Teachers First - Thinking Teachers Teaching Thinkers

Nobelprize.org is the official website of the Nobel Prize. Here you find information about Alfred Nobel, the prizewinners, interviews, and photos. Videos of interviews of Nobel peace prizewinners, speeches, ceremonies, interviews, banquets, lectures, announcements, award ceremonies, and documentaries fill the gamut of all of the prizewinners. The Nobel prizes awards are in literature, chemistry, medicine, peace, economics, and physics. Under the Education tab at the top find arieties of educational games/activities and lesson plans help explain many of the Nobel Award winners' work. This site clearly explains and illustrates the purpose of the awards, the award winners, and their ideas. Videos give an insider look at each of the winners.

tag(s): creativity (86), literature (221), medicine (57)

This site provides several collaborative science and engineering projects with various start dates. Projects are available for a full range of grade levels. The target grade level is listed with the project. Some projects at the time of this review included: The Global Sun (grades 5-8), Bucket Buddies (grades 1-5), Human Genetics (grades 6-12), Home Lighting in Developing Countries (grades 9-12), and several others.

tag(s): animals (294), engineering (129), genetics (80), light (56), plants (146), scientists (67), sun (71), water (104)

This PBS site is a reorganized collection of over 16,000+ public media offerings (including radio and photographs), arranged specifically for preK-12 teachers. You can search by subject (the landing page subject is physical education) and grade level across many subjects. After viewing three offerings, you must join (for free) to continue. Membership includes the option of saving favorites. Use the search box at the top to find correlations to state standards. The site is still in development, so material is being added frequently.

tag(s): alphabet (53), careers (156), dance (31), data (151), decimals (85), diseases (66), fitness (39), human body (93), mark twain (8), multimedia (53), music theory (46), percent (59), probability (99), problem solving (233), psychology (65)

This site offers many songs related to math, social studies, and science concepts. Science concepts include water & pollution, scientific inquiry, changes in matter, and much more. Math concepts range from order of operations to quadratic and exponential functions. After choosing a topic, you can listen to the song online, download the mp3, view lyrics, and possibly view an accompanying video. (Not all topics include the video.) Some topics also include a teacher guide with lesson suggestions. This site does mention that you can create your own videos. However, at the time of this review, that feature was not working.

tag(s): africa (148), area (53), atoms (43), bill of rights (33), branches of government (65), cells (82), civil war (139), constitution (96), elements (33), equations (119), exponents (35), factoring (25), factors (29), functions (52), inquiry (26), integers (21), matter (45), nutrition (140), oceans (149), order of operations (29), quadratics (27), rainforests (18), ratios (47), songs (46), sound (72), volume (33), water (104), world war 2 (161)

This interactive graphic organizer helps students develop an outline for one of three types of comparison essays: whole-to-whole, similarities-to-differences, or point-to-point. A link in the introduction to the "Comparison and Contrast Guide" gives students the chance to get definitions and look at examples before they begin working. The tool offers multiple ways to navigate information, including a graphic on the right to move around the map without having to work in a linear fashion. The finished map can be saved, e-mailed, or printed. There are many additional interactives and lesson plans (with standards included!).

tag(s): charts and graphs (171), concept mapping (15), graphic organizers (48)

The JASON Project home page is a portal to a huge number of scientifically significant activities, video clips, curricula packages, lesson plans, and more! While you could create an account to use one of the current curriculum pieces individually, it is a far more valuable resource if you register and join the website for FREE! Once registered, you can easily access all of the interactive content and archived activities. In fact, to fully access all archived curriculum you MUST register for a free account. Once inside the "member only" Jason site, simply click on the Curricula tab on the left side to see all current and past missions still available on the site. This could turn into your next "go-to" resource for online interactive science in the classroom. This is a MUST-SEE site with a ton of high interest topics for students. It is definitely worth the 1-2 minute FREE registration. Looking for some examples of topics? There are lessons/activities about Mysteries of Earth & Mars, Humpback whales, Monster Storms, Rainforests, Journey to the Center of the Earth, The Great Lakes, Measurement, Forces, Velocity, and many, many more. It appears that they update this site frequently, so check back often.

tag(s): ecology (103), energy (133), geology (62), video (266), weather (160)

Curriki is a nonprofit organization that encourages teachers and learners' to collaborate in developing quality educational materials in a global community. Click What We Do from the top menu and slide to CurikiStudio, and click Creators to create a free account and find resources like questions, photos/images, multimedia, and more for interactive lesson creation. Next under Solutions is CurrikiGo, where you will publish your lessons, etc. Last on the dropdown list is the CurrikiLibrary, where you can search by subject area, grade level, or resource type (interactive, video, or podcast). For a thorough summary of Curriki click the Explore a CurrikiStudio Activity. Join different groups for a more involved way to explore new areas in online learning, subject area interests, or focus questions. Create collections of your resources to keep private or share with others. This site focuses on providing free access to teachers, schools, students, or parents to many new creative ideas for in-class learning, digital learning, and hybrid or blended learning in a global community. Free membership includes monthly newsletters. Follow Curriki on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), or blogs.
This site includes advertising.

tag(s): graphic organizers (48), literacy (121), OER (43), operations (72), resources (83), rubrics (37), Teacher Utilities (198)

This site offers a complete lesson plan to use with students prior to beginning a first research project. The lesson takes students through the process of analyzing book titles to determine ones that would be helpful in their research. It then builds on class discussion to enable students to make informed decisions on appropriate research material. One especially useful part of the lesson is the Hints About Print interactive link included in the lesson plan. This would be a wonderful site to use on your interactive whiteboard to lead the class through basics of choosing materials for research. Other useful items on the site are the nonfiction book reviews and nonfiction book evaluation forms that are available in pdf form for easy classroom use. Find all resources and print material by choosing the Resources and Preparation tab near the top of the page.

