Student Interactives

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Acrostic Poem

In this online tool, students can learn about and write acrostic poems. An acrostic poem uses the letters in a word to begin each line of the poem. All lines of the poem relate to or describe the main topic word. In addition, as part of the online tool, students are prompted to brainstorm, write, and revise their poems, thus reinforcing elements of the writing process. Students can also print their finished acrostic poems.

Grade: All LevelsInteractive Type: Writing Poetry

Alphabet Organizer

Alphabet Organizer has numerous applications for classroom instruction. Students have the option to enter one word, more than one word, or a word and related notes for each letter of the alphabet. Elementary students can use the tool to create an alphabet book with words for each letter of the alphabet. The tool can also be used to have students brainstorm and discuss background knowledge on a topic they are beginning to study. At the end of the unit, the chart can be revisited to add new information or to correct erroneous information. Alternatively, the tool can be used for a vocabulary study by having students enter vocabulary words and related notes or definitions. This interactive tool enables students to print an alphabet chart or pages for an alphabet book.

Grade: All LevelsInteractive Type: Organising and Summarising

Animal Inquiry

The Animal Inquiry interactive is a versatile tool that can enhance student inquiry in research at the elementary level. The graphic organizer invites students to explore four facets of animals [basic facts, animal babies, interaction with others, and habitats (shown at left)]; the possibilities for extensions or adaptations, moreover, make this a a nice complement with inquiry-based projects. The follow-up writing prompts can be used to organize research questions as well as to record findings. After completing individual sections or the entire organizer, students have the ability to print out their final versions for feedback and assessment.

Grade: 8-12 year oldsInteractive Type: Inquiry and Analysis

Bio Cube

Summarising information is an important post reading and prewriting activity that helps students synthesize what they have learned. This tool allows students to develop an outline of a person whose biography or autobiography they have just read; it can also be used before students write their own autobiography. Specific prompts ask students to describe a person's significance, background, and personality. The finished printout can be folded into a fun cube shape that can be used for future reference.

Grade: 8-12 year oldsInteractive Type: Organising and Summarising

Book Cover Creator

The Book Cover Creator is designed to allow users to type and illustrate front book covers, front and back covers, and full dust jackets. Students can use the tool to create new covers for books that they read as well as to create covers for books they write individually or as a class. Students can use text tools to add formatting to their titles and book notes, add shading to background areas of the cover, and draw original images to illustrate their covers and dust jackets. The tool is easy to use, made even easier with the Book Cover Planning Sheets, printable PDFs that students can use to draft and revise their work before creating and printing their final book covers or dust jackets.

Grade: All LevelsInteractive Type: Writing and Publishing Prose

Character Trading Cards

Creating trading cards for their favourite story characters will challenge children to think more deeply about what they read or even watch in movies or on television. By answering a series of questions, children zero in on what’s obvious and not so obvious about a character. Not only will they describe the character’s appearance and actions, but also probe for thoughts, feelings, and motivations. The cards also offer a chance for children to consider their own impressions: What is likeable or not likeable about a character and what personal connections might children make?

Grade: 8-12 year olds

Circle Plot Diagram

Introducing the concept of text structure to elementary students is made easy-and fun!-through the use of the Circle Plot Diagram. The tool can be used as a prewriting graphic organizer for students writing original stories with a circular plot structure (e.g., If You Take a Mouse to School), as well as a postreading organizer used to explore the text structures in a book. By students inserting main examples of a story's plot directly onto the circular interactive (shown at left), the concepts of structure and plot are reinforced each time the tool is used. When used as a prewriting exercise, the diagram can be printed out and shared with peers and teacher for feedback and revision in this phase of the writing process.

Grade: 8-12 year oldsInteractive Type: Organising and Summarising

Comic Creator

The Comic Creator invites children and teens to design their own comic strips. Their creations can be just for fun or as part of more structural learning activities: planning writing activities, before- and after-reading activities, and responding to books.

Grade: All LevelsInteractive Type: Organising and Summarising

Compare and Contrast Map

This interactive graphic organizer helps students develop an outline for one of three types of comparison essays: whole-to-whole, similarities-to-differences, or point-to-point. Links to the Comparison and Contrast Guide give students the chance to get definitions and look at examples while they work. The tool offers multiple ways to navigate information including a graphic in the upper right-hand corner that allows students to move around the map without having to work in a linear fashion. Students can also click the Review My Map link and preview what they have written, return to the map for revisions, or print the completed map.

Grade: 8-12 year oldsInteractive Type: Organising and Summarising

Diamante Poems

Diamante poems give children a leg up in creating a poem. These diamond-shaped poems follow a set structure, requiring children to supply different parts of speech, such as adjectives and –ing words. The poem’s seven lines may be used to describe one topic or two. For instance, the poem can be all about chocolate ice cream or about ice cream and hot chocolate. The middle line (the fourth) can be seen as a link, where the writer makes the connection between the two.

Grade: 8-12 year olds

Doodle Splash

Teaching K-8 students to visualize what they are reading and to create graphic symbols helps them develop as readers. Doodle Splash interactive combines the process of drawing with analytical thinking about a text by pairing an online drawing space with writing prompts that encourage students to make connections between their visual designs and the text. The tool can be used for whole-class discussion of a short story (or part of a novel), small-group work, or individually, where students use doodles, symbols, drawings, shapes, and colours to construct a graphic of their story or chapter. After completing their individual or group images, students have the ability to print out their final versions for feedback and assessment.

