Posts Tagged ‘middle school’

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Primary Source U.S. History Lessons

May 23rd, 2013

Hi!  It’s Thursday, May 23, 2013 and time for Social Sciences at ClickSchooling!

Recommended Website:

Teach U.S. History

Age Range: 11-18 (about middle school through high school, with parental supervision)

This website provides primary source materials, lesson plans, audio and video presentations, and supplementary resources such as worksheets and links to other informative websites to help classroom teachers teach U.S. History. Most of the material can be adjusted for use in the homeschool environment.

When you get to the site, you’ll see a welcome message accompanied by a menu on the left side of the screen. Click on “How To Use This Site” to read an outline of what the site provides. Then, simply click on the topics of interest from the menu that includes:

  • American Revolution
  • Indian Removal
  • Isaiah Thomas – Patriot Printer
  • Life in Antebellum America
  • Temperance Reform in the Early 19th Century
  • The Dred Scott Decision
  • The Kansas-Nebraska Act and Bleeding Kansas
  • The Second Great Awakening and the Age of Reform
  • War of 1812 and the Hartford Convention
  • Westward Expansion

As you click on each topic a new page opens. There is some inconsistency in the format that can be a little confusing. Some pages open to a splash page, others open to a menu of choices, and others open to a page with a brief overview.  On the latter, it may look as though there isn’t any information – but look on the menu on the left side of the screen and you’ll see that under that topic is a highlighted drop-down menu from which you can select lesson plans and resources.

This site is deceiving. It contains a vast amount of content assembled by teachers and museum curators as you will discover once you start clicking through the resource links. Plan to spend some time here to pinpoint the materials you’ll want to use to supplement your study of U.S. history.

 

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Posted in social sciences

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Free Lessons on the Bill of Rights!

April 25th, 2013

Hi!  It’s Thursday, April 25, 2013 and time for Social Sciences at ClickSchooling!

Recommended Website:

Bill of Rights Institute

Age Range: 10-18 (Middle School and High School, with parental supervision)

This website delivers free lessons to help boost students’ knowledge of their constitutional rights and America’s founding principles. The lessons are delivered to your inbox in a free e-newsletter called, The Constitution Courier. Each lesson includes historical content, connections to real life, classroom activities, downloadable PDFs, discussion questions, and suggestions for further reading.

When you get to the site you’ll see a description of the free lessons available and information on how to sign up to get them (simply enter your email address). The lessons cover a wide range of topics including:

*Being an American - Get lessons on The Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, and the U.S. Bill of Rights.

*Current Events and the Constitution – Get a framework for discussing current events in context with history. Each month, students analyze how the Constitution applies to a specific issue or event on the local, state, or national level.

*Bill of Rights In The News – Focuses on issues making headlines that directly relate to the Bill of Rights and the Constitution. It provides current online news articles, discussion questions, and related links and resources.

*Landmark Supreme Court Cases And The Constitution – Spotlights prominent United States Supreme Court Cases past and present and highlights key constitutional issues and controversies. 

*The Constitution and Religious Freedom – Explores the history and importance of religious liberty in the United States from the colonies to today. Focuses on historic individuals, landmark Supreme Court cases, student rights, and current issues related to this First Amendment protection.

*Election Resources – Learn about issues discussed during elections, with a focus on the First Amendment freedoms of speech and press.

*Presidents and the Constitution – Find out about the roles of the President including  Commander in Chief and Chief Executive Officer, and how the President responds to the office as it pertains to the Constitution.

When you are through signing up to get these terrific resources, explore the rest of the site. You’ll find free lessons from past newsletters in the archives that are designed to educate young people about the words and ideas of America’s Founders, the liberties guaranteed in our Founding documents, and how our Founding principles continue to affect and shape a free society.

This is a great way to implement the advice issued by President John Adams in 1789: “Children should be educated and instructed in the principles of freedom.”

 

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Posted in electives, government

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Fun Physics Simulations for K-12!

April 23rd, 2013

Hi!  It’s Tuesday, April 23, 2013, and time for Science at ClickSchooling!

Recommended Website:

PhET Interactive Simulations

Age Range: 5-18 and up (grades K-12 and beyond, with parental supervision)

The University of Colorado at Boulder sponsors this website with free, fun, interactive, research-based simulations of physical phenomena. As explained at the website:

 ”We believe that our research-based approach -incorporating findings from prior research and our own testing- enables students to make connections between real-life phenomena and the underlying science, deepening their understanding and appreciation of the physical world.

“To help students visually comprehend concepts, PhET simulations animate what is invisible to the eye through the use of graphics and intuitive controls such as click-and-drag manipulation, sliders and radio buttons. In order to further encourage quantitative exploration, the simulations also offer measurement instruments including rulers, stop-watches, voltmeters and thermometers.

“As the user manipulates these interactive tools, responses are immediately animated thus effectively illustrating cause-and-effect relationships as well as multiple linked representations (motion of the objects, graphs, number readouts, etc.)”

