Adrian Bruce

What it is: Adrian Bruce is an educator in Australia who has provided educators around the world with absolutely amazing FREE resources. I am floored that Adrian offers these downloads for free, they are truly incredible! On Adrian’s website you can find reading and phonics games to print and play, math games to print and play, printable puzzles to play, posters, art, science, readers theater scripts, writing ideas, and so much more. You will happily spend hours exploring this site. Put your checkbook away and get your printer fired up and ready for a workout!

How to integrate Adrian Bruce into your curriculum: Use Adrian Bruce games every day to make learning fun! Use these print out games as a center activity, as an activity that can be done when students finish work early, and for learning extensions or practice every day. Choose a game day where students can play games that reinforce skills learned throughout the week. I cannot sing the praises of this site enough! All games come complete with instructions and can be printed out from Word or Adobe Acrobat.

Tips: Send Adrian a big THANK YOU for this resource. Feel free to show Adrian your appreciation by buying him a beer 🙂 or donate a book through Amazon. 

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Adrian Bruce Games in your classroom.


Class Tools

What it is: Class Tools is possibly the most impressive, easy to use tool that I have reviewed to date! This allows teachers (even those who aren’t incredibly tech savvy) to create interactive Flash diagrams and games for learning and revising material. It is FREE! All diagrams created can be saved as data files or web pages to host on your school website or intranet. Quiz creators allow you to input up to 25 questions and answers an then choose a game to test student knowledge. Games include Matching Pairs, Manic Miner, WordShoot, and Cannon Ball Fun. Learning templates that teach and support chronological awareness include Time Line and Living Graph. Categorization tools include Post it, and a Target diagram. Linkage tools include Venn diagrams, and The Learning Puzzle. Priortization tools include Diamond Nine and a Priority Chart. Sourcework Skills tools include Lights Out and Source Analyzer. Essay skills tools include Fishbone and Hamburger diagrams. WOW!!

How to integrate Class Tools into the classroom: Class Tools may be one of the most versatile tools you can use in the classroom. Teachers and students can create learning diagrams together and upload to the school website for later study. Teachers, you can create games for your students to play focused on any specific curriculum. The sky is the limit for Class Tools in the classroom.

Tips: Print out a copy of the Class Tools Flyer, having a description of the tools handy is a must!

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Class Tools in your classroom.

Kids Past

What it is: Kids Past is a history website for kids covering topics such as: prehistoric humans, the rise of civilization, Middle Eastern civilization, the ancient Greeks, the ancient Romans, African civilizations, civilizations of India, civilizations of China, Byzantine empire, the Slavs, Islam, medieval Europe, Asia in the middle ages, ancient Americans, the Renaissance, the Reformation, exploration and expansion, Asia following the middle ages, the American Revolution, and the French Revolution. Kids Past has an online textbook on the above topics. The reading is kid friendly. Kids Past also features several history games based on the online textbook reading. Students can also find historical quotes and songs about history that they can listen to online.

How to integrate Kids Past into the classroom: Kids Past would offer a nice break from traditional textbooks and worksheets. Give students time to explore the site on their own to introduce or review a history unit. Read the online textbook as a class followed by a game using a projector. Split your kids into teams to play the game as a class. Kids Past is also a nice resource for students researching a time period or historical event because of the kid friendly reading.

Tips: Save Kids Past in the bookmark bar for easy access in the classroom.

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Kids Past in your classroom.

Zoom into Maps

What it is: Zoom into Maps is an extensive collection of online maps. Maps range from 1500 AD to today. Maps include United States hometown geography, exploration and discovery, migration and settlement, travel and transportation, environmental history, military maps, pictoral maps, maps of today, and unusual maps. Each map is accompanied by a series of questions and tips on interpretation of orientation, legend, and scale.

How to integrate Zoom into Maps into the classroom: Use Zoom into Maps for history lessons, geography, and even literature lessons. These maps are very high quality and are a great way to teach students how to read a map. Create an activity where students can explore maps on their own in a center type activity or in a computer lab setting. These maps would also be perfect for displaying on a projector for whole class instruction. Print out the Graphic Organizer included on the site. Students can use this graphic organizer as they explore the maps on the site.

Tips: The maps on Zoom into Maps are zoomable and available for offline viewing as well.

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Zoom into Maps in your classroom.

TerraClues for Schools

What it is: TerraClues for Schools is an easy to use tool where teachers can create interactive “scavenger hunts” with Google maps. Teachers can access hundreds of already made TerraClues to use in conjunction with curriculum or create their own TerraClues to fit their classroom needs. Teachers can also create private classrooms where they assign students to specific hunts. TerraClues hunts can also be shared with other teachers in your school, district, or anywhere in the world. This is a fun way to learn about using maps, curriculum content, and how to navigate the Internet. This site encourages students to learn and implement problem solving skills and learn about different cultures around the world. The Google Maps can be viewed as street maps, satellite maps, or hybrid. (A big thank you to Mike for suggesting this site!)

How to integrate TerraClues for Schools into the classroom: TerraClues for Schools can be used in a variety of ways in the classroom. Create a hunt for an explorers unit, any literature where the characters visit different locations (this would be a fun site for Flat Stanley), to teach students about history, in conjunction with web 2.0 tools and pen pals, for any social studies or geography lesson. Create an interactive field trip anywhere in the world for your students (or map out a field trip before you go). This is such a neat site, you are bound to find a multitude of uses for this site in your classroom. Wouldn’t it be neat to have older students create hunts for younger students?

Tips: If you haven’t already, go visit TerraClues for Schools NOW! Click on the “Tutorial Hunt” to see how TerraClues for Schools works. You will be convinced of this tools possibilities in no time!

Please leave a comment and share how you are using TerraClues for Schools in your classroom.

Interactives

What it is: Interactives is a truly amazing website for teachers and students. Interactives provides educators and students with strategies, content, and activities that can enhance and improve students’ skills in a variety of curricular areas including math, literature and language, science, history, and the arts. The site has great webquest/interactive activities on a variety of subjects for first through twelfth grades. These activities are extremely well done. The spelling bee activity is really the only activity appropriate for first grade but I found that many of the activities that were rated for middle and high school students, would be appropriate for elementary students as well. I cannot say enough about this site, it is a truly amazing site for teachers and students!

How to integrate Interactives into the classroom: Interactives has a variety of interactive activities for the subjects listed above. These would be great to use as an introduction to a new unit, or as a learning activity or field trip in a unit. The Interactives could be completed as a whole class (using a projector), in groups (center style in the one or two computer classroom), or individually (in the computer lab setting). Any of these options would be time well spent for your students! Each Interactive presents the student with information about the unit and follows with interactive activities such as building a roller coaster, collecting rocks, or tracing the growth of the United States.

Tips: Sign up for the learner.org newsletter for some great teaching tips and ideas.

Our Timelines

 

What it is: Our Timelines is a free web tool that lets teachers and students create and print timelines. Students can click on any entry in an already created timeline that is underlined as a link to a page that provides additional details on the event.

How to integrate Our Timelines into your classroom: Allow students to create timelines on Our Timelines. The timelines can be a 5 to 140 year span. Students fill in the time period, the event description and the event type. Students can also see a timeline of events that happened on their birthdays. This is a great resource for teaching kids about timelines and visualizing history. Use for history lessons, literature timelines, personal timelines, etc.

Tips: Be sure to click the printable check box in the timeline form so that the timeline can be printed.