the Classroom
If you assign any kind of "hero," "pioneer," or "leader" biography project, this site is a fabulous resource for students. The list of achievers includes many who may not be instantly recognizable to students and therefore provide more potential for discovery. In addition, the site is large enough and well-enough organized that students can start with this site and "dig" for a possible achiever to research, either by achievement area or by character trait. The site includes a diverse group of achievers, so is also useful if you're doing Women's History or Black History projects. Include this site on your teacher web page for students and parents to access as a reference.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Michael Palin's Hemingway Adventure - PBS & Candide Media Works, Inc.
Grades
6 to 12In the Classroom
Use this as a group activity in a lesson on Hemingway: the man and the author to involve students and make them responsible for sharing the information with each other. Clicking on "Classroom" at the bottom of the page will take you to a several lessons created by English teacher, Betsy Norris. These lessons are geared for grades 6-8, language arts and social studies. This site could be useful across a wide grade range.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Art Access - Art Institute of Chicago
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Take a few minutes to explore the art of a continent, country, or time period you introduce through social studies or literature. Include this site on your teacher web page as you study these related topics to students and parents can access it outside of class even if you do not have enough time to devote a full lesson. The images are not very large, so viewing on individual computers or using a projector that has a zoom function would help you share with a class. Teachers will like the creativity of some of the "family" activities and may want to use them at school or suggest them in a newsletter or on your web page.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Google Drive - Google
Grades
6 to 12In the Classroom
A "tour" and simple to understand directions make this site easy to use. Have your students set up collaborative groups for projects, lab data, and more. Or set them up yourself, giving them specific passwords to access their "space." Help your gifted students stay organized (and collaborate) using this tool. Users are normally invited to "join" via an email message. This may be problematic in the many schools that do not permit student email access at school. Note that notifications sent by Google Docs may also land in "junk mail" folders or be blocked by spam filters. We suggest that you experiment with a small group of students to determine what will work in your particular situation. One option is to set up the groups with the teacher as a "member" but have students work from home, using their personal email addresses, for group projects. Make sure you are protecting the safety of student work and identity and are within your school's Acceptable Use Policy. Anything students can do on a single computer, they can do collaboratively on Google docs, accessing their work from any online computer.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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300 Spartan Warriors - 300spartanwarriors.com
Grades
7 to 12In the Classroom
Include this site as one of the resources you offer from your teacher website for students doing individual or group projects on Sparta, the Greeks, or mythology. The site offers some useful research information and some good visuals.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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When the Personal Becomes Presidential - New York Times Learning Network
Grades
6 to 12The lesson plan starts with the familiar "read the story and discuss" format, but there are a number of good essential questions and extension activities provided that could be tailored into a strong classroom plan. The lesson plans have cross-curricular suggestions, and are tied to standards.
In the Classroom
Be sure help your weaker readers and ELL students by sharing the listed vocabulary words prior to reading, either on a handout or by projecting on an interactive whiteboard and highlighting them in the text as you come to them.Use this lesson to discuss current events in politics (which changes daily). Have students discuss and debate the current issues. Have the students write a wiki about a current event in politics (for example, Governor Palin being the first woman VP on the GOP ticket).
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The Pocahontas Myth - The Powhatan Renape Nation
Grades
6 to 12In the Classroom
Students usually enjoy "debunking" myths of history and learning ways that their teachers or textbooks might be wrong. This site provides another viewpoint in the well-known Pocahontas story. There are also possibilities here for discussions of racial stereotyping and the way Pocahontas is portrayed in the media, particularly in the Walt Disney film. Use this discussion to prompt a persuasive writing assignment or history essay on differeing views of history.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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In Search of Safety - BBC
Grades
6 to 12In the Classroom
Use a projector or interactive whiteboard to "tour" Sudan as part of a study of the African continent or world trouble spots. Although the topic of genocide is quite difficult, this site could spark discussions of international relations and would be a good accompaniment while studying the U.N., international relations, and current events. Include the link on your tecaher web page and allow students to choose from several world hot spots as they group or individual reports.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Geographia - interKnowledge Corp
Grades
6 to 12In the Classroom
This would be a good reference resource for students doing "country and culture" reports or displays or for background when reading a novel from another culture. World language teachers can also use this as a source for cultural information. Note: the reading level is comparable to the Wall Street Journal, so you may want to partner weaker readers with others or offer multiple options for sites to use.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Citebite Bookmarklet - Abstract Factory
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Tool can be used in less than 30 seconds. Open TWO windows in Internet Explorer or any web browser. One should be open to citebite; the other to the web page you wish to reference. On that web page, locate and "highlight" the exact passage of text you want to "send" people to see. Copy/paste the passage into the quotation box at Citebite (copy, then change windows). Return to the target web page and copy/paste its actual URL into Citebite. Click "Make Citebite." Copy/paste the new url, indicated after "Your citebite link is:" Note: if the original quote is within a FLASH presentation, it will not copy/paste or generate a Citebite. See this example of a Citebite link to a tip about TeachersFirst Edge tools.Have your middle and high school students do a web page "credibility critique" on their potential sources by using Citebite before they start a research project. They can highlight passages as proof of credibility -- or lack thereof -- and give you the Citebite links. They will love this easy way to reference a specific portion of a page. You will love the ease of finding it. If you give them a Word document table as a web site evaluation rubric, they can paste the Citebites there, with their comments in the neighboring cell!
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