Grade: 8-12 year oldsInteractive Type: Organising and Summarising

Essay Map

Expository writing is an increasingly important skill for elementary, middle, and high school students to master. This interactive graphic organizer helps students develop an outline that includes an introductory statement, main ideas they want to discuss or describe, supporting details, and a conclusion that summarizes the main ideas. The tool offers multiple ways to navigate information including a graphic in the upper right-hand corner that allows students to move around the map without having to work in a linear fashion. Students can also click the Review My Map link and preview what they have written, return to the map for revisions, or print the completed map.

Grade: 8-12 year oldsInteractive Type: Organising and Summarising

Graphic Map

The Graphic Map allows children and teens to chart the significant points related to a particular item or group of items, such as chapters in a book, amounts of money spent, events during a day, month, year, or life, or scenes in a play. For each point, the child or teen chooses a rank that shows how positive or negative the point is. This online tool creates a graphic representation of these ranked points that displays related images and descriptions.

Grade: 812 year olds

Letter GeneratorThe Letter Generator tool is designed to help students learn to identify all the essential parts of a business or friendly letter, and then generate letters by typing information into letter templates. A sample letter is included, and students can learn about the parts of a letter by reading descriptions of each part. Once students have become familiar with letter formats, they are prompted to write their own letter using a simple template. Students follow the steps and fill in specific fields in the template (for example, heading, salutation, closing, signature, and so on). They may even add a decorative border and postscript to the friendly letter. The finished letter can then be previewed, edited, and printed. This useful tool provides step-by-step instructions for familiarising users with the necessary elements of written correspondence, and can serve as an excellent practice method for composing and proofreading both formal and informal letters.

Grade: All LevelsInteractive Type: Writing and Publishing Prose

Mystery Cube

Everyone loves a good mystery, but what makes a mystery story work? Most mysteries follow a formula: There’s a crime or mystery, someone who’s trying to figure it out, clues along the way, and finally, a solution. This activity asks children to separate a mystery into its distinct elements, like ingredients in a recipe. By listing the elements—one on each side of a cube—children will begin to see how a writer constructs a mystery. They can even use the cube to cook up some mysteries of their own!

Grade: 8-12 year olds

Postcard CreatorThe Postcard Creator helps students learn to identify all the typical parts of a postcard, and then generate their own postcard messages by typing information into templates. Students fill in the address, details on the postcard's artwork, and the postcard message. The finished postcard can then be previewed, edited, and printed. After printing their texts, students can illustrate the front of their postcards in a variety of ways, including drawing a picture, creating a collage of images, or printing and pasting clipart in place.

The tool is easy to use, made even easier with the Postcard Planning Sheet, a printable PDF students can use to draft and revise their work before creating and printing their final postcards on the computer. See a completed sample Postcardbased on Where the Wild Things Are for details on what a student's work might look like.

Grade: All LevelsInteractive Type: Writing and Publishing Prose

ReadWriteThink NotetakerThis hierarchical outlining tool allows students to organize up to five levels of information for reading and writing activities. During or after reading, the Notetaker can be used to compile and organize reading notes, research, and related ideas. During the writing process, students can use the tool to organize their information and plan texts in the prewriting stage and to review and structure their ideas during writing and revision. Students can choose the format that the outline will use (e.g., bullets, Roman numerals, letters) as well as enter up to five levels of information. The Notetaker includes a tutorial, which demonstrates how to use the tool, as well as a Notes area where students can track information that does not fit into the outline. The Notetaker creates an HTML file of students' outlines, which can be printed or saved and edited later in any HTML editor.

Grade: 8-12 year oldsInteractive Type: Organising and Summarising

Shape Poem

By creating a shape poem, children will learn the basic steps involved in writing a poem: finding a topic, brainstorming for ideas, coming up with a title, writing, revising, and publishing. From basketballs to balloons, children can choose from a variety of shapes. Building the poem inside the shape helps to focus children’s attention on the topic. Best of all, this activity teaches children that poetry can be fun and is something everyone can do.

Grade: All Levels

Stapleless Book

The Stapleless Book is designed to allow users to create with ease an eight-page book simply by folding and cutting. No tape or staples are required. Students and teachers alike can use the Stapleless Book for taking notes while reading, making picture books, collecting facts, or creating vocabulary booklets. Students can choose from seven different layouts for the pages of their books.

The tool is easy to use, made even easier with the StaplelessBook Planning Sheet, a printable PDF that book creators can use to draft and revise their work before creating and printing their final books. View the video demonstration for the Stapleless Book to see how to fold and cut the printout.

Grade: All LevelsInteractive Type: Writing and Publishing Prose

Timeline

Help children plan a story or prepare for a special event, or let teens review memories and stories from the past. The Timeline tool allows them to create and organize events-real and imagined-that automatically become active links, letting users navigate easily among events on the Timeline.

Grade: All Levels

Venn Diagram – 2 circles

Students may generate clear, well-formatted Venn Diagrams by naming their project and labelling Circle 1 and Circle 2, then generating concepts that can be placed on the diagram by clicking and dragging them with the mouse. Students may place the concepts in either circle or in the overlapping area, allowing them to organize their information logically. A step-by-step animated demo shows students how to type concepts and their descriptions, and how to drag and place concepts on their diagrams. Students may view and edit their draft diagrams, then print the finished diagrams for reference. This is a handy tool for classroom use that guides students through the process of organizing information in Venn diagram form.

Grade: ALL LevelsInteractive Type: Organising and Summarising

Venn Diagram – 3 circles

This interactive tool allows students to create Venn Diagrams that contain three overlapping circles. Students identify and record concepts that can be placed in one of the three circles or in the overlapping areas, allowing them to organize their information logically. Students may view and edit their draft diagrams, then print the finished diagrams for reference. In some cases, the Venn diagram tool has been customized to complement a specific lesson or activity.

Grade: All LevelsInteractive Type: Organising and Summarising