http://www.onlinecharttool.com
Charts and graphs are great tools because they communicate information visually. Students can design and share graphs online for free. The application supports a number of different chart types which include: bar charts, pie charts, line charts, bubble charts and radar plots.
Users can build charts in 5 easy steps:
* Design Graph. In this step, you choose your Chart type (e.g. bar or line graph).
* Add Data. In this step you add the data of your graph.
* Labels and Fonts. Determine the settings for the data labels and you can set your font type and font size.
* Preview Graph.
* Save and Share. Send the graph via email or save it as an image on your computer. If you are registered and logged in on our site you can also save your graphs online for further editing at a later stage.
Free Online Chart Tool, K-12
Where the Wild Things Are, K-12
Here are some instructional resources to teach about the book, related themes, and Maurice Sendak.
Watch a trailer of the film or video of Sendak guiding your students through the forest of his imagination.
http://tinyurl.com/yljyow6
Harper Collins' Official Web Site
http://www.harpercollinschildrens.com/kids/gamesandcontests/features/wildthings/
Reading Rockets' Where The Wild Things Are Interviews, Activities & More
http://www.readingrockets.org/articles/33292
National Wildlife Federation Activity Guide
http://www.nwf.org/beoutthere/parentsguide.html
Remember to check out the Heartland Resources too!
Video for Loan:
http://media2.aea11.k12.ia.us/haea11media/qsearch.htx
Where the Wild Things Are, 8min. (#066417)
Discovery Education Streaming:
http://streaming.discoveryeducation.com/index.cfm?location=aea
Where the Wild Things Are, 7min.
Where the Wild Things Are, French Version, 6min.
Where the Wild Things Are, Japanese Version, 6min.
Where the Wild Things Are, Spanish Version, 6min.
TeachingBooks.net
http://www.teachingbooks.net/
Log in to TeachingBooks.net with your email address to access an author interview, book guide, and book reading for Where the Wild Things Are.
Language and Translation Tools, K-12
Interesting translation tools...
Yahoo! Babel Fish: Text Translation and Web Page Translation
http://babelfish.yahoo.com/
Google Translate
http://translate.google.com/#
Translate text or Web pages, the quality is questionable but you can search in other languages.
Language Tools: iTools
http://www.itools.com/lang/
Check several dictionaries at once.
Free Translation Online
http://translation2.paralink.com/http://translation2.paralink.com/
Like Babelfish but offering many more language combinations.
Nice Translator
http://nicetranslator.com/#
This dictionary translates into multiple languages of your choice at the same time.
Frengly
http://www.frengly.com/
Easy to use translator for multiple languages.
Free Online Translator
http://www.worldlingo.com/en/products_services/worldlingo_translator.htm
Currencies and Other Metrics
Currency Converter – Yahoo! Finance
http://finance.yahoo.com/currency-converter#from=USD;to=EUR;amt=1
Bloomberg.com: Calculators
http://www.bloomberg.com/invest/calculators/currency.html
XE – Universal Currency Converter
http://www.xe.com/ucc/
Metric Conversions
http://www.metric-conversions.org/
CalculateMe.com: Comprehensive Conversion Utility
http://www.calculateme.com/index.htm
Unit Conversion
http://www.unitconversion.org/index.html
Language Maps
World Atlas of Language Structures
http://wals.info/languoid
World Language Mapping System
http://www.gmi.org/wlms/users/huffman/#maps
Modern Language Association: Language Map of the USA
http://www.mla.org/map_single&lang_index=&state_index=&source=county&p=N&mapnum=1
Other Alphabets
Russian alphabet (aka Cyrillic alphabet)
http://masterrussian.com/russian_alphabet.shtml
Arabic alphabet, pronunciation and language
http://www.omniglot.com/writing/arabic.htm
Japanese alphabet
http://www.linguanaut.com/japanese_alphabet.htm
Science and Geography, 4-12
http://www.21centuryskills.org
The 21st Century Skills Maps for Science and Geography shows how integrating problem solving, communicating and critical thinking into science and geography classes supports teaching and prepares students to become effective and productive citizens. The Partnership for 21st Century Skills collaborated with the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) and the National Council for Geographic Education (NCGE) to create the frameworks. The maps are the third and fourth of a series. The last map, for math, will be released later this year. The maps are awareness tools that show what 21st century skills look like in core subjects. The teacher-created vignettes help guide classroom practices in grades four, eight and 12, which link science and geography to the skills required for college and work.
