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A resource page for Educational Technology

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http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/
I found this website when teaching science, but it also have many social studies resources. It is a great website for kids to learn about the US states and the world. For each state it has an individualized icon and page with a lot of information like history, fast facts, flag, geography, etc.
For the world, it has a map with all the countries tagged, and shows information about that country once you clicked on it.

When using it I would like my students to explore different states and places in the world in groups/individually, and become a "specialized" person themselves to teach other students.

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PBS Kids Democracy Project-Luqianlan Cao

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PBS Kids Democracy Project-Luqianlan Cao

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http://pbskids.org/youchoose
This website is a great resource for kids to learn about the US government and former and current presidents. It also has a video with a little journalist introducing all important places in the US capital Washington DC. Children also get to make their own campaign posters. This website will be a perfect fit for teaching the "US government" unit, where my students get to explore this website, learn about all the presidents and even make a introductory video of our state's capitol at the end of the unit.

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Seeking Michigan: Primary Sources--Brent Darling

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Seeking Michigan: Primary Sources--Brent Darling

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http://seekingmichigan.org/discover/category/primarysources

"Seeking Michigan" is a website that I found while looking for research material when I was creating a unit plan for a different class. On this page, there are numerous examples of primary sources, from Civil War letters to photographs and maps. One of the types of lessons I enjoy doing in class is primary source analysis. This would be a great site to use when looking for items for the class to analyze.

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http://besthistorysites.net

This is a great website with links for various history topics, from U.S. History to World History. Each link given directs you to a list of sites about the topic you selected.  This is a site that I can use to help students find information when they are researching a particular time period. I could also use this site to find ideas for lesson plans,

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https://www.schoology.com
The 6th grade teacher at my school introduced me to this management system for his classroom. I've been plugging away this summer at setting up my own Schoology site for this upcoming school year. The best way to describe this website is that it's like a Facebook/Blackboard for school. Our school does have Google Classroom, however, my teaching colleague has found Schoology to have many more features and to be more user friendly. This website allows you to have a discussion forum between your class, post lessons, and offer assessments. Schoology also has a feature to grade student's work and offers statistics on performance.

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For this assignment, the Museum Box website immediately caught my eye. I love incorporating visuals into my class and finding creative ways for students to express their understandings. I found this website to be self-explanatory and easy to navigate. I can see myself using this in all 3 sections of my social studies classes. In 5th grade, this will be great to use when exploring Colonial America and discussing the American Revolution. In 6th and 7th grade we focus on countries, which I can use this to have students show their understanding in a country research project.
http://museumbox.e2bn.org

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https://www.screencastify.com/
I am a big user of all things Google, and this resource has been awesome for my classroom. This resource is used for video recording. You can use this for students who have fallen behind in their work or students who may need the extra instruction at home while doing their homework. This is a super great resource for anyone who is looking into "flipping" their classroom. This must be used with Google Chrome or Chrome books. It is an add-in feature that is downloaded. Once you have it, you can make audio and visual videos. The beauty of this program is that is records what is on computer screen along with your voice (perfect for those who need to demonstrate instruction or those who don't like having their face on camera!). I use this for homework when I think that students will need a refresher of the content. You can use this in any grade and in any subject.  I think that this year, I would like to give the students the power to create their own!.

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Grand Rapids Scavenger Hunt WebQuest -Emily Coffey

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Grand Rapids Scavenger Hunt WebQuest -Emily Coffey

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I found this resource under the WebQuest resources tab on our BlackBoard and found it so interesting! This is such a great way to learn about the many different areas and parts of Grand Rapids without making the physical journey. This WebQuest is very organized and is broken down into different parts to help students navigator through the site and tasks. Not only does this WebQuest help students journey through the city, but when they complete the tasks and finish, they will be experts of reading and using maps. This is perfect for students in Grand Rapids who are learning about their community. A lot of students may not have the opportunities to visit the many different museums and areas of the city, so this gives them a nice overview.
http://zunal.com/webquest.php?w=54011

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A resource page for Educational Technology

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I absolutely loved the various PBS shows that placed participants into authentic roles during the era being highlighted. Colonial House was one such show. Because I will be working with 5th graders this fall, I wanted to find resources related to one of our first units: pre-colonial and Colonial America. The PBS website has many resources for teachers that can help broaden students' understanding of what life was like back in colonial times. I would show segments from the series and use the related lesson plans provided at the PBS site to supplement the textbook I will be using. The PBS site also includes several activities I think will be fun and educational.

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The Archiving Early America website contains a large number of resources for a study of pre-colonial and Colonial America, including links to important documents, rare photos, and notable women of the time. There is a free app that can be downloaded and used to tour the original 13 colonies. I would use the photos and documents with 5th graders as primary source documents during our study of pre-colonial and Colonial America. I would download the app and install it on classroom iPads so that students can tour the colonies. I would use the Notable Women Gallery as one of the sources of information for student biographies about famous Americans in our past.

