Geography (US/World)

Manifest Destiny - The Story of the US Told in 141 Maps

— Michael Porath

5-11 0 favorites 0 promising practices http://www.michaelporath.com/projects/manifest-destiny/ Last updated: Fri, 08/27/2021 - 11:49 share

How It Works
Manifest Destiny is an excellent interactive map site demonstrating the growth of the United States from March 1789 through the present. Click on each of the maps to view and highlight changes. Click on highlighted words to view areas on the map. Use the legend on the right side of the page to help interpret what each color represents on the map. Jump ahead to the Civil War (or a few other notable US History events), by clicking the links on the main page. Read "about" to learn about the Swiss information scientist who created this page from information available on Wikipedia.
In the Classroom
Use Manifest Destiny as a resource for any American History unit. Share the maps on your projector or interactive whiteboard. The many maps are an excellent visual demonstration of the growth of the US. Use information from the site to have students create timelines (with music, photos, videos, and more) using Timeline JS, reviewed here. Include this site in lessons about information literacy and evaluating sources in your history course. Challenge students to verify the accuracy of the information depicted. Was Wikipedia right?
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Tag(s): booklet, civil war, maps, colonization, 1800s, 1900s, 20th century,

Story Maps

— Esri

4-11 0 favorites 0 promising practices http://storymaps.esri.com/home/ Last updated: Fri, 08/27/2021 - 11:49 share

How It Works

Story Maps takes learning in a new direction. Interactive maps tell a story through videos, images, audio, and links. Learn more about the topics in text that accompanies each map. A timeline of "dots" allows you to move through the story step by step. A satellite view is available on some maps, and legends give you important information to read the map accurately. A wide variety of topics are available to inform and educate. Use the search bar to find a map to meet your needs. Travel to the most visited National Parks or explore an interactive map of the three days and decisive moments of the battle of Gettysburg. It is important to pay as much attention to the text pop-ups as the cartography and other aspects of the map. New stories are added every two weeks. so come back often! This review was for the free area of the site that allows you to view the map stories. There are extensive directions on how to create your own maps, but these suggest purchase of maps, etc. from ArcGIS, an affiliate of Esri. Some of the map storytelling ideas could be used with other free mapping tools, however.

In the Classroom

Map out interactive virtual field trips on Story Maps. Introduce this site on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Then have students explore this site independently or in small groups. Have a team competition as students navigate the site on an interactive whiteboard to complete a scavenger hunt. Students can find geometric shapes in real life objects on the images with the maps. Calculate distances or time if the map is a timeline of events. Use this site as an anticipatory set or "activator" to introduce a unit or lesson on a projector or interactive whiteboard. Make a shortcut to this site on classroom computers and use it as a center. Be sure to help your weaker readers and ESL/ELL students by sharing the vocabulary words prior to reading, either on a handout or by projecting them on an interactive whiteboard and highlighting them in the text as you come to them. Have students create online posters to summarize what they learned from the map, individually or together as a class using a tool such as Web Poster Wizard (reviewed here) or PicLits (reviewed here. Ask students to write informational essays on the topics or use the maps to write creative stories. Challenge your most tech-savvy or gifted students to explore the step by step map storytelling directions and try their hand using google Maps or other map tools. The advice in these directions is excellent.

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Tag(s): measurement, map skills, gettysburg, maps,

Revolutionary War Animated Maps

— American Battlefield Trust

5-11 0 favorites 0 promising practices https://www.battlefields.org/learn/maps/revolutionary-war-animated-map Last updated: Fri, 08/27/2021 - 11:49 share

How It Works

Find animated online tours of notable battles and strategies and the outcomes of each battle from Prelude to War through The Battle of Yorktown. Choose from dates and battles included on the list at the bottom of the page to begin each animation. View instructions for each animation. Some require pushing play for each slide while others play to the end with one click of play. The animated online tours now reside on YouTube. If your district blocka YouTube, they may not be viewable.

In the Classroom

Illustrate Revolutionary War battles on an interactive whiteboard or projector during a lecture or class discussion. This site might also be useful as a link students can explore from home as part of a homework assignment or enrichment activity. Have students research this site and other information about their "battle" and create a multimedia project. How about enhancing learning with a "talking map" indicating where a battle took place with audio recordings? Use a tool such as Zeemaps, reviewed here, to create a map of local landforms (with audio stories and pictures included)! Extend learning for your group of talented future animators by challenging them to envision similar animations for battles that are not already included, and use Animatron, reviewed here, to create and share them with you and their peers.

