Teachers First - Thinking Teachers Teaching Thinkers

Wheel Decide helps make decisions interesting and fair. Choose from ready-made wheels with choices such as games or food. Create your own wheels. Scroll down below the wheel and choose "Make/Modify Wheel" to customize your wheel for any purpose. Add up to 100 choices and a title. Advanced options allow you to remove a choice after landing on it, choose from color options, adjust the length of spin, and more. Cancel the "click" sound if it is distracting. At the time of this review saving a wheel required signing in with your Facebook account or bookmarking/copying the URL.

tag(s): classroom management (120), gamification (83), probability (99)

Highlight and print (or view) only what you want from a web page using Printliminator. Downloading this tool is made easy with the drag and drop bookmarklet; Drage it to your browser's toolbar (Printliminator works with Chrome ONLY). Then click the bookmarklet from any page to open up tool options. Mouse over your web page and click on red boxes to remove them from the page. When ready, preview and send to your printer. Be sure to watch the Quick Slideshow Demo for a full overview of all features of the Printliminator.

tag(s): classroom management (120)

Find several different comic strip templates at this simple, yet useful site. Choose from templates with various numbers of panels and squares or arch tops. Click on any template to view and print the PDF version.
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tag(s): comics and cartoons (55)

Dandy Candies provides open-ended practice and exploration with problem solving and measurement skills, grouped into three "Acts." View a short animated video exploring different options for packaging candy. Then solve four questions about the best way to pack candy. Act Three offers solutions along with a link to all packaging options. Click on the Prologue to view links to standards. Be sure to click on Teacher Notes to view more information on the different steps.

tag(s): area (53), measurement (122), perimeter (20), problem solving (233), volume (33)

Do you need fresh ideas and tips for writing across the curriculum? This site should give you lots of inspiration and step-by-step suggestions to get going. Read about the benefits of cross-curricular writing. Get started with the RAFTS prompts information. RAFTS prompts provide students with focus and clarity in writing projects and encourage creativity and freedom of thought. Be sure to check out these thoughtful ideas as you gear up your writing instruction.

tag(s): creative writing (124), descriptive writing (42), expository writing (31), letter writing (19), paragraph writing (15), persuasive writing (58), process writing (37), writers workshop (31)

Learningpod offers a large database of free practice test questions. Find free Common Core aligned question sets in English Language Arts and Math for grades 2-8. There are practice sets for standardized tests. Search the database of over 49,000 practice questions. Questions are in "pods" containing 2-12 questions on each of the individual topics. Use your email to create a free account. Assign and share with students by embed code, link, or print in PDF format. Answer keys and explanations are easy to access. Keep track of progress through your account, and view summaries of your results on each pod. View comparisons to how other members fared with the same content.

tag(s): advanced placement (26), test prep (69)

Happy Numbers offers interactive activities aligned to Common Core Standards in Math for grades K-2. Create your free account to gain access to the entire library of interactive exercises for use on your classroom. This tool can be completely personalized for each student in a class. Scroll through the list of topics and activities to find short exercises for practicing early math concepts. Choose the Coming Soon link to be notified when new activities become available.

tag(s): addition (129), number sense (69), numbers (120), operations (72), patterns (61), place value (34), preK (270), subtraction (110)

Learn what you need to do and know to start using X (formerly Twitter). Sign up to get a X (formerly Twitter) mentor or BE a mentor! Find out what to do before creating an X (formerly Twitter) account, get advice about whom to follow, explore programs to use to help you manage your X (formerly Twitter) account, and read how to keep track of everything. Learn about all the terms needed to be successful using X (formerly Twitter) as a teacher. This site is clean, simple, and very helpful!

tag(s): chat (41), microblogging (14), social networking (61), twitter (13)

Publish, share, and browse interactive web publications with Calameo. Sign up for an account using your email or Facebook account. Upload documents in most common formats such as Microsoft Office, Adobe PDF, and OpenOffice. Use the link editor to add YouTube, DailyMotion, Vimeo, and SoundCloud content to your magazine. Share completed publications through a unique URL or embed directly into your website or blog. Calameo is available in many languages. Be sure to check Calameo's help links to find full features and suggestions for use. Use caution when allowing students to explore this site on their own, as some content may not be appropriate for the classroom.
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tag(s): creative writing (124), digital storytelling (154)

SmallPDF offers many tools for creating and working with PDF files. Choose links to reduce the size of any PDF document, convert JPG to PDF or PDF to JPG, merge PDF files, and much more! After choosing the option to use, follow the simple directions for uploading files. Be sure to download and save. All conversions use temporary online storage and disappear from servers within an hour.

tag(s): conversions (37), worksheets (69)

Function Carnival is a wonderful challenge to draw graphs to represent what is happening in animated videos. View the very short video then draw a graph representing the action in the video. Watch the video that results from your graph to compare how well you represented the action. Use controls to adjust your graph. Seeing immediate feedback shows if the graph represents the correct motion, and if not, your video shows your inaccuracies. You can continue making adjustments to the graph until both videos match. Begin by creating a class and choosing a basic, advanced, or custom "carnival. " Share student instructions including URL and class code to begin. Be sure to view tips and information about the site to make the most of all features.

