Website Wednesday

How Light Bulbs Work and Activities for Learning About Electricity

From Free Technology For Teachers - This blog post features a short video created by Minute Physics on how modern light bulbs work and how the design has changed over the last 100+ years. it also provides applications for classroom use.
tags: light bulbs electricity activities teaching videos

Bloom's Taxonomy Teacher Planning Kit

Great resource for teachers - provides definition, key words, actions, outcomes and questions for the thinking skill levels in Bloom's Taxonomy.
tags: teaching instruction bloom's taxonomy assessment

50 Story Starters on Pinterest

Collection of story starter ideas for writing assignments or digital storytelling activities.
tags: writing prompts storytelling digital storytelling resources

Single Women Homesteaders

From PBS Learning Media, this 5 minute video relates the history behind single women homesteaders and the 1862 Homesteading Act. You can opt to stream or download the video. You can also see the standards tied to this content.
tags: social studies classroom resources pbs videos

SHOW®/WORLD - A New Way To Look At The World

As you explore the various demographical information available, the country size will shift to indicate the data being depicted. This is a great for visual learners! With one quick glance you can see which country has the highest number in a specific area. When you hover your mouse over a country, you will get the country name and actual numbers.
tags: maps demographics geography interactive web2.0 resources technology

Website Wednesday...for February

I just realized today that this month has been so full I haven't had time to post any of the great Website Wednesday resources.  So here is the collection for February.  I hope you enjoy!

Awesome Chart for Teachers- Alternatives to Traditional Homework 

This chart provides examples for shifting your traditional homework assignments to engaging, learning tasks for students.

Random Acts of Kindness

Although the designated Random Acts of Kindness Week is over, there are some excellent resources and ideas to continue encouraging Random Acts of Kindness in your classroom, school and community.

10 Excellent Lessons from Google to Help Students Better Use Google Maps in Their Learning

Great resource for geography!

ISTE | Worksheets for the digital age: AR interactive print

Get a basic understanding of Augmented Reality (AR) along with some printable interactive resources that you can use right way in your classroom.

Safer Internet Day Quiz

Take this Internet Safety test from the Safer Internet Centre. Students are given different scenarios and must determine the best course of action. Good resource for digital citizenship.

40 Maps That Explain The Middle East

Explore and study the Middle East - the past and the present - with these 40 various maps covering political borders, demographics, religion and more.

Historypin

On historypin, history is recorded with photos from the past and present. As a teacher, you could use this site by having students explore and interact with photos from specific time periods and/or locations. There are photo collections and tours that you could use as a whole class or individually. These are great primary sources for studying history. Check out this video to a short intro to historypin - https://www.historypin.org/about-us/.

DK Find Out!

Fun Facts for Kids on Animals, Earth, History and more! Please note that this link is beta mode right now, so feel free to give them feedback so they can improve this fun fact resource.

Common Core Standards App

View the Common Core State Standards in one convenient FREE app! A great reference for students, parents, and teachers to easily read and understand the core standards. Quickly find standards by subject, grade, and subject category (domain/cluster). This app includes Math standards K-12 and Language Arts standards K-12. Math standards include both traditional and integrated pathways (as outlined in Appendix A of the common core) and synthesizes Language Arts standards with the Corresponding College and Career Readiness Standards (CCR's).

Next Generation Science Standards

View the Next Generation Science Standards in one convenient FREE app! A great reference for teachers, parents, and students to easily read and understand the standards. Quickly find standards by various topic arrangements or keyword search.

Website Wednesday

• National Gallery of Aart Kids Art Zone
  
  
  
  NGAkids Art Zone interactives offer an entertaining and informative introduction to art and art history. Featuring a variety of art-making tools that encourage exploration and creativity, these activities are suitable for all ages. Simply select a thumbnail image at the left or click one of the colorful banners above to learn more about each program. Great for elementary students.
  tags: art artists interactive creativity art history

• 3M Science of Everyday Life - Discovery Education
  Is there chemistry in the kitchen? Is there physics at the park? Videos and interactives will help students discover the real-world science around them and make connections to what they are learning in school. There is something for everyone!
  tags: science discovery videos teaching resources chemistry biology physics

