TeachersFirst: Week of October 5, 2008

Featured Sites - Week of October 5, 2008

RSS feed with this page.

Here are this week's features. Clicking the "more resources like this" link below each listing will present a list of our most recent additions for the same subject area and grade level .

My abodo - Grades 2 - 9 - permalink
Use this free tool to create a simulated house, change what you own, and find out how it affects climate change. Click on items on the house and view options that can be made. See the water and energy used as well as the waste created for your choices. A "did you know..." box displays relevant information. This site requires Flash. Get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page. 9579

In the Classroom:
Students can take a screen shot picture of the house they create (print screen for pc and apple/shift/4 keys for mac) and paste it into a document or PowerPoint slide to discuss its features. Have older students research the cost of traditional materials for houses in comparison with green technologies. Discussing advantages, disadvantages and cost are important for better understanding. Have younger students talk with their parent about green options they may have considered or adopted at home.

The City of Ember Activities - Grades 4 - 8 - permalink
Activities abound for your class unit on The City of Ember. With the movie version on the scene (as of early October 2008), your class will appreciate the varied activities and online interactive chapter quizzes that go along with this book. Quizzes may be printed as well for a paper/pencil assessment. You will love the vocabulary enhancement exercises, and depth of all the activities. Check out the links at the bottom of the page for author interviews and information. 9521

In the Classroom:
When you study electricity, The City of Ember is a natural reading tie-in. Reward the end of the unit with the viewing of the movie. Print out the site’s worksheets and activities and bound them into a City of Ember unit to make them available in your Teacher Resource room. To make worksheets from the web pages, just cut and paste into a Word Document.

For similar resources, click the appropriate keyword: electricity | mystery | author studies | online interactive quizzes |

Puzzlers Paradise - Grades 2 - 10 - permalink
This site offers some fabulous (and addicting) mind stretchers. There are both visual and verbal puzzles. There is also a puzzle archive featuring a variety of puzzles for various grade levels. Some of the puzzles are interactive and you complete them online, while others are printable. This site requires Flash. You can get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page. 2146

In the Classroom:
Save this site in your favorites. Use a logic puzzle as a class opener to “warm up” brains. Display the puzzle on an interactive whiteboard or projector. Print out the logic puzzles for students to complete for additional enrichment. Use this site with your gifted students. Provide a link to this site on your class website for students to use at home. Challenge your students to create some puzzlers of their own and share them on a class wiki.

For similar resources, click the appropriate keyword: logic | puzzles | mosaic squares |

Quiz School: Create a Quiz Online - Grades 1 - 12 - permalink
The site calls itself the “YouTube of Quizzes.” This site allows you to create ONLINE quizzes. You MUST register to use this site. Registration does require an email address, user name, and password. Registration takes less than ten seconds, and is very simple.

Once registered, you click to create a quiz. Then you are asked to choose between a personality quiz or a scored quiz. This site offers extraordinary details. At the scored quiz, you are able to provide a title, tags, description, and choose the type of questions (multiple choice, essay, or fill in the blank). It is simple to insert images, change font styles, insert links, and even score the online quiz. You can create a pass/fail quiz, a graded quiz (with YOU determining what qualifies as an A, B, etc..). You are also able to set a time limit, issue a certificate of achievement, and fill in the possible total score.

Once students have taken the quiz, immediate feedback is provided (including a scale of all participants, the correct answers, final score, and grade). This is a fantastic tool to use to create online quizzes!

Caution: this site does include some minor advertisements. At the time of this review, all advertisements were appropriate. But it would be wise to advise students NOT to click off of the quiz onto any of the advertisements or links. 1532

In the Classroom:
Use this site to create online quizzes. Create a quiz as a review to share on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Have students take the quiz independently or in cooperative learning groups. Have students create their own quizzes to use for review or as a final project. Embed your quiz (or provide a link to it) on your class website.

