Special Occasion Ideas for the Classroom: TeachersFirst Editors' Choices
Special occasions give students a chance to recognize special people: moms, dads, aunts, uncles, grandparents, teachers, secretaries, school custodians, librarians, and more. Stretch your students' creative thinking, writing skills, and problem solving skills as they create projects to honor special people on special occasions or just as a surprise “thank you.” Check out this collection for classroom ideas and custom-made gifts (both "hard copy" and electronic). Create memories for special people as your learners show what they know and how much they care.
Teacher's First Edge Review: for slightly adventurous technology users and their students. Students and teachers can write their own original books, add your own images and artwork as illustrations, and read your published books in interactive, online form. For a fee, you can also have printed copies made, but there is no fee for the online publication and sharing. This is the ultimate in "digital storytelling."
Here is an example of a book created by the TeachersFirst Edge editors. Once you set up free membership in this site, students (or teachers) can select to create from a blank start or using templates provided. You can also create a book starter of your own as an example so students can follow the prompts you have created. The book creator allows you to upload your own images and to create books from a Word document or PowerPoint file you have already made. There is no provision for multiple users to collaborate on the same book.
After you save and publish the work, share the URL so people can read the entire thing online, either among an audience of “just my friends” or publicly. They also offer the embed code to place your books in a class or school web page, wiki, or blog, but at the time of this review, this code was not working properly. The BEST option is to copy the address of the new window displaying the interactive book. There is an option to have the book printed for a fee, but this is not required. You can also read books created by others (if they make them public). Use the fully-public option to create learning materials for classes to access year to year for at-home review or reading practice.
This site requires a simple registration. Members must be at least 13 years old. Teachers using this tool with younger students should use a whole-class account WITH parent permission and in accordance with school policies. See more detailed suggestions “In the Classroom” below and in our sample book!
In the Classroom: Skills needed: Join the site. No need for a confirmation email to get started. SKIP the profile and friends areas to get to the book creator. The site constantly offers ways to purchase printed versions of your books, but you can ignore them. On the Create Books page, choose from using a blank book, starting from a file, or using a template. Browse many “public” examples on the templates page of books created by others. Choose “school” to see projects from other classes or a sample created by you or a student team working in advance along with you. Explore ready-made themes (seasonal, topical, etc.) or use “open theme.” Choose book dimensions (match layout shape to any uploaded files, such as PowerPoint slides). Enter settings and description of your book (editable later), including who is allowed to “see” it: everyone, just friends, or private. Again choose a “theme” – more of a category where Bookemon will list your completed book. A logical option is “school.” Experiment with tools to upload files (within file limits), add images, add text, etc. Written help is offered as you go, but there is no video demo. SAVE often. Turn margins on to avoid chopping content. To share the book, you must “publish” it (i.e. finalize).
Once published, locate the book under "My Books" and use options to share (by email—and see the URL to copy from there), “Make a new edition” to create a new version—also useful for treating the original as a template for later books), Post to Other Sites offers embed codes not currently working properly. The BEST option is to click the book COVER which opens a new window without ads or “stuff,” and copy the ADDRESS of that window to paste into email, etc. You can also make that clean-window view a Favorite on a classroom computer!
Safety/security concerns: The home page of the site has “Featured books by our members” and the ability to browse all public books. You will want to preview for possibly inappropriate books created by others. As with any site where students can create content, you will want to obtain parent permission before posting student work online. The site does not allow users under age 13, so teachers with students below that age should obtain written parent permission for students to use generic student accounts you create and control through your teacher-extra Gmail address. Use up to 20 subaccounts of that Gmail account to create student accounts and passwords to be used by each student or 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.
If you have older students use their own email accounts to join and navigate, you will want to first spell out rules about the “profile” tools, friends, and other social networking features. There are multiple opportunities to share address books, use social tools such as Facebook to share your books, etc., so teacher-controlled accounts may be the easiest option.
If students are to collaborate on the same book, they must either log in under the same user name or sit together to collaborate. This could provide opportunities for “vandalism,” so have class policies and consequences spelled out in advance.
Possible uses:
With younger students, have them create their work in PowerPoint then upload for whole-class books. See an example, created by the TeachersFirst Edge editors . The example is full of ideas for classroom use from Kindergarten to high school, including science concept tales, poetry books, general writing, math problem solve-its, and more. ANY grade can use this tool, depending on the amount of direction by the teacher. By the way, the correct answer to the problem in the sample book is c. 27. Another idea, have students create personalized books for their parents or grandparents for special occasions (Mother's Day, Father's Day, or Grandparent's Day).