• The Anne Frank Center
  Contains diary excerpts, teacher resources and more about Anne Frank.
  tags: Anne Frank primary sources holocaust historical figures resources

• Anne Frank Timeline
  The story of Anne's life told through photos, audio and video clips. Contains some great historical photos of the time period that could be used in history class or in discussing the Holocaust.
  tags: timeline Anne Frank historical figures world history WWI WWII audioclips videoclips

• Click2Stream
  Live video from Bald Eagle Nest - great look of an actual eagle's nest
  tags: video eagle nest live cams science watching

• Cornell Lab Bird Cams
  Live cams of various in their natural habitat. Great for discussing animal habitats with students.
  tags: bird cams watching live cams science

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Website Wednesday

• Digital Citizenship
  
  
  
  Great presentation created with Haiku Deck on Digital Citizenship for students. There is a transcript you could utilize.
  tags: digital citizenship presentation haiku deck

• Cool Coding Apps and Websites for Kids
  A great list of apps and websites to introduce students of all ages to programming.
  tags: coding apps programming technology websites

• 1914-1918-online
  Over the course of three years, the international joint research project "1914-1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War” is developing an English-language virtual reference work on the First World War. Planned to be released in October 2014, the online encyclopedia will be the result of an international collaborative project to make available a multi-perspective, public-access knowledge base on the First World War
  tags: WWI history First World War

• Gettysburg By The Numbers
  Look at the impact of the Gettysburg Battle based on the numbers involved. For example, you can see a graph comparing the number of men killed per day between the different wars and this one battle.
  tags: Gettysburg Civil_War history real world math

• Journal Prompts
  Freewriting prompts broken into question types - What do you think..., What if..., How...., I wish..., Describe..., Which..., Who...
  tags: prompts writing journal writing prompts

• Write Source - Writing Topics
  Topics are grouped by grade level and could be used for freewriting.
  
  tags: writing prompts writing prompts topics Journal

• 180 Journal Writing Prompts: Enough for Every Day of the School Year
  Prompts are broken into 4 quarters, but you can use the prompts whenever you would like. Great for the beginning or ending of class.
  tags: writing prompts journal writing prompts

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Website Wednesday

• earth wind map
  Gives a close look at the wind movement. Great for your visual learners and to talk about currents.
  tags: earth wind map science current

  

  Earth Wind Map

• The 34 Most Beautiful Google Street View Sightings
  This slideshow gives some great ways you could bring the world to students in the classroom. You could find images yourself related to your topic in geography or literature. You could have students find images showing specific math angles or architecture. Street views also go inside buildings for museum tours and underwater for science exploration.
  tags: geography earth underwater science literature real world math math
• The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  Site provides titles with full-text for online reading or download as a pdf. You can also use the interactive map to view the various galleries.
  tags: art history books ebooks education
• 40 more maps that explain the world
  Great collection of maps that could be used in Geography, History, Social Studies or Current Events. Maps include economic dispersal, world invasions, religion and more.
  tags: maps world geography history economics
• STEM Resources from PBS
  Pdf listing of STEM resources available through the PBS kids website.
  tags: stem pbs resources technology
• STEM Sims
  Over 100 interactive, research-based STEM simulations for Grades 4-12. Click one of the STEM word in the left column to see the simulations. Also includes lessons ready to use for the classroom.
  tags: science STEM math technology engineering resources
• Interactive Exhibits - John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum
  Gain access to primary resources centering around the hot topics of Kennedy's presidency - Civil Rights, Cuban Missile Crisis, Race to the Moon and more. By entering the various interactive timelines, students and educators can view primary documents and videos of the events as they unfolded.
  tags: JFK museum interactive history socialstudies resources

