Online Tools: Suggestions from TeachersFirst

This editor's choice collection offers timesavers and organizational tools for teachers. They include "utility" sites for teaching tasks such as seating charts, rubrics, and certificates. Other tools facilitate parent communication, such as text messaging or online conferencing. Our editors have also hand picked simple, timesaving, creative tools from the TeachersFirst Edge. These tools organize to-do lists (for yourself or for students), convert files, remove ads from web pages, check web site readability, write a one-time blog, generate an online signup sheet, make a simple graphic organizer or chart, create online corkboards or stickies, and much more. Mark your Favorites using your free TeachersFirst membership, so you can find them quickly!
For a full listing of reviewed "creation" tools by category, try the TeachersFirst Edge, today's hottest tools for creating teacher and student projects online.
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CuePrompter.com: The Online Teleprompter - Hannu Multanen
Grades
2 to 12In the Classroom
Why bother with this one? Lots of reasons! Once they see it, your students are sure to come up with more, but here is a start: Try making a sample dialog for students to follow out loud as your project it in a foreign language or ESL/ELL class. Be sure to write in script format so they know who is speaking! Or share this tool with students who need help getting their nose out of their notes in presenting speeches. They can run it on a laptop only they can see and look out at the audience past the prompter. The comfort of having their text right there will ease many butterflies.An alternate use: build reading fluency by having students read aloud from this tech-tool. They will be FAR more motivated to read up to speed! Speech clinicians may want to try it for articulation practice, as well.
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Tiny URL - Gilby Productions
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
If you make a map in Google Maps, an online graphic organizer, a set of online flash cards, to anything else that allows you to share my emailing or copying a URL, this tools will save you from endless errors or emails full of ten-line URLs. Be sure to show your middle and high school students how to use it, as well. This will solve the problem of URLs that get split and no longer work when the text wraps around to another line.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Tools and Templates - Education World
Grades
K to 12tag(s): back to school (55), calendars (37), classroom management (120), graphic organizers (48), printables (36)
In the Classroom
Check out the icebreakers for the first day of school, and back-to-school sections for many ideas and ready to use templates. Remember that if you want to SAVE a file from a download, you should RIGHT-click the link and choose "Save As" to save it to your computer.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Kathy Schrock's Guide to Everything - Assessment & Rubrics - discoveryschool.com
Grades
K to 12tag(s): assessment (144)
In the Classroom
Although this website is plain vanilla (basically a list of resources). The list is phenomenal and includes an eclectic mix of many types of rubrics and assessments.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Rubric Maker - Recipes4Success
Grades
K to 12tag(s): assessment (144)
In the Classroom
Use these free rubrics with any grade level and any subject area. Note that in the free version you LOSE your work when you close the page, so make sure you have printed first!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Bibme - team exibeans
Grades
6 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): citations (32)
In the Classroom
This is a great tool for students who are both learning to cite correctly and as a helpful tool for those who forget some of the "little" things that count when writing a bibliography. It offers a great example, too, of the difference between what is in a "Works Cited" page and what actually appears in the text as a citation. Teachers can use this on a Smartboard or simply through a computer lab or projector to demonstrate the correct way to cite as well as mistakes to avoid. Be sure to include the link on your teacher web page for students finishing reports in the wee hours of the morning on the due date. Set up a free account for yourself so you can "save" example bibliographies. If you assign independent projects to your gifted students (or any student), be sure to make Bibme part of your instructions so they learn to organize their sources early on. If students are allowed to set up individual accounts, this tool is worth the time! They must be 13 or have parent permission.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Word Shape Generator - A to Z Teacher Stuff Tools
Grades
1 to 4tag(s): spelling (98)
In the Classroom
Special education teachers, ENL teachers, or regular teachers with students who are dysgraphically- or dyslexically-challenged will find this a valuable tool. Any student who learns visually would find this helpful in learning their spelling words. This tool generates the worksheet quickly.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Leveled Books Database - A to Z Teacher Stuff
Grades
K to 6tag(s): guided reading (33)
In the Classroom
Two warnings:1. This site is still being developed; however, the database of books is vast.
2. This site does not give the lexile level of the books. For teachers using lexile leveling, it is disappointing.
The usefulness of knowing the level of books for guided reading, AR, or RR deems the site very worthy, especially since it is so fast and easy to use. The site offers to connect you to Amazon to buy the books, but simply being able to look up books you already have is very helpful--- and free! TeachersFirst members who teach reading will certainly want to make it a Favorite.
