Teachers First - Thinking Teachers Teaching Thinkers

Plum Pudding Illustration Agency features the work of leading children's illustrators. Scroll through the home page to choose from images sharing the work of each artist. After selecting an artist, browse through their work to view the pictures shared. Be sure to click the illustration to see thumbnails of additional images and a biography of the artist.

tag(s): artists (84), literature (221)

Can this site guess what you are drawing? Find out with Quick, Draw! Select the Let's Draw! button to begin. Draw the item listed in 20 seconds or less and find out if their neural network recognizes your doodles. After six drawings, view how well this site identifies your work. Click on any of your drawings to see how others drew the same thing. Be sure to take a look at the link to the world's largest doodling set to observe other pictures and learn about the scientific research behind the doodles.

tag(s): computers (109), drawing (61), keyboarding (28)

Connect the arts and sciences through hands-on exploration with creative projects shared on Babble Dabble Do. Begin by selecting one of the four categories - art, science, engineering, or design for kids. Each topic includes many ideas for projects for preschoolers and up. Project ideas all include step-by-step directions with pictures, many also include videos. The videos are housed on YouTube; if your district blocks YouTube, they may not be viewable.
This site includes advertising.

tag(s): crafts (64), design (79), engineering (129), makerspace (40), STEM (297)

Do you need inspiration for art and technology-rich STEAM lessons? Take a look at the many ideas on this site created by art teacher Tricia Fuglestad. Lesson topics include ideas based on famous works of art like Edvard Munch's The Scream and Gilbert Stuart's George Washington portrait. Each lesson consists of a link to the blog post describing the lesson; many of these also include a video overview of the activity. Several ideas are also offered for Dr. Seuss's Cat in the Hat. Editor's Note: Some links in the lessons go to a paid site to purchase lesson materials such as PowerPoints. The free lesson ideas and suggestions on this site are sufficient for creating and teaching these ideas without buying anything additional.
This site includes advertising.

tag(s): black history (133), coding (85), creativity (86), digital storytelling (154), dr seuss (12), drawing (61), environment (252), graphic design (49), great depression (30), literacy (122), nutrition (140), photography (130), poetry (193), problem solving (233), qr codes (18), read across america (9), STEM (297), stories and storytelling (58), symmetry (26)

Reshot provides free, hand-picked images to use as you wish. The site's goal is to provide a platform for emerging photographers to share their work. Scroll through the site to view trending images or use the search feature to locate images by keyword. Choose your photo, then use the "download free" link to download to your computer.

tag(s): images (263), photography (130)

AutoDraw matches your online doodles with professional drawings using any device. Begin a picture, and as you add to the image, AutoDraw's algorithms offer possible matches for your attempt. Click on any of the matching images to replace your doodle with a completed drawing. Use the site's tools to add text, change outline and fill colors, and add shapes. When finished, download your creation as a PNG file to your device. Share your drawing using social media links or the URL.

tag(s): artificial intelligence (177), colors (63), drawing (61), images (263), painting (54)

Learn about the exploration and pioneers of the American West through several online unit studies for middle school students in PDF format. Scroll down the page to find "Emigrants Crossing the Plains" utilizes the paintings of Albert Bierstadt created during his journeys along the Oregon Trail. "End of the Trail" focuses on the sculptures of James Earle Fraser depicting spiritual representations of Native Americans. Madonnas of the Prairie: Depictions of Women in the American West is found under Previous Exhibits Educations Guide and features works focusing on women in the late 19th century to the early 20th century. Each unit includes an introduction, discussion questions, and teaching activities. There are many more unit studies to investigate. Also check out Collection Highlights from the top menu, scroll down and find many works of art; scroll over the art to get the title then click the image to find more information about many topics from the old west.

tag(s): art history (102), artists (84), native americans (108), westward expansion (39)

These six activity collections from the Smithsonian Center provide engaging, hands-on activities for integrating technology and developing STEAM skills. Activities include creating a 3-D insect model, a trading card game for discovering patterns and connections, and creating wearable tech. Each activity includes a complete lesson plan along with additional ideas for extending learning and reinforcing content. Choose any collection to view resources and download the PDF lesson plan.

tag(s): design (79), engineering (129), flight (34), insects (68), patterns (61), plants (146), sculpture (18), STEM (297)

