Say what?

Have you ever wondered where some of our figures of speech come from?  I actually do all the time!  I mean, if you really think about it, some of them sound pretty silly; Why would you bury a hatchet in the literal sense?  What does that have to do with ending an argument?

Well, today's website, The Phrase Finder has many of the answers you might be looking for!  The site is a searchable collection of proverbs, American phrases, phrases coined by Shakespeare, nautical phrases, and phrases from the Bible.  Search or browse for any idiom or expression and find the historical origins of the common saying.

And by the way, "burying the hatchet" comes form a Native American custom of literally burying a hatchet as a way to make peace.  It was a symbolic motion that removed a symbol of war so it would never be seen again, hence promising peaceful relations.

Timetoast

Timelines seem like an essential part of any history lesson.  Reading and creating timelines is a skill all students should practice, so I would like to share an online option for doing so:  Timetoast!  Timetoast is a website where you can browse for or create your own digital timelines.  Creating an account is required to make your own timelines, but doing so is free!

If you would just like to browse an account is not necessary and you can search for a specific term, or look through categories to find the timeline to fit your needs.  Timelines that are available for viewing on the site are made by other users....so be sure to look them over carefully for accuracy before sharing them with students.

If you can't find one that works, try making one!  Creating a time line is easy!  Simply click to add an event, put in the date, add a title, and a description, and even add a picture if your would like.  The time span is automatically put in for you as you build your timeline.  Click here to see a timeline I made in about 5 minutes.

Once you have found a timeline or made your own, you can link to them, or embed them in your website.  Below is an example timeline I found about the life of Steve Jobs:

Happy timelining!

This.......Is.......Jeopardy Labs!!

Everyone loves a good Jeopardy review game!  And, I've seen them come in all forms....from overhead projector transparencies, to poster board, to game consoles, to SMART Notebook templates, and beyond.  Here is another to add to your repertoire!

Jeopardy Labs is an online resource for creating your very own Jeopardy templates.  It's very easy to type in your own answers and questions in the editor.  The site even allows you to save your template with a password so you can come back to edit it at another time.  You do not need to create an account to use the site, since each game created gets it's own URL address.  However, creating an account is a possibility for (what I am assuming is) a one-time price of at least $20.00.  An account allows you to see a list of all your created templates, control privacy settings on your templates, and delete templates.

Once you've finished creating your template, you can play the game with up to 12 teams, and even keep track of the score and used Answer clues right in your web browser.....or download it and play it from a Flash player on your computer, no Internet needed!

If you're not in the mood to create your own Jeopardy game, you can browse for games created by others and use them as-is or tweak them to fit your needs.

Check out this 8th Grade Science Vocab Game that I found and modified:
http://jeopardylabs.com/play/8th-grade-science-vocabulary2


Oh, and the theme song is NOT included. For those of you who would like to download it from televisiontunes.com click -----> HERE   :)