Tip: Use this site for a guided introduction to social networking as a class, an excellent teaching opportunity for 21st century literacy skills and online safety discussion.
Teacher’s First Edge Review: For moderately adventurous technology users. This site allows users to create online scrapbooks including photos, video clips, and music. Users can “Start with a Theme” or “Start with a Blank Page.” Add stickers, backgrounds, text boxes, and more. Be aware many of the themes are free, but some are for a fee. The ones for a fee say "purchase" at the bottom of the screen. This site requires Flash. You can it both from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.
In the Classroom: Skills Needed: This site is fairly easy to navigate. Users must be able to access photos (from several websites or personal computers) to use in the scrapblog. View the short introduction tutorial to learn more about site. Learn how to edit photos, add stickers to your pages, add backgrounds, add text, add videos, and more! There is the option to view the scrapblogs on full screen (see the box on the top right side of the screen). If you want to control the speed of the blog, you must have it on full screen. Once on full screen, look for the turtle and hare slider to slow down the speed. When completed, you can share your scrapblog via URL, on many social networking sites, or by printing out the pages. You don't need to register to USE this site, but you do need to register to save or share your scrapblog.
Safety/Security Concerns: an email address is required for sign up to use this service. Check your school policies about accessing/sharing student email on school computers. 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.
Classroom Uses: This amazing site has countless possibilities in the classroom. After a field trip, use this site to share the experience with families and as a review for the class. Can't take a field trip? Create a scrapblog of a fictitious "visit" to the historical site, showing what you have learned without even visiting. Rather than having students create traditional "book reports" or reports about famous people or events, use this site to create a multimedia presentation with photos, text, music, and more (include attribution for the Creative Commons images they may use). What would Jefferson have included in a scrapblog about his time in Philadelphia in 1776? Elementary classes could make whole-class scrapblogs about the important people and places in your school or community, using digital pictures you take yourselves. At Thanksgiving, have students make a scrapblog about the things they are grateful for. Share this link on your class website for students to access both in and out of the classroom. This is a perfect site for students to use to make free "homemade gifts" for Mother's Day, Father's Day, or Grandparent's Day.
Here is a sample of a scrapblog created by the TeachersFirst Editors
Woices (beta)Grade 4 to 12
- Woices Enterprise, S.L.- 10000
TeachersFirst Edge Review: for moderately adventurous technology users. This site, still in beta, offers a FREE service that allows you to create and share "echoes." Echoes are words (audio recordings), left by anyone at any place, and can be played over and over by any visitors who find them. Listeners will feel as if they are really there! Echoes can be anything from personal memories, personal messages to a class, history or art related annotations of a place, music to accompany that place, or any kind of audio you can connect to a location. The audio recordings are linked to geographic locations or real-world objects (in the place where they are located). Echoes could also be fictitious accounts "placed" somewhere in the world to tell a story. Woices states that the goal of the site is to "extend reality by creating a new layer of audio information, what we call the echosphere, that will make the world a more interesting place."
You can create your own "echo" or listen to various "echoes" created by others from around the world. Click Explore to hear the echoes of the world (in every language imaginable). You do not need to join to explore and listen to others' echoes. The site uses Google Maps to share the world. Echoes are also labeled with an "e-code" for easy access by URL and listening via mobile phone. Completed echoes can be shared as an embedded device in a wiki or web page, via email, or by URL link (click Share). Here is a sample echo created by the TF Edge team. The site also includes tools for comments, blogs, forums, and other "social" aspects. This site does require Flash. You can get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.
Note: Future plans for Woices (remember, it is still in beta) include integrating it to work with GPS-enabled mobile phones, so you could "listen" to locations as you visit them without knowing or searching for the e-codes -- right on your mobile phone. Imagine touring the Gettysburg battlefields or a museum with an audio guide on your mobile phone, created by other Woices users.
In the Classroom: Skills needed: No special skills are needed to listen to echoes. Just click Explore. To create your own echoes, you must register. Registration does require an email address and activation via a link sent to your email. To create your own, visit the Create link and follow the detailed instructions. The instructions include three simple steps (Put it on the Map, Give it a Name, and Send It). Step one requires you to click your location on the map. Then click Proceed to go on to the next step. At Step Two you add the title, description, tags, your photo (optional), language, and then you RECORD. Simply use your computer's built-in microphone and the site's "record" button. You can record more elaborate mp3 files using other software for later upload as an echo. You have TEN minutes of FREE recording time. Finally, click to Send It, and your new echo is on the web. The link is visible in your computer's address bar or can be emailed by clicking Share. You can also combine echoes created by you or various members of a group to form a "walk" of related echoes. Completed echoes can also be shared as an embedded device in a wiki or web page.
