TeachersFirst's Reference Materials
A collection of reference materials is an invaluable asset for students at all educational levels. Reference materials are helpful to all students, especially our multilingual learners. These materials serve as foundational tools for research, fact-checking, and expanding knowledge across various disciplines. Digital reference tools have revolutionized access to information, offering features like full-text search, multimedia content, translation, and other accessibility features. By leveraging these diverse reference materials, students can enhance their research skills, verify information accuracy, and develop a deeper understanding of their subjects, ultimately fostering academic success and lifelong learning habits.

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Connected Papers - ConnectedPapers.com
Grades
K to 12tag(s): professional development (373), Research (84)
In the Classroom
Share this site with high school students to find academic papers related to their current research projects or use this tool as a professional aid to research current teaching practices. If citing research found when using Connecting Papers, use MyBib, reviewed here to create citations in many different formats.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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ZeroGPT - ZeroGPT
Grades
4 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): artificial intelligence (169), citations (32), editing (93), plagiarism (33), summarizing (23), writing (320)
In the Classroom
Use ZeroGPT for several purposes, including checking student work for AI-written content with the AI detector tool. However, caution should be exercised, as not all information provided by AI tools is accurate. The AI checker gives you a percentage likelihood that the content is either written by AI or a human. This site should be used as part of a qualified educator's overall evaluation of work and not as a sole means of evaluation. If students use AI to create writing projects, images, or media, teach them to use the citation generator to provide credit for using AI in their work.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Almanack - Almanack.ai
Grades
K to 12tag(s): artificial intelligence (169), assessment (143), presentations (23), Teacher Utilities (183), worksheets (69)
In the Classroom
Use Almanack to quickly create classroom slide presentations, worksheets, and learning activities. Quickly create materials to differentiate instruction using the same topic but adjusting for different grade levels to meet students' abilities. A straightforward way to learn how to use Almanack is by beginning with the resources section. For example, start with video recommendations to find YouTube videos to include with your lessons. Being as specific as possible with requests will lead to the best suggestions that meet your needs.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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MyBib - MyBib.com
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): citations (32), expository writing (31), persuasive writing (58), plagiarism (33), Research (84)
In the Classroom
Include this tool on all classroom computers and as a link on your class website for student use. This bibliography tool helps students properly format their Works Cited pages. Use this tool to help keep your students (or even yourself) organized! Make sure you teach plagiarism lessons about paraphrasing and proper citation of sources, so students use this tool properly! Take the drudgery out of writing formal papers by emphasizing thinking over mechanics. Whether teaching beginning research or seniors in high school, introduce them to MyBib. For younger students, seeing all the formatting and citing done correctly from the beginning makes sense, whether it is the body of the writing or the bibliography. With either age group, give lessons about each part of a paper or letter. Demonstrate on an interactive whiteboard (or with a projector) and think out loud as a group to pull together ideas, sources, quotes, and more to support an argument and build a paper. You can use it, too, when you write for your graduate program. Since you can choose from virtually any formatting style, you do not have to worry about memorizing punctuation and double-checking the format.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Country Flag Pictures - FlagPictures
Grades
3 to 12In the Classroom
Bookmark this site to use as a quick reference and resource for information about any country. Share results on your interactive whiteboard with students. Engage students in learning by using flag images from this site using Whiteboared.chat, reviewed here. Create and share a Whiteboard.chat with students and add the flag image. Ask students to add sticky notes to the board, sharing information they already know and questions they want to find out. As students learn more about countries and their flags, create digital books sharing their learning using Book Creator, reviewed here, that include student text, upload images, and videos.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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openverse - Creative Commons
Grades
5 to 12tag(s): copyright (44), creative commons (28), images (260), photography (120), search engines (48)
In the Classroom
Use this image search in a variety of ways for classroom use. Ask students to find images of cells, animals, geographic formations, etc. to use with class projects and presentations. Be sure to remind students to use the attribution link along with the photo, especially when publishing on the web. Keep this site as a reference link on your class web page for any time students are creating wikis, blogs, or electronic projects where they need images. They can find just the right picture with CC licensing, and you should require them to include the citation provided! Be sure that students understand the rules for sharing appropriate and inappropriate images and copyright concerns.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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National Park Service - National Park Service
Grades
5 to 12tag(s): animal homes (57), animals (295), habitats (90), national parks (29)
In the Classroom
