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February 22, 2016

Thinking Teachers Teaching Thinkers®

 

This week we are highlighting two fabulous opportunities for your students. Registration is now open for Broadcom Masters. This competition is open to students in grades 6, 7, and 8. The 2016 K-12 Game-a-Thon is open for submissions and continues through June 1, 2016.

 

Coming to PETE & C
TeachersFirst will be heading to Hershey, PA for the PETE & C conference from February 21 - 24. If you plan to attend PETE & C, stop by our two sessions. We will share Resources to Make Your Gifted Classroom Sizzle on Monday 2/22 at 11:30am and Top FREE Tools for BYOT on Tuesday February 23rd at 10:45am. We hope that you can visit a session or just stop by to say hello.

 

Lessons for All
If you are looking for some new and fresh ways to approach elementary student learning through multiple modalities, don’t miss Lessons for All. This collection of lessons in several subjects includes a variety of lessons, all with tech options. In this section you will find Silly Sentences, Nouns and Adjectives are Not Just Words, Billy Goats Gruff, and many others.

 

The Nifty Fifty
TeachersFirst’s The 50 States offers “almanac” information and more! You will find Books Related to the 50 States, information about Famous Americans, a Teachers' Guide, and more! Don’t miss this recently updated resource.

 

Common Core meets STEM in Elementary
If you teach elementary, you may struggle to plan ways for students to grasp STEM concepts. This collection of books and activities offers problem-solving skills. It helps to take some of the mystery out of STEM education for the elementary grades. You will find many ideas in this article from the Help! I lost my library/media specialist! series.

 

Professional Exploration: Differentiation
NOW is the time to explore the variety of ideas for differentiating instruction for all students. Find tools specifically for differentiation (and suggestions). Learn more about multiple intelligences and activities to address student strengths. There are also tools for helping students learn better study skills and strategies. Find new strategies for ESL/ELL students, Autism and Asperger’s resources, ways to nourish gifted students with technology, and more.

 

Dream Technology
Is your school BYOT/BYOD (or 1:1)? Have you been promising yourself that you will try some technology infused lessons in 2016? TeachersFirst has the tools to make this a reality! TeachersFirst’s BYOD Dream Tools are free tools that work on ANY device! We call them DATs, or Device Agnostic Tools. Whether you call it an “app” or a “web tool,” a DAT allows you to access your projects from almost any device. Ideal for BYOT/BYOD classrooms or 1:1 computer/tablet programs, these reviewed tools allow users to create and access projects using the same application, no matter what kind of device they have!

 

The Struggle is Real
This week’s Teacher Poll asks: What is your biggest technology struggle?
Place your vote on the teacher poll on the TeachersFirst home page.

 

Featured Sites
This week in our Featured Sites you will find:

  • Sketch Nation Create
  • The Walters Art Museum
  • Ignite
  • Make to Learn
  • Pixar in a Box
  • Promptuarium
  • Crossword Labs
  • Knewton
  • Sembly
  • And more

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you are reading this February 28, or later, the link above will take you to the Featured Sites for the current week. Find the archived February 21st Features here, and don’t miss our many other recent additions from the link at the bottom of the Featured Sites page.

 

The TeachersFirst Team