Useful Information In and Out of the Classroom 2/26/21

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

Mindblowing Map Quiz – “Map makers use map projections to transform the Earth onto a flat surface. One of the most popular world map projections is known as the Mercator Projection. You’ll have seen it loads of times and likely thought it looked perfectly normal. It was originally invented by Gerhardus Mercator in 1569 to allow sailors to plot a straight course between ports. So just how misleading can this map be? Take our quiz to find out.” (L:M,H;SA:SS)

Geography Crash Course – Great YouTube videos on geography (L:G;SA:SS)

Scratch Pals – “Creating Global Classrooms by connecting teachers and students via Scratch” (L:E,M;SA:A)

Two Ways to Make Progress Trackers – “In my previous post I mentioned that Google Sheets can be used for all kinds of interesting things. It can also be used for practical things like keeping tally of your progress or that of your students toward a goal. There are two ways that I usually recommend doing this. The simplest way is to use the progress tracker template available at Flippity.net. The method that offers more options is to use a pivot table in Google Sheets.” (L:T;SA:A)

Dystopia2153 – “Dystopia 2153 is an all-in-one resource that combines coding games and graphic novels. Dystopia 2153 connects 21st century skills with the love of reading and hopes to inspire the next generation of coders and storytellers.” (L:M;SA:C)

Original photo by Pat Hensley