Teachers First - Thinking Teachers Teaching Thinkers

Go behind the scenes of the Getty Museum to learn about art-making techniques, conservation efforts, and more through shared videos. Scroll through the site to view playlists in different categories, be sure to find the lists created just for kids and teachers. If your district blocks YouTube, then they may not be viewable.

tag(s): art history (102), artists (84), painting (54), photography (130), sculpture (18)

Edulastic provides free assessment tools to track learning and mastery of Common Core Standards and state standards. The program contains more than 2000 customizable assessments with automatic grading capability. Register to create an account, then begin using the assessment library and adding students to your class using a code, emails, or upload a data sheet. Be sure to take advantage of Edulastic's articles, training, and free webinar videos to learn about all the features included with this program. If your district blocks YouTube, the videos may not be viewable.

tag(s): assessment (147), commoncore (73)

CyArk offers an online library of cultural heritage sites using 3D and digital technology. One of their main goals is to provide a resource for saving representations before losing them to the natural progression of time, disasters, or other unknown factors. View offerings by theme or project for 3D images, photographs, and in-depth information about the site. Within the theme link, use the timeline to view by period, or use the dropdown boxes to choose by culture or country. CyArk also includes many lesson plans based on principles used in creating the website.

tag(s): archeology (28), egypt (56), environment (252), erosion (15), graphic design (49), mayans (23), photography (130), romans (52), speech (69), virtual field trips (128)

Combine math and art with this excellent Pi Day (or anytime) activity! Follow the easy instructions to draw, cut, and graph your way to represent the digits of Pi. Visual learners will enjoy the many images demonstrating how to create the skyline.
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tag(s): charts and graphs (171), pi (29), STEM (297)

Left Brain Craft Brain is a blog created by a former chemical engineer combining her interests in engineering with her love of crafts. Browsing through the blog, you'll find many crafty STEM (and STEAM) activities. The categories include Projects, 5 Minute Crafts and What? Why? How? all with extensive offerings of inexpensive and free activities to teach science and technology to young students. Find the most popular posts and pages by scrolling down the page as you browse through the site. Be sure to subscribe to the weekly newsletter with updates on new crafts featured on the blog.
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tag(s): architecture (75), blogs (65), coding (85), cooking (32), crafts (64), earth day (60), engineering (129), human body (93), magnetism (36), oceans (149), rockets (11), senses (20), stars (71), STEM (297)

Find five decades of the Metropolitan Museum of Art publications available for free download or online reading at this extensive public collection. Browse by keyword, date, title, or topic as you choose from over 450 available titles. Choose your publication, and then follow the links for downloading in PDF, reading online, or other options. Not all titles have all options available.

tag(s): art history (102), artists (84)

Do you need a crash course on how to discuss art? Formal Analysis is a four and a half minute YouTube video teaching how to compare and contrast two different works of art. The discussion also includes information about identifying key visual elements in the artwork. Be sure to open the information box about the video to find a link to lesson plans and teaching materials provided by the Getty Museum. If your district blocks YouTube, then the video may not be viewable.

tag(s): artists (84), colors (63), geometric shapes (134)

Discover and watch publicly funded radio and television programs from America's past with the American Archive of Public Broadcasting. Built as a means to preserve public broadcast programs from the 1940's through the present, over 7000 programs are available for streaming with additions ongoing. In addition to streaming programs, this site also includes curated exhibits on topics of historical significance, such as Climate Change and Voices from the Southern Civil Rights Movement.

tag(s): 1900s (72), earth (184), radio (20), religions (95), sports (82), video (266), women (151), world war 1 (77), world war 2 (161)

Project H has evolved into Girls Garage and offers programs to teach design, creativity, and hands-on building to pre-teen and teen girls. Choose the Programs link to learn about Camp H and Studio H, offered for elementary and secondary students. Each link provides a quick insight into the projects created by students. The ToolBox link provides lectures, videos, lesson plans, and more for implementing building projects in the classroom. Topics include many diverse activities such as a Home Depot Scavenger Hunt and a long span bridge competition.

tag(s): architecture (75), creativity (86), design (79), gifted (66), STEM (297)

Learn something new each day with Highbrow's unique course delivery system. Sign up for a course, then receive an email each day with a five to ten-minute lesson. Each course is completed in ten days making learning quick and easy! Choose from many different course options in subjects such as art, literature, languages, history, tech and coding, photography, and several others. Highbrow only allows one course per user at a time to encourage complete focus on each topic. If you don't see what you like, choose the Create Course option and create your own learning experience using your expertise!

tag(s): 20th century (62), architecture (75), authors (107), business (52), differentiation (84), endangered species (27), equations (119), financial literacy (93), greeks (46), human body (93), inventors and inventions (80), logic (161), medicine (57), mental math (19), numbers (120), photography (130), poetry (193), psychology (65), short stories (18), surrealism (2), weather (160), women (151)

