Time Magazine presents 9 current inventors and their inventions. These little known inventors have created items that are familiar to many of us today - items include the sticky note (Post-It), a pizza box with perforated sections for plates, and a huggable pacifier. This slideshow is easy to use. Just click on the next button after each slide to find the next inventor.

In the Classroom

After presenting the slideshow on your interactive whiteboard or projector, ask students to create their own list of modern inventions that are in general use. Students can then research their inventors and how the invention came about. Have a "Create an Invention" Day where students design and build their own invention that would make their lives easier. Have students share their inventions and how they work on video. Share the videos using a site such as SchoolTube (reviewed here). Another possibility is to include this slideshow in your study of the Industrial Revolution. Share TeachersFirst's interactive introduction to Inventors of the Industrial Revolution, and ask students to compare the circumstances around successful inventions today vs then.

TeachersFirst doesn't normally review lists of "links," but this hotlist from Fact Monster was good enough to pass our review team. The links here provide all kinds of ideas for classroom activities for Flag Day, including quizzes, puzzles, and a flag timeline. There's also additional information about the national anthem and Betsy Ross.

In the Classroom

Use the U.S. flag quiz on this site as a learning center or station during a Flag Day celebration or national symbol unit. Have students complete the quiz in cooperative learning groups, allowing them to assist each other when there is confusion.

This site from the Smithsonian provides ample information about the American Flag, as well as early American history. The Explore option on the site allows you to investigate and discover important facts about the flag and its creation. There is also a section about the National Anthem, as well as an interactive quiz about the early days of American government. A great site for Flag Day or early U.S. history!

In the Classroom

Use the interactive quiz on this site as a review tool before an assessment or to introduce a mini-unit on the flag. Introduce the site on the interactive whiteboard before allowing students to complete the quiz individually on classroom computers. Because of the amount of reading on the site, be sure to provide lower achieving readers with the vocabulary beforehand or a tool to help them look up complex words. Younger students would do better with partner readers or whole-class reading on an interactive whiteboard where they could highlight new words.

Although this site may look pretty simple, it has some great information on the history and evolution of the American Flag. The site hosts images of all the flags, including the famous "Don't tread on me," flag from the revolutionary period. Besides images, each flag hosted on the site has a brief history accompanying it.

In the Classroom

Use this site as a resource during Flag Day celebrations or a unit on national symbols. Use the site as an activity to help students better understand the significance of Flag Day, as well as the American Flag. Introduce the site on the interactive whiteboard or projector before allowing cooperative learning groups loose on the site. Have students investigate the "story" of the flag, presenting the information in a multimedia presentation. Have cooperative learning groups or the whole class (younger students) create online books using a tool such as Bookemon, reviewed here.

In the Classroom

Use this site as a review activity on Flag Day or during a national symbols unit, with cooperative learning groups competing to finish the web for time and correct answers. Introduce the site on the interactive whiteboard or projector, before allowing groups to complete it on classroom computers. Not only is this a fun activity for students, but it's great review both in their search for answers and in the review of answers afterwards. Once all groups are done, as a class demonstrate the correct answers on a projector or the interactive whiteboard.

This site, containing tons of timelines, is great for a number of different content areas. There are many video clips included. Search for the timeline of your choice, browse topics or people, or play timeline trivia. Topics range from Mark Twain to Women's Suffrage to The Beatles to Lord of the Rings (and countless others). There is a lot of information written in a clear, understandable manner. Plus, the pictures help tell the story of the timeline. You can also contribute by creating events, voting, commenting, and adding descriptions, photos, and videos to this site. If your district blocks YouTube, the videos may not be viewable. You could always view them at home and bring them to class "on a stick" to share. Use a tool such as Freemake Video Converter, reviewed here, to download the videos from YouTube.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

To add events to the site, locate the "add event" found at the bottom of the Timelines.com homepage. Follow the very clear (with samples) directions to insert your own event. Viewing the timelines is simple. Click to watch videos, view the maps, click "Like" or "Dislike" or make comments by clicking on the words.

