Bibliography of Resources
by Ryann Larke
iCivics
This is a website where students can actively learn about the branches of government, citizenship, separation of powers, media influences on government, the budget, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Students can play games or go on webquests to learn about these different topics. Also, the teachers will find lesson plans with supporting resources. This website was founded and led by Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. All the resources are free and include print-and-go lesson plans, award-winning games, and digital interactives. This website provides a fun learning experience for students. As students play the games, they can earn badges which will keep them engaged and wanting to learn more about the unit and topics by playing the games. Depending on the level of the learner, learners can be assigned different webquests and topics.
This website is intended for grades 3-12.
Standards:
1.3.4 Contribute to the exchange of ideas within a learning community.
3.1.2 Participate and collaborate as members of a social and intellectual network of learners.
3.1.4 Use technology and other information tools to organize and display knowledge and understanding in ways that others can view, use, and assess.
Kahoot
This website provides a student response system. This can be accessed using laptops, iPads, Chromebooks, Google Tablets, and other various smartphones. The teachers can create quizzes, discussions, or surveys to help engage their learners. All the Kahoots can be embedded with images, texts, and videos. The Kahoots provide a nice way to actively engage the learners while they are participating in discussions or taking a quiz. The different modes like discussion, quiz, or survey allow for different pedagogical applications. The quiz is most commonly used and includes timed responses and a points system. This helps to create a competitive air. The survey has timed responses, but does not use points. This is good for gaining feedback or answering questions without the competition feel. The discussion mode provides a single question to spark discussion. Some of the responses could then lead in to a debate.
This website is intended for grades K-12.
Standards:
3.1.2 Participate and collaborate as members of a social and intellectual network of learners.
4.1.7 Use social networks and information tools to gather and share information.
4.3.1 Participate in the social exchange of ideas, both electronically and in person
Zaption
This website allows teachers to use videos as an interactive learning experience. Images, text, multiple choice questions, drawings, surveys, discussions can all be embedded within a YouTube or Vimeo video. Rather than have a teacher have to keep stopping the video to discuss or ask a question, the videos are already made or created by the teacher and ready to go for the student learning experience! Now students are not just watching a video, they are learning from the video and taking part in the learning experience. Zaption can be a wonderful preteaching and reteaching tool. It can be used to enrich learners and help struggling learners.
This website is intended for K-12 learners.
Standards:
1.3.4 Contribute to the exchange of ideas within a learning community.
3.1.2 Participate and collaborate as members of a social and intellectual network of learners.
3.1.4 Use technology and other information tools to organize and display knowledge and understanding in ways that others can view, use, and assess.
Vocabulary.com
This website seems self-explanatory, but how often do we find our students becoming bored with regular flashcards? This innovative site allows the learners to build their vocabulary knowledge through example sentences and responses. The adaptive learning system helps question, review, and lead the learners to mastery of the vocabulary words. It is engaging for the students to learn rather than study a hand-made flashcard over and over again. Students are able to track their progress and students can study different words based on their ability. This can be a wonderful website for ELL or ENL students. These students are able to learn the context and meaning of new words while they keep track of their progress through the My Progress tab.
This website is intended for grades 3-12.
Standards:
2.1.4 Use technology and other information tools to analyze and organize information.
2.4.4 Develop directions for future investigations.
3.1.2 Participate and collaborate as members of a social and intellectual network of learners.
Wonderopolis
This website is a fun way for students to explore their "wonders." There is a vocabulary list for each lesson that serves as the learning base. There are related questions that help spark the interest of the students and make them curious about what they are looking up. This helps to motivate the learner to learn more and keep researching the topic. There is a "Wonderize It" tool that allows teachers to customize lessons based on daily "Wonder" questions. The informational text the learners are learning about are incorporated in a fun way that allows the learners to be engaged through different images and videos. The vocabulary is now differentiated on this website and learners get excited to see which words they can define.
This website is intended for grades K-12.
Standards
1.3.4 Contribute to the exchange of ideas within a learning community.
3.1.2 Participate and collaborate as members of a social and intellectual network of learners.
3.1.4 Use technology and other information tools to organize and display knowledge and understanding in ways that others can view, use, and assess.