Black Friday Giveaway from Currclick!
Month: November 2009
Big Huge Thesaurus
What it is: Big Huge Thesaurus is a must add to your classroom publishing center. The tag line of Big Huge Thesaurus says it all: “synonyms, antonyms, and rhymes (oh my!)”. Big Huge Thesaurus goes beyond other online thesauruses by giving students a wealth of synonyms (for each part of speech), words that sound like the original word, and rhyming words. When students find a word that they are curious about, they can click the link and it will send that word through the Big Huge Thesaurus.
How to integrate Big Huge Thesaurus into the classroom: If you have classroom computers, set up a writing/publishing center where students have all the resources they need to write. Big Huge Thesaurus should be one of those resources. Students can visit the writing center to add richness and interest to their stories, poems, and other writing. This Thesaurus does an excellent job of breaking down words. Use Big Huge Thesaurus on an interactive whiteboard or projector when learning new vocabulary. Type in the vocabulary word and have students construct its meaning using the synonyms that are generated.
Tips: I learned about Big Huge Thesaurus on Twitter this morning from several of my PLN. If you aren’t on Twitter with other educators, I highly recommend joining and following the fine folks I follow!
Leave a comment and share how you are using Big Huge Thesaurus in your classroom.
A Thanksgiving Story
What it is: A Thanksgiving Story is a site that lets your students star in a story all about Thanksgiving. Students fill in some blanks (Mad Libs style) and a Thanksgiving story is generated with students as the stars of the story. This is a quick but fun Thanksgiving activity for your students.
How to integrate A Thanksgiving Story into the classroom: Set up your classroom computers as a Thanksgiving publishing center where your students can quickly fill in the blanks and create a unique Thanksgiving story that stars them. Make sure that you have a way for students to print or email the story home when they are finished. The story would be a fun one for students to share at Thanksgiving dinner. If you have access to a computer lab, students could work on these independently in about 10 minutes.
Tips: I learned about A Thanksgiving Story from @cindybrock on Twitter. My PLN is the best!
Leave a comment and share how you are using A Thanksgiving Story in your classroom.
BrainPop Jr.: Thanksgiving
What it is: BrainPop is usually a paid service. This week, BrainPop Jr. is offering their Thanksgiving with Annie and Mobi for free. The video teaches students about the first Thanksgiving and includes plenty of facts about the Pilgrims, the Wampanoag, and the famous harvest feast. The video includes several discussion and dig-deeper questions throughout. The questions appear on a notebook next to the video. You can pause the video when the questions appear for a class discussion or for independent reflection in a journal. You can print out an accompanying notebook page that lists all of the questions from the video. At the end of the video, you can choose to “learn more” about the first Thanksgiving with additional activities, crafts, games, suggested reading, drawing, writing, interactive word wall, and quizzes.
How to integrate BrainPop Jr.: Thanksgiving into the classroom: The BrainPop Jr. Thanksgiving video is a fun way to teach about the history of Thanksgiving to younger students. The video is about 4 minutes long and includes multiple opportunities for discussion and check points for understanding. There are also additional follow up activities. Some of the activities are for print (a Thanksgiving “what I’m thankful for” turkey), and some are to be completed on the computer. Watch the video as a class with an interactive whiteboard or projector. Set up your classroom computer with the “learn more” activities for students to complete as a center activity. Alternatively, students could watch and complete the activities independently in the computer lab setting. The interactive word wall is a great way for students to learn some of the vocabulary associated with Thanksgiving.
Tips: Print out the Thanksgiving Notebook for your students to fill out as they watch the video. Thank you to @mrscoggin for sharing this freebie on Twitter!
Leave a comment and share how you are using BrainPop Jr.: Thanksgiving in your classroom.
Track My T
What it is: Track My T is a truly impressive website that I learned about from @dianadell on Twitter. Track my T lets students type in the unique lot number on their t-shirt and then go through an amazing interactive journey tracking their t-shirt from its very beginning as a cotton seed on a farm, to every step before they bought it. Students can track their actual t-shirt or choose a random t-shirt to follow. On their journey students will learn about picking cotton, the cotton gin, yarn spinners, textile mills, cut and sew factories, and distribution centers. This is an incredible journey that teaches students the process that goods go through before they end up in the local store. Each stop on the journey includes video, images, and information about what happens during that part of the t-shirt creation process. In addition, students will learn about and encounter historical figures like Eli Whitney. At the end of the journey students can check out their custom T tag, learn more about the screen printing process, and learn how to reduce their carbon footprint.
How to integrate Track My T into the classroom: Track My T is an amazing site. From beginning to end your students will be engaged and enthralled with this website. The ability to track their actual t-shirt is really something! Use this activity as a whole class with an interactive whiteboard, as a center activity in the classroom, or individually in the computer lab setting. As a follow up activity, have students put placemarks on a Google Earth map on the location where their t-shirt/pants/shoes were made. This activity could easily be expanded to the geography classroom (perfect for national geography week which is this week!). Students could do additional research about the country where their t-shirt originated from. To expand the activity even more, have students Tweet about their findings, see if they can get a response from someone that lives in that country.
Tips: Be sure to take a look at the accompanying lesson plan on Track My T. The lesson teaches students all about fair trade.
Leave a comment and share how you are using Track My T in your classroom.