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Website Wednesday

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  Welcome to WW II Animated
  
  Animated maps of key WW II battles. Maps include a timeline, visual indicators and audio recordings to help enhance learning for students.
  tags: WWII history world history maps timeline
• Science of Golf
  NBC Learn presents a 10-part video series relating STEM topics behind golf. Lesson plans aligned with the standards are available. Other topics are also available.
  tags: science golf STEM teaching web2.0 education
• Stop the Clock
  Help students learn to match digital times with the analogue clock.
  tags: Math clock time interactive web2.0 technology
• KidRex
  Kid safe search engine designed with young internet searchers in mind. KidRex uses SafeSearch to filter out most inappropriate content for children. Great search engine to set as the homepage for our young browsers.
  tags: searchengines research elementary search technology web2.0
• Ellis Island Interactive Tour
  Tour includes facts, trivia, audio, images and videos of Ellis Island and the immigration process.
  tags: Immigration ellis_island interactive Social Studies
• Moon in Google Earth
  This video will show you how to take advantage of the Moon in Google Earth. Take a tour narrated by Apollo Astronauts, view 3D landing craft models, watch rare TV footage of the Apollo Missions and more. You can also opt to view the Sky and Mars in Google Earth.
  tags: moon google virtualfieldtrips science space
• Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History
  Take a self-guided, room-by-room, virtual tour with your class. Embedded images allow you to see various artifacts at a closer view. You can also browse a list of past exhibits.
  tags: virtualfieldtrips Smithsonion science museum

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Website Wednesday

• TinEye Reverse Image Search
  Upload an image and discover what website it originated from
  tags: image search photos copyright
• 4Teachers
  Use this site to create rubrics, quizzes, webquests and more
  tags: technology web2.0 teacher education rubrics
• Iowa's AEAs on Pinterest
  Great resources from the Iowa Area Education Agencies - web links for technology, assistive technology, autism, behavior resources, literary, common core and more.
  tags: Pinterest web tools bookmarks Common Core science career Technology special needs education resources
• Down For Everyone Or Just Me
  Check if your website is down or up? Great tool for checking to see if that website is really down or if it has something to do with your network.
  tags: tools network test
• Web Resources Workshop - Search, Evaluate & Use - Atomic Learning
  Tutorial and project centered around searching and evaluating web resources.  Also addresses plagiarism, copyright and source citation.  Great tool to use with students as a refresher or an actual project.  (Since this is on Atomic Learning, you will need to login for full access.)
  tags: web resources copyright plagiarism web evaluation citation
• Interactive Learning Sites for Education - Home
  All of the best K-5 online, interactive, educational games and simulations in one place! Covers all content areas plus art, music, typing, holidays, spanish and teacher tools. Great for interactive whiteboards or individual computers.
  tags: interactive smartboard science math music typing holidays brainteasers web2.0
• Remembering John F. Kennedy | Scholastic.com
  Compiled list of resources from Scholastic for teaching students about JFK. Resource grade range covers PreK-8.
  tags: kennedy articles books
• WWII News and Related Sound files from 1940
  Free download and streaming of over 100 WWII news audio files. Use them to enhance class learning and presentations.
  tags: news WWII audio clips sound files
• World War II Audio clips
  18 WWII audio clips including both speeches and war related sounds. You can link back to the audio clip, but they cannot be downloaded. Would work great in digital presentations like Prezi, Glogster and ThingLink.
  tags: WWII audio clips history
• BBC - School Radio - World War 2 Audio Clips
  World War II audio clips that teachers and students can embed into their projects and presentations to enhance learning. Audio clips include war sounds, speeches, songs/music and more
  tags: audio history worldwarII WWII

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Website Wednesdays

• San Diego Zoo
  Has some great animal videos and photos you could use with students to learn more about animals and the ecosystem. Careful with the live cams - they can be addictive and they hog the bandwidth.
  tags: zoo science elementary animal
• 101 Great Sites for Social Studies Class - I have not checked the accessibility of all these sites, but if you find one that is blocked please contact me.
  Some top recommended sites here and they are grouped by subcategories like Supreme Court, Constitution, Law, The Essentials, etc.
  tags: history social studies Resources government technology
• Practical Money Skills
  Covers financial literacy for all ages, but the best part are the lesson plans (sign up for an account to access them) and the games.
  tags: finance education economics financial literacy
• Math Lines
  Similar to the game Lexar, but you have to create number bonds to clear your line.
  tags: math game addition interactive

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Website Wednesdays

• Rubrics for Teachers

Assessment tools for online content, presentations, mind maps and more. Great tool so you don't have to re-invent the wheel.