Bookmark and save this site to use with a wide variety of language arts, science, and social studies activities. Take advantage of the free lesson plans to include with your classroom activities. Include the section for kids with your other bookmarks on classroom computers for students to explore during science centers or during free reading time as a non-fiction selection. Share images from the media gallery with students as you study biomes, states, or historic areas of the United States. As students learn about different parks around the country, ask them to modify their technology use to create infographics using Canva Infographic Maker, reviewed here, to share facts and information. Transform student technology use even further by asking students to use Google My Maps, reviewed here, to create a virtual field trip to a national park or across different biomes found in the United States. Include this site with your history lessons then ask students to use eStory, reviewed here, to create an animated map telling the story of historic events including text, images, historical maps, and more.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Dictionary.com - Dictionary.com, LLC
Grades
4 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): DAT device agnostic tool (146), dictionaries (48), game based learning (187), thesaurus (22), word choice (14)
In the Classroom
Use this online dictionary instead of printed dictionaries and thesauruses in the classroom. Be sure to share a link to this site on your class website. Display the word of the day on your interactive whiteboard as a lesson starter during writing or language arts lessons. Ask students to include featured words during writing activities using Google Documents, then highlight each time the word is used. Take it a "tech" step further and have students create a word cloud of the important terms they learn from this site using a tool such as WordItOut, reviewed here. Dive even deeper and have students or groups of students create daily video presentations featuring their choice for word of the day (or week) using a tool like Powtoon, reviewed here. Share their videos on a site such as TeacherTube, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Space, NASA Information and News - Tech Media Network
Grades
3 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): moon (72), nasa (30), space (216), stars (70), sun (71)
In the Classroom
Share the videos and activities on your projector or interactive whiteboard. Try using this website as a resource in art class to have students find a picture and recreate it though their own interpretation. Have students in a language arts class choose a photograph and create a story about how it came to be as a creative writing exercise. Have students in science class use it as a research resource for adding great images to their presentations. Or assign a particular article that relates to an astronomy class, have the whole class read it as homework, and then have them post reactions on a class wiki page. Not familiar with wikis? Check out the TeachersFirst Wiki Walk-Through.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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World Sites Atlas - sitesatlas.com
Grades
3 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): continents (32), countries (72), maps (215), states (124), statistics (120)
In the Classroom
Share this site with your students on your interactive whiteboard or projector, and then allow them to explore on their own on classroom computers. Create a scavenger hunt for students to find information included on maps located on the site. Have students find interesting facts, then prepare a scavenger hunt for other students.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Khan Academy - Sal Khan
Grades
4 to 12tag(s): atoms (44), cells (83), energy (131), functions (51), homework (29), matter (46), molecules (43), photosynthesis (21), respiration (10), structures (18)
In the Classroom
Share the site with your students in order to access at home for homework help. List this link on your class website. If you are unable to view this site on student computers but You Tube is unblocked for teachers, consider using a projector or interactive whiteboard to show to the whole class. Use your google account to log in once you click on the exercises link. From there, find access to exercises that students can complete that are related to each video. Encourage students to share links to specific videos they find helpful on a "Video Reviews" (yes, that is a pun) page of your class wiki. For a very real challenge, have students create their own simple review videos in the Khan Academy style using FlexClip, reviewed here. FlexClip is designed to allow you to create short animated or explainer videos to share on YouTube and other social media sites, then, upload to SchoolTube, TeacherTube, or YouTube, whichever works best in your school. Embed them on your class wiki for a year-to-year student-made study guide!Comments
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College Confidential - Hobsons Inc
Grades
9 to 12tag(s): college (44), financial aid (12)
In the Classroom
College counselors can provide links to College Confidential as one of the resources for students to use in searching for a college. Although a double edged sword, the on line forums for students to share opinions can provide important first hand information from an unbiased perspective, and the reality is that more students are turning to social networking to gain information about post-secondary education. There are virtual chats and open houses happening regularly from the site, and students may feel these "conversations" offer more honest and useful data than relying on the traditional college controlled marketing material.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Google Earth - Google
Grades
K to 12tag(s): climate (82), earth (184), landforms (37), landmarks (22), news (228), oceans (147)
In the Classroom
Use tutorials from this site to learn more, or try some Google Earth files from TeachersFirst's Globetracker's Mission to get a taste of what the program can do. Get started by exploring the different LAYERS available in the left side and searching a location you know. Locate and try the tools to drag, tilt, zoom, and even measure distance. Extensive user forums are available through the help menus.Placemarker files created by you "live" on the computer where you make or save them and are not shared on the web. Note that your computer will ask whether you wish to save your "temporary places" (any places you have marked during a session) each time you close Google Earth. If many students use that computer, you may find you have a disorganized mess of saved places. Be sure to direct students to either name their saved places logically and file them into folders or NOT to save them to My Places! Students and teachers can create placemarker (.kmz or .kml) files and share them as email attachments, files on a USB "stick," or any other means you would use to share a file, just like a Word document.
