Saturday, May 7, 2011

Weekly Core Subject Resources

First set of Core Subject Resources for the month of May.  The home stretch to summer time.  Hoping for a good two week dry spell at some point so I can get out on the golf course.  My area received anywhere from 15-20 inches of rain the past two weeks.  To put that into perspective, that is 600% above normal.  On to the resources.

English
1.) Global Poetry is a wiki created by an English class to help log favorite poetry from all over the world.  You will notice the pages are organized by country, so add yours or share a favorite if your country is already listed. 

2.) Wolty is a simple Language Notebook for you and your friends to post your notes and help each other.  You can sign in with Facebook or create an account.  Wolty aims to get you into the habit of saving the things you discover and the questions you wonder along with this meaningful context.  An interesting concept. 

3.) InstaBlogg is a simple blogging platform that requires nothing but starting your blog with a post and then sharing it with others.  For more information, check out the post at Free Technology 4 Teachers

4.) 10 Free Online Spell Checkers - We all know that most document based software comes with their own spell check, but with more web publishing, these could come in handy. 

5.) Topicmarks summarizes text documents for you electronically.  Get a smart synopsis in minutes instead of reading everything yourself.  You can condense any text into an abstract, extract facts, connect texts, and outline and summarize your text.  It is currently free, although there is a process in the future to start charging for the feature.  

Mathematics
1.) nrich: Mathematics Enrichments is a website where you will find thousands of our free mathematics enrichment materials (problems, articles and games) for teachers and learners from ages 5 to 19 years. All the resources are designed to develop subject knowledge, problem-solving and mathematical thinking skills.  Source: EDge21 Blog

Science
1.)  Virtual Volcano explores the explosion at Pompeli.  A valuable resource for explaining the powerful forces behind these wonders. 

2.) Dynamic Periodic Table is a completely interactive Periodic Table of Elements for the Chemistry classroom.  You get information, data, and images for all the elements.  Great for teachers with an Airliner or SMARTBoard in the classroom.

3.) Body Spectrum provides digital coloring books for learning about anatomy.  There are 12 different coloring books that you can use.  Another valuable resource for teachers with an Airliner or SMARTBoard.

4.) Moon Zoo is a website that goes above and beyond to help visitors explore the moon and the lunar surfaces.  For more information check out the iLearn Technology Post

5.) WeatherSpark is a new type of weather website, with interactive weather graphs that allow you to pan and zoom through the entire history of any weather station on earth. For more information, check out Free Technology for Teachers

6.) Eyes on Earth is a website for viewing the Earth through various telescopes and also for gathering data and seeing how the Earth is changing.  For more information, check out the iLearn Technology Post

7.) Photopic Sky Survey is like the Google Earth of our Universe.  Zoom in and pan around the universe like never before.  A fun way to see just how tiny we are here on Earth.  Information for planets and other aspects of the solar system are clickable to information from Wikipedia. 

8.) Harvard Natural Science Lecture Demonstrations provides information and videos into several experiments related to science.  Demonstrations are divided into different areas of science.  I also recommend checking out their NatSciDemo's YouTube Channel.

Social Studies
1.) American Historical Association has put together a list of 100 films reviewed by Historians.  A good glimpse into what historians think are accurate portrayals in films.  For more information, check out the U.S. History Educators Blog.

2.) EconStories.tv is a website that provides videos explaining the differences in the theories of two famous economists.  There are also music videos and can be humorous and entertaining for studying Economic concepts.  For more information, check out Free Technology for Teachers.


3.) Where Do You Fit is a new 2011 Pew Research survey to help determine your political typology.  It breaks it down into multiple categories between Liberal and Conservative.  This is the most complete Political spectrum survey I have seen.  Great resource for government teachers. 

4.) Ingenious is a website that helps to bring together images and viewpoints to help create insights into science and culture.  You can read articles, debate topics, view images, and create your own account to a have your own personalized links, images, e-cards, and web galleries.