Teachers First - Thinking Teachers Teaching Thinkers

Learn a Little and Have Some Fun! Idaho's government website for kids offers facts, information, and history about the state. Capital Building Trivia offers an extensive history about their capital building including construction dates, materials used (four types of marble among them), and estimated replacement cost in today's dollars. The School Report Resources section contains all the vital state information such as the state seal, motto, flag, population statistics, and more. Be sure to check out all of the information about the famous Idaho state potatoes included in this section. At the time of this review, one of the links on the "Student Links" page, was no longer active.

tag(s): states (124)

You can find interesting facts and information about the state of Colorado by visiting this interactive website. Learn about 14er's (no, not 49er's) found in the state, people and places, and Colorado facts. Be sure to visit the link with Colorado podcasts to view many videos about wildlife found in the state, activities to do such as biking and water rafting, and snowshoeing. Also available for download from the site are puzzles and pictures in pdf format. Many portions of the site containing facts that are also available to print easily.

tag(s): mountains (10), states (124)

This is a site that contains numerous links to lessons and websites on various social studies and world history subjects. There are numerous subjects: Ancient History, American History and American Government, World History, Geography, and others. For each subject there is a For Teachers with lesson plans, links, quizzes, and more.
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tag(s): 1920s (15), africa (148), archeology (28), china (81), civil rights (209), civil war (139), colonial america (95), egypt (56), great depression (30), greece (47), holidays (187), immigration (68), india (32), industrial revolution (22), japan (56), mayans (23), mesopotamia (32), native americans (108), psychology (65), religions (95), renaissance (38), resources (83), rome (37), slavery (79), westward expansion (39)

This site offers a visual perspective of what one trillion dollars looks like. It begins with a $100 bill, moves on to $10,000 and on up to the trillion dollars. One interesting portion of the site is a link at the bottom of the page that includes the step by step calculations and dimensions used for calculations. There is also a link (at the bottom) to "see" the U.S. National Debt.
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tag(s): financial literacy (93), money (113), number sense (69)

Learn more about the state of Arizona with this site offering facts and information just for kids. Choose the Natural Wonders link to learn about the many natural wonders and national parks within the state such as the Grand Canyon, the town of Tombstone, and the Apache Trail. Get all sorts of information on the state by choosing the Arizona Library that includes an Activity Book, Almanac, Research Topics, and more. Check out the left menu on the library page for even more topics. Learn about state facts, emblems, motto, and much more in the State Facts section (did you know Arizona has official state neckwear?). Be sure to view the state photos section for realistic images of many portions of the state and of its natural wonders https://www.arizonahighways.com.

tag(s): national parks (29), native americans (108), natural resources (37), westward expansion (39)

Explore and learn all about Alaska with this site dedicated to kids. Learn interesting facts such as there are 70 volcanoes in Alaska in the Facts section. Student Information includes basic state information such as the state motto, nickname, state seal, flag, and state emblems. An especially informative portion of the site contains a great deal of information on the state history. Here students can explore Famous Alaskans, Homesteading, Russian Heritage, and more. From bear watching to wildlife many outdoor activities are offered as examples of ways to enjoy all the state has to offer. Another section, Geography, includes information about glaciers, climate, and daylight hours throughout the state. Be sure to check out the portion of the site that addresses common misconceptions about the state.

tag(s): alaska (21), animals (294), flags (18), volcanoes (55)

This site, created by Australian Sean Banville, has high interest, "easier" news for students to read and many teaching materials to go with them. Though the look of the site is cluttered with advertising and plain text, the content is worthwhile. Developed for ESL/ELL students and teachers, the site would also work well in a subject area, learning support, or reading classroom. There are MANY articles "ready to go," including mp3 audio files to listen to the articles. At the time of this review there were 200+ new additions! Each article includes several types of activities such as "online gap fill" (a Cloze reading activity), vocabulary flashcards, and hangman, and matching. A full script is available in PDF form. There is also an online, interactive quiz for students. The articles, and a lot more activities, can be downloaded and printed, too.
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tag(s): diseases (66), listening (93), news (228)

