Sunday, March 13, 2011

Weekly Core Subjects Resources

Middle of March is upon us which means Spring Break for many of us is about a month away.  I will be spending one night during my Spring Break presenting via Skype at the InnovatED Conference on April 7th which is being held in Memphis.  All of the sessions will be streamed and there are several other great presentations, including Shelly Terrell, Jerry Blumengarten, Russ Goerend, Shannon Miller and others.  Now lets look at some great resources for the subject matter you teach.

English
1.) Daily Writing Tips is a blog that provides visitors a daily tip for help with writing.  You can search through the various categories as well as take some tests.  This could easily be used for a daily assignment in English classrooms to practice various writing.

2.) PoemHunter is a website that provides a directory and search engine for poetry.  A valuable resource to find and share poetry. 

3.) Write Rhymes is a website that as you type provides available words that rhyme with the words that you type.  Another valuable tool for writing poetry. 

4.) Phrays is a site that provides a word-a-day and allows visitors to write a sentence using that word.  Visitors to the site can then vote on the best sentence that was created. 

Mathematics
1.) Virtual Math Tutor is a blog where the author provides a math problem, the steps to the solution, and the solution every day of the week.  The blog creates a bank of solved math problems. 

2.) Maths Zone provides interactives and games for middle and lower secondary grade level math courses.  There are various resources available on this site for math teachers. 

3.) Math Moves U is a website designed to provide middle school students various interactive learning programs, contests, love events, scholarships, tutoring, and more.  A very interesting website for mathematics. 

4.) Wolfram MathWorld is the web's most extensive mathematical resource, provided as a free service to the world's mathematics and internet communities as part of a commitment to education. 

5.) Mathematics Illuminated is a thirteen-part series for adult learners and high school teachers. The series explores major themes in the field of mathematics, from humankind's earliest study of prime numbers, to the cutting-edge mathematics used to reveal the shape of the universe.

6.) Interactive Mathematics is another website that provides lessons, activities, and interactives for all levels of high school mathematics.  

Science
1.) Extreme Science is a website to find the biggest, baddest, and the best in the world of extremes and learn about the science behind what makes each the most extreme example of its kind.  On the site you will find world records in natural science, including earth science and the plant and animal kingdom.


2.) SPACE.com, is the world's No. 1 source for news of astronomy, skywatching, space exploration, commercial spaceflight and related technologies.


3.) Biodiversity Snapshots will help you to learn more about the animals around us every day by combining mobile technology and science. We provide you with a field guide, identification tool and way to record your observations all on a mobile device — your phone, netbook, or tablet. You make the observations and participate as a citizen scientist.


4.) The Molecular Workbench is a free, open-source tool that creates and delivers visual, interactive simulations for teaching and learning science and engineering.


5.) The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research explains the discoveries of scientists at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute through 3D animation.  Intriguing and interesting animations.


6.) NASA Quest Challenges are free web-based, interactive explorations designed to engage students in authentic scientific and engineering processes. The solutions relate to issues encountered daily by NASA personnel.


Social Studies
1.) Congressional Bills and Votes is an interactive from the New York Times that explains the votes, results, and opinions on old and current bills going through Congress.  A valuable tool for Government teachers. (Source: US Government Teachers Blog)

2.) Global Voices is an international community of bloggers who report on blogs and citizen media from around the world.  A great way to get real time information that you won't find on many network television stations. 

3.) Historical Scene Investigations is a website that lets students use primary documents to investigate various events in history from the time period.  As a history teacher, this seems like a promising website. 

4.) QuizGeo allows you to create and play quizzes based on geography using Google Maps. This can include anything from locating all of the countries in the world to locating all of the playground equipment at your local park or school.

5.) Real Military Videos is website that provides videos of real war time footage.  A great primary resource for social studies teachers.  

6.) Rulers is a site that contains lists of heads of state and heads of government of all countries and territories, going back to about 1700 in most cases. Also included are the subdivisions of various countries, as well as a selection of international organizations. Recent foreign ministers of all countries are listed separately.

7.) American Memory provides free and open access through the Internet to written and spoken words, sound recordings, still and moving images, prints, maps, and sheet music that document the American experience.

Performing Arts
Songsterr is a website that provides visitors with the music sheets for popular music so that students can learn to play the popular songs out there.  It also plays it on the music on the web as well so you can hear it at the same time. 

Still not sure how to use Twitter?  Here is a great video by Justin Tarte that he posted on his blog.