Explore Our National Parks, 7-10
http://www.pbs.org/nationalparks
Free digital media resources from Ken Burns’ documentary series The National Parks: America’s Best Idea, including on-demand video, lessons plans, student activities and historical archives, are available through PBS Teachers®. Among the unique resources to help educators infuse technology into instruction are the place-based digital storytelling modules. Several video screencasts, along with printable quick-start guides, provide step-by-step instructions on using the latest technologies to create digital storytelling projects, addressing basic- to advanced-level technology skills. The modules illustrate the processes of geotagging, video editing and special effects, uploading stories to a public section of the National Parks site, and more. In addition, the National Parks project offers 10 standards-based lesson plans, nine day-trip activities and five “Untold Stories” discussion guides. The “Untold Stories” tell the roles of African Americans, Asian Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Native Americans in the creation and protection of individual parks. One of the mini-documentaries, “City Kids,” explores the efforts to bring inner-city youth into the parks, often for their first encounters with wilderness, to learn about the earth, teamwork, and themselves.
The History Lab, 3-12
http://hlab.tielab.org/index.php
The History Lab offers teachers a template for creating primary source based lessons and activities for their students. The completed labs are archived for use by anyone. Registration is required but it is free.
This site offers teachers a framework for teaching history through primary sources. Teachers simply complete a fill in the blank template and choose the available resources and primary documents to create the lab. Teachers can store their lessons in the History Lab database and retrieve or modify them at any time. The archive of labs includes lessons in American history, world history, ancient history, and European history. Included is a resource section that can be used for creating the labs or just for teaching with primary sources. It includes links for each of the history topics as well as multimedia sites.
Remember the following Heartland online databases also contain primary source documents: EBSCO, SIRS, World Book Web.
Inside Out: An Introduction to Psychology, K-12
http://tinyurl.com/yd8229y
This new DVD series from Heartland features interviews with experts and researchers along with case studies that provide a look at the evolving world of psychological science.
New Edutopia DVDs, K-12
The George Lucas Educational Foundation provides a variety of educational media resources designed to connect and inspire positive change in all areas of education. Edutopia video is “a catalyst for innovation by helping educators and parents, as well as business and community leaders, see and understand pioneering best practices.” These DVDs are available for checkout from Heartland.
Edutopia presents a new day for learning, 12 min. (#256088)
This program profiles after-school and summer programs that engage community partners to extend the learning day and year. Some of the programs profiled are those featured in the report "A New Day for Learning" by the Time, Learning and Afterschool Task Force. This report calls for a complete rethinking of how students spend time learning, highlights school programs and community efforts-from after-school and summer programs to extended-day programs and internships.
Edutopia presents a world class education, volume 2, 35 min (#256090)
The documentaries in this collection demonstrate the importance of international awareness and provide real-world examples of programs that foster global understanding.
Edutopia presents assessment, 62 min. (#256089)
The documentaries in this collection look at the ways to assess students.
Edutopia presents integrated studies, 71 min. (#256095)
The documentaries in this collection look at programs involving integrated studies.
Edutopia presents math and science, 65 min. (#256091)
The documentaries in this collection describe ways math and science are being taught.
Edutopia presents project-based learning, 80 min. (#256087)
The documentaries in this collection explore how project-based learning is being used in a variety of educational environments.
Edutopia presents school-to-career, 60 min. (#256086)
The documentaries in this collection examine the key role of school-to-career programs in education.
Edutopia presents: social and emotional learning, volume 1, 65 min. (#256084)
The documentaries in this collection look at the important part that social and emotional learning plays in reducing negative behaviors and improving academic achievement.
Edutopia presents: social and emotional learning, volume 2, 80 min. (#256085)
The documentaries in this collection examine social and emotional learning programs.
Eutopia presents: teacher development, 60 min. (#256094)
The documentaries in this collection look at exemplary teacher-preparation programs that allow teacher candidates the time to spend in classrooms with experienced mentors.
Eutopia presents technology integration, volume 2, 70 min. (#256093)
The documentaries in this collection look at programs involving technology integration.