Monitor what students are viewing in the premade timelines. Also, teach students appropriate events to include and check their work before having them submit work so that they are more accurate.

Use the timelines on the site in science class to help students understand the history behind discoveries that they take for granted, such as the the space race. Today's students have never lived in a world where traveling to the moon was not possible, and understanding the history of the event could be very helpful in understanding the magnitude of such an event. This site would also be useful in art or music class. Have students investigate the history of their favorite group or type of music and create a multimedia presentation to share with the class. How about a video (including music, of course). Use a tool such as Moovly, reviewed here, and then share the videos on a site such as SchoolTube, reviewed here.

Create your own piece of art using style and technique similar to Jackson Pollack. Click on the arrow to be taken to your blank canvas. Just click your mouse and watch the painting begin. Using your mouse, drag and click to disperse paint. Left click to change the color of the paint.

In the Classroom

Use this site as an anticipatory set on Jackson Pollack. Students can create a "painting" and share it with a partner or the class using a projector. Since the site paints via "mouse-overs," it can also work on interactive whiteboards that use a special "pen," but not on touch-sensitive ones, since these boards have no idea where your "mouse" is hovering. Research Jackson Pollack paintings and biographical information. Then go back to the site and have students again create a "painting" following Jackson Pollack's style. Have students explain why their painting follows Pollack's style. Create a class wiki to share paintings and explanations. Possibly compare these with images in other artist's styles. Want to learn more about wikis? Check out the TeachersFirst's Wiki Walk-Through.

This website is an up-to-date catalog of television shows, clips, cartoons and anything else that could be viewed on major television. No membership is needed to use this website. If you see something on television that you would like to use in your classroom, all you need to do is find it on here and you can show it in class via your television or interactive whiteboard. There are commercial television shows and some movies available on the site. Search by channel, recently added, TV or Movie, Trailers, or many other search options. Note: many schools may block this site to prevent student access to entertainment. Use it from home to find specific curriculum-related programs and request that those URLs be unblocked for class viewing.

In the Classroom

Use this to watch episodes of Glee in sociology class, and have student compare and contrast the television show with their real life high school experiences. Use science movies to reinforce concepts in class, or embed the codes given into your class website or wiki and assign television as homework! Have cooperative learning groups investigate a certain news story or current event and create multimedia presentations. Challenge students to create a video and share using a site such as SchoolTube (reviewed here).

This informative site gives an entertaining education about life in George Washington's 18th Century world. Click to learn about Washington's Treasures, Harpsichord Hero, Bombarding Yorktown, Jigsaw Puzzles, or the Archeology Memory Game. This site offers several educational games. An additional benefit of the site is that it is visually appealing and students can learn about the life of that time period by just looking at the images. The animation is fairly realistic. Some parts are read to the students; other parts they will have to read themselves.

Certain parts of this site require Unity web player. You may be asked to download the player (it's free), in order to try the 3D interactives.

In the Classroom

This site could be used in several ways. Individual students can visit the site when finished with class work or use it as part of a learning center about Washington's life. (You will need a dedicated computer or two.) Cooperative learning groups could explore specific topics within this website and create multimedia presentations to share with the class. Challenge the students to find images for the information, put captions and animation with them using a site such as Animoto, reviewed here.

Teachers who use this site with fifth graders, be aware that some of the parts that are not read to the students are written at the 8th grade level. You may want to lead the students up to the point where the game starts. Once the students get to the games, they will have no trouble.

A good project to accompany "Washington's World" is to have students research another President's world in another time period i.e. Lincoln. Teachers and students together can decide on the type of information found in Washington's world and research it for Lincoln's world. Each group of students could be in charge of different types of information. Have students create a project to compare life during both presidents time periods. How about an interactive Venn diagram using a site such as Interactive Two Circle Venn Diagram (reviewed here).