tag(s): charts and graphs (171), functions (52), modeling (8), motion (47), STEM (297)

The first three weeks of school set the tone for the entire year. Even if you didn't have a "great" first day (or week) of school, there is still time to change the mood of your classroom! This list provides many suggestions for getting off to a great start. Although created for college teachers, most content is appropriate for all grade levels. Scroll through each section to find ideas for transitioning to a new grade level, keeping students' attention, providing support, building community, and much more. Although this site is rather "plain vanilla," it is packed full of wonderful "sprinkles" to start your year off great!

tag(s): back to school (55), newbies (11), professional development (385)

Create a customized start page including your favorite websites, RSS feeds, and social networking sites with Start.me. Choose from over 20 widgets such as bookmarks, weather, calculators, or currency converters to personalize content. Drag and drop widgets to any area on your screen. Change backgrounds using images provided or one you upload, or personalize using other options under settings. All saved information is cloud-based, so it is available from any device where you log in to your account. Create multiple pages for different needs such as work, home, hobbies, etc. Add the bookmarklet to your browser to add items easily to your start page at any time. The introduction video is hosted on YouTube. If YouTube is blocked at your school, view the intro video at home to learn more!

tag(s): bookmarks (43)

Explore Ancient Egypt! Choose from topics such as hieroglyphs, pyramids and temples, or kings and queens. Topics includes descriptions, maps, videos, and more to take an in-depth look. Be sure to check out the cool hieroglyphic typewriter for typing names and sending or printing secret messages! The videos from this site are hosted on YouTube. If your district blocks YouTube, they may not be viewable.
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tag(s): egypt (56), pyramids (21)

Learn to draw, paint, or design following step-by-step tutorials from Artyfactory. Discover basic techniques of drawing and painting through Still Life lessons. Practice perspective, proportions, drawing animals and portraits, and more. Artyfactory's slideshows are an engaging way to increase your knowledge of art, art appreciation, and design.
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tag(s): africa (148), art history (102), artists (84), bulletin boards (15), design (79), egypt (56), perspective (14)

Ignite interest in STEM and bridge the gap between learning in the classroom and the real world! Peruse from a variety of short 10 minute interactive videos that highlight real-world problems. Videos are aligned to STEM curricula throughout the US and contributed by partnerships with businesses, government agencies, non-profits, and academic institutions. Use the resources to engage your students in problem-solving and inquiry based learning. Videos and resources are found in the Science, Technology, and Math tabs. Be sure to click the Educator tab for downloadable resources to help you Plan, Engage, and Inspire with your students. While looking at the materials in the Educator tab, find a Best Practices webinar date you can attend (held monthly). This one hour training session is instrumental in using the interactive video and instructional materials to facilitate inquiry based learning effectively and increase 21st century skills in your students. Each video includes resources developed by Industry, lessons by educators, and education pathways for students seeking careers in certain STEM careers.

tag(s): STEM (297)

The Free Dictionary is much more than a dictionary; it also includes a thesaurus, encyclopedias, a literature reference library, and lots more! Browse the home page to find Word of the Day, Article of the Day, In the News, Quotations, Today's Birthday and Holiday, and Hangman. Choose the Spelling Bee to test spelling skills in levels. Your ESL/ELL students can discover and "play" with English words using this site. Browse to find dictionaries for many other languages and specialized needs such as medical and legal dictionaries.

tag(s): dictionaries (47), quotations (19), thesaurus (22), vocabulary development (94), word choice (14)

Look into a high school Algebra classroom through this intriguing blog. The author shares thoughts on professional topics such as lesson planning, gamification of the classroom, and aligning instruction across grade levels. In addition, he shares downloads and activities for classroom use. View archived posts back to June 2011. Browse through tagged categories to find specific content such as lessons or student response.

tag(s): blogs (65), gamification (83)

This blog offers practical teaching tips and suggestions for early elementary classrooms. Although the author teaches first grade, most ideas are practical for use in other grade levels. Browse through ideas for setting up Guided Math groups, using iPads in the elementary classroom, and other specific suggestions and images. To find earlier posts scroll down the page and look on the right-hand side. View trending past posts or labels. Choose a label to see posts with topics such as math tubs, journals, or word work.
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tag(s): classroom management (120), posters (43), professional development (385)

The cost of college continues to rise, and student debt has a significant impact on the US economy. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau offers several important resources for those thinking about how to pay for college. An overview of student loans and how they work provides important consumer information. Also, some brief money management and banking can help those just starting out. The best part of Paying for College, however, is the financial aid offer comparison tool, which allows you to evaluate up to three financial aid offers from colleges using real "apples to apples" data. Finally, there is excellent advice about repaying student debt.

tag(s): banks (8), college (45), financial aid (13), financial literacy (93), money (113)