Teachers First - Thinking Teachers Teaching Thinkers

Letters of Note is a blog that shares letters from a book of the same name, but you never have to buy the book! The collection includes over 900 interesting letters from many different sources such as Leonardo da Vinci's 's job application, a letter from Steve Albini to the band Nirvana, and Virginia Woolf's suicide letter. Start from the archives to find over 900 more examples sorted in different ways such as typed/handwritten, by date, name, or correspondence type. Or click in the sidebar to access most popular or even view a random letter. Most letters include an image along with a short description of the context of the correspondence included. Letters include the original language so be sure to read for yourself before sharing with students.
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tag(s): acting (19), authors (107), europe (84), letter writing (19), politics (118), primary sources (117)

Common Sense Education offers this curriculum for teaching Digital Citizenship to students in all grades from K-12. Topics include cyberbullying, digital footprint & identity, media balance & well-being, among others. Create a free account to access all lesson materials, including lesson plans, media, and student materials. Many of the included materials are available for bilingual learners.

tag(s): cyberbullying (40), digital citizenship (85), identity (29), internet safety (114), media literacy (109), social networking (61)

Discover the science and engineering behind many Hollywood Themes: Zombies, Space, Forensics, and Superheroes. Choose one of the themes to access information, videos, TI-Nspire downloads for interactive activities, and more. Each page also features related Math and Science Activities. The current hosts are Mayim Bialik (The Big Bang Theory) and Dr. Z.
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tag(s): diseases (66), forensics (12), space (222), STEM (297)

Learn about population! Highlights of this site include both world and US population counters. Be sure to check the Classroom tab to search for lessons, find information about population, and more. Connect activities to your state's latest standards. This site also includes demonstration videos of some of the classroom activities. Although the site is selling some teaching materials and workshops, there are free lessons available. There are 15 Infographics highlighting global issues and trends. Find out about carbon dioxide emissions and energy consumption, meat and paper consumption, global undernourishment, and many more issues. The videos are hosted on YouTube. If your district blocks YouTube, then they may not be viewable.

tag(s): population (51), resources (83), sustainability (50)

Find seven videos about climate change and the evidence scientists have about recent climate change and its causes. The scientific community, on the whole, has accepted the main body of evidence about climate change and the causes. If unsure what the controversy is all about, or possibly to validate your own opinion, become more knowledgeable about climate change and causes by watching these videos. Offered in seven segments, this content replicates a longer video by the same name, making for easier viewing and understanding. Develop an informed opinion about this highly controversial issue. These videos are hosted on YouTube. If your district blocks YouTube, they may not be viewable.

tag(s): atmosphere (22), climate change (99), earth (184)

Use the alphbetized list of countries and territories to visualize development data around the World. Choose various indicators such as Poverty, Gender Inequality, and more. Change parameters of the graph and map. Use the Indicators and Data Explorer pages on this site to begin research about many factors of human development in the World. View the information in various languages.

tag(s): population (51)

Explore the life of Nelson Mandela with this informative site from Biography.com. Contents include facts of Mandela's life, photos, and quotes profiling his life and leadership. There is a lot here to explore.
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tag(s): 20th century (62), black history (133), civil rights (209), heroes (24), Nelson Mandela (7), south africa (13)

Explore information and facts about the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize winner, Nelson Mandela, straight from the Nobel Prize website. In addition to basic biographical information, view videos of Mandela's Nobel lecture, a bibliography of his writings, a photo gallery and much more.

tag(s): 1960s (26), 1970s (10), 1980s (7), 20th century (62), biographies (94), black history (133), civil rights (209), cultures (180), heroes (24), Nelson Mandela (7), south africa (13)

Sustainable Goal #16 is all about promoting peace and providing justice for all. View these interactive peace maps, reports, and news pertaining to peace around the world. A variety of qualitative and quantitative indicators are used to create a Global Peace Index. View changes from 2008 to present. Choose various indicators to portray on the map and compare different countries. Click in the middle of the map on "About the GPI" (or other index you have opened) to read how it is calculated. Be sure to check out the Terrorism Index as well as a US Peace Index that compares each of the States in the United States. Hover over that State to view the actual rank. When the site introduces a new topic, that topic appears on the main page of this site. To get to the other topics, use the top tool bar.

tag(s): countries (73), maps (220), states (124), sustainability (50), terrorism (41)

