CVSD Secondary Group

Resources for students to learn English.

ELL resources

This site can be used to create 3D animations that can be used for storytelling. Digital storytelling would be possible with this site.

students can create their own animated stories.

Thhis site provides you with information to get started on scratch a free program that will allow you to create interactive games and activities for students. It is also great for kids who like to create with technology.

If you have used scratch you will like this site. Lots of help and examples of how to use scratch. If you haven't used scratch this will be a very helpful site to get you started.

Bill of Rights Institute Resources and lessons.

The Bill of Rights Institute has released a new game, Life Without the Bill of Rights? This free click-and explor activity asks students to consider how life would change without some of our most cherished freedoms. Life Without the Bill of Rights? invites studetns to understand the significance of their constitutionally protected rihts, including freedom of religion, speech, and press; freedom from unreasonable search and seizure; and the rights of private property. Other free resources include an interactive module that allows studetns to "travel through time" to converse with the Founding Fathers and report on the Constitutional Convention.

Check out Jen Wagner's slideshare on ideas for using Wordle in the classroom.

Tom Barrett's ideas to use Voicethread and Wordle in the classroom.

ProCon.org promotes critical thinking, education, and informed citizenship by presenting research on controversial issues in a straightforward, nonpartisan, and primarily pro-con format.

Encyclopedia of the Earth an electronic reference about the Earth, its natural environmetns, and their interaction with society. It is a free, fully searchable collection of articles written by scholars, professionals, educators, and experts who collaborate and review each other's work. The articles are written in non-technical language and are useful to students, educators, scholars, and professionals, as well as to the general public.

At a quick glance it looks like this site has lots of information about a variety of science related topics.

Levels of inquiry based learning

Newspaper templates that can be downloaded for Microsoft Word 2003.

Blog about Courage Using Photos. This is a readwritethink activities that has teens think about the concept of courage and then find or take photographs from their own lives that they think exemplify courage.

Interesting idea for blogging. Think about how many concepts we teach, thus there are numerous ways an activity like this could be used in a variety of content areas.

Provides a list of free graphic organizers. Shared by Chris Skimski

Teacher training videos. There are lots of videos to view on this site covering a variety of tools.

Here are a number of sites in one location.

"This lesson will encourage students to examine the trade-offs involved in our use of energy, a topic they will likely revisit throughout their lives. This lesson is built around an interactive called Power Up! in which students choose how to power a city. They will have to choose between various energy sources, taking into account the trade-offs between cost and the environmental impact of each choice. Discussions before and after the game will examine the various options and what students may want to take into account when making their decisions."

Thinkfinity resource

"This lesson uses the four modalities of reading (reading, writing, listening, and speaking) on a math word problem to bridge the gap between reading and math. After a read-aloud from the book Math Curse by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith, students create their own word problems with answers. Students solve each other's problems. As they reread the word problems, fluency and comprehension increase. Finally, students use the skills they've learned creating word problems to complete a crossword puzzle. As students read the math concept words presented in the puzzle and write the correct answers, their reading and writing math vocabulary skills increase."

Thinkfinity resource

"To engage students in making design decisions that affect the transfer of energy between a building and the outside environment. To help students identify and consider the types of decisions involved in improving a building's energy profile. To analyze the green roof option in economic and community terms."

Thinkfinity resource

"This lesson will introduce DNA, genes, chromosomes, the chemicals that make up DNA, etc. After the basic information, students will do an experiment in which they will separate out DNA from peas. Knowing that DNA can be separated will give them a base of understanding for future lessons in biology, evolution, biotechnology, and health technology."

Thinkfinity resource

What is it like to work as a paleontologist? In Activity 1, students listen to or read an interview with paleontologist Paul Sereno, a National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence, to learn about his passion for science and his discovery of SuperCroc in sub-Saharan Africa. In Activity 2, students join a dig with paleontologist Mike Everhart to learn what happens when a scientist in the field suddenly discovers fossil remains. In the Closing Activity, students create a story or conduct an interview and present or record their work for an imaginary radio program.

Thinkfinity resource

Shared by Brita Byers. "allows you to upload any digital image and then choose the size you want to make it. The website then allows you to print out the image using 8x10 sheets of paper that you can tape or glue together to create a poster-sized image."