Teachers First - Thinking Teachers Teaching Thinkers

This international, interactive map site contains over 100 puzzles and activities in English to practice map skills by location. This review should direct you to the English version. Removing the filter for English reveals many more maps in Spanish and other languages. Use the box at the left to select a language. You can also choose by categories of continents, countries, capitals, most visited, and more. Each map has a short description of the activity to read before opening. Double click to open a map and play. Correct responses earn points toward the maximum available.

tag(s): asia (116), canada (24), capitals (16), continents (33), countries (73), landforms (39), map skills (63), maps (220), oceans (149), rivers (16), states (124)

See what the world was like at that time with Take Me Back To. Type in any date you want to visit. Results offer a short text passage about who was president and what music was popular (if available). See samples of movies, magazines, book charts, advertisements, and more. Unfortunately, the site doesn't go back beyond 1900, so any search before that time will default to that date in 1900. Searches can be done on dates up to the present. Note that clicking on some of the images offered takes you to paid services or current issues of the same magazine.
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tag(s): 1900s (72), 1910s (6), 1920s (15), 1930s (20), 1940s (14), 1950s (8), 1960s (26), 1970s (10), 1980s (7), 20th century (62), decades (7), timelines (56)

Set your sights high to learn world languages! Find both visual and audio lessons. Choose a language from Chinese, Dutch, Japanese, Polish, Russian, or Spanish. A list of lessons with tutorials appears and vocabulary for the lesson in your language and the language you wish to learn. Learn colors, counting, days of the week, common phrases, or more challenging language skills. Practice speaking using the microphone tab and say words on your own. Click on the symbols between the tutorial and the vocabulary to try the interactives: matching games, flashcards, listening, and tic tac toe.
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tag(s): chinese (45), japanese (47), russian (26), spanish (109)

This "must-see" site includes many tests for Kindergarten through grade 7. Activities support California State Standards and Common Core Standards. Each activity includes a link with standards addressed. Choose by grade level or topic. Each topic has a drop-down box to further refine choice by grade level and content.

tag(s): addition (129), alphabetical order (8), capitalization (9), decimals (85), division (98), earth (184), fractions (160), geometric shapes (134), homophones (6), keyboarding (28), map skills (63), maps (220), money (113), multiplication (122), number sense (69), reading comprehension (149), sign language (10), spelling (98), subtraction (110), synonyms (15), time (91), vocabulary (238)

SoundCities is an open database of thousands of sounds from around the world. The site itself uses GoogleMaps. However, some of the world maps take you to Google Earth. Recordings range from car sounds to airport announcements and thousands of other typical city sounds. Choose a city from the list at the top of the page. Choose from pins on the map or the list of available sounds on the page. View the site's database to listen to sounds by mood such as mechanical, rhythm, or weather.

tag(s): cross cultural understanding (173), maps (220), sound (72), sounds (43)

Join Aviva, Chris, Martin, Jimmy, and Koki on their quest to save the animals of our world. Based on the PBS television show, explore biology, zoology, and ecology of our planet. You will also learn small ways to make a big impact on saving our world. With a login, you can save points earned from games and receive special powers from animals to compete and survive in the games using your avatar. You do not need any email account to register/sign in. Explore the avatar creation area, games, creaturepedia, habitats, and videos to help learn about animals. Click on the Teachers Link (For Grownups) at the top of the page to find lesson plans, printable PDFs, objectives, and more.
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tag(s): africa (148), animal homes (57), animals (294), ecology (103), habitats (92), zoology (18)

AirPano is a stunning collection of aerial panoramic 360-degree images of famous locations around the world. They incorporate Google map technology. Peer down at the hustle and bustle of Hong Kong harbor or the tranquil scenery of Fiordland in New Zealand. Use the search bar to locate the country or city you would like to see. Rotate any 3D image and zoom-in to see the details in finer clarity. Click on links within images to view nearby sites of interest. Read articles included with panoramas for an overview of locations. Embed a rotating image on to your site using the link found at the top left corner of each panoramic photo. Zoom in and out of photos, read articles about each location, turn sound on and off using links included with images. Based on the device used for viewing, choose from high or low resolution and iPhone or iPad links to view panoramas. Panoramas open in a new tab/window.