Just One More Book Podcasts - Grades 0 - 6 - permalink
Listen to over 400 podcasts of reviews of children’s books and interview with authors. Learn about the authors and interesting details found in the books. Some podcasts even lend ideas for using a particular book in the classroom. Andrea and Mark hail from Canada; therefore some conversations lean more on Canadian culture. Thrice weekly, this podcast is published to Just One More Book. Click on the ‘Thanks’ link to find hundreds more podcasts and websites—each delighting the teacher (and parent) in all of us. You can subscribe to get these podcasts free through RSS and iTunes, or listen to them directly at this site. This site requires Flash, which can be gotten here: TeachersFirst Toolbox page.

9585

In the Classroom:
Teachers, before buying a book, see if it is on this site’s list of reviewed books. Gather ideas for new books here as well. Have a Podcast Festival in your classroom, as your students record their own reviews of your classroom books. Upload the reviews to SchoolTube (explained here).

For similar resources, click the appropriate keyword: Childrens books | podcasts | book reviews |

Bloom's and ICT Tools - Grades 0 - 12 - permalink
This single web page is a treasure for any teacher who uses technology as a teaching tool. This diverse site offers a taxonomy of technology tasks. It provides a way to analyze and evaluate your uses of technology and the assignments you give to students and uses the new Blooms as a taxonomy to analyze technology tasks. The site provides specific tasks for each level of the taxonomy. For example, at the highest level on the taxonomy, students Create. Some of the "action words" used at the Create level include design, build, construct, devise, produce, and plan. Before you plan an electronic activity or form your expectations, take a moment to look at what you are really asking your students to do. Have you pushed them beyond simple comprehension? Is there another way to do the task that will develop higher order thinking? Have you planned a sequence to move from lower to higher level thinking? Do your students' projects reflect more than fact-spitting and really CREATE..or does the glitz disguise a lotta LOTS? Since few teachers today ever experienced learning with technology, this page provides a new vision in deceptively simple form. Some of the links require Adobe Acrobat. You can get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page. 1085

In the Classroom:
Save this site in your TeachersFirst favorites! Keep the page handy as you develop new lesson ideas in the 21st century. Use this site as you create rubrics with project choices for students. This site lists MANY ideas of how to incorporate this site (and its ideas) into your classroom. If you teach teachers-to-be or mentor new teachers, help them envision technology as a real tool for learning instead of "fun."

For similar resources, click the appropriate keyword: blooms taxonomy | creativity | HOTS |

K12Online Conference - Grades 0 - 12 - permalink
This annual "conference" started in 2006, costs you nothing, and connects you with teachers and education professionals all over the world in live or near-live interaction. Always held during the second half of October, the conference features "presenters" using technology tools to share their experiences using technology and best practices to change the way learning occurs in their schools and classrooms. They describe it as "a conference by educators for educators around the world interested in integrating emerging technologies into classroom practice."

Each year the strands vary, so be sure to visit the site early to learn more about the current focus. Our editors are very impressed at the changes in this conference since our first review in 2006 and cannot wait to see what will happen next. Every teacher can find something to learn and stretch without being overwhelmed.

Don't miss the "Fireside Chats," opportunities to talk live with the presenters and ask questions. NO question is too minor or "dumb." TeachersFirst writer and reviewer Louise Maine will be presenting in 2008. Don't miss the chance to "meet" her. 6981

In the Classroom:
Put this conference on your calendar every year. Consider holding a get-together after school for pizza and participation with some face to face teacher friends as you meet new ones "virtually." Many of the presentations are available as podcasts to carry along to children's soccer games or listen as you commute or jog, too! As you move forward, possibly rethinking the way you teach in the 21st Century, consider sharing your experiences by submitting a presentation proposal. Most of the presenters are "just teachers" like you. Don't have time to "attend" during these two weeks? That's OK. The entire "conference" remains online in perpetuity for you to experience personalized professional development. Ask your administration to allow you to "attend" and earn continuing ed credits. Don't miss the archived material from 2006 and each year thereafter.