This free tool is an aggregation site for news, research, information, and opinion about learning and technology. Hover over the titles to read an abstract or click to be taken to the site. There are video clips, slideshows, articles, and more. Share easily with others through email, Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), or other social media. Interested in a specific topic? Use the tags on the left to view an entire category of related information. The site operates "automatically" by following certain feeds and web news searches, so new items appear very often. Although the title is Spigot, it could seem like "Firehose"! The content seems appropriate for secondary classrooms, but you might want to preview just before you turn students loose to be sure.

tag(s): media literacy (109), news (228)

Discover a series of online activities, tools, and case studies for using Earth Science data sets. Be sure to read the introductory material about how to use the site. Find the activities and data sets in the "Chapters in the EET" link from the menu on the left. Activities include many related to data sets concerning Climate Change, Air Quality, and more. The site is intended for secondary and college levels.

tag(s): air (101), climate (84), climate change (99), earth (184), pollution (52), weather (160)

Find information about lung disease and issues related to healthy lungs. Be sure to click on Healthy Air in the subject bar to find information about our health and air quality, both indoors and out. Some of the specific topic areas include Your Lungs, Lung Disease, Finding Cures, Healthy Air, and Stop Smoking. There are many ideas shared on this site about how to live a healthier lifestyle.
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tag(s): air (101), coal (6), electricity (61), natural resources (37), nuclear energy (20), pollution (52)

RADCAB is a way to evaluate information and resources. RADCAB is a mnemonic acronym: Relevancy, Appropriateness, Detail, Currency, Authority, and Bias. Click on each word for details on that topic. An excellent rubric is available for download in PDF format at the bottom of the home page. This simple site is a great resource for discussing and teaching information literacy lessons about evaluating information and sources.

tag(s): evaluating sources (29), internet safety (114), media literacy (109), Research (87), rubrics (37)

This dramatic video (approximately 5 minutes long) captures the view of a tsunami from a resident's perspective in Japan - without all of the extra YouTube "clutter." When viewed on this site, comments on the YouTube video are not shown. Note that when viewed on YouTube, many of the comments are inappropriate for a classroom setting. If your district blocks YouTube, this site may not be viewable.
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tag(s): natural disasters (18), tsunamis (15)

As its name implies, Nixon Tapes and Transcripts is dedicated to the collection of the tapes secretly recorded by Richard Nixon during his presidency. The collection contains over 700 audio files containing 2300 hours of conversation. There are various file formats: mp3, pdf, and others.The site is searchable. Choose audio & transcripts to find conversations by primary participants or selected themes. Each conversation includes information on date and time as well as links to download audio or a transcript.

tag(s): 1960s (26), presidents (135)

Timelapse, from Time magazine and powered by Google, is an amazing way to see how any part of the world has changed from 1972 through 2016. View incredible animations compiled from millions of satellite images. View the growth of Las Vegas, the shrinking of the Columbia Glacier, or point to any where in the world you desire. Simply type in any world location to view the change over this period of time. Zoom in and out using the tool bar provided to view the bigger (or smaller) picture. Warning: this site includes public comments that may not be appropriate in the classroom. Use the visual portion of the site and avoid the comments with students.

tag(s): climate change (99), maps (220)

This very interesting site offers a musical look at the amount of time between finishers in several different Olympic events such as Alpine Skiing and Bobsledding. View each event and the winning time along with dots on a timeline representing the next finisher's times. Click the play icon to hear a tone representing each contestant crossing the finish line. This is an excellent visual and audio display of how close some events really are!
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tag(s): olympics (45), sports (82)

Learn about Olympic winter sports with this interesting guide from ESPN. Although geared toward the 2010 games, this site contains valuable information for any Winter Olympics competition. Choose a sport to view basic facts, important dates, and information on stars of the sport. Choose the history link to learn about previous Winter Olympics with information such as dates, key moments, and medal winners.

tag(s): olympics (45), sports (82)

Prepare for the 2014 Olympics with these fast facts about Sochi, Russia. Information includes a short background on the city of Sochi. There is also background on controversies surrounding the choice of a Russian city for the Winter Olympics. Explore an interesting timeline beginning with the choice of Sochi for the 2014 Olympics through November 2013 with the Olympic torch's involvement with a spacewalk as part of the Olympic torch relay.
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tag(s): olympics (45), sports (82)

Welcome to the official home of the 2014 Olympic Winter and Paralympic Games. Explore the site to learn about Olympic events, the culture of Sochi, and view schedules for all events. Choose the mascots link to learn more about the Olympic mascots and their place within the Olympic games. Some portions of the site may appear in Russian, choose the link at the top of the page to view in English.
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tag(s): olympics (45), sports (82)