tag(s): africa (148), asia (116), australia (28), canada (24), china (81), england (50), europe (84), france (41), germany (28), images (263), india (32), italy (30), maps (220), new york (24), north america (15), pyramids (21), russia (36), south africa (13), south america (47)

Looking for resources to use on your interactive whiteboard? If so, this site is a tremendous resource for all whiteboard users, not just those with a Promethean Board. View, search, and download from over 60,000 resources in all subject areas and grade levels. Use the Resources tab to search by state standard, content, grade level, or resource type. Register on the site to enable download ability as well as many other features such as saving favorites, reviewing resources, asking questions on the technical forum, following specific users, and uploading your own resources. Each resource includes a short description, grade level recommendation, file format, and size. Another great feature is the slide show included with each download for previewing different pages used on each chart.

tag(s): iwb (31), numbers (120), preK (270), resources (83)

KidsTV123 offers a great YouTube channel with over 100 early learning videos. Find learning videos about time, colors, letters, spelling, states, and many other skills. There is a wide variety of topics, making this site very useful in nearly any K-3 classroom or for children at home. Video lengths run from 1-3 minutes, making them great for young students. Hover your mouse over the right-hand corner of each video icon to view the length. Sort by date added (old to new or new to old) or most popular. Subscribe to the KidsTV123 channel to receive notification of new videos or click on the Watch Later link to add to your YouTube watch list. (You must have a YouTube membership to subscribe or watch later.) The videos are hosted on YouTube. If your district blocks YouTube, these videos may not be viewable.
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tag(s): alphabet (53), alphabetical order (8), animals (294), colors (63), counting (60), countries (73), dental health (14), phonics (51), preK (270), spelling (98), states (124), time (91)

Join Word GameTime for language arts, geography, math, and typing activities. Find a variety of games including brain games, crosswords, vocabulary, world capitals, and spelling. Worksheets and educational videos offer further explorations.
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tag(s): capitals (16), countries (73), grammar (137), keyboarding (28), logic (161), reading comprehension (149), spelling (98), states (124)

This cool, teacher-made tool shows Google Earth in two side by side windows for easy comparison and contrast --without loading any software. Drop downs on each window turn layers on and off. Click Choose an Earth to move between Physical Geography, Human Geography, Historical maps, and the CIA Factbook. Explore various kinds of geographic and demographic data within this menu. You can even find earth science topics such as plate tectonics. Use Fetch An Earth to enter a KML or URL to load other Google Earth files. Not familiar with Google Earth? Learn more in our review. This handy tool offers use of Google Earth's basic tools and layers without installing Google Earth, a very handy advantage if you are not able to load software on your computer.

tag(s): data (151), earth (184), latitude (10), longitude (9), map skills (63), maps (220), plate tectonics (22)

Find lesson ideas and more for literature and language arts, foreign languages, art and culture, history and social studies at the reworked site that was once part of MarcoPolo. Lesson Plans, Teacher Guides, book articles, data bases, educational gaming, professional development events, sound, film, video resources, and resource website lists all aid teachers and learners. A calendar keeps you up to date with famous dates in history.

tag(s): art history (102), cultures (180), Juneteenth (22), literacy (122)

A picture is worth a thousand words; a map with information is worth many thousands more. The World Atlas map powered by Esri is unique with its many layers of information. Layers include temperature data, habitats, volcano locations, natural resources, and more. The map uses street view and high detail aerial maps. Zoom into any aspect of the Earth, regardless of political boundaries (thanks to NASA, the World Bank, and Spotzi data). Browse from a variety of themes available including animals, temperatures, and tectonic plates. Use the search bar to zoom in to a specific area. Several tools are available along the top including a measuring tool.

tag(s): business (52), diseases (66), ecology (103), environment (252), natural disasters (18), natural resources (37), resources (83)

Find a collection of wonderful math resources for elementary students related to the Olympic games. Although the blog was originally created in 2008, many of the activities and sites have been updated. Find word games sorted by event and grade level (such as Summer Olympic Swimming for grades 1 and 2). Many of the lesson plans include national math standards. Some great research ideas are also offered, such as exploring the Olympics through time. Explore previous medal counts before predicting this year's medals through the Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger link.
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tag(s): charts and graphs (171), data (151), estimation (33), logic (161), mean (19), median (16), mode (13), olympics (45), operations (72), sports (82)