This site takes any quotation or poem and creates a "word cloud" (graphical display) of the words in a passage of text. Paste in any passage or the URL for any blog entry or web page (including newspapers online) to create a word cloud of the text. This resource is currently free while in beta and intends to keep it free for NON PROFIT only. Enhance basic word clouds by using this site to create clouds in various shapes, use mouse rollover options, use font effects, and more. Elevate your word clouds into an art form. Once registered, change your password by clicking on the profile tab and entering your changes. Before creating a word cloud, agree to their terms that includes only using appropriate content. Copy and paste series of words or use the url of a page where the words can be found. Choose a shape such as a heart, cloud, or geometric patterns. Choose a font as well as other options, and then click "Build the Cloud." Preview your cloud before saving.

In the Classroom

Users must be able to copy and paste text or provide a url to a page of text as well as determine parameters of more advanced word clouds. Alternately, these word clouds can be kept very simple. After creating the word cloud, be sure to save the image (or use a screen capture) to share with others. Another idea, use the url of the cloud or embed into a place to share such as blog, wiki, or site.

This is a terrific visual tool to share on an interactive whiteboard or projector. Help students develop creative fluency by creating their own taguls of words and ideas from scratch. Paste in a passage or URL for a political speech to visualize the politician's "message." Analyze advertising propaganda by visualizing the language used in TV or print ads. Create taguls of historical texts of inauguration speeches as time capsules of the issues of the day. Use this site as a way to help students see and memorize text, especially visual learners. Use it also when writing poetry or reading passages of great literature to "see" themes and motifs of repeated words and images. Have students paste in their own writing to spot repeated (and monotonous) language when teaching lessons on word choice. Students will be surprised to see what words appear to be dominant. ESL and ELL students will eagerly use this site since word order will no longer be a problem for them. Have students work in groups to create word posters of vocabulary words with related meanings, such as different ways to say "walk" or "said" and decorate your classroom with these visual reminders of the richness of language. Collect thoughts about the class subject at the beginning of the year and then again at the end of the year to determine changes in thoughts about the subject matter.

There are plenty of helpful sites to learn content. What makes this so special? Created by an uncle wanting to help his nieces learn material, Khan Academy has grown into a Creative Commons attributed site for helping all students. What information is available? Maybe one should ask: What are you looking for? View a vast array of videos on many topics: SAT prep, Algebra, Geometry, Chemistry, Biology, History, Trigonometry, Calculus, Economics, Brain Teasers, Banking and Money, Statistics, Finance, Physics, and more....Whew! The only problem? The videos are hosted on You Tube. If your district blocks You Tube, then they may not be viewable. You could always view that at home and bring them to class "on a stick" to share. Use a tool such as KeepVid reviewed here to download the videos from YouTube. Ed note: Another alternative to downloading at home is to access Khan Academy through iTunes U FREE downloads, assuming you can load and access iTunes!

In the Classroom

Share the site with your students in order to access at home for homework help. List this link on your class website. If you are unable to view this site on student computers but You Tube is unblocked for teachers, consider using a projector or interactive whiteboard to show to the whole class. Use your google account to log in once you click on the exercises link. From there, find access to exercises that students can complete that are related to each video. Encourage students to share links to specific videos they find helpful on a "Video Reviews" (yes, that is a pun) page of your class wiki. For a very real challenge, have students create their own simple review videos in the Khan Academy style and upload to SchoolTube, TeacherTube, or YouTube, whichever works best in your school. Embed them on your class wiki for a year-to-year student-made study guide!

This collection of reviewed resources from TeachersFirst is selected to help students learn their most effective study strategies. The collection includes specific study tools, reading strategies, review ideas, and notetaking methods that students and teachers can try as lessons in themselves or --even better-- as they go about the regular curriculum. Whether you want to use a graphic organizer, create your own electronic flash cards, or simply learn how to approach a test, there is a resource to help. Learning Support teachers and teachers of gifted will also want to share these alternate ways for students to organize and retain concepts, vocabulary, and more.

In the Classroom

Make learning how to learn part of your class routine at any grade level and in any subject. Feature one or more new study strategy each month and share this entire list as a link from your class web page for students and parents to access both in and out of school.