tags: rubrics assessment Web 2.0 tools

• Titanic Resources Gallore
  iPad apps, 3D movie resources, and some sweet teaching materials by Glenn Weibe. Great resources for connecting to the building of the Titanic 2.
  tags: Titanic apps infographic history web tools
• Zygote Body
  Interactive 3D model of the human body that allows you look at the various components of the body - skeleton, muscles, organs, veins. You can customize to have multiple or single layers.
  tags: anatomy body interactive human_body 3D
• Looking for the Top Quark Game
  Similar to Battleship, this game gives students practice on reading a four quadrant coordinates graph. You can play against the computer or a friend.
  tags: math coordinates interactive graphing game
• Funschool - Number Fun - Cannon Math
  Students can practice their math facts with this fun interactive game. Shoot your circus performers out of the cannon on to the correct answer. Students will also have to work with angle and power of the cannon to hit the correct mat.
  tags: Math addition interactive
• Sun|trek
  Good resource for science students. This site is dedicated to information about the Sun and how it effects the Earth.
  tags: science sun astronomy space solar
• Top 10 Activities to Process Common Core Math
  Provides links to specific details for each activity listed.
  tags: math commoncore
• Wanderlust
  Check out the most famous trips in history on these maps. Learn facts about the trip as you visually follow the course.
  tags: social studies interactive explorers geography Maps
• iCivics
  Free lesson plans and games for learning civics (government, law, budgeting, Constitution and Bill of Rights)
  tags: civics government social studies interactive

*Disclaimer - If you come across a link on the sites listed above that is blocked, please let me know via email.  Thanks!

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Website Wednesdays

• Online Music Theory Flash Cards
  Help students learn note names, intervals and notes on the piano and guitar. Good for both beginners and advanced music students.
  tags: Music flashcards education
• Common Core Standards
  This is a site dedicated to making the Common Core Standards practical.  It has some great blog articles relating to making the change over to the Common Core.  You can subscribe to receive the newest articles sent to your email.
  tags: core standards
• 103 Things to Do Before/During/After Reading
  Ideas for engaging students in reading. Contains a wide range of multiple intelligence options. They easily tie-in to the common core standards and some of them would be great for integrating technology.
  tags: reading literacy interactive English
• ToonUniversity - Online Games: Math Dept.
  Elementary math games - some are available without a membership
  tags: online games math
• Making and reading maps in the 21st century
  Project ideas for making and reading maps - grades K-12
  tags: maps geography mapping history
• minutephysics
  A YouTube channel with cool physics in brief explanations. Students will not be able to access these videos at school.
  tags: Physics science Videos
• 3D 360 interactive education images
  Rotate images and zoom in for a closer look.  If you don't have a left mouse click, hold your command key on the keyboard as you use the mouse to rotate the image.
  tags: science interactive anatomy chemistry
• Maps of War
  Great interactives of World War I & II, the Iraq War, and Darfur.
  tags: maps History interactive

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Keeping it Current

I had an email a few weeks back with some great current event websites.  Most of these sites provide a teacher resource section with ideas for use in the classroom and educational resources.

http://www.tweentribune.com/

• Pages for Tweens, Teens and Espanol
• Stories are selected by tweens/teens in conjunction with professional journalists
• Site is easy to navigate and updated daily

http://tweentribune.com/top10

Find out how other Teachers have used this site:  http://tweentribune.com/love

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/thenews/

• Provides current events for teens to use for school or personal use
• Combines journalism and video to relate information on subjects of interest
• Some videos available in Closed Caption
• Each video has lesson plans, discussion questions, student activities, vocabulary and primary references

Find Educator Resources:  http://www.pbs.org/newshour/thenews/foreducators/index.php

http://www.cnn.com/studentnews/?iref=allsearch

•  Ten-minute, commercial-free, daily news program
• Appropriate for middle and high school students
• Teacher resources include transcripts for each show, discussion questions, media literacy questions, downloadable maps and more

http://www.channelone.com/

• Covers breaking news and in-depth issues affecting the world and nation
• News coverage is geared towards teens
• Teacher resources include transcripts, weekly news quizzes, lesson plans and more
• Provides Education Correlations showing you how the issues and topics align with your state standards