For similar resources, click the appropriate keyword: web 2.0 | blog | podcast | wiki |

Screencast-o-matic - Grades 4 - 12 - permalink
Teachers First Edge Review: For adventurous technology users. Use this simple and free tool to create a video recording of your screen to upload and share on a teacher web page, wiki. blog, etc.. This is an easy way to create a tutorial from your own computer screen. When you visit sites that have tutorials on how to use their software, you are looking at a screencast. Use this site to give specific directions on how to use different applications in and out of the classroom. This site requires Java. Audio is not necessary for the screencasts but may be beneficial, depending upon the tutorial. An example can be found here. Click to Play the "Using the Wiki" screencast. 9564

In the Classroom:
Skills needed: Users will need to know how to use whatever computer software, website, or skill they are demonstrating. Following basic directions and managing browser windows or tabs are a must, as well as the managing settings of the computer being used. The site demonstrates how to troubleshoot problems on both PC's and Mac's.

How to use: Click "create" to start. The website will check your computer for Java, which is required to use the online software. As the screencast is being created, files will need to be written temporarily to the desktop. A security screen will pop up that asks to run the application. You will be asked to "trust" or "not trust" the security certificate. Depending upon your school's Acceptable Use Policy and computer security settings, you may not be able to complete these steps. Choose the screen size when played and whether audio will be needed (audio can be tested here as well, which is recommended: settings may need to be adjusted for different microphones.) Open a new tab or browser window and enter the web address of the site (or software) that will be the subject of your screencast. Drag the black frame by clicking the line and dragging it in order to choose what will be recorded during the screencast. The microphone icon has a green bar that shows recording levels. A green arrow showing instead of a green bar denotes that sound is not being captured. The red button is used to start recording while the black "X" stops the recording. Once you stop recording, click on your screencast tab or browser window and preview your recording. You can then either upload or discard your screencast. At this point you can create an account easily. Save your screencast to a channel of your own. Use the embed code to place your screencast into a blog, wiki, or other site. You can also use a widget code to embed the screencast player into a website. Screencasts can then be made from your other site and will save directly to your screencast channel. Screencasts can be set to different levels of privacy and comments can be turned on or off.

Safety/security concerns: Teachers who must request certificate approval by tech staff may want to try this tool at home and create some sample projects to convince administration of its educational value. Ads are found along the top and sides of the screencast site. You may want to prohibit or point out the links to advertising located on the screencast pages. Unless checked to turn off comments, this site will allow comments on your work. Many districts prohibit such interaction and steps should be taken to prohibit commenting from others. When using the widget, the tool does not attribute work to specific students. You may wish to have the students identify their work while creating the screencast. Screencasts will only be able to be viewed when using an embed code in a site, wiki, or blog. Students need an email to create an account though authorization is not required. 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. By marking the screencast "searchable," it can be available to the public. Recently created screencasts do not appear on the home page of screencast-o-matic. Students are able to self-register, but you may want to keep a record of logins and passwords for students who forget.

Classroom Uses: Make how-to demos for instructions on using and navigating your class home page, class wiki or blog, or other applications you wish the students to use in creation of classroom content. By narrating how you want students to navigate through a certain site or section, you can eliminate confusion, provide an opportunity for students to use the information as a refresher for the future, and maintain a record for absent students. Software demonstrations add an increased flexibility with helping students who need it while allowing students to begin and work at their own pace. Added audio is a great asset for many students including learning support and those who might need to access the material in smaller “chunks.” Use this site for students to give "tours" of their own wiki or blog page. The presentation of their web-based projects and resources can be more engaging. Use screencasts to critique or show the validity of websites, identify a resource site they believe is most valuable, or explain how to navigate an online game. Social studies teachers could assign students to critique a political candidate’s web page using a screencast. Reading/language arts teachers could have student teams analyze a web site to show biased language, etc. Math teachers using software such as Geometer’s Sketchpad could have students create their own narrated demonstrations of geometry concepts as review (and to save as future learning aids). Teachers at any level can create screencasts to demonstrate a computer skill or assignment, such as for a center in your classroom or in a computer lab. Students can replay the “tutorial” on their own from your class web page and follow the directions.

For similar resources, click the appropriate keyword: screencast | tutorials |

Want to see what else we've been up to? Check out our recent additions.

Featured Sites Archive