Another practical tip: if students are using Google Earth on several machines at the same time, you may put a heavy load on your school network. Plan accordingly, perhaps having groups alternate their Google Earth time if it becomes sluggish.
Use Google Earth to teach geography or simply give location context to class readings or current events, especially on an interactive whiteboard or projector. Ex. you can tilt to show the peaks scaled by Lewis and Clark or volcanoes that rise in the Aleutians. Have students show the locations of historic events or literary settings and create placemarkers with links to learn more. Placemarker text is editable by going to the placemarker's "properties" or "info," so students can enter the text description, place title, and any inks they want to include, such as a link to a certain passage of text, an image of a character, or news image/article for a current events map. Students who know html code can get even more sophisticated in what they include in placemarkers. Have students/groups create and play a "tour" of critical locations for global warming, a comparison of volcanoes, or a family history of immigration. Navigate the important locations in a work of literature using Google Lit Trips or search the web for placemarker files connected to civil war battles, natural resources, and more. Turn layers on and off to look at population centers and transportation systems. Teach the concept of scale/proportion using a tactile experience on an interactive whiteboard and the scale and measurement tools. See more ideas at the teacher-created Google Earth 101 wiki reviewed here. Even if you do not venture into creating your own placemarker files, there are many already made and available for use by teachers and students. TeachersFirst's Globetracker's Mission includes a weekly file to follow the Mission.
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CIA World Factbook - Central Intelligence Agency
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): data (151), demographics (13), population (50)
In the Classroom
Provide this resource as a link on your teacher web page or in class for supporting data to be used in discussions or debates. In math classes, use the data to create and compare graphical representations of real-world data. In geography classes, use the information to draw connections between physical features of a nation and its economy. World language classes can compare the various nations that speak the language they are studying.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Google Maps - Google
Grades
1 to 12tag(s): DAT device agnostic tool (146), directions (12), maps (215)
In the Classroom
If you teach geography, this one's a must. It is also helpful for showing students WHERE a story or news event takes place. In lower grades, use it to show students basics of their community. Teach map skills by showing students their own community. Zoom in on their street or on the school. This site and its more sophisticated cousin, Google Earth, are great on an interactive whiteboard. Set up a class Google account (or use student accounts if permitted). Have students create their own custom route plans to tour historic sites. Challenge math students to plan the most economical route to visit several vacation destinations, including gas mileage and gas prices. Have students create placemarker files of the important places in the life of a famous person or the route traveled by a particular unit during the Civil War. Have student groups create placemarker files to show environmental sites, habitats, landforms, or anything you can place on a map. Embed projects in a class wiki using the handy embed code offered as a sharing option. Not comfortable with wikis? Check out TeachersFirst Wiki Walk-Through.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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HubbleSite - NASA
Grades
1 to 12In the Classroom
Students can use Book Creator reviewed here to create a book about space or planets. Students can create a timeline using Timeline Maker, reviewed here to create a timeline of important space events. Finally, students can create a podcast using Podcast Generator, reviewed here about information that they learned about space and questions that they have.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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