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Tag(s): 1700s, map skills, maps, american revolution,

Newspaper Map

— newspapermap.com

4-11 0 favorites 0 promising practices http://www.newspapermap.com/ Last updated: Fri, 08/27/2021 - 11:49 share

How It Works

Use this colorful map to locate and read newspapers from around the world. Click on map pins to locate newspapers or search using filters such as languages. Use the key to locate newspapers in each language. Yellow pins indicate English language newspapers, Spanish pink, etc. Don’t worry if newspapers are not in a language you need. Choose the links provided to translate into one of many options. When ready, click on a pin to go to the newspaper’s home website.

In the Classroom

Newspaper Map is a great resource for locating news and culture from around the world. Share with your students to show them different perspectives on world events. Use an online tool such as Interactive Two Circle Venn Diagram, reviewed here, to compare and contrast coverage between two newspapers. After reading and comparing many different articles, have students make a multimedia presentation using one of the many TeachersFirst Edge tools. Some tool suggestions are (click on the tool name to access the review): Adobe Spark in K-12, Synth, Animatron, Renderforest, and Beautiful.AI. Explore this site during Newspaper in Education week or as part of a unit on the basics of journalistic writing. World language teachers can use newspapers to teach about both language and culture. Have world cultures or social studies students learn about local culture through advertisements and articles and share their findings using a screencast (or screenshots) of the newspaper and talking about their discoveries. A free tool like Screencast-o-matic, reviewed here, or Screencastify (Chrome app), reviewed here, works well for screencasts.

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Tag(s): cross cultural understanding, newspapers, spanish, french, portuguese, german, russian, japanese, arabic, media literacy,

Open Street Map

— OpenStreetMap

5-11 0 favorites 0 promising practices http://www.openstreetmap.org/ Last updated: Fri, 08/27/2021 - 11:49 share

How It Works

This open source, collaborative mapping site is known as the "Wikipedia of maps." This easily editable map is up to date as locations change (as they often do). The license just requires you to credit OpenStreetMap, and you can copy, download, and amend the maps without limitation.

In the Classroom

Use any part of this map for your school projects. Share the maps on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Copy, download, or alter maps as needed. The license requires crediting OpenStreetMap. Build completely new maps around a specific theme or concept, such as walking, hiking, bicycling, routes for those with disabilities, among others. Create projects traveling through various areas around various themes such as places to eat, sleep, or play. Students create stories about stopping in these places to share with others. If you teach geography, this one’s a must. It is also helpful for showing students WHERE a story or news event takes place. If you teach map skills or teach about how communities grow, be sure to share this map to show how maps can change when a new street or highway is built. If you have a new road in your area, show the difference between this map and older ones that can be found online. Challenge students to compare this map to others.

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Tag(s): maps, map skills,

Mapping History

— University of Oregon

6-11 0 favorites 0 promising practices http://mappinghistory.uoregon.edu/ Last updated: Fri, 08/27/2021 - 11:49 share

How It Works

Discover interactive and animated representations of historic events and time periods. Choose from American, European, Latin American, or African history. Within each of these choices is a list of modules. Each module provides information and interactive content such as timelines or maps that guide you through the specified time frame. The slider at the bottom of the map allows you to move in time.

In the Classroom

View modules together as a class on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Provide links to selected modules on your class webpage or blog. Use as one source for students to create their own maps. Using a mapping tool such as Click2Map, reviewed here, rnto create a map of any specific time period or event. With Clck2Map students can include display markers featuring text, photos, and videos!

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Tag(s): maps, 1800s, 1900s, 1700s, colonization, native americans, american revolution, colonial america, slavery, alaska, hawaii, war of 1812, explorers, civil war, great depression, world war 1, world war 2, industrialization, greece, greeks, romans, spain, italy, cold war, central america, south america, africa,

Sound Maps -- British Library

— The British Library

-11 0 favorites 0 promising practices http://sounds.bl.uk/sound-maps Last updated: Fri, 08/27/2021 - 11:49 share

How It Works

Find over 50,000 sounds of music, nature sounds, spoken words/poetry and human environments. Click dots on a map to see the location and play the sound. Search by keyword or by category and save to your playlist for future use once you create a free account.

