Teachers First - Thinking Teachers Teaching Thinkers

This portion of the Illuminations site contains over thirty geometry interactives and games for students in grades 9-12. These resources provide activities through problem-solving and open-ended questions. All interactives include complete instructions, an exploration, and correlation to standards.

tag(s): area (53), flips (6), geometric shapes (135), logic (161), pi (29), probability (99), problem solving (231), pythagorean theorem (19), ratios (47), turns (3), volume (34)

This portion of Illuminations contains severalinteractives and activities for teaching geometry based on standards for 3rd through 5th grade. These resources provide activities through problem-solving and open-ended questions. All interactives include complete instructions, an exploration, and correlation to standards.

tag(s): angles (52), area (53), flips (6), geometric shapes (135), logic (161), problem solving (231), turns (3), venn diagrams (15)

Illuminations offers a selection of interactives and activities for teaching geometry to PreK-2nd grade students. Scroll through to choose from interactives like Geometric Solids, Patch Tool, Concentration, and others. You'll also find Dynamic Paper (create math manipulatives, such as pentagonal pyramid, a set of pattern blocks, a number line, and so on; all these in the size and shape you need). All interactives include complete instructions, an exploration, and correlation to standards.

tag(s): angles (52), geometric shapes (135), measurement (123)

This section of the Illuminations site contains thirty-plus geometry interactives and activities for students in grades 6-8. Scroll through to choose from interactives like Tessellation Creator, Cube Nets, and others. You'll also find Dynamic Paper (create math manipulatives, such as pentagonal pyramid, a set of pattern blocks, a number line, and so on; all these in the size and shape you need). All interactives include complete instructions, an exploration, and correlation to standards.

tag(s): angles (52), equations (119), functions (52), geometric shapes (135), logic (161), number lines (33), patterns (62), problem solving (231)

Discover the many ready-to-go, free interactives and activities in this collection of teaching resources from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics found on this site. Choose from Pan Balance (an interactive tool to practice arithmetic and algebraic skills, and investigate the important concept of equivalence), Deep Sea Duel (strategy game to practice number sums), and several others. You'll also find Dynamic Paper (create math manipulatives, such as pentagonal pyramid, a set of pattern blocks, a number line, and so on; all these in the size and shape you need). All interactives include complete instructions, an exploration, and correlation to standards.

tag(s): charts and graphs (171), number lines (33), number sense (70), patterns (62), sorting (4)

Illuminations offers twenty-plus interactives and activities specifically for teaching the Grades 3-5 Numbers and Operations strand. This collection of interactives includes Factorize, Deep Sea Duel, Concentration, Fraction activities, and several others. You'll also find Dynamic Paper (create math manipulatives, such as pentagonal pyramid, a set of pattern blocks, a number line, and so on; all these in the size and shape you need). The large variety of activities provides opportunities for learning content through many different methods including fact families, balancing equations, graphing, and more. You'll also find Dynamic Paper (create math manipulatives, such as pentagonal pyramid, a set of pattern blocks, a number line, and so on; all these in the size and shape you need). All interactives include complete instructions, an exploration, and correlation to standards.

tag(s): number lines (33), number sense (70), numbers (120), operations (72)

Create beautiful multimedia digital books with Book Creator. Scroll down the landing page to the bottom menu, and click the "Help With Getting Started" title. Note: This points out how you need to change to the "teacher sign in" (the default is for students). This is a wonderful tool with many features. Reading the short Getting Started Overview first and watching the beginning videos would be best. Then, you can go to the Resources tab from the top menu, where each grade level has a video, and you'll find example books created by students. Under Resources, you can also search by subject to find suggested ideas and books designed for a specific subject. Next, click Resources from the top menu to find the "Teach your first lesson toolkit" with lesson plans, remixable student templates for different age ranges, and a teacher guide. You can also choose Remixable Books to get you and your class started. When finished, publish and share your book using the site's web-based reader for access on any device. Once you have mastered the basics, click on Features to see the magic of using the pen and discover all the features of the graphic organizers, comics, and more. By clicking the "more" you will can embed documents on your page(s). These documents can be narrated and interactive! The free plan offers one library with up to 40 books storage. Book Creator presents a variety of levels for technology use depending on teacher requirements for the project or even student ability; it allows for adding narration, videos, text, using your webcam, and adding links to help explain the artwork. When creating your book, click on the big + in the upper right corner to add text, audio, images, your camera, and the pen; you will also see The lowercase "i" (for inspector), which offers colors, comics, paper type, and more. There are other apps, but you must have a premium account. You can use Book Creator on iPads, Macs, Android devices, PCs, and on these browsers: Safari, Microsoft Edge, and Chrome. Teachers need to provide an email to create an account. However, students do not need emails to make their books. Once ready, follow the site's prompts to add video, text, images, audio, and more to your book.
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tag(s): collaboration (93), DAT device agnostic tool (146), digital storytelling (153), ebooks (43), literacy (121), preK (269), reading comprehension (148), writing (324)

Magic Gopher is an entertaining math riddle game. Follow the instructions to select a two-digit number, add the digits then subtract that answer from the original number. Magic Gopher "guesses" the symbol located next to that final number.