Maker Camp is a free online community for kids interested in crafting, DIY, tinkering, and building. Links in the Project Library include project tutorials from Summer Camps beginning in 2012. Click on any Summer Camp link to view videos or download PDF's with the tutorials. Sign up to join the Maker Camp online community of over 33,000 members in discussions about individual projects. Find or host a local "campsite" using the links provided to meet up with like-minded students. If your district blocks YouTube, the videos may not be viewable.

tag(s): crafts (64), energy (133), magnetism (36), origami (14), solar energy (34)

Pixar and Khan Academy team up to offer an interesting series of learning tutorials demonstrating math, science, and engineering concepts faced by animators as part of the animated film-making process. Examples include the use of digital pixel painting using algebra and creating blades of grass in Brave with parabolic arcs. View a short video explanation of the program, then choose from the learner's or educator's guides for specific details on each activity. If your district blocks YouTube, then the videos may not be viewable.

tag(s): animation (64), creativity (86), movies (54), STEM (297)

The Walters Art Museum opened in 1934 in Maryland. This site has information about the museum, its founders, the long history, and more. Take a deeper dive by looking at exhibits and the pieces of art found there. Use this link to find the PreK-12 Educators page. Scroll down the page to find resources to support your classroom. You will also find Art Lessons for Integrating the Arts to teach cross-curricular lessons in any of the core subject areas. Use the Search bar to find the Teacher Resource Kits with integration lessons for ancient civilizations such as China or Islam. Also, there are quite a few lesson plans that include different topics such as Ancient Storytelling, Egyptian Symbols, Coat of Arms, Warhol Stained Glass, The Nutcracker, Mapping the Past - Mapping the Present, and many more.

tag(s): art history (102), artists (84), museums (52)

NISE is the online home of a community of scientists and other partners with an interest in nanoscale science, engineering, and technology. The site includes programs and activities for ages four through adult. Use filters on the activities section to choose age level, topics, and product category. Be sure to check out the over 120 lesson plans available through NISE and the free Professional Development for teachers and scientists.

tag(s): carbon (17), cells (82), diseases (66), electricity (61), energy (133), environment (252), measurement (122), medicine (57), plays (32), preK (270), STEM (297)

KidsThinkDesign offers insight into the many different areas of design. Choose from several categories to begin exploring design in architecture, fashion, interiors, and more. Each section includes a short overview of the topic and opportunities to meet a designer and think like a designer. In addition, each design section includes instructions for a project for you to complete on your own.
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tag(s): animation (64), architecture (75), design (79), fashion (12), graphic design (49), makerspace (40)

Explore the sport of baseball through sound, movement, and art with this engaging interactive. Plan and design your own baseball field, create pictures or paintings about baseball; or create a skit based on baseball movements using ideas from the site. Be sure to check out the preparation, instruction, and standards links for everything needed to complete activities correlated to Common Core Standards and state standards.

tag(s): architecture (75), baseball (32), critical thinking (127), painting (54), plays (32), problem solving (233)

Kid World Citizen offers a large variety of resources to encourage kids to become global learners and thinkers. Explore categories such as books, food, and art to find international learning activities. Look for topics on specific countries using the map search. Be sure to check out the For Fun area with links to movies, music, games, and toys.
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tag(s): back to school (55), chinese new year (5), christmas (38), cross cultural understanding (173), earth day (60), hanukkah (12), hispanic (36), holidays (187), italy (30), Juneteenth (22), mexico (37), native americans (108), ramadan (10), thanksgiving (24)

FutureLearn for Schools offers a large variety of free online courses presented by leading universities for students aged 13 and older in a variety of topics. Choose a category to begin browsing topics offered. Content includes history, creative arts and media, literature, and much more. Watch a short video to learn specifics about the course offerings and objectives. This site was created in the UK, so some of the pronunciations and spellings may differ from those in American English.

tag(s): advertising (26), business (52), computers (109), creative writing (124), cultures (180), dental health (14), environment (252), financial literacy (93), gifted (66), literature (221), photography (130), politics (118), professional development (385), psychology (65)

Create simple and easy stories using ABCya's Story Maker. Without registering, draw a picture using the drawing and erase tools provided. Type the story, and add pages for a longer story. Once finished, save to your computor or print. This tool is so easy Pre-K students can use it. Since all pictures are hand drawn your older artists will love it, too.
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tag(s): digital storytelling (154), drawing (61), writing (325)

Described as a "GPS for Music", Music Animation Machine features mainly classical music set to an animated graphical score. Different shapes represent families of instruments that light up as played throughout the musical score. Be sure to read details for viewing (located in the Stravinsky, Rite of Spring video). If your district blocks YouTube, then they may not be viewable.
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tag(s): music theory (46), musical instruments (52), musical notation (34)