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4/29/2013

Thinking Teachers Teaching Thinkers®

May brings both a breath of fresh air and a season of worry: Will I make it to the end of my required curriculum? Will my struggling student(s) pass for the year? Take advantage of TeachersFirst’s many reviewed resources to support your at-risk learners as they try to master what they must before time runs out.

 

How far will you go?
Looking for engaging ways to teach about measurements, units of measure, conversions, and more? Look no further than TeachersFirst’s Measurement Resources. Find helpful web-based tools and loads of ideas to put them to use, from spring track and field day to the kitchen. Make learning measure up.

 

Cinco, Mom, and more
Get ready for TV Turn Off week (begins April 28—today!) Cinco de Mayo, Teacher Appreciation Week (May 6), and more with the TeachersFirst Classroom Planning Calendar. Discover special occasion gift creators (free!) for your fellow teachers (or Moms), and find special resources for Mothers Day.

 

Join the party!
Please take a moment during the last days of April, our fifteenth birthday month, to help us celebrate. TeachersFirst has been a free service for teachers from The Source for Learning since 1998. Some items on our “wishlist”:

  • Share TeachersFirst with a friend via Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, etc. Use the handy “Share” widget at middle left on our home page.
  • Post or tweet about TeachersFirstwherever you go to share the good stuff
  • Join TeachersFirst (free!) to add your comments and ratings on our rich resource reviews
  • Drop us a message via our webmaster account. We especially appreciate stories of how we have made a difference for your students

 

Last chance(s) until July!
Don’t miss the final two OK2Ask® free, online sessions for teacher self-directed professional development for this school year. Register now for the final two. Find times and descriptions to register. Registration is closed for Monday’s session, but you can still drop in for standby space ON TIME, please! We will be posting the OK2Ask® summer offerings in early May.

One to One: Ideas and Tips for Teaching in a 1:1 Classroom 
Monday April 29

Ready, Set, Summer: Student Tools to Stay Fresh and Teacher Professional “Refreshments”
Monday May 6

 

Finding your way?
Share your usage of today’s GPS devices as a way to show the place of technology in your culture/life. See responses from other people in other places via Across the World Once a Week (#xw1w). Your responses about life where you live help others learn—and vice versa. This quick activity uses microblogging and something called a hashtag. It’s easy! Get started now with these simple directions and FAQ. XW1W for the week of April 28: When/where do you use a GPS? 

 

Recapping the Mission
Geo and Meri are safely at home in Phoenix, and their little sister Pandora has asked enough questions to tire them even further after their seven continent trip on Globetracker’s Mission. Read the debrief and try the interactive review activities now available in the episode side menu.  Find even more review options in the Teacher episode. Did you miss the last few episodes during test season or spring break? Use the rewind arrows at the top of the episode to go back and find out what happened. The Mission will remain online for recap until mid-June. Watch for a North American Globetracker’s Mission during 2013-14.

 

Getting to the core
What changes have you made because of Common Core? Share your response via the weekly teacher poll on the TeachersFirst home page.

 

Featured Sites
This week in our Featured Sites, find practical review and individual support:

  • Extensive IWB resources
  • A clever writing tool, now improved
  • Math help and a math “word processor”
  • Amazing nature video and audio
  • Daily infographics
  • Two amazing tools
  • A place to collect your thoughts and words
  • A no-membership-required mind map tool
  • Slave stories
  • ELL and grammar help

And MORE. IMPORTANT NOTE: If you are reading this May 5 or later, the link above will take you to the Featured Sites for the current week. Find the archived April 28 Features here, and don’t miss our many additional recent additions from the link at the bottom of the Featured sites page.

 

May your least successful student(s) discover an accomplishment to be proud of as the month of May begins.

Your “teacher to go,”
Candace Hackett Shively
Director of K-12 Initiatives