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English Exercises - Vocabulary - Viktor Gayol
Grades
K to 5tag(s): game based learning (198), puzzles (149), vocabulary (238)
In the Classroom
Use this for a center with vocabulary review activities in any primary classroom or with speech and language or special ed students for vocabulary development. Using it in ENL classes will also be great, even on an interactive whiteboard with a small group. Students can also use the games on their own to practice vocabulary outside of class, so be sure to include the link on your teacher web page.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Handwriting Generator - A to Z Teacher Stuff
Grades
K to 1tag(s): handwriting (15), writing (324)
In the Classroom
Share this on your teacher web page for students and parents to practice at home with this week's spelling words. You can also project the "worksheets" onto your interactive whiteboard for a tactile approach to teaching the letters as students "magically" trace them -- with their fingers acting as the interactive whiteboard pen. For students with weak fine motor skills, this "finger" practice may help them before they can quite hold the pencil well.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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instacalc - instacalc
Grades
6 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): addition (129), calculators (35), conversions (37), multiplication (122)
In the Classroom
Visit the site and observe how the shared examples work. If you find one you like, you can get the link (try the little disk icon) to go directly to it. If you are feeling more adventurous, try creating one of your own, perhaps for calculating the class average on a test. Your web-savvy students will love this tool for collaborative lab reports or graphs of statistics. For safety's sake do not use any student names or information if you share calcs online.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Fun Activities at Your Library: So much to See, So Much to Do - American Library Association
Grades
K to 5In the Classroom
School librarians and reading teachers will want to use these activity offerings to familiarize children with the library. Make your library a happenin' place with a bookmark contest!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Google Drive - Google
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): editing (93), slides (43), spreadsheets (23), Storage (6)
In the Classroom
A "tour" and simple to understand directions make this site easy to use. Have your students set up collaborative groups for projects, lab data, and more. Or set them up yourself, giving them specific passwords to access their "space." Help your gifted students stay organized (and collaborate) using this tool. Users are normally invited to "join" via an email message. This may be problematic in the many schools that do not permit student email access at school. Note that notifications sent by Google Docs may also land in "junk mail" folders or be blocked by spam filters. We suggest that you experiment with a small group of students to determine what will work in your particular situation. One option is to set up the groups with the teacher as a "member" but have students work from home, using their personal email addresses, for group projects. Make sure you are protecting the safety of student work and identity and are within your school's Acceptable Use Policy. Anything students can do on a single computer, they can do collaboratively on Google docs, accessing their work from any online computer.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Handwriting Worksheet Maker - Tampareads.com
Grades
K to 4tag(s): handwriting (15), writing (324)
In the Classroom
Utilize this creative tool to make customized handwriting papers for your class! Use passages from stories you have just read, sentences your class composes on science or social studies topics (maybe on your whiteboard?), or trade off poems that your own students write to make handwriting practice more meaningful in context.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Graphic Organizer Maker - Recipes4Success/Tech4Learning
Grades
1 to 12In the Classroom
Use these printed organizers as study support for any content area topic. Many are excellent options for reinforcing reading skills in the content areas, even for senior high students. Include this on your teacher web page so students can create their own organizers to study for tests or prepare presentations.To make a new organizer, simply click "new," write title and directions, and print the small "print" icon. It may be easiest to take their default directions and change them for your purposes. Note that you LOSE your work when you close the page, so make sure you have printed first!
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Juicy Studio: Readability Test
Grades
K to 12tag(s): readability (5)
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Easy Test Maker - EasyTestMaker
Grades
1 to 12tag(s): quiz (66)
Comments
This used to be a great program - but they did a stupid upgrade that no longer allows me to cut and paste AT ALL! This makes it useless.Wendy, , Grades: 9 - 12
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Print Free Graph Paper
Grades
K to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): charts and graphs (171)
In the Classroom
Save the site as a link for quick printing of graph paper when needed. Provide the link to students and parents to use at home when graph paper is needed. Quickly print graphs onto transparency film to use on overhead projectors.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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BridgeURL - BridgeURL
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Create a simple link with this free resource. No sign up is required for use. Use the sliders in the two sections to navigate between the links. Hover the mouse over sections to see the 'Next' or 'Previous' link. Click on the box icon on the top of the slider to open the link in a new page. Use BridgeURL for anytime that many links need to be shared such as for projects, research, or webquests.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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