Website Wednesdays

• Medieval History
  Resources galore for students researching Medieval Times.  Skip the first 3 resources as they require a login, but the rest are free and open on the web.
  tags: medieval history Resources
• Rhymes With Orange
  A daily dose of humor.  Click on the arrows for older and newer comics.
  tags: comics cartoons
• eighty Alternatives to YouTube.pdf - Google Docs
  Great video resources specializing in specific area content.
  tags: videos
• Think-Pair-Share Variations
  Practical variations to the Think-Pair-Share strategy that you can use in your classroom today.
  tags: think-pair-share strategies instructionalstrategies
• CartoonStock -
  Great resource for vintage, news and political cartoons.
  tags: cartoons animations
• Tools for English
  Save yourself time with this worksheet generator.  Generate various worksheets & answer keys with a simple copy/paste method OR type in your own text.  This tool would be great for grammar exercises, clozed reading passages and more.
  tags: english grammar resources tools

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Website Wednesdays

• C-SPAN Video Library
  Watch the various programs available on C-SPAN including author interviews, political rallies, newsmakers and more.  Many of the videos can be embedded on web pages, blogs and wikis.
  tags: CSPAN government history videos
• Old Maps Online
  More than 60,000 digitized maps that you can search by keyword, dates or map.  Contains David Ramsey map collection - including the Kansas territory - British map library and more.
  tags: maps online
• National Art Gallery
  Collection of more than 20,000 open access images that you can download for use.
  tags: art artists
• NBC Learn
  Videos that use current events, sports and everyday issues to explain science, history and more.
  tags: science math physics chemistry history socialstudies videos ecology
• Awesome Stories
  Explore history through video & audio clips, reading selections and more.  This would be a great resource tool to impact a history lesson or student presentation.
  tags: history socialstudies videoclips audioclips
• Museum of Natural History Tour
  Take a virtual tour of the Museum of Natural History with author Brian Selznick and he highlights the path of his characters from the book Wonderstruck.
  tags: virtualtour museum naturalhistory wonderstruck
• WebQuests
  Explore 10 Science WebQuests focusing on density.  The WebQuests range in grade from 3-12.
  tags: webquest science density

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Website Wednesdays

• Khan Academy
  Over 3,000 free videos covering math, science, finance and more. Learn how to get started and how to use this site with your students.
  tags: videos science history math finance
• Spelling & Vocabulary Website: SpellingCity
  Through practice tests, flash cards, learning activities and games, students can learn new spelling and vocabulary words generated by the teacher or from their own reading. An overview video is available on the home page right under the mission statement. This site seems geared more for elementary students.
  tags: spelling vocabulary education Interactive language_arts
• Online Stopwatch
  These online animated timers give you a variety of timer options including a bomb countdown, an egg timer and a metronome.
  tags: stopwatch timer tools
• Ten Videos Every Educator Should Watch (and Reflect on)
  Some thought provoking videos that would be great to view on your own or with a group.
  tags: education teachers inspiration TED pedagogy
• 5th Grade Explorer Project - LiveBinder
  All the resources and materials for a research project. Students have a variety of assessment opportunities. They learn about the importance of verifying their sources and explore some additional activities.
  tags: explorers history

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Website Wednesdays

• Bill of Rights Institute: Home
  Government resource with primary documents, lesson plans, Constitution Day resources and more.
  tags: Government US history constitution history billofrights lesson plans
• Creating Remarkable Poetry Through Subtraction
  Cleaver way to create poetry for those non-poetic students.
  tags: poetry writing english newspaper
• Battleship Number
  Practice your fractions, decimals, whole numbers and measurements with this online battleship game. Great for elementary students. It might even be enjoyed by the older crowd.
  tags: fractions decimals math numberline measurements whole_numbers
• UsefulCharts.com | Cool Charts & Timelines
  Useful charts and diagrams that illustrate history, science, English and more.
  tags: English resources history science charts infographics
• Scriveners' Trappings
  Resources for writers and teachers of writing at all grades.  Provides writing tips, ideas ready for classroom use, and thought-provoking articles on writing in school.  There are 5 pages - just go to the bottom of the screen to click to a new page.
  tags: writing English resources

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.