StoryCorps is a nonprofit site where Americans of all backgrounds and beliefs can record, share, and preserve the stories of their lives. It is one of the largest oral history projects of its kind. At the site you can download a "Do it Yourself Guide", find resources for teachers, and a list of great questions. You can subscribe to their podcast, e-newsletter, and blog, or you can upload your own story or that of a loved one or friend for free. Each conversation is recorded on a free CD to share, and is preserved at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.

In the Classroom

Grandparent's day is in September. What better gift to a grandparent than to be able to spend time with their grandchild and tell them a story about an important time in their lives? Of course, you'll want to prepare students with some interviewing skills and questions before they interview their grandparents, and show them how to record the interview with some type of recorder (tape recorder, cell phone, video camera, etc). This recording can then be submitted to StoryCorps and it will then reside at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.
Students can also interview parents about their first memories of school, and what they remember about the grade that the student is currently in. Share these interviews during the first week or month of the school year. Not only can these interviews be submitted to StoryCorp, but students could then do a write up of their interviews and publish them in a classroom book of memories. Have students create online books to share with the class about their interview. Use a tool such as Bookemon, reviewed here. Or have students narrate a photo of the person they interviewed using a site such as ThingLink, reviewed here.

Playing History is a directory of free historical games, interactives, and simulations. There is a growing body of research about the value of educational games and this site is a database for high quality games and simulations. You will find not only games for history, but for different cultural knowledge, too. This collaborative site currently has 132 humanities learning games and is growing monthly. You can suggest your own favorite humanities based games and simulations to be included in this collection. This site does not host these games. It is a sharing point for teachers/enthusiasts of history to recommend games and find them.

At this site the quality of the games varies from deep thinking to factual to cute. Learn everything from the history of dating to the geography of China to "Do I Have a Right?" exploring the Bill of Rights.

In the Classroom

There is a wide variety of topics for the study of cultures and history here, so be sure to look through this site as you plan your new unit or lesson! There are many, many uses for this site in the class room: Share a game from this site on your interactive whiteboard or projector for a whole class review, choose a game from this website to use as a center, a review, or to provide a student reward on individual computers. Some of the games can be downloaded into a pdf and printed out and used as a traditional card, or board group game. Since this is a collaborative website, you and your students can "rate" the games to give feedback for other users.

Comments

Oh MY GOSH! Who knew? This is a wealth of information available through game-playing. By searching the term "social justice," I arrived at numerous options for delving into the various aspects of a complex problem. I cannot wait to share this resource.Patricia, NJ, Grades: 6 - 12

This site provides a comprehensive look at the Star Spangled Banner. The site lets you interact with the Star Spangled Banner by clicking on various "hot spots". You can play a game called Collect the Stars that requires you to collect 14 stars by answering quiz questions. You can sing your own version of the national anthem and contribute your own photos to the flag mosaic. There is also a link to educational resources (click resources). You can also click on the link at the bottom of the page "How to Use This Resource In Your Classroom."

In the Classroom

Introduce this site on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Use the Explore the Flag section on the site as a whole group activity. Have students explore the site independently or in small groups. If used independently put the site on a classroom computer and use as a center. To use in small groups, set up a game show format. Using the Star Quiz game, break students into groups and ask the questions. Whichever team collects the most stars wins. In addition, take individual or group photos and submit them to be part of the flag mosaic. Additional ideas can be found in the provided educator resources.

This site, based on the Liberty's Kids television program, provides numerous resources for students and teachers regarding Colonial America. Students can use the News Maker to create a Colonial Newspaper, watch video clips of "Now and Then," or try various interactives. Liberty's Kids provides several background articles and lesson ideas for teacher use. Click on the link for Parents & Teachers to find goals, ideas about how to use the site, learn more about the characters, understand the interactives, and more.

In the Classroom

Because of its size, thoroughly introduce this site on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Then have students explore this site independently or in small groups. Have students use the News Maker to create a brief written piece about a Colonial topic. Check out all of the lesson ideas.