tag(s): addition (129), riddles (16)

Casa Notes is your time-saving friend when sending notes home for typical school reasons such as field trips, conferences, and student performance. This site includes 12 templates for you to customize some of the content, the color scheme, and add an image. Choose preview to view any template and see what information can be changed; click the circle button, and the red continue button at the bottom of the list to begin customizing your letter. Follow each step to change colors and add information. When complete, print from your browser.

tag(s): communication (129), field trips (8), homework (29), parents (57), Teacher Utilities (190)

FutureSmart is an interactive personal finance course designed for students in grades 6-8. The three and a half hour course correlates to National Standards and covers a variety of topics including budgeting, goal-setting, and planning for the future. Enroll using your school email address to register students and access your dashboard that includes student reports and supplemental materials. Be sure to download the information sheet that includes additional details about all available features.

tag(s): financial literacy (91), game based learning (198), money (114)

ToonyTool has a simple canvas to quickly create a single-frame comic, a cartoon strip, or an animation. With ToonyTool, you can add a dash of humor to get the message across. Start your canvas and choose a single comic, a comic strip, or a video from the tab in the upper left corner. Choose one of their background pictures, or upload one of your own. Create a title or type part of your message in the Meme text bar. Choose a character or two, add a prop, and select speech bubbles to type a message. Everything is easy to move around by just dragging and dropping. At the bottom of the page, find tools to share and edit your comic. Share via print, download, email, or online. There is no registration required.

tag(s): comics and cartoons (55), communication (129), creative writing (124), digital storytelling (153), summarizing (23)

JoeZoo is an assessment tool for creating rubrics, providing feedback, and guiding students to use 21st Century Skills. JoeZoo works with many LMS platforms (G Suite, among others). The feedback tool provides many resources including highlighting text, pre-loaded feedback, and pie charts demonstrating feedback from different categories. Create and edit customized rubrics using the rubric creator. Be sure to watch the tutorial videos for full information on using JoeZoo in your classroom.

tag(s): Google (47), rubrics (36)

Use bulb as a portfolio tool to showcase your work, share ideas, and ask for feedback. Sign up with your Google, Microsoft, or Clever account or enter your email. With a free account you get all of the standard features, and can choose to publish ten portfolio pages and upload up to 2GB of content. After creating your account, click to take a tour, then in 140 characters tell members who you are, create a cover image (optional), and then choose to create a page or a collection (multiple pages). You can also create groups (with or without Google), and lots more. Click symbols at the top right of your name to get help, search, create pages or collections, and more. On the home page in the top menu bar, look at projects students and teachers have created. bulb is easy to use due to its drag and drop interface. Besides creating text, you can embed images and videos, and integrate with your Google Drive. bulb offers educators a special account that integrates your LMS, has a teacher dashboard, and dedicated manager and tech support for a very minimal fee per year.
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tag(s): multimedia (51), portfolios (23), writing (324)

Awesome ScreenShot makes screen capture and annotation effortless! Click the camera icon, and Awesome Screenshot takes a snap of the whole page on your screen or any portion. You can also upload an image from your computer, drag and drop, or paste from your clipboard to your account. Annotate the picture with lines, text, and shapes. Crop or blur out sensitive information before saving or uploading the image. Save to your account or get the URL to share via email, on your web page, etc. You can download video as WebM files and upload videos to your YouTube or Google Drive account. This tool supports images in PNG or JPG format. Awesome ScreenShot is available on the web. It works with Windows, Linux, and iOS 10.9 or later. It is also available as an extension for Mozilla FireFox and Chrome. The free account includes 20 recordings, unlimited recording length, 100 screenshots, and unlimited basic annotations.
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tag(s): blended learning (36), drawing (61), editing (93), images (260), tutorials (52), video (264)

LanguageTool is a spelling and language checker for English, French, and more than 20 other languages. Copy and paste your text to check for spelling and grammatical errors. Use the drop-down boxes to change language preferences. LanguageTool also offers browser add-ons for downloading on Chrome and Firefox, and add-ons for Google Docs, LibreOffice, and OpenOffice.

tag(s): editing (93), french (75), german (49), grammar (137), portuguese (22), spanish (108), spelling (98), writing (324)

Teach or learn through high-quality online courses offered by the Open Learning Initiative. Choose from available courses in a variety of subjects with full course information including topics covered, estimated completion time, and software required. Classes are free for independent learning; Set up and teach your own course by registering for an instructor account. Instructor accounts allow members to access tools to assess student learning and provide credit for course completion.

tag(s): chinese (45), classroom management (120), design (78), engineering (128), french (75), logic (161), OER (43), Online Learning (36), probability (99), psychology (65), statistics (121), STEM (290)

The True Size of...uses Google Maps and drag and drop technology to allow you to compare the size of any two countries. Because normal maps have a certain amount of distortion, sometimes it's hard to see real size differences on a standard map. Just type in the name of any county. Once highlighted, drag the country to any location on the map to compare. Hover over the country to view statistics with the actual size. When finished, right click and start over.
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tag(s): area (53), countries (73), map skills (62), maps (218)