Thingiverse offers over 15,000 3D printing designs and enough lesson plans to keep a classroom busy all school year. All free! Discover lessons for K-5, 6-8, 9-12 and university levels. Also, find lessons categorized by subject. By clicking on any of these categories, you can then search the new page by both grade level and subject i.e. K-5 and Special Education. Click Explore or use the search bar from the top and find Quick Projects, Building Bridges, and Featured Projects. If you are really into 3D and want to design your own project, you can do that at Thingiverse, too. Thingiverse's 3D printing documents from this tool only work on MakerBot or Stratasys printers.

tag(s): artists (84), computational thinking (40), critical thinking (127), design (79), fashion (12), makerspace (40), printables (36)

Explore over 5,000 years of art in three exciting ways at this vibrant, interactive site from The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Along the menu at the top find Explore the Map, where you choose and double click red or yellow markers to explore fun facts and videos about art worldwide. Next, hop into the Time Machine to learn more about specific times, geography, and big ideas such as inventions or creatures. Also, find Videos that teach about celebrations, share art made by kids, or provide detailed directions for creating your art, all on the menu bar across the top.

tag(s): africa (148), art history (102), artists (84), asia (116), china (81), europe (84), inventors and inventions (80), japan (56), middle east (50), myths and legends (37), russia (36)

FreeSchool, a YouTube Channel, provides an extensive selection of educational videos and adds two new videos each week. Videos provide content in art, music, science, literature, and more. Browse through the site to find content or choose the playlists to find videos by specific topics. Most videos run less than 10 minutes in length making them perfect for use in many situations. If your district blocks YouTube, the videos may not be viewable.
This site includes advertising.

tag(s): angles (52), animals (294), biographies (94), fractions (160), grammar (137), literature (221), martin luther king (45), planets (113), punctuation (25), scientific method (48), space (222), states (124), weather (160)

The Color Thesaurus is an interesting resource for use when viewing and describing colors. Scroll through to see the many shades of basic colors including the name for each specific hue. Who knew that there were so many shades of whites and blacks? View specific color blocks by clicking the image and opening on a separate page.

tag(s): colors (63), creative writing (124), literature (221), poetry (193)

This Museum of Modern Art site, though "plain Jane" looking, shares a plethora of history of all exhibitions at the museum from 1929 through the present. Browse through collections by date, or filter by type of exhibition including film series, performance programs, and others. Choose the link to Art and artists to find collections by specific artists. Of particular interest in this section are audio tours including some specifically for kids.

tag(s): 20th century (62), art history (102), artists (84)

Wall of Birds is a cool interactive map from Cornell's Bird Academy based on an epic mural Found at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. The site features species found around the world spanning 375 million years using content from the All About Birds website, reviewed here. The colorful world map depicts 243 birds, one from each taxonomic family, showing where to find each on the globe. Find extinct species on the mural in black-and-white, and you can zoom in and out and pan to see the progression of evolution that led to modern birds. Click on each bird picture and a window opens with its name, family name, natural history, a sound file of its call, and a map showing where to observe it. A social media aspect lets you vote for favorites and check out a leaderboard.

tag(s): birds (46), evolution (89), map skills (63), maps (220)

Create 3D scenes using descriptive sentences to make images. WordsEye is a must see tool! After signing up with email or a Facebook account, use WordsEye on the web or iOS devices. There is an intro video that shows exactly how easy it is to use WordsEye. Click the blue WordsEye World text at the top of the page to find a thorough "About" page (with how-tos and FAQs). WordsEye also has an Instagram page with several other explainer videos, just click Word's Eye World on Instagram at the top of the page. Keep scenes private, publish to the gallery, or create a permalink (URL). A nice feature is that WordsEye will automatically credit you with any scene someone else uses or modifies (and vice-versa). If your district blocks YouTube, the videos may not be viewable.

tag(s): digital storytelling (154), images (263)

Code your own art, music, and interactive fiction with Pencil Code Gym. The main language is Coffescript, but you can click the word Reference in the upper left corner to use HTML for writing tags in your code. Pencil Code also supports Javascript and CSS. Follow instructions to code using drag and drop blocks or text. Toggle back and forth between the two formats to view the different formats. Click the pencil in the upper left corner to see several resources including Materials for Teachers, Teachers Manual, Printable Activities, and several others. The wide range of activities make this site perfect for use with students of all levels of coding abilities. When complete, share finished projects on "GymStage", the sharing portion of Pencil Code Gym.

tag(s): coding (85), computational thinking (40), critical thinking (127), digital storytelling (154), drawing (61), geometric shapes (134), musical notation (34), problem solving (233)

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)