When you get to the site, you’ll see a brief introduction, information on how to run/use the simulations, and a button that says, “Play with sims.”  Click on that and a new page opens where you will see an icon menu of the latest simulations on the site including:

  • Forces and Motion
  • Gene Expression
  • Plate Tectonics
  • Molecule Shapes
  • States of Matter

Use the menu on the left side of this same page to search for simulations by topic, for example:

  • Physics
  • Biology
  • Chemistry
  • Earth Science
  • Math
  • Cutting Edge Research

And, you can search for simulations by Grade Level including Elementary School, Middle School, High School, and University.

Be sure to bookmark this site – you’ll want to return again and again. 

 

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Posted in science

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Free Interactive Math Worksheets, Flash Cards, & Quizzes!

February 4th, 2013

Hi!  It’s Monday, February 4, 2013 and time for Math at ClickSchooling!

Recommended Website:

Mr. Martini’s Classroom

Age Range:  5-14 (approximately, with parental supervision)

This ad-supported website provides free, interactive math flash cards, math worksheets, quizzes, and printable math worksheets  for elementary and middle school math including:

  • Addition
  • Counting  
  • Decimals
  • Division
  • Exponents
  • Fractions
  • Geometry
  • Inequalities
  • Long Division
  • Multiplication
  • Negative Numbers
  • Order of Operations
  • Percentages
  • Place Value
  • Radicals
  • Square Roots
  • Subtraction
  • Word Problems
  • And More!

When you get to the site, you’ll see a selection of flash cards, instructions on how to use them, and a menu that is a little overwhelming.  I found it helpful to go to the “Math Teacher’s Index to see everything this site offers listed in alphabetical order. Here’s the direct link: http://www.thegreatmartinicompany.com/siteindex.html)

While the interactive flash cards are a highlight of this site, I was really pleased to see the interactive worksheets for long division, long addition, long subtraction and long multiplication as well. You can actually do the long division problems, step by step, digit by digit, and check your work online. You can set the number of digits you want to use, and then simply type in the solutions in each step of the equation. This interactive, online aspect is very engaging.

Bookmark this page for easy access to it as a fun online learning resource to complement whatever textbook or method you prefer for learning math.

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Posted in math

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Terrific Science Freebies!

January 22nd, 2013

Hi!  It’s Tuesday, January 22, 2013 and time for Science at ClickSchooling!

Recommended Website:

TerrificScience.org

Age Range: 5 -18 (grades K-12, with parental supervision)

This website, developed by two enthusiastic chemistry teachers named Mickey and Lynn, provides a wide assortment of free lessons and activities that teach students of all ages the scientific method through fun, hands-on investigations.

When you get to the site you’ll see a menu of the “Freebies” including:

*Lesson and Lab Exchange – Get hundreds of free, downloadable science lessons for elementary, middle school, and high school students. These lessons run the gamut from teaching chemistry with glitter wands to an 8-part series on forensic science.

*National Chemistry Week – Explore an archive of chemistry lessons and experiments offered during Chemistry Week in 2005-2008.

*Health Science Resources – Enjoy hands-on activities that emphasize water safety, personal hygiene, indoor pollution, chemical safety, skin health, and information on drug-resistant bacteria.

*Terrific Science Movies plus Activities – View a variety of movies (excerpts from the science teachers’ workshops) that include fun animations and activity demonstrations. Some of the movies have accompanying activity instructions.

When you’re through exploring the “Freebies,” poke around the rest of the website for additional information and resources on the art of teaching science.

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Posted in health

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Creative Writing Worksheets & Much More!

December 5th, 2012

Hi! It’s Wednesday, December 5, 2012 and time for Language Arts at ClickSchooling!

Recommended Website:

TLSBooks.com: Free Worksheets

Age Range: 4-11 (grades Pre-K to 6, with parental supervision)

This ad-supported website offers a wide array of free, printable Language Arts worksheets that provide creative writing prompts and activities for students from Pre-K through Middle School.

When you get to the site, just scroll down the page to see the creative writing worksheets that include:

*Themed Acrostic Poems – Use these worksheet outlines to write poetry about the seasons and months of the year.

*Quotation Worksheets – Read a quote by a famous person from literature or history (i.e., Ralph Waldo Emerson, Charles Dickens, Helen Keller, Abigail Adams, Ben Franklin, etc.), and write about what it means to you.

*Miscellaneous Creative Writing Worksheets – Write a story to go with a picture, and use worksheets with writing prompts.

You can also print out stationery and thank you notes to use at will.

Be sure to use the menu in the left margin to access free Language Arts worksheets that help students learn and practice:

  • Alphabetizing
  • Rhyming
  • Dictionary Skills
  • Vocabulary

And do Word Search puzzles that teach punctuation, vowel sounds, literary terms, and more. You’ll also find “Handwriting” and “Spelling” worksheets on the menu too.

A big plus to this site is that it also offers free worksheets for all of the following subjects:

  • Foreign Language
  • Geography
  • History
  • Math
  • Music
  • Science
  • And more!

Bookmark this one – you’ll want to return often.

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Posted in music

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