Scholastic’s The First Thanksgiving
What it is: Scholastic has amazing resources all year long but the interactive on The First Thanksgiving is topnotch! Students learn about how the Pilgrims reached America, and what daily life was before the First Thanksgiving. Students can take a tour of the Mayflower, take the virtual journey to America, compare and contrast modern life with when the Pilgrims lived (housing, clothes, food, chores, school, games), and the Thanksgiving feast. There is a great slideshow and play a webquest feature where kids can learn more about the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag and the famous harvest feast. The site includes audio for every page and activity. This is great for younger students.
How to integrate Scholastic’s The First Thanksgiving into the classroom: The First Thanksgiving is a collection of great activities for students to learn about Thanksgiving and the Pilgrims. Students can use this site independently as young as first grade because of the audio features on The First Thanksgiving. The site can be used as a center activity that a few students can explore together, independently in the computer lab setting, or as a whole class with a projector or interactive whiteboard. The webquest at the end of the activity checks for student understanding with a quiz. Increase students participation further with some The First Thanksgiving bonus features and extras. Print out a Thanksgiving Readers theater, door signs, a fact hunt, a vocabulary quiz, and some letters from historical figures. There are also research and historical fiction journals that students can continue learning with. These range from a Plymoth Colony research starter to Our America: Colonial period.
Tips: Check out Scholastic’s Teaching resources for The First Thanksgiving as well as the literature connections that are available.
Leave a comment and share how you are using The First Thanksgiving in your classroom.
Investigating the First Thanksgiving
What it is: Investigating the First Thanksgiving is a fun interactive where kids are the historians. Students explore all the clues to learn about the first thanksgiving (really a harvest festival). This site provides great primary source material for kids to sort through. First they explore a section called Fact vs. Myth where they match pictures and descriptions. Each section includes an expert video that talks students through the section and explains a little about the first Thanksgiving. In the next section, students explore the Wampanoag people and learn about their different celebrations and traditions throughout the year. Then, students visit an English Colonist village and learn more about life for the pilgrims. Students can then learn about the events that happened prior to 1621 and what led up to the harvest celebration. The timeline in this section clearly shows what events were happening from the colonists point of view and what events were happening from the Wampanoag point of view. Finally, students can share what they have learned on a virtual informational poster where they can type the text of the poster. Students can print their completed poster at the end.
How to integrate Investigating the First Thanksgiving into the classroom: Investigating the first Thanksgiving is an outstanding activity that involves students and makes them the historian. Use this site to teach students the history of Thanksgiving but also how history changes. This site does a great job of teaching students the difference between “the past” and “history”. It makes the distinction that the past is always true but history (the way we interpret the past) can change based on additional information and resources. You can go through the Investigating the First Thanksgiving interactive as a class on the interactive whiteboard, inviting student “historians” to come up and help guide the class through the activities. Or as a center or individually on classroom or lab computers. Finish the posters together as a class, filling in information, or each students can complete the final project. If you do complete as a class, give a copy of the final to each student.
Tips: There is a great teacher guide that accompanies this site and offers great ideas for using the interactive in the classroom.
Leave a comment and share how you are using Investigating the First Thanksgiving in your classroom.
The Differentiator
What it is: This is a neat tool for teachers. The Differentiator is based on “A Taxonomy of Learning, Teaching, and Assessing: A Revision of Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives”. The Differentiator helps to guide you as you create learning activities and lessons for the various learning needs in your classroom. First choose a thinking skill from one of six categories (remember, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, or creating). Next, pick a way to to differentiate the content. Then, you will choose a resource that students will use. Select a product for students to create it can be visual, constructed, oral, multimedia, or written. Finally choose the group size. As you choose items for each category a learning objective sentence will be created.
How to integrate The Differentiator into the classroom: The Differentiator is a great tool to focus your learning goals. It helps you to quickly and succinctly create objectives for the different learning styles in your classroom. Not only does this help to focus your lessons, it can also help students to direct their learning. Students who understand what learning goals they are working toward, and how they will get there, will be more successful.
Tips: There is a great little informational tutorial video that you can access by clicking on the “Need Help?” button in the top right corner of the site.
Leave a comment and share how you are using The Differentiator in your classroom.
One Minute Countdown
What it is: Another great tool from Triptico, One Minute Countdown is a simple web tool that acts as a countdown timer for the classroom. The countdown is perfect for using at a center on classroom computers or on an interactive whiteboard/projector.
How to integrate One Minute Countdown into the classroom: I find it difficult to give students adequate thinking time after asking a question. Usually as teachers, we call on the first hand that shoots up. This can be a hindrance for students who require a little longer to process and think about the question asked. Use the One Minute Countdown to pace yourself and give students built in time to think. The One Minute Countdown Timer can also be used for classroom games, or as motivation to move quickly during transitions (see if your students can beat the clock).
Tips: You can choose whether or not you want a sound to play when the countdown has finished.
Leave a comment and share how you are using One Minute Countdown in your classroom.
Block Poster
What it is: Block Poster is a neat site that I learned about on Twitter. Block Poster lets you choose any image, choose how many sheets of paper wide you would like your poster to be, and then creates a pdf file of your new image that is blown up. The result is a massive pixel poster to hang on a bulletin board or the walls of your classroom.
How to integrate Block Poster into the classroom: It can be difficult to find good technology posters that relate to my classroom. I was thrilled when I learned about Block Poster. Any image can be turned into a poster that can be printed on any printer! So cool! Create posters with unique messages for your classroom, posters that include the names of your students, or motivational posters. I am currently creating a Wordle message for my classroom that will be made into a poster using Block Poster…I’m pretty excited about it!
Tips: The smaller the image is to begin with, the more pixellated the full size poster will be. This can be a neat look!
Leave a comment and share how you are using Block Poster in your classroom.