tag(s): book reports (28), interactive stories (22), Research (87)

Need kid-friendly online news? This safe site, written for kids, by kids, offers news from a younger point-of-view. You can create a class page where you can load a variety of articles, add a book list, a calendar, favorite sites list, add lesson plan instructions, monitor student comments, and more. DOGOnews is kid-friendly, colorful, and flexible. After all, DOGO means young or small in Swahili. You can select articles from a number of categories (Social Studies, Science, World, Current Events, etc.). There is an integrated dictionary for challenging words and maps for geographical context. Some of the articles include short video clips. Students may leave brief comments about each article (no login required). Also, typing the word "video" in the search box will bring up the Video of the Week for the past several weeks. The videos reside on YouTube. If your district blocks YouTube, the videos may not be viewable. In addition, find a Book and Movie section with a brief summary for the book or movie, and comments. You don't have to join to read the articles, but you do need to join to create a class page. There are many benefits to creating a class page, and it's all free! Don't want to create a class page? You can also embed articles on your current web page.

tag(s): journalism (74), news (228), reading comprehension (149), sports (82)

Youngzine is news about our climate for the young. Enjoy the different articles, videos, etc. without signing up, or you can sign up to have full access to everything on this safe site, including teacher tools. General subjects include Global Events, Climate Science, Changing Ecosystems, Sustainable Solutions, Policy and Actions, and Special: Water Conservation. Teachers can register their class for free. You can include specific articles and quizzes for each assignment. Comments are moderated to prevent inappropriate classroom content. Besure to check out Climate360 for Weather and Climate Basics, What Actions Can We Take, What are the Solutions, and several others.

tag(s): communities (35), news (228), service projects (17), sustainability (50)

Scroll down the page to find the video "100 Most Common Words in English Speaking." These are the little words that make a huge difference to understanding what someone is saying such as be, and, to, with, they, her, and so on. The video focuses on the speakers lower face so student s can pause the video and see facial expressions and tongue placement. The video resides on YouTube so it may not be viewable at your school

tag(s): pronunciation (34), vocabulary (238), vocabulary development (93), word study (59)

Use this interactive website to show scientific data about the Oceans of the World. The site uses Google Earth. Don't have Google Earth? Launch it by clicking the title of this TeachersFirst review, or request it from your school tech department--using this site as an example of why you need it! Manipulate the sea surface temperature, sea surface height, chlorophyll levels, and ocean wind speeds by clicking on the appropriate checkbox. (Be sure to click the box to show the legend bar as well.)

tag(s): climate (84), climate change (100), data (151), earth (184), oceans (149)

This site has been created to identify wildlife and environmental issues in Canada. It is a must-see for those looking for information on animals and useful to teachers in any country! The species portion of the site contains information on hundreds of animals divided into categories such as birds, insects, etc. After selecting a category, a list of animals included is shown. After choosing an animal, a fact sheet is provided. Each fact sheet includes a description, habitat information, range, feeding, breeding, resources, and conservation information. All of this information has access to a link for easy printing. Don't miss the neat videos located at "Who Tube." There is also an extensive section for educators with projects, lessons, and curriculum information that can be easily adapted for any classroom need.

tag(s): animal homes (57), animals (294), environment (252), habitats (92)

Create a podcast using audio and videos clips featuring NASA scientists! Follow the steps to create the podcast, including writing a production script, downloading clips, recording your narrations, and editing. Use a digital recorder, camcorder, or your computer to record the audio. Download a brochure or bookmark to remember the links for creating the DIY Podcast. Click on the links along the right side of the page for great resources such as the DIY Podcast Blog for some great ideas. Several examples along the side include creating a fitness podcast, lab safety, Newton's Laws, Rocket Science, and Solar Arrays.

tag(s): podcasts (110), scientists (67), space (223)

If you are looking for information about Groundhog Day, Punxsutawney Phil, Punxsutawney (location itself), and more - check out this website. There are LIVE webcams setup for February 2nd, video clips from previous years, a wealth of historical information, fun facts, photos, geographical information, and more. The reading level is a bit high for younger elementary students, but all levels would enjoy the video clips and photographs.
This site includes advertising.

tag(s): holidays (187), pennsylvania (6)

Looking for review materials for a variety of classes? Use for a wide range of curriculum topics. (A "learning object" is any kind of interactive activity, animation, video, audio file, etc, that can be used for learning.) This site is great for introductory, reinforcement, or review materials. Find most of the relevant topics by using the search bar. Choose from many subjects such as biology, biochemistry, chemistry, math, sociology, world languages, and written communication, among others. Gifted students or those who learn well independently can study Chinese and other topics not easily available in their school using WISC-Onkine.

tag(s): animals (294), business (52), cells (82), chinese (45), grammar (137), grammar review (31), life cycles (21), microscopes (10), plants (146), psychology (65), sentences (22), sociology (23), speech (69)

This blog post calls our attention to a hoax site called "Coal Cares" which, on first sight, appears to be an educational outreach site maintained by a coal company. Coal Cares is actually a parody site poking fun at Big Business and its attempts to put a positive spin on the dangerous side effects of its products.

tag(s): consumers (14), energy (133), environment (252), propaganda (8)

As teachers, we often look for ways to help students sift through the enormous amount of information on the Internet, and to help them discriminate among those that are reliable and those that are not. The site "Coal Cares" might be a wonderful tool to use in this effort. First, coalcares.org is a spoof, a site purposely written to deceive. Although it looks perfectly legitimate on the surface--professionally created, and full of "facts"--a close reading of it soon reveals that it is designed to make fun of sites which try to put a positive spin on a negative issue.

tag(s): consumers (14), energy (133), environment (252), propaganda (8)