Useful Information In and Out of the Classroom 4/18/14

Here are some interesting sites that I’ve found this week, thanks to my PLN. As a teacher, I feel we have to keep up to date concerning research in our field and current issues in the education system. I hope some of these inspire you, inform you, and even have you asking questions. Thank you for coming by and visiting!

Note: Each resource is labeled with a level and subject area to make it easier to use.

Levels: E: Elementary; M: Middle; H: High; G: General, all levels; SN: Special Needs; T: Teachers

Subject Areas: LA: Language Arts, English, Reading, Writing; M: Math; S: Science; Health; SS: Social Studies, Current Events; FA: Fine Arts; Music, Art, Drama; FL: Foreign Language; PE: Physical Ed; C: Career; A: All

Yellowstone Volcano Observatory - gives data about volcanic activity in Yellowstone National Park. (L:G; SA:S)

Little Bird Tales – “Little Bird Tales was created to help nurture children's creativity and imagination while simultaneously creating one of-a-kind digital stories that can easily be shared. We strive to foster a love for reading, writing, self-expression and creative technology and to make the process easy and fun for students and teachers.” (L:E; SA:LA)

Active Science – “High quality interactive materials cover many science topics in the primary and secondary school curriculum. At secondary level they focus on biology topics linked to treatment of disease.” (L:G; SA:S)

Comics in Education – “devoted to examining the use of visual narrative in the K-12 classroom and beyond. Although schools have seen a rise in the use of graphic novels in recent years, this use is often limited to supporting reluctant or developing readers. The focus of Comics in Education is on showing that understanding, decoding, and making meaning of visual narrative has never been more important than it is today for learners of all ages and abilities.” (L:G; SA:LA)

Art Babble – “showcases high quality art-related video content from more than 50 cultural institutions from around the world. ArtBabble is an energetic place to learn for everybody who loves and has an interest in art and particularly for educators who can use it as a way to support their classroom activities.  ArtBabble brings art content from different places and perspectives together, easily accessed and found.  Created in 2009, the website was conceived, designed, programmed, and launched by a cross-departmental collection of individuals at the Indianapolis Museum of Art.” (L:G; SA:S)

Original Image: Tools by Pat Hensley