Note that using music or sounds from other sources could be a copyright violation. TeachersFirst editors remind you to use copyright-free music or -- better yet -- record your own.
Safety/security concerns: This is a public site, so once an "echo" is created, any user can access the information. If you are considering having students create their own echoes, you will want to be certain to adhere to your school's Acceptable Use Policy and obtain parental permission. If you are having students register independently (which may not be the best option), why not consider creating a free Gmail account with up to 20 subaccounts for each group of students (by code name or number) within your classes. This will allow you to control the accounts. Here is a blog post that tells how to set up GMail subaccounts to use for any online membership service.
This site also includes various social features (Community section) and advertisements. This is a great opportunity to teach basic Internet Safety in the context of a productive lesson. If students are working independently, be sure to have clear expectations and consequences spelled out -- then monitor activities. And remember, anything that is posted on this site, is available to any visitor on the web. There is no way to make the "echo" private. Take advantage of the Comments feature for students to respond to each other's echoes or to invite parents and others to respond. For example, if students create a local history tour, share it with older adults in the community to comment with their memories about the sites.
Possible Uses: The possibilities at this website are endless! Even the youngest of students can use this site (with assistance). In world language classes, have students LOOK for echoes from other countries, and even make some to practice language as they narrate cultural highlights of countries where their language of study is spoken. Make echoes about places you study in geography or history class. Have students create an echo tour or your own hometown and the important local historical sites (be sure to protect the identify of yourself and your students). Make a fictional echo "story" in real settings, using a sequence of links to echoes for the events in the story. Create a teacher-made echo treasure hunt of important locations for cooperative learning groups to explore. Make echoes about environmental sites or issues. Make a literary "walk" of a poet's geographic area with readings of his/her poetry "placed" in the places they describe, such as Emerson's account of Lexington and Concord. Make a mapped, narrated "walk" of the botanical species or animal habitats in your area. Make echoes about landforms. Create whole-class "I wonder" echoes about places they begin to study, ex. narrating the pueblos and asking about the people who once dwelled there. Then add more echoes as you learn. Use this site to record directions, questions, or prompts about places they should research and links they should use; then have them access the echoes at learning stations or with a substitute. Create "Echo" audio newsletters to share on your class website, connecting to the various "places" your class has been studying. Teachers could also record echoes about locations on a map to teach about map reading skills or have ELL/ESL students record echoes about places where their primary language is spoken to share with classmates. Have the students make the echoes, of course. Have students create their own echoes as "electronic" gifts for family and close friends. Why not create one celebrating moms for Mother's Day? Use this site to celebrate dad, grandparents, and other care givers also! Be sure to list this link (and relevant safety concerns about the site) on your class website for students to use at home. Include it as long breaks approach so students can work with their families, creating echoes about places they visit during family vacations or reunions.
Teachers First Edge Review: For slightly adventurous technology users. Record a message and embed it into your favorite site or provide a link to share for free. Send to a friend by entering your email and the email of the recipient. Here is an example of a Vocaroo created by the Teacher’s First Review Team, explaining a biology concept for high schoolers. Recording the message is easy and embedding into a site such as a wiki or blog has never been simpler! No login or registration is needed. Although, if you choose to send a message via email, you must choose a password to use at the site. Vocaroos are stored on their server. Created messages can also be downloaded to individual computers. Visit their FAQ's for frequent questions and responses. The Vocaroo recording service requires Flash. You can get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.
In the Classroom: Skills needed: Users need to be able to navigate controls on the website and sound levels on their computer. Copy/pasting embed codes is also a necessary skill for insertion in a website. Email the sound clip very easily.
Safety/security concerns: Future saving of Vocarros is unsure depending upon server space. Before using with students, you may wish to obtain permission from administration and/or parents. Be sure to check your school’s acceptable use policy. Students should be made aware of acceptable use and consequences of misuse of the service.