This site was created to provide resources for students learning about Florida. Categories include state symbols, Florida history, Seminole history, the Capitol, Florida governors, and quick facts. After choosing a category, there are subtopics listed in some of the categories to help narrow down searches for information. There are some images; however, most information is in text and some students may need help reading the information.

tag(s): native americans (108), states (124), symbols (15)

WordSift helps anyone easily sift through texts -- just copy and paste any text into WordSift and you can engage in a verbal quick-capture! The program helps to quickly identify important words that appear in the text. After entering text several items will appear, first a word cloud will display the 50 most frequently used words in the text. The most frequently used word will display as a word web in a visual thesaurus. Google image and video search results are also shown. One interesting feature is the ability to click on any of the words in the word cloud to display it in the thesaurus and Google image and video searches. A great way to understand the WordSift tool is to try one of the sample texts offered, such as Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech. Be sure to check out the "About" link to discover many ideas for use in the classroom. Tips and videos are also available as guides. If you type in a shorter sentence, the site still creates a word cloud using their own related words (not in your original text). Be aware of the advertisements that appear with the word clouds. Advise students not to click on the ads.
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tag(s): dictionaries (47), reading comprehension (149), reading strategies (96), thesaurus (22), vocabulary (238), vocabulary development (94), word clouds (13), word study (59)

The goal of this site is to educate youth about philanthropy and giving their time and knowledge for the global good. To do this, they offer over 1400 free lesson plans for teachers, parents, and community leaders. Lessons are coded to state standards and can be searched by grade level, keyword, subject, or academic or philanthropy standard. Some lessons are geared toward private or religious schools and are clearly labeled as such. Lessons include subject, key concepts, vocabulary, objectives, materials needed, approximate time, procedures, extensions, handouts, and much more. An example of a grade 3-5 lesson would be Cool Kids Compost which explores responsible use of resources by gathering data about lunchroom waste. Don't let the concept of philanthropy keep you from exploring the site, there are many great classroom lessons available for all subjects.

tag(s): african american (115), animal homes (57), animals (294), character education (79), charts and graphs (171), colonial america (95), communities (35), data (151), diversity (40), ecology (103), environment (252), heroes (24), money (113), recycling (45)

Created with input from the National Council on Economics Education, this site offers an eclectic set of lessons, most of which require some web access. They range from the introduction of simple concepts for elementary students to studies of economic forecasting for older students.

tag(s): consumers (14)

Looking for an easy to use free jeopardy game? Look no further than this site. Download the application for free or create the activity to be played online. View and try activities already created online. If you like your project you can save it to a folder on your computer. There is a short video in the "How To" section that will walk you through the process of making, saving, and playing a Flash Jeopardy game. Those of you who have used the PowerPoint Jeopardy will find this flash version much less time consuming to create and to recreate new Jeopardy games.
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tag(s): grammar review (31), matching (8)

Are you looking to collect and analyze class data easily? Choose from 16 different ways to view data. Decide the items you wish to count (the free plan allows up to 100 different things to be counted.) Also determine the category the items can be placed into (use up to 10 different categories in the free account.) Add a statement panel to your display panel to add notes and make comments about the data. Be sure to click the How To at the bottom of the home page to learn how to use the Daytum site.
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tag(s): charts and graphs (171), data (151), infographics (56), statistics (121), visualizations (11)

Preceden is a free service that allows you to create timelines with multi-layers for overlapping events. The different layers are visually interesting and allow you to easily see the sequence of events in several different ways. You can input your own time increments such as by day, week, month, year, decade, etc. In addition, you can create your own labels for events. You need to create a FREE account to make a timeline. Timelines can be embedded on your blog, shared by URL, or download as a PDF.

tag(s): timelines (56)