Find interactive maps examining the results of elections from 1840 through 2008. With US politics increasingly dominated by election year strategizing, a historical look at how Americans have voted in both Presidential and Congressional elections can provide useful context. In a democracy, the power of popular elections to affect the lives of all citizens cannot be understated. In order to understand how changes in population--demography and distribution--have affected popular elections, it's important to see those changes in perspective. On this site, you can look at Presidential elections or Congressional elections, as well as population maps focused on African American and White population changes over the time period. Most of the maps are based on an advancing time line that maps data over time. For Presidential elections, there are also more detailed maps for each separate election.
These maps, powerful when projected on an interactive whiteboard (or projector), make the impact of changes in population demographics and distribution visual. The maps might also provide a good resource for students studying a particular President or time period. Challenge students to create a newspaper about what they have learned (about the President or time period). Use a tool such as Zinepal (reviewed here). Click to "Start with a blank e-Book."
Get some great ideas for writing ... anything... using this tool. Though the title says Blog Post, use these ideas for any writing. Click on the Generate a Blog Post button to get an open-ended sentence starter to write about. Don't like that one? Click again until you find one you like. You can also contribute your own ideas!
Share this site with students using an interactive whiteboard or projector. Scroll through the prompts ahead of time to find one for the entire class. Or have a student emcee choose the idea for today's freewriting time. Many of the ideas could be adapted for writing in science or social studies classes by substituting in a curriculum term or writing from the point of view of a historic figure. Scroll through with your class allowing them to pick one on their own. If you have class blogs, that's great. If you don't, that's O.K. Use the prompts for journals and quick writes, too. Ask students for prompts to add to the site. Post the URL for this site on your class webpage for students to use at home. Want to learn more about blogs and how to use them in any classroom? Try TeachersFirst's Blog Basics for the Classroom.
Prodigy offers engaging interactives for seven to twelve-year-olds to practice their math! Use the anime-style avatars to travel the world and meet wizards and confront challenges. As math skills improve, your characters earn new spells that can be used only when math proficiencies are strengthened and expanded. The activities will differentiate, assigning and reviewing new math skills. Track your success and get help in areas where you are struggling. Some of the instruction videos (for parents and teachers) are hosted on YouTube. If your school blocks YouTube, you may want to familiarize yourself with this site at home.
This activity would be perfect for practicing math concepts just introduced in class! Share this tool on your interactive whiteboard or projector. This site offers applied experience with math skills and provides critical thinking experience. Students will learn at their pace, and you can get real time reports about how and what your students are doing. There is an option to have the questions read aloud, so have the headphones/earbuds ready. Students will love the multiplayer experience and will forget they are practicing math. Bookmark this tool on your classroom computers and post it on your website for students to use at home. This is perfect to recommend to prevent summer slide.
The New York Times looks at each state in the US and charts movement both into the state and out of the state since 1900. With immigration in the news, it's sometimes helpful to remember that with a country as large as the United States, there has been a great deal of INTRA-state movement over the country's history. Explore the states via these interactive charts. Mousing over each component of each chart brings additional clarifying information about that state's intra-state migration statistics. The set of charts begins with California, Florida, and Nevada, three states with the most dynamic population changes. The remainder of the charts follow in alphabetical order. Each state's chart also contains a brief narrative explaining significant components.
A great introduction to population change and the changing nature of social and physical mobility in the United States, these charts can prompt discussion about why families move. Although the charts begin in 1900, they are still useful in looking at Westward Migration in the US. Also explore such issues as changing job markets, natural resources and industries, movement between high density and low density areas, and the places where non-native born residents are most likely to settle. Invite students to create their own infographics about a certain state or region based on what they discover here. Learn about infographics in the classroom and the tools to make them in TeachersFirst's Now I See!.
Instantly create a QR code for many purposes using the QR Code Generator at QR Droid Zapper. Choose the tab for the type of code to generate such as a URL, your contact information, a calendar event, or a location. Add information to the required boxes and personalize size and color, if desired. Click to generate your code. Right-click to save the generated QR code to your computer or use the link provided to share through email or social networking. Embed the QR code in a webpage using the embed code provided.
Create a QR code that directs to your class website or blog. Include it on handouts for Back to School night. Create a QR code scavenger hunt for students or make a webquest more engaging. Add QR codes to documents for students to check their answers. Further develop knowledge of a topic by adding a QR code to a site that expands upon what is in the textbook. Create a data chart accessible via a QR code. Students can access the data and manipulate the information. Have students create a book trailer or review and affix a QR code to the outside of the book. Students may be more apt to read a book that has been reviewed by another student. Make a display completely interactive with a QR code that describes the assignment, the process, the research, students' reactions and more! Add extra help information to any assignment that asks students to solve problems. Create an online help tutorial accessible via a QR code, and place the code beside a similar problem. Link directly to a Google Map. Place QR code contact information for you and your school on contact cards to give to parents. Attach QR codes to physical objects around the room to provide information about the object. Instead of copying/pasting links in a newsletter, put them into QR codes for easier access by readers. Post QR codes to resource sites and new articles on your BYOD classroom bulletin boards for students to access information on their tablets or smartphones. As a time saver, post a QR code to the class wiki or web page.
Use this interactive online ear diagram to examine the workings of how we hear sounds. Click each part of the ear to view the name and read about the function. Click on the "+" to go deeper into the structure of the ear. You can embed the "ear" on to your website to have it handy!
Use this resource during a unit on perception, the senses, or human body systems (nervous system). Use the model to identify problems that can occur with the ear and hearing. Be sure to discuss many current issues such as noise and hearing problems. Students can research the various types of noises that one can encounter and the decibel levels and hearing problems that can result from exposure to the sounds. Research sources of hearing impairment and new technology to correct these problems. Have students create posters about hearing and noise using PicLits (reviewed here).