This site has some very clever ideas for using videoconferencing to help students delve deeper into quality texts, or extend their knowledge of a topic of study. As the creator of this site says, "Some of the ideas shown could easily be used as drama activities but there are some which would be improved by bringing in an outside helper using videoconference." Another very special aspect of this site is the book titles used, and the variety of age groups represented. This is a must see site!

In the Classroom

One of the ideas presented is the "Interview." Use your interactive whiteboard for students to create questions to ask the author or an expert about the book or the subject of the book. Video the interview, or save the video conference, and have students reflect on the quality of the questions once the students have had the opportunity to illicit answers to their questions. Use your interactive whiteboard to have students brainstorm what they would do differently next time as far as developing good questions.

This site has 18 maps with coordinated lesson plans that are designed to help the K-12 student improve their map reading skills. Using historical maps, students learn about history and how geography has influenced that history. Sample themes include "Environmental History," "The Historical Geography of Transportation," "Political and Military History," and a few others. The themes each have lesson plans by grade level.

In the Classroom

In addition to using the provided lesson plans, use this site on an interactive whiteboard or with a projector. Use the whiteboard tools to highlight special features of the map. Print out the maps and have students label them with the provided vocabulary words. Use a drawing program like KidPix and have students create their own "historical" maps based on their own lives. Use the additional photos from the resource section and have students create an interactive online poster using Genial.ly, reviewed here about why their map is significant to history.

Travel through time with Mr. Dowling's Electronic Passport to read about the history of Marco Polo and his adventurous family. This site offers a brief but thorough account of the travels and life of Marco Polo. This site is a great reference tool for research and reports as well as an extension of a textbook lesson.

In the Classroom

Use this site as a class webquest in conjunction with Marco Polo's Route to China and Back, reviewed here. Have students or groups research one area of this site and create a multimedia report to share with the class. Challenge students to narrate a picture using a tool such as Slidestory, reviewed here. Or have students create an online book using a tool such as Bookemon, reviewed here.

Newspaper Blackout is a clever way to unlock the secret poetry hidden within any printed page. This Tumblr site shares examples (unmoderated, so preview before sharing in a classroom!). Poetry no longer needs to be a gray area; this activity makes it black and white! There are no gimmicks, no magic pens, and no camouflage paper, but this is certainly a tricky way to write a poem! All you need are newspapers and black markers. Hunt for and select a few words from each of the lines as you read a newspaper or magazine article. Remember to start with the title. Instead of the typical bottom-up approach to writing a poem by starting with a blank page and filling it with words, try this fresh, top down approach by starting with a page already crowded with words. Then use permanent markers to blacken out all the trivial words in each line until the poem appears. (Put something under your page so the ink does not bleed through on furniture!) Click Share your poem to learn how to upload your work to the site.

In the Classroom

This poetry activity (aka Found Poetry) opens the doors to so many learning objectives. In a social studies or history classroom, you could direct your students to search for newspaper or magazine articles on topics that you have been studying, or current events. Suddenly you have social studies poetry! In an English language arts lesson, you might instruct students to blacken out all the words that are not nouns or verbs, or select other parts of speech. You could change the task to eliminate any word that is not part of the simple subject or predicate, and simultaneously teach or reinforce main idea. For classrooms with individual computers, students could access articles online. Copy the text into a document. Then, Instead of blackening out words with markers, they could get the same effect by highlighting over them with black, or changing the font color of the text to white, and printing them or saving a screenshot image. Another option is for students to email their Newspaper Blackout poems to the teacher. Each poem could then be put into a Power Point slide show for the class to see on a projector or interactive whiteboard. Use this site to offer your students a new twist on Poetry Month (April). Take your new poetry collection to the world by uploading the PowerPoint to ThingLink, reviewed here, and having each student record a reading in his/her own voice. Make poetry a participatory experience, no matter what the subject. If your school permits, have students take photos of their paper poems -- or screenshots of ones done on the computer --and share them on this site. You may want students to start saving their work in a digital portfolio. Suggestions are bulb, reviewed here, for high school students, or Dropr, reviewed here, for fourth through eighth grade students.