Possible uses: Record snippets of information as reminders on your class web site or instructions for students to follow. This is terrific for learning support students or non-readers! Have students describe aspects of classroom learning experiences to share with others, such as what they learned from a science experiment or found out about life in colonial America. Record a quick message for an absentee and email the link to him/her explaining how to catch up on missing work. Create tutorial pieces that students can use as study aids (or have them create them for each other). Use this site in world language classes or for ELL students: have students record and listen to their own pronunciation or send short messages to each other to translate. Have students use this site to practice speeches before the presentation to hear their speed, tone, and words. Use this site for research presentations, instructions for a substitute, or many other possibilities. With younger students, read a short story on Vocaroo, and have student follow along using a picture book. Or have the students read their own stories into Vocaroo and email the readings to their parents! For Mothers Day, why not have students record messages for mom or grandma? Another idea: create a class wiki where parents can "find" the entire selection of Vocaroos for Mother's Day (or another holiday). Record Vocaroos of each student talking about the importance of Moms for Mother's Day or how grateful they are for certain things at Thanksgiving. Embed them all in a class wiki to share with parents. Just email the URL for the collection.
If you choose to have students email one another (or their families), rather than using personal email accounts consider creating a teacher Gmail account and set up subaccounts for up to 20 students to register (by code name or number). Here is a blog post that tells how to set up GMail subaccounts to use for any online membership service.
Teacher's First Edge Review for moderate technology users The title says it all: "Inspired Picture Writing!" Use this free drag and drop literacy tool to create great sentences inspired by beautiful pictures. Or add inspirational or humorous captions to pictures.
NOTE: Our editors regret that PicLits occasionally allows advertising on their home page to include images that are not classroom-friendly. Teachers should preview to determine whether or not your students can ignore the ads.
"Learn It" provides learning opportunities and examples for creating captions, compound sentences, or paragraphs. Advanced lesson plans for teachers are viewed in the "Learn It" tab as well. "View the Gallery" to see already-created PicLits as well as comments and ratings. After selecting a picture (or using the one they provide) and dragging a word onto the screen, choose different forms of the word by using the drop-down menu next to the word. Move your words anywhere on the screen for creative writing. You can also click “freestyle” instead to type in your own words instead of choosing from their list. Word lists change, depending on the image selected. Note: Advertisements run alongside the PicLits screen. Caution students to ignore these. Here is an example: See the full PicLit at PicLits.com
In the Classroom: Skills Required: Join the site (requires email but does NOT require that you wait for confirming mail to arrive so jump right in!). Users of PicLits must be able to navigate tabs on sites, manage logins, and use URL's and embed codes to share results on websites and blogs. Play to learn the tools before or after joining. Help also provides a short-and-sweet text explanation of the tools.
Safety/Security concerns: Registering for a PicLits account requires the use of an email address. PicLits can be used without an account but users are unable to save or blog about their creation without an account. This site allows outsiders to comment on created PicLits.
Many school policies prohibit such interaction, so be sure to check your school policy. Teach about proper “netiquette” and making appropriate comments as students use this site. Set specific written class rules and consequences for interacting with outsiders. If you wish each student to have an individual account, they need to create it with an email address. Check your school policies about accessing/sharing student email on school computers. 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. A class account can be created instead. However, it does not show which work is attributable to which student. You may want to require that students initial their contributions in order to get credit. All work on the site can be seen without a login. All projects are public. Check your school policy for posting student work online. Written permission is always a good idea.
Management suggestions: You may want to create a word doc, Favorites folder, or other “collection” of the URLS to all your students’ projects in one place for easy work at grading time. Some teachers use a class wiki or blog with links to all projects from there. You may allow students to self-register, but be sure to keep a written record of their passwords for when they “forget.” It may be worth your time to do advanced registration for your
younger students or simply use a whole-class account.
Possible Uses: Share a PicLit on your interactive whiteboard at the start of a grammar or writing lesson to discuss word choice, figures of speech, or vocabulary. Use the visual picture prompt for journal or blog writing, allowing each student to compose a unique poem or haiku. Even science classes can write about concepts illustrated in the many nature photos. Emotional support teachers will love the chance to discuss feelings and how to describe facial expressions in the pictures. Make a collection of PicLits for a curriculum topic or as a literary magazine online. ESL students can create PicLits to learn new vocabulary. Have students create PicLits for special occasions and special people (mom, dad, grandparents, school nurse, or others). Use the embed code to place your creations on many other sites, including your class wiki or blogs. Share your PicLit by using a URL or code for an embedded widget.
Teacher's First Edge Review: for moderate to advanced technology users. Use Go Animate to create interesting and memorable cartoon type presentations. Students will have fun unleashing their imagination and delivering a message through creative animation. Flash is required. Get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.