Where's George? let's you track the travel of dollar bills through circulation. Enter the serial number on the bill, enter a current zip code, and learn where their bill has been. Choose from two options on the site: find out where a bill has been or enter a current bill to begin tracking from its current location. Finding where a bill has been gives a list of known cities, states, and countries. It also includes travel time, distance, and speed of its journey. Email registration is necessary to follow the travels of a bill and receive notification of current location. One word of caution: it may be wise to enter serial numbers of bills before sharing with the class in case they have been in locations that may need to be screened. Also, be aware this site contains advertisements. At the time of this review, there was a questionable advertisement. Please preview and OPEN, before sharing with your class.
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tag(s): currency (14)

Explore culture through interviews and discussions taped by people from countries around the world. The interviewees vary in age and social economic status. Find cultural snippets by area of the world; each country has many offerings organized by subject. The index also offers the same pages organized by topic. Video pieces are also divided into different grade levels: elementary, middle, and high school. Written text accompanies each video clip so you can read what you are hearing. Some interviews are in English. However, most are in the language of the country and translated into English. There is a disclaimer on the site that reads, "... be aware that these videos reflect actual authentic speech, with all the stops, starts, and hesitations that come with everyday conversation. We have not corrected grammatical errors, and the videos sometimes show highly colloquial language, local slang, and region-specific speech patterns."

tag(s): cultures (180), interviews (17), journalism (74), video (266)

Surface Languages is free site to learn basic survival words and phrases on a variety of topics in 37 different languages. Learn phrases in Afrikaans, Slovak, Arabic, Spanish, Bosnian, Swahili, Bulgarian, Swedish, Catalan, Turkish, Chinese, Ukrainian, Croatian, Urdu, Czech, Welsh, Danish, Yiddish, Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Italian, Latin, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, and Russian. Phrases are organized into topics so use is simple. In addition to reading and hearing the words and phrases pronounced, the site has the capability of creating flash cards for each lesson. You choose yes or no to indicate if the card has the correct meaning. It also offers multiple choice items to test listening skills for the language and translating from English to the target language.
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tag(s): arabic (13), chinese (45), cultures (180), french (75), german (49), greek (47), hebrew (16), italian (31), latin (23), phrases (6), portuguese (22), russian (26), spanish (109)

Here you will find a "kid-appropriate" search tool featuring countless general topics: Facts & Reference, Computers/The Internet, The Arts, Strange & Mysterious, Hot Topics, The World, Science & Math, Reading, Writing, Speaking, Nature, and several others. Within each of the main topics are subtopics. For example, in the Classroom section you will find English, Foreign Langauges, Math, History, Reference Tools, Shapes, Woodwork, Colors, Art, Religion, Philosophy, Social Studies, and Homework Help. There is a ton here to explore! The information includes articles and images/photos.

tag(s): alphabet (53), animals (294), animation (64), clip art (11), colors (63), comics and cartoons (55), cooking (32), crafts (64), creative writing (124), cross cultural understanding (173), cultures (180), dance (31), dinosaurs (43), disabilities (32), diseases (66), drawing (61), fitness (39), flags (18), folktales (34), geometric shapes (134), grammar (137), homework (29), insects (68), journalism (74), measurement (122), museums (52), mysteries (23), numbers (120), nutrition (140), oceans (149), operations (72), origami (14), painting (54), photography (130), poetry (193), psychology (65), rainforests (18), religions (95), search engines (48), seasons (37), sign language (10), social networking (61), spelling (98), sports (82), trivia (19), vocabulary (238), weather (160)

This site documents how four Native American communities are responding to changes in the environment where they live. First click the link in the first paragraph or the picture on the right to find this unit. Through videos and primary sources, you can explore these four Native American cultures. Each tribe's section is broken down into the following areas: Getting Started, Meet the People, About Our Homeland, Our Environmental Challenge, Our Strategies, and Our Future.

tag(s): environment (252), native americans (108), natural resources (37)