California Thinkfinity Resource Center

Screen 1 Finding online teaching materials: California Thinkfinity Resource Center is a Curriculum Juvenile Library online tutorial that covers searching a subset of the internet for lesson plans and other educational materials. The California Thinkfinity Resource Center can be searched by California standard, grade level, and subject. Unlike databases like Google, items in this database have gone through a screening process and can be searched by California standard and grade level. However, although each item in this database went through a screening process, the item may have changed since being screened. You should always check internet sites before students access them.

Screen 2 This is the California Thinkfinity Resource Center interface. In the center of the page you see California Lesson Resource Search. This is where you go to find resources correlated with California K-12 standards. Clicking "California Lesson Resource Search" produces a new interface.

Screen 3 The interface is for the California Thinkfinity Resource Center Keyword search. In order to find resources matched to California K-12 standards you need to use the California Thinkfinity Resource Center Standards search. Clicking "standard" located in the orange oval produces the standard search interface.

Screen 4 This is the standard search interface. In this example, we will assume you are a second grade teacher searching for lesson plans covering California history standard 2.3.2 which is "describe the ways in which groups and nations interact with one another to try to resolve problems". The first thing you need to do is to select a subject.

Screen 5 The way you do this is by clicking on "select a subject" and then selecting your general subject area "history" from the drop down menu.

Screen 6 The second thing you need to do is to select a grade.

Screen 7 The way you do this is by clicking on "select a grade" and then selecting the grade level you are searching for. In this example you are searching for "grade two".

Screen 8 The third thing you need to do is to select a standard.

Screen 9 To select a standard click on "select a standard" and then select the standard you are searching for. In this example, the standard you are looking for is 2.3.2 "describe the ways in which groups and nations interact with one another to try to resolve problems".

Screen 10 After selecting subject, grade, and standard, clicking the "search" button produces a list.

Screen 11 The list includes 16 resources matching your search criteria. The fourth item on the list "Groups We Belong To" is a lesson produced by Science NetLinks. It is always helpful to know the source of information found on the internet. Please remember to credit sources you consulted when creating lesson or unit plans for teacher education courses. You should not claim to have created a lesson or unit plan you found on the internet. To the right of the Groups We Belong To lesson you see the California standards match which is the actual standard this lesson addresses. Clicking on "Groups We Belong To" produces the lesson plan.

Screen 12 "Groups We Belong To" is a fairly detailed lesson plan that includes purpose and context sections. The context section provides background information related to the lesson. This information helps teachers prepare for the lesson. Clicking on "pages 91-93" produces the background information.

Screen 13 The background information covers group behavior.

Screen 14 One of the benefits of finding lesson plans on the internet is that they sometimes include links to handouts that can be used with a lesson plan. Clicking the link to the handout titled "Groups We Join" produces an actual handout.

Screen 15 This is the handout that can be used with the lesson. In closing, I would like to encourage you to take a look at other Curriculum Juvenile Library online tutorials. If you are looking for additional screened online teaching materials, you might want to take look at the online tutorial covering the Gateway to Educational Materials.