Category: Interactive Whiteboard

National Geographic Image Collection

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What it is: National Geographic is known for their poignant images.  Now, those images can be viewed online in the National Geographic Image Collection.  There are more than 11 million images that chronicle the world from the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the 21st century.  Students can also view the history of photography from daguerreotypes to digital through an interactive time line. The image collection includes images related to exploration, wild life, people and cultures, and science and climate change.


How to integrate National Geographic Image Collection into the classroom: The National Geographic Image Collection is an impressive set of images from around the world.  The old adage “a picture is worth a thousand words” proves to be true.  These images are indeed worth a thousand words or more.  Use these images to help you tell the story of our world as you teach students about history, science, wild life, and world culture.  These images will help to connect your students with learning in ways that a textbook can’t.  Use the Image Collection for creative writing prompts.  Allow your students to choose an image from the collection to tell a story about.  The interactive time line can be used to  teach students about the history of photography.


Tips: I learned about this site from a Tweet by @McTeach a few weeks ago on Twitter, thanks Karen!


Leave a comment and share how you are using National Geographic Image Collection in your classroom.

Liberty Kids

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What it is: Liberty Kids teaches about Colonial life in America through a variety of educational activities.  Students can explore the animated “Now and Then” segments which compare and contrast various lifestyles, cultural, technological, and health issues from the Revolutionary War period and life in the 21st century.  The Liberty News Maker lets students create newspapers that include headlines, stories, and pictures.  Students can engage in games and activities that allow them to discover important information about how the United States was founded.  The Revolution Archive allows students to learn more about historical figures of the Revolution.  Here students will find artists renderings and historical facts about important people, places, and events from the time period.  The site also includes a great teacher section that includes ideas for making the Colonial period relevant to your students, on and off line activities for students to complete, and scripts for short plays that students can perform where they will hear the voices of slaves and free men, American Indians, women, and a poor immigrant.


How to integrate Liberty Kids into the classroom: My 5th grade students LOVE Liberty Kids.  They especially enjoy watching the “Now and Then” video clips together as a class.  (In fact, their homeroom teacher has started using these clips as a reward in her classroom.)  This site bring history to a kid level and helps them understand history as it relates to them.  Students get a great view of what life was like during the Revolutionary War as well as learn about key events, people, and places of the Colonial period.  Use the play scripts to connect your students to the lesser known voices during the Revolutionary War.  Let them explore the site individually on classroom computers or explore as a class with an interactive whiteboard or with a projector.  The animated video clips and Revolution Archive can be used with the whole class but the games are best for students to play individually on their own computer.  After students have a good understanding of Colonial Life, they can create and print out a newspaper cover that they create.


Tips: There are some CBS advertisements on this site that will be very appealing to students. Make sure that they know which portions of the site are advertisements and which are part of the Liberty Kids website.  This is a great opportunity to teach students about how to spot an advertisement and why websites use advertising.

Leave a comment and share how you are using Liberty Kids  in your classroom.

BrainPop Jr.: Thanksgiving

Kelly Tenkely1 Comment on BrainPop Jr.: Thanksgiving2886 views

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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.

Scholastic’s The First Thanksgiving

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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

Kelly Tenkely1 Comment on Investigating the First Thanksgiving2571 views

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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.

One Minute Countdown

Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment on One Minute Countdown1455 views

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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.

ZuiTube

Kelly Tenkely1 Comment on ZuiTube10654 views

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What it is: KidZui is a site I have written about in the past.  The KidZui network has added some sites to the network that I just learned about.  ZuiTube is a kid friendly You Tube portal.  It is the largest collection of kid friendly videos online.  New videos are added to ZuiTube daily.  All videos are approved by parents and teachers before being posted on ZuiTube.  Students can watch educational videos, funny videos, movies and movie clips, silly songs, and music.  There is also a special section on ZuiTube just for videos related to Thanksgiving.  The Thanksgiving collection includes everything from the Turkey Dance to videos about Native Americans and Pilgrims.

How to integrate ZuiTube into the classroom: ZuiTube videos can be used as an introduction to new teaching (on nearly any subject), to add some humor to the classroom, or to reinforce teaching.  Videos are a wonderful way for students to make connections to new learning.  I have found a video that correlates with nearly every part of our curriculum.  I even found a great Berenstein Bears video for character education…gotta love that!  With all the snow we get in Colorado, there are bound to be some indoor recess days for the kids.  ZuiTube is a safe place to find kid friendly videos that students will enjoy while they are staying dry and warm inside.

Tips: I often have parents asking me what they can do at home to keep their kids safe online.  KidZui is an excellent recommendation, the parent reports are a great way to keep parents involved in their children’s online activities.

Leave a comment and share how you are using ZuiTube in your classroom.

Math Nook: Counting Money

Kelly Tenkely5 Comments on Math Nook: Counting Money1837 views

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What it is: Math Nook is a website with a collection of great flash based math games.  Counting Money is a fun little game from this website.  In this game students man a cash register and are given a target number to give change for.  This game allows for multiple solutions.  For example, if the target is ten cents, students could give a dime, two nickels, or ten pennies.  Any of these answers would be considered correct.  Target numbers are given in number and written form (0.10 and ten cents).

How to integrate Math Nook: Counting Money into the classroom: Counting Money would make a great math center on classroom computers.  Students can take turns manning the cash register.  Keep a class tally of the high score for this game and see how high the students can go.  If you have an interactive whiteboard, students could take turns returning change.  After the student at the board gives the solution, ask students what other coin combinations would have worked to solve the problem.  You could also turn Counting Money into a whole class game by splitting your class into teams and keeping score separately.

Tips: Thanks to @cwebbtech for sending me the ad free version of this game! Update: The ad free version URL does not always work so I changed the links back to the ad supported version.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Math Nook: Counting Money  in your classroom.

BBC Primary History World War 2

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What it is: The BBC has so many incredible technology resources and websites for students.  Today I learned about the BBC Primary History World War 2 website.  I am really impressed with the wealth of information on this site, but also the age group it is targeted at: primary students.  So much of the time, history websites (especially on WWII) are geared toward older students.  This site is very kid friendly in its verbiage, images, and content.  This is a great site to explore with your class to learn more about World War II.  Students will learn about the world at war, evacuations, wartime homes, food and shopping, the war time efforts, children at war, air raids, daily life, growing up during wartime, and the end of the war. Each section has easy-to-understand information and pictures.  Students can also be a historical detective with a World War II time capsule game.  The teacher section has an amazing collection of related worksheets, activities, and links that can be used with the site.

How to integrate BBC Primary History World War 2 into the classroom: I am so impressed with the content presented on this site.  It is easy enough for young students to gain an understanding of World War II. This would be an excellent website to share and explore with your whole class with a projector or interactive whiteboard.  Read the facts and discuss the stories together while browsing through the primary resource photographs. Encourage students to imagine what it would have been like to be a student during the war.  After you have viewed the site as a class, students can explore more on their own in a computer lab setting or on classroom computers.  Allow the students to play the time capsule game to reinforce the skills they are learning.

Tips: This site could take several class periods or days to explore.  The additional activities are wonderful, students can do everything from exploring a war time shelter to learning about rationing by shopping for a meal in 1943.  I so wish that I had learned history this way!!

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using BBC Primary History World War 2  in your classroom.