Monday, April 25, 2011

Weekly Core Subjects Resources

Been raining for 6 days here in Western Kentucky, with 3 more days of rain in the forecast.  Got a great workout swimming to work this morning!  Last post of resources for the month of April.  The next post will come in May, the home stretch of the school year. 

English
1.) Wordlings is the latest Word Cloud creation tool available on the web.  Although it seems promising, the only way to login to the site is using a Twitter or Facebook Account.  Not sure how many students will or can use that in the school system.  Still worth looking at. 

2.) 50 Free Resources That Will Improve Your Writing is a valuable resource for teachers and students.  This is not from one of those Online Degree websites.  Each resource is broken down by subject matter related to writing.

3.) Teaching That Makes Sense provides reading and writing resources for all grade levels in a PDF that you can access.  Some of the documents include: Tools for Reading in Content Areas, Writing Strategies that Work, etc.

Mathematics
1.) JUMP Math Today is a downloadable math program that offers a complete package of resources intended for grades 1 to 8. 

Science
1.) Turn Your Cellphone Into a High-Powered Microscope is an article from Wired.com.  If you have an iPhone you can learn how to use it in this manner in this DIY article. 

2.) Virtual Pig Dissection provides an interactive flash product that allows teachers and students to discover the aspects of dissecting a pig without actually doing it.  Great tool for schools short on funds. 

3.) The ChemTeam provides study resources in all standard topics for students in high school and Advanced Placement chemistry.  There are several Chemistry topics worth checking out.

4.) The ChemGuide is a science reference and search engine based in Britain.  There are several menus that students and teachers can search through to get assistance with Chemistry.

Social Studies
1.) "The British Museum provides a host of terrific sites for teaching Social Studies and world cultures.  It provides extensive information, pictures, and games, paired with links for word meanings and extended exploration."  Source: Free Technology for Teachers

2.)  Print World Maps provides printable maps in many different sizes for all the continents in the world.  From a 1 page print out to an 8x8 map that takes 64 pages.  Would be a great classroom activity to have a class of students work on a certain part of a continent and then laminate them and display in the classroom. 

3.) The History Lab is a website to "help visitors learn about how other educators are using technology to promote higher-order thinking in their social studies classrooms." It has been a couple months since it was updated, but the resources are still valuable.