Talking SMARTBoards & Much More! » history/social studies

iCue

anne marie — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 14:07:10 +0000

If you haven’t heard/read all the buzz about iCue from NBC Learn, it’s time you did! iCue is an acronym for Immerse, Connect, Understand and Excel. This is a dynamic, fun site that offers access to hundreds of videos, graphs, images. letters, cartoons, etc. and allows you to share information. It’s quite unique. In there own words…

“iCue is a free, online, collaborative learning environment for students and lifelong learners ages 13 and up. It includes discussion forums, fun games and activities, and hundreds of current and historic videos from NBC News. Whether you are joining to improve your grades, connect with friends, or just learn new things, iCue gives you a safe, fun environment for discussion and learning.”

All of this informaiton is correlated to courses in U.S. History, U.S. Government and Politics, English Language and Composition and more. Click on this link for a quick, informative tou r of iCUE. There also is a very extensive FAQ section that will answer any questions you might have about iCUE. You will need to create a free account which is easy and painless. All of this opens the door wide for student collaboration, teacher directed activities and lots of learning! ENJOY!

U.S. Thanksgiving Resources

anne marie — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:31:33 +0000

With Thanksgiving shining bright on my radar screen I wanted to remind everyone of the resources on my Thanksgiving page. I would also recommend that you visit the Thanksgiving Resources posted by Jim Hollis over on Teachers Love SMARTBoards and Larry Ferlazzo’s Thanksgiving Resources on his blog, Larry Felazzo’s Websites of the Day. There may be duplicates, but all worth checking out-ENJOY!

Below are some additional sites that I gathered as sites of the month (November) for our elementary wiki. ENJOY!
Welcome to a Pilgrim Village- a Scholastic e-book with audio support for the text.
The First Thanksgiving- a wonderful interactive website from Scholastic that offers some great activities to help students understand the life of Pilgrims. This site also provides audio support.
What Really Happened at the First Thanksgiving- an interactive site from Plymouth Plantation that allows students to be investigative historians. Very fun and very informative!
Fill in the Blanks- A Thanksgiving Story- listen to the Thanksgiving story and then complete the missing words in the paragraph by selecting the correct word from the drop down menu. Here is a linkto another similar activity. Again listen to the story and then complete the sentences from the drop down menu.
Match Thanksgiving words- click and drag the Thanksgiving words to match the picture.
Weekly Reader: The Story of Squanto- an interactive video story of Squanto complete with a quiz!
Weekly Reader: The Story of Johnny Appleseed-an interative video story of Johnny Appleseen complete with a quiz!
See if you can locate the differences between the Tom Turkeypictures, the Thanksgiving Postmanand the Mayflowers.
Thanksgiving Poems and Rhymes- click on the links to read the variety of poems and rhymes.
PBS The Colonial House- a wonderful site filled with several interactive activities to help you learn about life as a Pilgrim.

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EL Civics for ESL Students

anne marie — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 13:04:17 +0000

During a Google search for Thanksgiving activities/lessons I came across this awesome website called EL Civics for ESL Students. It is filled with many mini lessons on civics, US Holidays, Famous Americans, Life Skills, US Geography, etc. The site also provides worksheets and activities to accompany the lessons. All of the lessons would present well on the SMARTBoard. There is a gold mine of information that is presented in easy to read format, complete with visual supports. I would highly recommend taking a look at this site- ENJOY!

ReadWriteThink Calendar

anne marie — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 02:06:59 +0000

I came across the website, ReadWriteThink Calendar, and wanted to share. What I like about this resource is that it not only presents daily historical information using text and visual supports, but it also gives you links to lesson plans and other resources to give you ideas and to make lesson preparations easier. It also could be a springboard for students to research and report on specific events on the calendar. I envision it being a good resource to reinforce calendar skills, follow directions, cause/affect, etc. when incorporating it with the SMARTBoard. ENJOY!

I also wanted to mention is that some classrooms have incorporated the History Channel’s This Day in History Video into their daily morning activities with positive results. The site is linked to a picture on the SMART Notebook daily calendar and the students simply touch the picture to activate the video. Very direct, with immediate visual feedback– watching the video! ENJOY!

The Constitution Game

anne marie — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 00:11:56 +0000

Here is another very nice interactive game that will challenge your student’s knowledge of the U.S. Constitution. You are given 30 questions to answer. Click on the “Draw a Card” option to the right bottom of the screen, a question will appear and then type in your answer (correct spelling counts!!). When finished click on the “Answer” option and you will be told if you are correct or incorrect. Click on “Buy the Answer” option if you get stumped! The instructions for the game can be found by clicking on that option at the top right of the page. This activity presents well on the SMART Board. Of course you would need to either use the SMART Board onscreen keyboard or the computer keyboard to type answers. The teacher I collaborated with had created an answer template, divided her class into groups and used it as a class review. ENJOY!

Bill of Rights Match Game

anne marie — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 18:20:48 +0000

The Bill of Rights Match Game is a great activity/game to help students understand and review the Bill of Rights. There are are two levels- elementary and high school. The object is to read each statement and decide if the answer is yes or no based on the information they have learned about the Bill of Rights. It then asks you to identify the specific Amendment you based your answer on. This game would present well on the SMARTBoard. ENJOY!

American Symbols Game

anne marie — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 18:07:12 +0000

I stumbled across this great game to review/quiz students on American Symbols. You simply answer the 30 questions that appear on the screen by clicking and dragging the answer to the answer box. The incorrect answer is not “accepted” into the box and the correct answer allows you to proceed to the next question. ENJOY!

GeoNet- fun geography game

anne marie — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 18:00:10 +0000

GeoNet is a wonderful site from Houghton Mifflin that offers some challenging geography games. Players are given a choice of answering questions regarding a U.S. or World map and then given choices of different regions to explore. Once you pick a region you are then given 6 categories to test your knowledge and skills. Players also can select between two levels of difficulty. This game works wonderfully on the SMART Board- ENJOY!

Trading Around the World!

anne marie — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 00:37:17 +0000

The International Monetary Fund has designed a great game to help students understand the concept of international trade. It’s called Trading Around the World. In their own words, “Play this game to experience the challenges and excitement of international trade. See if you can get the best price for the goods you sell and the biggest bargains for the goods you buy. Watch how the global economy is doing: the prices you’ll be able to get and the deals you can make depend on how healthy the global economy is.” This would be a great opportunity for students to have first hand experience in the world of economics and to use their negotiation skills. Here is a link to the Teacher’s Guide for this game. The first time you play you are given a game number so that when you return to the site you can pick up where you left off. ENJOY!

America by Air

anne marie — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 23:07:03 +0000

Just a quick share for an interactive site called America by Air. This is a site from the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum that explores the history of commercial air travel. There are several fun interactive activities to give visitors a sense of the way air travel was from the beginning. This site offers engaging and meaningful ways to explore the impact of air travel over the years. Many of the options offered present well on the SMART Board.ENJOY!