Here is a very simple animation example:
In the Classroom: Skills needed: Create an account to login, but use the application right away (without waiting for an email confirmation). Video tutorials are available, and many functions are easy to figure out once you play with them. Choose from many templates or start with a blank screen. Create your cartoon using Saturday morning cartoon characters or a variety of other characters such as presidents, commercial characters, and many others. Add your images, such as faces or background pictures and customize additional characters, sounds, etc. Control length of sections, voices and sounds, and delete or add sections through the time line along the bottom. Save your creation easily and share to your favorite social or bookmark site; copy a link to share with others, or copy and paste the embed code into your wiki, blog, or website. Creations are saved in your account online and can be kept private or made public.
Safety/Security concerns: Some scenes may be inappropriate for all students but can be deleted easily. Caution: check student creations during the process. Students will need an email address to create an account. Check your school policies about accessing/sharing student email on school computers. 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. Also check your district's policies on displaying and sharing student work. CAUTION! This site includes the ability for the general public to submit their own animations. Be sure to preview for content inappropriate for your classroom. You may want to limit use to whole-class activities or prohibit accessing the public portion of the site. The home page has loud music and links to many “public” animation projects, so firm policies and/or practices to avoid "exploring" these are vital.
Possible uses: Students can sum up debate ideas using animated characters or present simple concepts from researched material to introduce to the class. Students can tell book report stories, create fictitious stories or present ideas in a fun format. Challenge students to use this site to tell the history of political figures, historical figures, or historical areas. Use this site to teach about chemical properties, scientific figures or discoveries, or great moments in Science through animation. In language arts class, you can use this tool to apply concepts of narrative patterns or characterization. Teachers of gifted may want to assign students to create an entire animated series. ESL/ELL or world language students could create animations to practice their new vocabulary. Why not have students create a comic strip about their mom or dad for Mother's or Father's Day or honoring someone else special in their lives - - even the school custodian, nurse, or secretary!
TimeRimeGrade 2 to 12
- Marijn Bom, Jaap Joziasse, Gerard Pastwa, and Pico Wilbrenninck- 9679
TeachersFirst Edge Entry: for moderately adventurous technology users. TimeRime.com allows you to view, create, and share interactive timelines. Use this site to search for user-created timelines about Barack Obama, and other past U.S. presidents, the sound of Motown, the history of Coca-Cola, Modern Thai Politics, and countless other topics. Use the search options at the top or bottom of the page to narrow your search. There is also the option to create your own unique timeline and share it by URL or by embedding in your class blog, wiki, or web page. To create a timeline you MUST register at the site. This requires a username, password, and your email address. The timelines require Flash. You can get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.
In the Classroom: Skills Needed: If you only plan to VIEW timelines, no extra skills are needed. If you plan to create a timeline, you must register. Registration requires a username, password, and email address. To create a timeline, click on the Create Your Own Timeline link and follow the step-by-step directions. You must open the email sent to your account (from TimeRime) before you can create your timeline. The email does not automatically "appear." So you will want to register several hours (or even the day before) you wish to use this tool with your students.
Safety/Security Concerns: You must register to create a timeline. Registration requires a password and email address. Tip: rather than using your personal or work email, create a free Gmail account to use for memberships. 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.
Possible Uses: There are many uses for the already created timelines: use your interactive whiteboard or projector to learn about the history of Motown during music class, research presidents and other famous people, learn about historical events, research literature, and more. Have students create timelines for research projects using TimeRime. Use this tool to make a timeline of your class’ school year for younger classes who are just learning the graphical representation of time. Create author biographies, animal life cycles, or timelines of events and causes of wars. Create a historical time line, scanning old pictures or using copyright free images from the Library of Congress American Memory Collection. Other ideas: artists, musicians, writers from a certain period in history, the twentieth century in different countries, World War II timeline, Civil War timeline, timeline of insect stages, timeline of the rock cycle, of a plant or tree, timeline or life cycle of migratory animals, personal timelines-- suitable for younger students only if they work with a teacher account. Have them create a timeline of the plot of a novel, interspersed with the ways themes appear throughout the novel. If you read Dickens, be SURE to create a timeline of the many intertwined characters, such as Estella and Pip in Great Expectations! If you teach chemistry, have students create illustrated sequences explaining oxidation or reduction (or both). Elementary students could even interview grandparents and create a class timeline about their grandparents’ generation for Grandparents' Day. Why not create a timeline highlighting students' family events for a special gift for Mother's Day, Father's Day, or other holidays? You may need to assign students to do some investigative work first (years of births, marriages, vacations, etc.). For collaboration, link up with another classroom in another town (or another country) to build a time line that shares events in each local area so students can see what was happening at the same time in another location, maybe in the opposite hemisphere (compare weather and seasons!). In world language classes, have students create a timeline of their family in the language to master vocabulary about relatives, jobs, and more (and verb tenses!). The possibilities are endless!