Teaching Every Student in the Digital Age, K-12
http://teachingeverystudent.ning.com/
This public Ning is designed to support a learning community based on the book discussion for Teaching Every Student in the Digital Age. It is the result of research by the Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST). It features discussion forums, blogs, videos, photos, live chat, links to other resources, etc.
The e-book version, available for free at http://www.cast.org/teachingeverystudent/ideas/tes/ , has links to resources that make it a wealth of information regarding universal design for learning (UDL). UDL is a framework that can help educators turn the challenges posed by high standards and increasing learner diversity into opportunities to maximize learning for every student. Drawing upon new knowledge of how the brain works and new technologies and media now available for teaching and learning, UDL frames a systematic approach to setting goals, choosing or creating flexible materials and media, and assessing students accurately.
Watch Know, K-12
http://www.watchknow.org
This is a non-profit online community devoted to finding the best videos for students from Watch Learn, Teacher Tube, Google Video, School Tube, and You Tube. It includes age level filtering and they are categorized by subject and placed in the order in which the topics are typically taught. Harvard educator Christopher Dede is on the Advisory Committee.
Iowa Core Curriculum Scenarios Database, K-12
http://scenarios.aea267.k12.ia.us
This database includes scenarios (and lessons) that educators can borrow and adapt to their own teaching.
Achievement and Video Streaming, K-12
http://www.discoveryeducation.com/products/streaming/whyitworks.cfm
Based on two years of data, a recent independent research report illustrates a link between usage of Discovery Education streaming and higher achievement scores. Specifically, the report data shows there is clear evidence that frequent usage of Discovery Education streaming is associated with higher achievement scores in grades 3-8 in math and reading.
The research was completed by Cometrika, an independent research firm, and led by Dr. Frank Boster. The study focused on 2006-2007 and 2007-2008 school year data, and three geographically diverse states, examining more than 7,500 school buildings in Texas, Indiana and Florida. State-level department of education achievement data and Discovery Education streaming data for building-level usage was used to correlate building-level, high-stakes test results for grades 3-8 in math and reading and the frequency of use of Discovery Education streaming within each building.
"The major focus of the study was to scientifically answer the question: ‘Does Discovery Education streaming improve student achievement in the classroom?’ and the answer is ‘Yes,’” said Kelli Campbell, Discovery Education Senior Vice President of Content and Product Development. “The compelling digital media found in Discovery Education streaming can truly engage today’s students in the curriculum beyond traditional methods.”
Wordle: Word Cloud Creator, K-12
A word cloud is a visual depiction of a set of related words. The clouds use font sizes and other visual clues to words that appear more frequently in the source text. Wordle is a free Web 2.0 tool for generating “word clouds” from text or del.icio.us tags that users provide. Users can create artwork from words, and use the built in properties to identify key words within a written passage and analyze content. Users can tweak their clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. The images created with Wordle are the creators to use however they like. Wordles can be printed or saved to the Wordle gallery to share with students, parents, or friends. Just copy text in any language, paste it into Wordle and it will sift through it and create clouds with the most commonly occurring words in the text. You can then edit the shape, the colors and the font, and remove words. Listed below are several examples of how teachers are using Wordle in the classroom. Read this article in Tech For Learning on how it supports instruction. Click here to see the text of this article in a word cloud.
H.S. English
Dawn Hogue, author of the Polliwog Journal blog, shared this high school English idea.
Before reading a word of the book, I pasted the first paragraph of the story A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings by Gabriel Garcia Marquez into Wordle. I then handed the Wordle out (nothing more, not even the title) to the class before reading and had students work in groups to answer the following questions:
- What is the story going to be about?
- Who might the main characters be?
- What will the setting be like?
- What is the tone of the story?
- What words might we need to define?
- What questions do you have about anything so far?
- Whatever else you can think of . . .
- The groups could save their predictions and revisit them in their writing journals during and after reading.
H.S. Science
Below is a high school science example from the Technology and Education Blog, Box of Tricks:
Choose two online newspaper articles about the current topic being studied.
Copy and paste the articles into Wordle, creating two word clouds.
Print copies of the full articles for the entire class.
Print both word clouds on one piece of paper and make enough copies for the entire class.
