Resources to Start Off Your Week 15

     I can’t believe that it is already my last week of student teaching. It went by so quickly and I am going to miss “C School” and our Grade 5 class so much! I was originally feeling very ambitious and had considered finding a resource for each one of our students… until I realized that we had 28 students (54 if I counted our other 5/6 class)! So in the interest of my sanity, I found 15 great new resources; one for each week I have been doing these posts! I’ll be adding them to my list of favourite websites and you can check out that full list here.

1 ) TED-Ed
– From the amazingly wonderful TED non-profit group comes TED-Ed.
  Their compilation of educational videos are the perfect accompaniment
  to your classroom lessons.
– Not only does this website have some great videos, but they provide us
  with the resources to create a customized lesson around it!
– http://ed.ted.com/

2 ) Online British Library: Virtual Books
– This website allows users to flip through virtual copies of many great
  pieces of work from Mozart’s Diary and Leonardo’s Sketches to
  The Original Alice in Wonderland and Masterpieces of the Renaissance.
– Great for social studies projects on primary resources and English
  projects on different types of literature throughout history.
– Students love the interactive feature of being able to flip through
  these books!
– http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/ttp/ttpbooks.html

3 ) Heroes & Villains: The National Archives
– Students seem to love heroes and villains! This website allows
  students to explore the biographies of some of the world’s most
  loved and hated individuals.
– This website provides forms of information including text, images,
  videos and primary documents.
– http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/heroesvillains/

3 ) PowerPoint Palooza
– How many times have we sat at the computer wishing that we had a
  quick PowerPoint to accompany a lesson. PowerPoint Palooza is
  a great collection of social studies pre-made PowerPoints covering
  American History, European History, Global Studies and student
  projects.
– Can be used in a pinch or modified if you are stuck for ideas, just give
  credit where credit is due!
– A great example of teacher collaboration!
– http://www.pptpalooza.net/

4 ) CIA: The World Factbook
– A great website for researching a country’s history, people, geography
  and much more!
– This website is extremely user-friendly and clearly laid out for student
  use.
– Takes a while to load and countries may show up as “undefined” until
  proper loading time takes place. 
– https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/

5 ) Scholastic: Computer Lab Favourites
– Stuck for good quality educational games that you can allow during
  computer class? This website is designed for students, user friendly,
  engaging and educational!
– This website has several games that cover a wide range of subjects
  including science, math, social studies, and more.
– Although it is American-based there are several activities that can be
  used by all students, regardless of location.
– http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/clf/

6 ) Lakeshore: Award Maker
– This website provides colourful and exciting templates to create
  FREE awards for students.
– Topics cover everything from subject-specific accomplishments to
  general templates.
– http://www.lakeshorelearning.com/general_content/free_resources/teachers_corner/awardMaker.jsp?ASSORTMENT%3C%3East_id=1408474395181113&bmUID=1335449348354

7 ) Newsjack
– One of my new favourite websites allows users to pick a famous news
  website (CNN, Fox News or The New York Times) and FULLY customize
  it to create a realistic version of their own information.
– This website would be great for teaching students about the legitimacy of
  online information: can they find the incorrect or hoax information?
– With some work, you could also customize the website to include all the
  information needed for a research or inquiry project. Students just need to
  visit your newspaper and viola!
– Students could also use this website to create a newspaper that presents
  information from a research project they completed.
– http://newsjack.in/

8 ) Big Huge Labs
– This website allows you to edit images in a variety of ways to create
   magazine covers, puzzles, calendars, mosaics, etc.
– Students could use this website to meet assignment requirements, find
  creative ways to present information and learn about editing tools.
– http://bighugelabs.com/

9 ) Zoho Planner
– Zoho can be a great organizational tool for teachers, providing tools
  to create to-do lists, provide reminders, manage emails and share
  files.
– http://planner.zoho.com/login?serviceurl=%2Flogin.do

10 ) Tested (Mythbusters) 
– Jamie and Adam from Discovery’s Mythbusters present their website that,
  in their own words, “…covers anything that’s awesome. Tested is the place where
  we’ll explore those topics in depth, asking the hows and the whys about the things
  that excite us the most.”
– A great website to assist in providing relevant material for our students!
– http://www.tested.com/

11 ) National Geographic: Space Shuttle
– This website provides great 360 degree pictures of the space shuttle. As you zoom in
   it also provides detailed information regarding the shuttle and its different components.
– http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/04/120416-nasa-space-shuttle-discovery-smithsonian-360-tour-panorama-science/

12 ) Life: 100 Photographs that Changed the World
–  This website provides 100 images, available as thumbnails or as a slideshow, that
    depict important events and people throughout history. Not only does it provide
    great images, but Life has also included detailed paragraphs regarding the image
    as well.
– Great for introducing any number of topics and subjects and a good inspiration
   point if students are stuck on project ideas.
– http://digitaljournalist.org/issue0309/lm01.html

13 ) X Timeline
– Maybe it is just because I am specialized in social studies but I love this website! It
  not only provides the option to search timelines on various subjects such as
  biographies, organizations and history (plus more) but it gives users the option to
  create their own timelines!
– Perfect tool for projects, introducing topics or as an assessment strategy.  
– www.xtimeline.com/index.aspx

14 ) Wonderville
– This website provides fun and educational opportunities for students to explore
   science topics. This website includes fun games, videos, information on
   different jobs in science fields and interactive experiment ideas.
– Teacher resources and parent resources are also included.
– User-friendly, engaging, education and very well done!
– http://www.wonderville.ca/ 

15 ) National Geographic Kids: Countries
– This website provides information on different countries around the world.
   Students can explore information about geography, nature, history, culture
   and more! It provides textual information and multiple pictures as well.
– It does not have EVERY country, but still provides valuable information.
– http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/places/