Teachers First Edge Entry: for slightly adventurous technology users. This tool helps you create an interactive family tree. Once you are registered, the family tree is easy to create. You are able to include family members’ birth-dates, death-dates, email addresses, pictures, marital status, and more. The site also includes some really neat features: Celebrity Morph, look-a-like meter (for children and parents), "smart matches" for your family tree, the ability to print family trees, and other features. The family tree and some of the other activities require Flash. You can get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.
In the Classroom: Skills Needed: this site is fairly simple to use. Join the site (free) and log in. Registration requires an email address and some other personal information (name, hobbies, etc..). Tip: rather than using your personal or work email, create a free Gmail account to use for memberships. 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.
Navigation of the site is rather simple. Once you put in your own name, there are buttons on the bottom right and left side of your "name box" to "add" an additional family member or "edit" the current name. Once you click to "add" a member, you are able to put in their name, birth date, death date, marital status, and email address (see safety concerns). One tip: to scroll UP use the DOWN arrow, to scroll DOWN use the UP arrow.
Safety/Security Concerns: This site allows users to set-up their family tree as PRIVATE. It allows you to control who can and can't view your profile, family tree, and other information. For more information about this feature, visit the Privacy link (on the bottom bar). Before you plan your family tree project, be sure to get parental permission. You may want to use this tool with first names and last initials and keep email addresses out of it for safety’s sake.
Possible Uses: Use this site to create family tree projects in elementary or middle school classes. Have high school students create family trees as part of a unit studying immigration patterns in social studies classes. In science class, have students create fictitious "people" as they study genetics. With younger students, create a class “family” sharing important dates for individuals (i.e. birthdays) or to teach vocabulary and spelling of family terms, such as “grandmother” and “uncle.” Have students share their family trees on an interactive whiteboard or projector. Be sure to "advertise" this project on your class website (and newsletter, if applicable) so students have time to gather names, birthdates, and other information about family members. In world language classes, have students create a family tree using the correct vocabulary for relatives and talk about it (in their new language!) as they share it on the interactive whiteboard. When researching famous people, reading biographies, or even reading literature, have students create a family tree illustrating their discoveries about their famous person, writer, artist, musician, explorer, literary character, etc.
Teacher's First EDGE Review: for slightly adventurous technology users. This online tool allows you to see various cities and countries throughout the world. The site features placemarkers added by users to interactive Google Maps including stories, photos, videos, and comments and ratings from other users. Visit this "story" we made in Reston, Virginia (west of Washington, DC) for a sample placemarker full of teaching ideas left by our review team “captain.” Mapskip allows you to zoom in and out (using the arrows) and scroll across the map in any cardinal direction. You can view the entire world, or individual cities. Red hands are used to represent placemarkers created by users. There are special features available for teachers upon registration. See their blog entries for more details about these features and ways to see only content created by your students or classmates. The Mapskip blog is written by the MapSkip staff to explain new features and tools. Registered members are able to comment on any updates there, as well. The videos require Flash. You can get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.
In the Classroom: Skills Needed: Register (requires email and activation from confirmation email). Before you submit your registration, be sure to scroll down to request "additional features for teachers" with the checkbox near the bottom of the form. Manipulate the map as you would on Google Maps (zoom, drag, etc). Click to add a new placemarker, enter a "story," title it, and upload pictures or video. You need to know how to locate and upload files. You can also edit your profile, view places created by you or any author you choose to "follow" and more. You can "rate" placemarkers left by others, as well. Why not make our review a "Favorite"?
Safety/Security Concerns: Membership requires an email address and user name. Use your “memberships” (extra) email account for such memberships, so you don’t clutter your mailbox. Register for the "special teacher features" to enable you to establish student accounts linked to your email address. Since this site has photos, videos, and stories submitted by members, always be sure to preview what you wish to share in class. The site has a link to click if anything appears inappropriate. At the time of this review, this website and its contents appear very useful and appropriate for intermediate and secondary students. Be sure to check your district's acceptable use policy before you submit anything to a website. Use fictitious names or initials for your students (or use the teacher features!) and be sure to get parental permission if photos, videos, or any student work are included. Since others can read, comment, and "Favorite" any entry you or your students make, you may want to discuss ethical behavior and help students build a “thick skin” to outside criticism. This is a good place to learn positive interaction with the public.
