Teachers First - Thinking Teachers Teaching Thinkers

Diagnostic Questions offers over 2000 quick questions for an immediate and accurate look at student understanding of math concepts. Choose the question link to browse and find questions by topic. Choose "Random Question" for one question on any topic. Each question offers multiple choice answers and checks for the correct response. View each response to find out how many others made that choice. Optional site registration allows you to assemble collections of questions into quizzes to save and share. Use the online editor to create and share your own quizzes and questions in just seconds. The site was created in the UK, so it has some pronunciations and spellings different from American English.

tag(s): angles (51), area (52), assessment (146), charts and graphs (169), data (147), decimals (84), equations (119), exponents (35), fractions (159), functions (52), geometric shapes (136), median (16), order of operations (28), statistics (114), time (92), vectors (16)

Freckle Education is a Common Core-aligned program with resources for math, ELA, science, and social studies for K-8 that adapts to individual student skills. Freckle has over 50,000 math questions matched to all math standards and more than 500 ELA non-fiction articles that often cover social studies and science standards as well as all ELA standards. There are five reading levels offered for each article. Sign up to create a class account and add student information. Students login in through an iPad app or with the online web version and the class code. Students complete a diagnostic pre-test and then begin working at their individual level. Awards of coins for completion of levels promote student engagement and enjoyment of the program. Freckle also promotes student collaboration through their inquiry-based, cross-curricular lessons. Other features include a scratch pad for working through problems, virtual manipulatives, and individualized printables for practice. Receive detailed analytics and student reports on your dashboard. You may encounter a warning about how Freckle may not work on your browser and to use the Chrome app. For this reviewer Mozilla FireFox and Microsoft Edge seemed to work fine for a student pre-test and the teacher dashboard. This program is great for supplementing your instruction, differentiating, blended learning classes, and remote learning. Freckle was titled Front Row.
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tag(s): collaboration (87), differentiation (84), independent reading (85), inquiry (24), reading comprehension (143), Research (83), Teacher Utilities (146), writing (315)

Slack is a real-time messaging and video tool for teams that includes archiving and search features. Create channels for different groups or teams to include messages, files, images, and more for sharing. Drag and drop files work with Google Docs, Dropbox, Twitter, and others making it easy to share across several different platforms. Easily search Slack archives to find discussions, documents, and more. Slack's now offers free voice and video calls between teammates.
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tag(s): chat (42), communication (136), DAT device agnostic tool (143), microblogging (18), organizational skills (90), social networking (67), video (257)

As of December 31, 2023, the ClassFlow.com Service will be sunsetted. At that time, you will no longer be able to access your ClassFlow account. ClassFlow is more than a lesson builder, more than a presentation tool, more than an assessment tool; it is all of these and more! Access everything in one place: create, present, and share lessons; connect, poll, and assess students with devices they use every day. After registering, you will receive a welcome email with several "getting started" links. The lesson developer is a very powerful tool, with options for embedding, linking, or adding images and shapes. There are also annotating/highlighting tools, and more. ClassFlow has an is optimized for Chrome or Safari on an iPad. Demonstration videos hosted on YouTube show how to have students sign up via a web browser. If your district blocks YouTube, they may not be viewable.

tag(s): assessment (146), classroom management (128), Learning Management Systems (22), Teacher Utilities (146)

Any.do is an online to-do list to manage daily tasks across all devices. Create your account and start adding things you need to do. Choose from today, tomorrow, upcoming, or someday in the Time View format. Click the folder icon to sort lists into work, personal, or a folder you name. Choices include adding a time for tasks, options for reoccurrence, and an alarm reminder. Download the Any.do app to sync tasks seamlessly across any iOs or Android device and your computer.

tag(s): calendars (40), organizational skills (90)

Keep track of the noise level in your classroom using the calmCounter "Calmness Counter." This colorful tool is simple to set up and use. Hook up a microphone and watch the calmCounter respond to the noise level in your classroom. This is a concrete way to quantify noise level needed for goal setting and behavior (sound) management. Even the young can understand this tool's "thermometer."

tag(s): classroom management (128), music theory (45), sound (74), Teacher Utilities (146)

Imagine a one-stop site for creating, editing, and distributing your school supply list and wish list to parents and others. That's TeacherLists. Create an account, find your school, and begin a supply list or wish list. Personalize your list with a short welcome statement, if desired. Choose from categories to add items. Categories include most popular items as well as specific items such as paper, pencils, or health and cleaning supplies. Include the quantity for each student, add a short note, and save when complete. Share your final list through email, direct url link, or several social networking links.

tag(s): classroom management (128), preK (255)

This free site makes classroom management easier by letting you create a seating chart easily. There is also a Random Name Generator and a Classroom Group Maker. You can create many groups with up to 100 students in each group.

tag(s): classroom management (128), Teacher Utilities (146)

Manage behavior and boost involvement in class quickly and easily. ClassDojo allows you to recognize desirable behaviors and accomplishments in real time. Use it on any Internet-connected device in your classroom. Be sure to check out the Resources from the top menu for helpful, timesaving items like a Back-to-School night resentation, a Parent Introduction letter, a Student Introduction video, and Student Account Facts. You can choose an avatar for each student. Student behavior records are automatically created, updated, and reports generated with just one click by you. You can even write comments to parents about why a student lost a point. Weekly summaries are automatically emailed to parents. Students can earn badges. On ClassDojo students can now have their own portfolio to share photos and videos of their successes. The wording on the ClassDojo site indicates that ClassDojo "will always stay free for teachers."

Please be aware that ClassDojo falls under the FERPA laws for "directory information" and "educational records." Any school getting funds from the Department of Education (public schools) is required to disclose to parents and get written consent to use ClassDojo with their child.

tag(s): behavior (43), classroom management (128), DAT device agnostic tool (143), game based learning (171), gamification (74), Special Needs (53)

Test any website's readability using The Readability Test Tool. Test readability by URL or direct text input from any source (such as copy/paste of student writing). Simply enter the web address (URL) and get the readability of the site on several scales. You can also check your own webpages by using the "referer" section. You will get a score for the most used readability indicators: Flesch Kincaid Reading Ease and Grade Level, Gunning Fog Score, Coleman Liau Index, and Automated Readability Index (ARI). These tell much more than a simple "grade level." View sentence info such as total characters, number of words, average word length, percentage of short and long sentences, and more. View word usage of types of verbs, conjunctions, and other parts of speech as well as type of words used to begin sentences. Click the link provided to view an explanation of each type of score.
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tag(s): independent reading (85), readability (5), writing (315)