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In the Art Room: Interdisciplinary- Kelsey Schoenborn

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In the Art Room: Interdisciplinary- Kelsey Schoenborn

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I love the idea of mixing the disciplines within the classroom. In the real world, you will rarely be able to categorize an event or task as something that you learned about in one subject in school. That is why I love this website: http://www.intheartroom.org/science-and-social-sciences-in-art.html . It has great multidisciplinary project ideas for a plethora of grades. The section on Social Studies in the Arts has projects that deal with building a campaign, combating social and environmental injustices, and diverse cultural traditions. I also enjoyed that there were videos included under certain projects to be able to show to students for them to create there own art relating to various cultures. I could definitely alter some of these projects to fit into my classroom in the future.

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Google Maps Lesson Plan- Kelsey Schoenborn

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Google Maps Lesson Plan- Kelsey Schoenborn

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The resource that I explored in the Web Resources menu was the Google Maps Lesson Plan under the Geography Resources section. I was drawn to this one for several reasons. My minor during my undergraduate education was geography and in the classroom I love to incorporate Google Drive and other Google resources into my teaching. I could see myself using this lesson this fall with my 3rd grade students. I would have to alter it so that it aligns with the equipment available at my school, but I think the resource is a great way for students to get first hand knowledge of maps and cartography. I also loved that it had built-in ideas for differentiation. I can't wait to try it with my students!

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The website education.com has a lot of different resources for different subjects. The one I found for our community helpers unit is an interactive game where the computer explains a community helper and they have to click on the correct picture. I like this game because it talks to the kids so it's something they can do without my help. We have a few iPads in our classroom so the kids could do this in small groups. It could be done at the beginning of the unit to assess how much they already know, or at the end to see what they learned. There are also many other activities on the website that could be used during this unit. They have worksheets and activity ideas for teachers to use. They have resources for other topics as well.

https://www.education.com/game/community-helpers-quiz/

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The resource I found under the Web Resources menu is a website called Kids 911. It has several games and activities about safety and helps the kids learn what types of emergencies warrant a call to 911 and what types do not. It has an online coloring book, word games and sequencing activities. This would be great in my class during October, which is safety month. We take a trip to the fire station and talk about ways to stay safe. This website would be fun to use in centers in a group with a teacher or aide because it does require reading. Most Kindergartners can not read by October so they would need some assistance with this website. But it would be a fun culminating activity for them and I could use it as assessment to see what they learned and if there are other areas I need to address before moving on.

Website: http://www.maine911.com/kids/index2.html

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The online resource for teaching social studies that I found under the Web Resources menu was the Mission US. It is an online interactive project which can immerse users into US history. It has different missions about the US history. By watching the videos of each mission, students would be engaged in the history stories. They can learn some transformational moments in American history. The coolest thing is that for each mission, it has an interactive game and some curriculum materials that can immerse learners into the historical settings. By using this website, I think students would be more interested in learning history, and they would also enjoy playing the historical games

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Play Mission Us Teach mission us Mission US includes extensive teaching materials for each mission. The educator guides feature: What people are saying about Mission US About mission us Mission US is an award-winning educational media project that immerses young people in transformational moments from U.S. history.

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The Story of China Mapping Games - Xiaomeng Ni

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The Story of China Mapping Games - Xiaomeng Ni

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I found this interactive mapping game on PBS Learning Media. It is a wonderful game to teach China's geography to my students. Play this mapping game with my students would help them learn Chinese map, different provinces and cities of China, and help them build concepts of distance.
When you open the game page, you will see the direction about how to play it. The player should answer the questions by following the map. If the player can make all the way to Shanghai with miles to spare, then win. We have 5000 miles to play with, but if the play answers the question incorrectly, he will lose 500 miles. By playing this game and answering the questions with students, they will gain more geographical knowledge of China.

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Where in China is...? | The Story of China

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Play this mapping game with your students to test their knowledge of China. Can they find the Terracotta Army or the Great Wall of China? Players start this game with 5000 miles and lose 500 miles for every wrong answer. The challenge is to get to Shanghai before running out of miles.

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The resource that I explored online on our GVSU website was the Cotton Cleaning Lesson simulation. The lesson contains primary sources and references from the movie 12 Years a Slave,  which I show clips from in my 8th grade class. The movie and lesson plan could be embedded into a bigger simulation/reader's theater that I do with my students that reviews the entire Triangular Slave Trade from start to finish. Students have roles and we run through the entire capture, to the middle passage (I make a boat on the floor of my room for students to lay down in to see how cramped quarters were), to how the auction felt and preparation to be sold, to the final phase which is life on the plantation. I could use the cotton lesson and embedded into life on the plantation. I could also use the primary source documents in conjunction with the movie, which I show clips from for a better visual of life as a slave.