Possible Uses: Even without joining, you can share PREVIEWED Mapskip entries created by others on an interactive whiteboard or projector as you study faraway places. Create Mapskip entries about historical sites in your local area, including images taken with digital cameras, artifacts from your local historical society, links to newspaper articles, or video/audio interviews of older residents telling about old times. As you study community or landforms in your elementary class, "mapskip” them with annotations of a local map, showing examples of landforms and local community landmarks with digital pictures. Allow older students to use the site independently or in small groups. Mapskips are ideal as a product for individual research projects. In world language classes, have students plot a trip or write an imaginary story of their dreamed trip to Spain or Mexico. Take your students on a whiteboard trip to the native countries where the language is spoken. Literature settings can take on new meaning when your students annotate them on a map. Have students "mapskip" the landmarks of an author's life and/or the locations in his/her novels. Trace the path of a famous person's biography or annotate a famous painter's works, using links to the images from the places shown in landscapes. The "story" of a work of art can include critical analysis, as well. Anything that has a "place" can be a mapskip. Have students map family trips or important places in family history and share the maps with parents!
TeachersFirst Edge entry: for moderately adventurous technology users. Voicethread allows you to upload images (from your digital camera, scanner, or even paint program), then allow students to record their own comments and/or narration about the images. Other listeners can "comment" back, as well. TeachersFirst is providing the link to the VoiceThread home page but suggests that you first watch this quick explanation about two types of FREE educator memberships being offered for classroom teachers (one completely free, the other after a one time fee of $10...so "sort of" free). You can click to go to the home page from there. Access to the ed.voicethread site (as opposed to www.voicethread)is restricted to grades K-12 students, educators, and administrators.
VoiceThread explains how to set up a classroom account and has some ideas for classroom use, as well. Ideas from the TeachersFirst Edge review team are listed below, under "In the classroom."
In the Classroom: Skills needed: join the site (free). You will be logged into your account immediately after you fill in the registration form. Watch the "One Minute Voicethread" to get a very quick overview of how easy it is to create a digital story. Set up student identities. You will want to "Browse" some Voicethreads to get an idea how they work. Use first names only. You need to know how to locate and upload saved pictures. You WILL need a microphone, either plugged into your computer or built in. They can be purchased for less than $10 at a discount or electronics store. Once you create a Voicethread, it can be shared by copying the URL and sending it via email or other means, inviting others to comment back. You can also decide whether you wish to allow comments and whether these comments will be moderated by you.
Of course, you should be sure that you have the RIGHTS to any images you upload. Fair Use does not apply when you put an image on the web!
Safety/security: TeachersFirst recommends that you explain the VoiceThread projects via a note sent home and obtain parent permission to post student work to the web, even anonymously. Then invite parents to share in the results (The VoiceThread classroom page tells you more about this). TeachersFirst does not recommend using actual, identifiable pictures of children. Let them draw a picture or take a digital picture of an object that somehow represents them (middle schoolers will love that idea!). If you allow others to "comment" on student Voicethreads, the experience can be both wonderful and a bit intimidating. Use this opportunity to promote ethical and kind interaction with other students and their projects.
Possible uses: Elementary classes can create or take pictures, then ask each child to talk about the images. Each child can comment on the SAME pictures, creating a collaborative collection of responses. After a field trip or special class event, you can assign groups of students to explain each of the digital pictures you took and how they relate to curriculum topics. In art class, students can critique works of their own or of fellow students. In language arts classes, students can scan and comment on writing pieces as part of a reflective phase of the writing process. Or post an image as a prewriting activity and allow students to respond orally in an idea-generating phase. In social studies, have students provide a picture of a grandparent then narrate what they learned about that grandparent from interviewing him/her. Have students create narrated pictures as gifts (for parents or other care givers) for special occasions, winter holidays, Thanksgiving, Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, Father's Day, etc.. During a science experiment or demo, have a student take pictures of the steps. Then ask students to "narrate" them by commenting on what is happening. The narration assignment could even be a center activity or an assignment on a few classroom computers for students to rotate through. What a great way to review and apply key vocabulary! Be sure they identify their voices if you are using a single class account and want to be able to assess understanding. Other ideas: narrated local history projects (pictures of local sites), audio "museum tours" of artifacts (photos) or war veterans telling their stories along with images of their uniforms or old photos. Speech/language, ESL/ELL or early childhood teachers could use this tool to promote vocabulary development and oral expression.