Hand out the hard copies of the word clouds to pupils and ask them to fold their papers in half so every other pupil would be looking at a different word cloud.
Ask students to look at the word cloud, and using a dictionary, try to ascertain the purpose of the original articles.
Ask one half of the class to explain to the other half what they thought their article was about while the teacher displays each word cloud on the interactive whiteboard. The teacher can highlight words one at a time and extract relevant /useful vocabulary.
Finally, hand out copies of the original articles in full to the students and discuss the vocabulary further.
Elementary
Wordle is used for a discussion on bullying. The students each create a list of words that describe a "friend" and a list that describes a "bully". Then take all of their words and create a "friend" Wordle and a "bully" Wordle. Make a classroom poster that had each Wordle on it and in big text had the question "Which one are You?". Post it on the classroom door so when they leave the classroom, they see this question.
GuessTheWordle Wiki created by Jen Wagner
Every day a new Wordle is posted for teachers and your students to view. Each wordle has a TOPIC. Students need to use their sleuthing skills to figure out exactly what that topic is. They must be careful though, some have more than one thing in common. Teachers and students can also create their own Wordle puzzles using this wiki.
There is also a good Slideshare presentation from the Ideas To Inspire website; Forty Interesting Ways To Use Wordle in the Classroom, that gives some more great examples.
Book Rotation, K-8
http://www.aea11.k12.ia.us/curriculum/reading/bookrotation2007.html
Teachers can refresh their classroom collections with a box of new books every 5-6 weeks. Register online.
TeachingBooks.net Curriculum Resource Center, K-12
http://www.teachingbooks.net/csk
This Curriculum Resource Center was created by TeachingBooks.net with the support of the Coretta Scott King Book Award 40th Anniversary Public Awareness Campaign Committee. It honors books that "promote understanding and appreciation of the culture of all peoples and their contribution to the realization of the American dream of a pluralistic society” and is given to “African American authors and illustrators for outstanding inspirational and educational contributions.” This collection is continually updated and includes resources most recently added in September 2009.
Search this site to:
* Hear directly from African American authors and illustrators as they talk about and read from their books.
* Enjoy audio recordings, book readings, videos, and more.
* Teach the Coretta Scott King Book Award-winning books with this free, online collection of primary source materials and lesson plans.
Focus on Reading Strategies, K-4
http://reading.ecb.org/
Into the Book is a reading comprehension resource that focuses on eight research-based strategies: using prior knowledge, making connections, questioning, visualizing, inferring, summarizing, evaluating and synthesizing. Students can view the fifteen minute videos and try the online interactive activities. “Behind the Lesson” provides information and teaching resources for each strategy. Teachers can view the ten minute professional development videos and explore the Web site for lesson plans, video and audio clips, and more.
New Iconographic Videos, K-3
http://tinyurl.com/yeqpwoa
Click this link to 35 favorite stories on DVD that are available for checkout.
New Iconographic Videos, K-3
http://tinyurl.com/yeqpwoa
Click this link to 35 favorite stories on DVD that are available for checkout.
Use Math and Science in Everyday Life, K-12
https://pumas.gsfc.nasa.gov/
Practical Uses of Math and Science (PUMAS) offers more than 60 one-page examples of how science and math can be used in interesting settings and everyday life. Topics include clouds (why they float), Social Security benefits (algebra), Pythagorean theorem (cabinet corners), ice sheets and sea level (logarithms), matching birthdays (statistics), traffic signals (probability), seasons (causes), volcanic clouds, wind chill (algebra) and more. The examples are written primarily by scientists, engineers, and other content experts.
Math Online Tools, K-12
Interesting Web sites for teaching math...
The Maths Apprentice
http://www.mathapprentice.com/Activity/explore.html
This is a primary and middle school site for mathematics directed at the younger audience.
Kids Online: Me and Mymaths
http://www.kidsolr.com/math/math.html
This is a primary and middle school site, but a useful math site.
Dan’s Maths
http://www.dansmath.com/
This site is directed at the more senior school audience but is still applicable to middle school students.
MathAtube
http://www.mathatube.com/
Video tutorials and resources for mathematics
US Government Data
http://www.data.gov/
This is a great source of accurate information and statistics. Applicable to mathematics, humanities and many other subject areas.
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