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Quizzizz is a website that allows you to create quizzes or homework assignments for students to complete online. I use this website in my classroom for entrance tickets, exit tickets, or homework. It can be used for quizzes or tests also. The cool thing about this website is that it allows you to make your own or you can copy and paste questions or quizzes that other teachers have made about the topic your students are studying. The website service is completely free!

The coolest aspect of this website is that it does all the grading for you. While the students are taking the quiz, they can compete with other students in the class to see who is first, second, third like a competition. Students can also see what questions they got incorrectly and which ones they answered correctly right on the spot to correct learning. As a teacher, the results are accessible through an excel spreadsheet by individual students or by a class to see which areas are strengths and weaknesses. You can also email results to parents directly from the website if you wish. Students also love that there are memes in between questions that are humorous depending on if they get the question right or wrong.

Also, Kahoot is another site that functions much the same way where you can ask questions and it can be a competition amongst students. I have also had students practice for assessments by creating their own games and then we use their games to study as review.

To access quizzizz: https://quizizz.com/

To access Kahoot: https://kahoot.it/#/

Just a word of caution, Kahoot does not score the questions in a nice spreadsheet like Quizzizz does.

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BrainPOP  has engaging games, animated videos and activities that use humor to encourage learning. I have used the animated video on Goods & Services when teaching in 2nd grade. The kids really got into taking the "easy" or "hard" quiz at the end of the video. I also have used them as conversation starters. BrainPOP Jr. is very similar to BrainPOP- it is intended for K-3. The only downside to both versions of BrainPOP is you have to have a subscription to view most of the content- only a few videos are free. It is also available as an app.

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I love this resource. When we were introduced to it in class was the first time I had ever heard about it. I love that you can search by grade level, standard, and curriculum. I have already found a video, Native Village Field Trip, which I plan on using in the fall when we learn about Thanksgiving. I am very fortunate to have some friends that are part of the Ottawa-Chippewa tribe, so they will let me borrow some of their belongings to share with the students. This video will allow us to learn and compare another tribe.
https://wgvu.pbslearningmedia.org

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Penny and the KidVision VPK kids go to the Native Village to find out about the Seminole Indians. They learn about their clothing, colorful beads, interesting houses, and even learn some Seminole Indian words!

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The AutoRap app allows the user to speak into the microphone, and whichever words you speak are turned into a rap. The options to use autotune to fix not-so-great rapping and various accompaniment tracks make it fun and the user feel good about the finished product. Students can be given a topic to "present" on, research it or use the knowledge already learned in class, and individually or in small groups create a short script about that topic. This could then be spoken into the app and a rap is created for classmates to hear.

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Read reviews, compare customer ratings, see screenshots, and learn more about AutoRap by Smule. Download AutoRap by Smule and enjoy it on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

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Social Studies School Service - Katrina Deters

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Social Studies School Service - Katrina Deters

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Social Studies School Service is one of the resources I found on the Web Resources page of our Blackboard site. I was able to type in a variety of genres, eras, and events from musical history (both in our country and abroad), and find a plethora of resources. Some specifics I might use included recordings of songs that were popular and/or written during the Revolutionary War and the Civil War (we could either use them for movement/rhythm/melody activities in class, or do a text study of the lyrics and decide what they might be alluding to or referencing given what they are studying in Social Studies class).

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MUSIC OF AMERICA'S HISTORY - Social Studies School Service

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These audio CDs compile period songs-both famous and lesser known-to give students a taste of the era in which they were composed. Performers Anne and Ridley Enslow, accompanied by other musicians, make the renditions of each song as authentic as possible, using both traditional instruments as well as ones like hammered dulcimer, pennywhistle, harpsichord, and triple harp.

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App for ipads available on the app store.

Do Ink is a very interactive and easy to use green screen app for students. You can very easily use a green sheet or blanket in your classroom to have students stand in front of while filming on the ipad with Do Ink. This app easily allows students to record, selected a background, and share their film with others. One way to use this in Social Studies is when students are researching a famous place, region, or landmark. Students can present their information "on location." Do Ink makes it really easy for students to create projects and presentations using the green screen.

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http://museumbox.e2bn.org/

This is a resource that I found on our BB site under web resources. It was under the Social Studies resources tab. Museum Box is a website that allows students to create a virtual diorama about a particular topic. On the website, it describes it as allowing "you to build up an argument or description of an event, person or historical period by placing items in a virtual box." It is also a great way for students to visual see each other's information on a topic. Students can include videos, links, pictures, and information in their Museum Box.