TeachersFirst Edge Entry: for moderately adventurous technology users. Create simple audio podcasts using this online tool and the free space they provide. Simply put, this tool lets you create and place sound recordings online for people to listen to and/or download from a web site. There are MANY free podcasts in a variety of subject areas (art, health, technology, music, business, and more). The site itself is a "web 2.0," social networking style site, so some schools may have it blocked. Ask about unblocking just YOUR teacher account so you can have students access it while at school and under your supervision.
What can it do? You can record sound directly with the microphone built or plugged into your computer and make it available for people to listen to online or download to their MP3 player. See and hear a sample we made for you.
In the Classroom: Skills needed: Join the site (free); Membership requires email. Then attach a mike or use your built-in computer mike; create the podcast by clicking a record button,(you may have to tell your computer to "allow" nonsecure items over and over). Choose a background for your podcast page. Share it with others using one of several sharing options on the "My Podcast" tab, including copying the link to paste in an email or newsletter or embedding the podcast in your class web page or wiki.
Safety/Security: Podomatic does not allow memberships for those under 13. Teachers using this tool with younger students should do so under supervision and with a teacher-controlled account. The site is a "general public" site, so the home page has links to recent podcasts that may not be appropriate for the classroom. Discuss this possibility and tell students NOT to click on other's work or simply avoid sending students into the site on their own. Be sure you have parent permission and check school policies before allowing students to post work online. Carefully select or SKIP many sharing mechanisms for safety's sake. Limit any identifiable information within the podcasts. You may want to share the links to class podcasts only with your students and parents. If you have students record podcasts as assignments, you may need multiple accounts because the free accounts have limited file space. An elementary teacher might have enough space for 25 students to keep a limited number of products on his/her own account, depending upon length. The site will tell you how much space each podcast takes and how much you have left. Check your school policies about accessing/sharing student email on school computers. 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 create these subaccounts for use in joining any web-tool site.
Possible uses: You could record your homework assignments or directions; you can record story time or a reading excerpt for younger ones to listen to at a computer center AND from home! Have better readers record selected passages for your non-readers (perhaps older buddies). Launch a service project for your fifth or sixth graders to record stories for the kindergarten to use in their reading and listening center. Have students create "you are there" recordings as "eyewitnesses" to historical or current events; make a weekly class podcast, with students taking turns writing and sharing the "Class News;" have students create radio advertisements for concepts studied in class (Buy Dynamic DNA!); have students write and record their own stories or poetry in dramatic readings; language students or beginning readers could record their fluency by reading passages; allow parents to hear their child's progress reading aloud, etc. Compare world language, speech articulation, or reading fluency at two points during the year. Have your Shakespeare students record a soliloquy! Write and record a poem for Father's or Mother's Day (or other special events) and send the URL as a gift to that special person.
TeachersFirst Edge Entry: for more adventurous technology users. Create photo trading cards using images you upload or store on Flickr. Imagine having your students create study aides about famous people using images they draw and scan or photos of themselves impersonating the famous people, such as presidents, explorers, authors, and more. If you celebrate reading by having an "author's tea," why not follow up by asking students to make trading cards for the authors they "met"? Use a similar approach for famous historical figures or even for geometric shapes you photograph with the digital camera. If students write their own "biographies" of the shapes to study from, they will learn for sure! They can even trade each other for favorites.
In the Classroom: Skills needed: join the site (free), upload and tag your photos. type information, print cards. This is also an excellent idea for special occasions for special people: mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, school nurse, school secretary, school custodian, favorite aunt, or anyone else! Be sure to print onto cover stock and laminate (if possible). What fabulous (and memorable) gifts.
Special Occasion Ideas for the Classroom: TeachersFirst Editors' Choices
Teacher's First Edge Review: for slightly adventurous technology users and their students. Students and teachers can write their own original books, add your own images and artwork as illustrations, and read your published books in interactive, online form. For a fee, you can also have printed copies made, but there is no fee for the online publication and sharing. This is the ultimate in "digital storytelling." 
Teacher's First Edge Review for moderate technology users The title says it all: "Inspired Picture Writing!" Use this free drag and drop literacy tool to create great sentences inspired by beautiful pictures. Or add inspirational or humorous captions to pictures. 
