PBS has some great broadcasting for television, but did you know they also great broadcasting online? PBS Learning Media is an outstanding resource for videos, images, interactive elements, webinars, virtual field trips and much more.
On the site you will find "This Day in History" and it shares videos for various subject areas. For example, you might find information about the 100th day of school for math or a video about Mark Twain for English.
Just create a free account and start your search. You can search by grade level, subject area, and content type. Save what you find to favorites. I encourage you to explore everything this website has to offer.
Shakespeare in 60 Seconds
Ok, maybe not 60 seconds, but it will be close. 60second recap is a website that takes great works of literature and packages them up so teens take notice.
60Second Recap provides study guides for titles such as Beowulf, The Catcher in the Rye, Fahrenheit 451 and Hamlet. Each study guide provides general information about the book, but then shares short, engaging videos regarding the plot, characters, themes, and more. This is a great tool to show as a whole group in class or to give as additional resource material to help students better understand what they read. You'll also find book reviews and essay help.
Shmoop.com isn't the easiest website to explain. It has so much great content that it's hard to know where to start.
Free stuff you'll find on the website -
1. Study Guides for ELA, Math, Science, Social Studies, Art & Music and more.
2. College & Career Help
3. Over 3,000 videos
4. Writing Labs
5. Teacher Guides
They also have online courses, test prep materials for SAT, ACT, PSAT and AP courses - these aren't free.
Shmoop aims to combine a teen-friendly, approachable style with academically rigorous materials. Here's a link to their video explaining a little more about their site - What is Shmoop?
A big thank you to Lori Gracey from TCEA for writing a blog post about this great site!
LearnZillion is a free, online curriculum for Math and ELA. It provides lesson plans, interactive media, videos and more to help you and your students to be successful.
For the full details, check out Lori's blog post at http://goo.gl/iwhTNQ.
CommonLit.com, started in 2014, is a site developed by teachers that addresses the need for copyright friendly articles, short stories and historical documents that can be used in the classroom.
Select a theme, discussion question and a text to begin developing an engaging lesson. There are currently over 200 texts online and the number is growing.
Pic Collage was one of the first apps I downloaded on my iPad and I've been using it ever since.
Using the simple layout options, select the best one for your photos, and then add photos from your device or from the web. You can also add text and stickers, change the background, and create special effects for your photos.
Your creations can be saved to your device, instagram, twitter, facebook, or tumblr.
This app is an absolute must for students. It can be used in any subject area and can be as detailed as you want it to be.
Need some ideas? Just click on this Pinterest search to be inspired - Pic Collage App Search
I remember back in the day when Padlet was Wall Wisher. That was a while back - I loved Wall Wisher, but it seemed to have a few issues - well NO MORE! Along with the name change, Padlet has gotten it together and is now one of my absolute FAVORITE websites (and apps) for sharing content and ideas.
So what is Padlet you ask? Padlet is, at the most basic level, an online bulletin board or virtual wall. You and your students can post information for others to view. But really, Padlet is so much more than that. Here are just a few ways teachers and students can use Padlet in the classroom - teachers can post questions that students can answer, students can provide feedback/evaluation of a project, students can upload their work for others to see, teachers can use it as a communication tool for parents, students can write book reviews, teachers can post links to video tutorials or websites to be used in research, and the list could go on and on.
I encourage you to take a look at Padlet.com (and the app). Here's a link to a video explaining how to use Padlet and it also has a few examples - https://youtu.be/8VcSQygAf6E.
Using Shadow Puppet Edu makes video creation super simple. With only a few clicks, students can create videos to tell a story, share ideas, or show what they know.
Using images from the iPad or the built in image search including the Library of Congress, NASA, Creating Commons and much more, students can create videos with up to 100 images per video and up to 30 minutes long. They can also add narration, background music and text to each slide. When the video is complete, students can save it to the camera roll and then easily share it through social media, email or copy to Google Drive, Classroom, or OneDrive. Best of all, there are over 30 activity ideas built into the app to help everyone get started.
Check out the Shadow Puppet Edu app in the app store.
Thank you Peggy Reimers, Director of Professional Development at TCEA, for sharing this website with me today during a lunch and learn webinar.
NEWSELA provides teachers with a database of relevant non-fiction articles. Each article can be adjusted by Lexile for up to five different reading levels. It also has quizzes built into each article.
It's free to use NEWSELA, but if you create an account you have access to all of the articles and quizzes as well as the option to create classes, add students and assignments.
Article categories include war and peace, science, kids, money, law, health, arts and sports.
The ReadWriteThink website provides educators with free, high quality resources including lesson plans, interactive activities, mobile apps and printed materials. Their partners include the International Literacy Association, The National Council of Teachers of English and Verizon.
Search their site by resource type, keyword, or grade level. You won't be disappointed. ReadWriteThink provides everything from the lesson plan to the materials needed in class. * Download the free apps for your iPad too - two of my favorites are Timeline and Trading Cards. * Enjoy!
