Teaching and Learning with Primary Sources

Here are a few sites that will help you to use primary source materials in your classroom:

The World Digital Library:
The World Digital Library is a collection of primary source artifacts from around the world.  The sources are organized by origin (North America, Europe, Africa, etc.) but you can further define your search by date, era, country, topic, and type of resource.

The National Archives Experience:
Create a poster or a video using primary sources from the National Archives.  Choose from several topics including aviation and space, civil rights, or presidents to make a project.

HistoryBuff.com:
An archive of newspapers from 1700-2004.

Grockit Answers: Learning Through Video

Grockit Answers is a new way for your students to learn with YouTube videos.  Grockit Answers allows any user to create a questions and answers session that is synced to the video as it plays.

How can you use Grockit Answers in the classroom:

• The teacher could create a video session that students could watch for homework.  Questions would appear at key moments in the video and students would need to answer based on what they learn in the video.  Answers can be submitted on the Grockit video page or students could also turn in answers separately.  
• Students could be assigned specific videos based on the classroom curriculum and they could post questions that they may have about the content.  Then the teacher or other students could post answers to help the student to better understand the content.  
• The teacher could play the Grockit Answers video for the entire class.  The teacher would then have the questions and pauses automatically set up for classroom discussion.

Here is an example of Grockit Answers with a YouTube video about Martin Luther King Jr.

MashUp: ToonDoo and Discovery Education

Are you looking for a fun way to integrate technology with a research project?   Try using ToonDoo.com with DiscoveryEducation.com resources to create factual comic strips!

Start by using DiscoveryEducation.com with your students so they can learn about their topics.  Discovery has a variety of content for your students to explore (videos, articles, handouts, interactives, audio, songs, etc.). Then have students use DiscoveryEducation.com to search for images that they can use in their ToonDoo project.  (As students download and save the images, make sure they copy the image citations for use later in the project.)

Next, start creating a comic (toon) in ToonDoo.com.  Import your images from Discovery into ToonDoo by using the ImaginR button on the bottom right.  Once the images are uploaded, students will be able to use the images in their comic frames along with any ToonDoo images and word balloons.

Some ToonDoo tips:
If the student needs more frames, have them create a second ToonDoo comic.
If the students all log into the same ToonDoo account, teachers can go to the My Toons section and use the Book Maker tool to create an embeddable player that will display all of the class' comics in an interactive format on the teacher's classroom website or blog.

Socrative: Instant Assessment with Any Device

Socrative is a powerful internet based tool that allows any device to act as a student response system- providing instant feedback to the teacher.  The Socrative interface is easy to use.  Here is a basic overview from the Socrative site:

• Teachers and students can use Socrative on any device with a web browser (tablets, smartphones, laptops, iPod Touches, etc.).
• Teachers login at t.socrative.com by entering their email and password.
• Students login at m.socrative.com by entering the "virtual room number" provided by the teacher.  NO EMAIL ACCOUNTS ARE REQUIRED! Students will then see "Waiting for teacher to start an activity...".
• Teachers initiate an activity by selecting it on their main screen (e.g. Multiple Choice, T/F, Short Answer, Quick Quiz, Exit Ticket, or Space Race).
• Students respond on their devices.
• Students' results are visible on the Teacher's screen or sent in an email.

Socrative is also easily accessible from free iPad or Android apps.  If you allow mobile devices in your classroom or if you have iPads or tablets available for your students to use, Socrative is an excellent way to get your students engaged in your lesson while allowing you to instantly assess their understanding.

Socrative device images above from Sue Franz.

Fun and Educational Widgets for Your Classroom Web Site or Blog

What is a widget?
Widgets are small applications that can be placed on your web site or blog to add interactivity and interest for your students, parents, and peers.  Widgets are usually added in the sidebar.  Here are examples of some widgets that you could add to your educational web page or blog:

Education.com Activities widget:
You choose your grade level and subject and the widget publishes changing activities that your students can do at home.  Check out the other Education.com widgets including the Worksheet Widget, Just Ask Q and A Generator, and the Science Fair Ideas Widget.

Education.com Activities

  

5th Grade Science Activities

Get your own widget

Math Whiz Scientific Calculator:





This Day in History:


Shelfari: Publish your Booklists:

Shelfari: Book reviews on your book blog

Clustr Maps for Visitor Statistics:
Get a dot on the map when visitors come to your site.

Voki.com: Talking Avatar:
 



Accuweather:

ReadWeather Forecast | Weather Maps | Weather Radar

Reading Rockets: Reading Tip of the Day:


There are so many more great widgets available for your site. Try checking out Widgetbox.com or try searching the web for specific widgets!  Remember not to choose too many widgets for your site, you don't want to clutter it up- make sure your site content is still prominent.

Alphabetimals- The Animal Shaped Alphabet

Alphabetimals is a flipbook that features letter shaped animal pictures to help young students learn the alphabet, letters, and letter sounds.

What I also love about Alphabetimals is the feature below the interactive book that allows you to write your own words using the animal letters.  I can easily see primary teachers using this fun font to label items, to create titles for their newsletters, and to create learning resources.

Thanks to Free Technology for Teachers for sharing!

Picture Books on Video

You may know that Discovery Education has a great selection of educational videos for your classroom.  But, did you know that they also have an impressive collection (over 200 titles) of children's picture books on video?  Audiovisual adaptations of these classic books has been provided by Weston Woods.  This site has a full list of titles that you can find on Discovery Education.

Here is a sample of some of the titles that you can find:

• Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
• Danny and the Dinosaur
• The Emperor's New Clothes
• Harry the Dirty Dog
• Make Way for Ducklings
• Miss Nelson Is Back
• Officer Buckle and Gloria
• Stone Soup
• Strega Nona
• Where The Wild Things Are
• Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears

Try searching for "Reading Rainbow" to find over 100 more titles.  Look for chapter books and audio books, too.

Play the video on your SMARTboard so that all of your students can follow along.  Most have closed captioning, so your students can read along, too!