In the Classroom

This site is a great addition to any world language, history, music, English, or science class. Use the oral history section to hear stories from Holocaust survivors. Listen to accents from around the world. Have you ever wanted to know what a cicada sounds like? Use the recordings from the nature and environment section. Science and music teachers can use the site to show how sound waves look. Use the site to demonstrate how to create an oral history. Then have cooperative learning groups create podcasts demonstrating their understanding of a particular topic you are studying. Use a site such as PodOmatic (reviewed here). In world language classes, have students explore locations to learn more about the sound of that country. Then have them create a recording that uses recorded sounds as background to their own spoken words in their new language.

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Tag(s): multimedia, sounds, cultures,

World History TimeMap

— TimeMaps Ltd

4-11 0 favorites 0 promising practices http://www.timemaps.com/ Last updated: Fri, 08/27/2021 - 11:49 share

How It Works

See the history of the world from 3500BC to 2005AD! TimeMaps offers a look at every nation, empire, and civilization as one story using maps. Choose a date or time period to begin exploration. Use pinpoints located on the map to view specific information about that location. Use timelines located under the map to narrow down topics within a time period. For example, at 100 AD choose to view information by Ancient Rome, Mayan Civilization, Medieval India, or Ancient China. This is an excellent site for providing an overview and exploration of world civilizations during any given time period. Choose the "Are You a History Teacher" link to find several suggestions for using TimeMap in your classroom along several different lesson plans.

In the Classroom

Explore time periods together on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Find the time period you are teaching then explore pins to view more information about different civilizations during that time. Assign students different civilizations to research during a time period using TimeMaps as a starting point. Have students create their own comics to explain a civilization using comic-creation tools from this collection.

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Tag(s): timelines, maps, romans, greeks, china, india, mayans, egypt, israel, 1600s, 1700s, 1800s, 1900s, 20th century, africa, europe, asia, north america,

Historic Maps in K-12 Classrooms

— Newberry Library’s Hermon Dunlap Smith Center

-11 0 favorites 0 promising practices http://publications.newberry.org/k12maps/index.html Last updated: Fri, 08/27/2021 - 11:49 share

How It Works

Find maps for use at all grade levels. There are lessons plans, objectives, extension activities and more supporting the use of historic map documents. Information at the K-2 level supports information acquisition skills while higher grades address history, geography, and social studies concepts. Instructions for Teachers gives an overview of the site including standards addressed and information on how to display and print supplied images. The map index presents themes such as "Exploration and Encounter" and "The Historical Geography of Transportation." Each theme contains several lessons, all include a printable map and lessons categorized by grade levels from K-12. Many themes also include curator’s notes with supplemental images and resources.

In the Classroom

This is a wonderful site to include with your bookmarks for units on transportation, maps, explorers, Colonial America, and more. Print and display maps in your classroom when using the included lesson plans. Have students use a tool such as Padlet, reviewed here, to create an online bulletin board for information they learn from the maps. Have students use a tool such as Zeemaps, reviewed here, to create a fictitious radio news story from a location they learn about.

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Tag(s): maps, map skills, explorers, transportation, colonial america,

Teaching Channel - Videos, Lesson Plans, and Other Resources for Teachers

— Teaching Channel

-11 0 favorites 0 promising practices https://www.teachingchannel.org/ Last updated: Fri, 08/27/2021 - 11:49 share

How It Works

Explore this video showcase of innovative and effective teaching practices from America’s schools. The video library offers a wide range of subjects for grades K-12. Videos also include information on alignment with Common Core State Standards and ancillary material for teachers to use in their own classrooms. Browse by grade level band, subject, or popular topics. Use the search box to find ideas for a specific topic, such as "earth" or "electricity." There are too many topics to list. Pretty much anything you are looking for academically, behaviorally, or professionally can be found here! See video length for each choice along with the title, subject and grade band. After choosing a video, view objectives, questions to consider, and information about the teacher in the video. Download or receive codes to embed videos using the links available with each video. Register on the site (free) to access the site’s lesson planner features. Save, schedule, and receive reminders about great ideas after registering or follow teachers to receive notification of new uploads.

In the Classroom

Mark this one in your favorites for those times when you need inspiration. View videos as a way of finding fresh lesson ideas with practical suggestions for implementation. Share this site with other teachers, viewing videos together during professional development sessions. This site is a great site for mentoring new teachers to develop professional skills. There are even videos to share with your class on your interactive whiteboard or projector.

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  • Find interactive ABC's, colors, etc.
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Tag(s): differentiation, behavior, professional development, video, inquiry, commoncore, classroom management, assessment, firstday, newbies, rhythm, substitutes,
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