Group items tagged

Looking for a synonym to jazz up a piece of writing? You, and students, can use visual thesaurus to find that word. The "visual" part of this online thesaurus stems from the web of words that results from a search. For example, if I was looking for a synonym for cool, I'd type the word in the search bar, and a web would be created with "cool" in the center. Stemming off the center is a color coded assortment of alternatives for "cool", and the colors are based on the meaning of "cool". What a fast and fun way to search for words!

What I really enjoyed about this website was the opportunity for incidental learning -- unexpected learning on the way. As I child, I always enjoyed the encyclopedia. As I paged to my favorite section "dogs" I would find other articles I never would searched before. With this visual thesaurus, the user can search for one word and find herself learning others.

To print these puppies out, see http://dsa2006.blogspot.com/2007/02/periodic-table-of-visualisations.html

Great way to create visual projects!!

This site can be used make a visual representation of text. You could also use it to help kids evaluate a writing piece's word choice, for words that are used most often are displayed the largest in a wordle. Students could then revise their writing and show word choice changes by creating a second wordle from their modified writing piece.

A great place for students to practice spelling words, adjectives, nouns, etc by creating a word cloud. When you type the words, they only appears as plain type in a word processing format but once you click "go", Wordle does it's magic and creates the cloud. Word clouds are words scattered all over the page in all different ways. The more a certain word is typed, the larger it appears in the word cloud. You can also change background and font once the word cloud is made. This is a great website! So much fun and so many possibilites!

Looking for an alternative way to search for images? Tag Galaxy is a site where you can type in a subject, such as "The Revolutionary War", and you'll be directed to a selection of photographs about the Revolutionary war. These are photographs that people have tagged, and many of the photos come with descriptions. This is a great site for visual learning.

this is a very useful site to find images, is there a way for students to copy or use these photos?

I was able to get back to the original Flickr page by clicking on the image (double click?). Once there, I found the ones I looked at to be "all rights reserved."

Has "thinking guides" (non-verbal organizers)

This site was created by GE to teach students about the science, technology, math, and history of light. This would work very well in our science unit about heat and light. There are areas that students can read about light, hands on activities, and experiments. For my second graders, many of the readings would need to be done together, but there are also some interactive timelines and animations that students could check out on their own. The hands on activities and experiments would also be fun to bring in to the classroom, and are probably what I would use the most. The only downfall of this site is that the link to the "school lighting challenge" is currently not working. I'd be interested in checking this out if it gets up and running.

nice site to reference from, we cover light in media when we introduce cameras, so its nice to have some visuals as well

This is a very cool tool that could be used for students to creatively apply writing strategies or show understanding of literary elements. The finished products look awesome and would definitely encourage student engagement and effort. There is also the option to share or email stories. The site could be used for varying purposes, subjects, and grade levels.

This website uses a twist to storytelling and sums it up best in their own description: "Storybird reverses the process of visual storytelling by starting with the image and "unlocking" the story inside. Choose an artist or a theme, get inspired, and start writing." It might be just the spark some writers need. I noticed a link to Mother's Day stories. It might be fun to have students write Mother's Day stories and send them via e-mail.

This resource provides excellent examples or "higher-level" or "essential" questions. Check out the article by McKenzie that looks at the differences between trivial, meaningless questions and those that truly encourage students to use critical thinking skills.

I do liek this article. It reminds us that just asking questions of students is not enough. I also thought that the web was also helpful for a visual representation of the information. It does also tie-in with our class as it strongly relates to UbD, as the essential questions can guide your development of lessons and units.

This site is suitable for students in elementary and middle school for practicing their math skills. Students can work in areas such as measurement, data, and algebraic concepts. One of the best things about this site is the illustrated math dictionary. The dictionary provides students with visual representations and examples for hundred of terms. Many of these are similar to examples a textbook might give for introducing a concept. The site also provides worksheets, games, and a wide variety of different puzzles.

Dipity allows the user to create a timeline that can make events come alive using media tools.

Wow! What a great tool for making timelines fun and interesting for students!

I will share this website with my own high school age children! It definitely gives students an opportunity to present information in an interesting fashion.

Tons of graphic organizers are available at this site, also many links to other activities on a variety of topics. Very easy to find printouts, visual aids, notetaking resources, and activities for younger students. The site also includes templates for various items, including homework coupons and other reward and recognition ideas.