Teachers First - Thinking Teachers Teaching Thinkers

Quickly and easily convert PDF to Word, Excel, and Powerpoint. Create a PDF from almost any file using the converter. To use, select the type of conversion. Locate the PDF file you want to convert on your computer (even if it is only in your download folder). Enter your email address. You will receive an email with a link to your converted file. Be sure to check your "junk filter" on your email in case it does not show up directly in your inbox. Click on the attachment and download your brand new Word file! Maximum file size of an uploaded file is 2MB.
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tag(s): worksheets (69)

Let's Play Math! is a blog by a homeschooling mom that shares resources, ideas, and an excitement for teaching mathematics to all students. Find popular posts on the right-hand toolbar or browse by topic tag. Topics with the most entries are highlighted and in a larger font making them easier to find. Search within the blog using the search box included. You may also want to check out the link to the Best of the Blog. This includes some of the author's favorite posts sorted by subject and includes favorite games, puzzles, activities, and more. Although this blog was designed by a homeschooling parent, the information is useful in any math classroom setting.
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tag(s): mental math (19), preK (270), puzzles (149)

This blog offers ideas and resources to help substitute teachers make the most out of every day. It includes practical ideas such as what to bring to school as a substitute (who would have thought to bring your own "teacher-friendly" pencil sharpener?). There are also free k-5 lesson plans. The best part is all of the tips, support, and stories provided for substitute teachers "in the trenches." Although geared toward elementary teachers, ideas and suggestions are appropriate for any grade level.
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tag(s): classroom management (120), newbies (11), substitutes (25)

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 (84)

Highlight and share specific information within web pages with this application. Rooh it works instantly for highlighting information on web pages while web surfing. Automatically clip, collect, bookmark, and share online content via e-mail, Facebook, X (formerly Twitter) and more with just one click. Create highlights using several different methods. Download Rooh it by dragging and dropping the bookmarklet on your browser's tool bar then click the bookmarklet before highlighting information. You can also try entering rooh.it/ before the http of any webpage URL and your cursor turns into a highlighter. It is actually easiest to simply enter the site URL in the box on the main Rooh it page.

tag(s): browser (8), note taking (36)

Find endless mathematical quotations. Search the site by keyword, browse by first letter of the authors' last names, or follow a link to receive a random quote. Download the entire collection (83 pages) using the link on the home page.

tag(s): probability (99), quotations (19), statistics (121)

Arcoiris offers online educational games for 3 to 10 year olds in English and Spanish. Activity topics include shapes, numbers, letters, and more. They are relatively simple but extremely useful. Conversion between Spanish and English is simple using the buttons near the top right-hand corner of the home page.
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tag(s): alphabet (53), colors (63), geometric shapes (134), numbers (120), preK (270)

TagCrowd is a web application to visualize word frequencies in any text through creation of a word cloud, text cloud, or tag cloud. Simply type or paste in any text, import from any website, or upload a file to begin the word cloud. Choose from options such as language to use, limit number of words, exclude words based on frequency, or exclude unwanted words. Save as a PDF, print, or embed the finished image using links included with the finished product. The most frequently used words appear larger and in a bold font.

tag(s): speech (69), vocabulary (238), word clouds (13)

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)

Math Two is a great site to use as practice for addition and multiplication math facts. Type a response to the given problem and you will get immediate feedback. Activities are marked easy, medium, or very hard. The concept is very simple, yet provides an alternative to simple flash cards. Be aware: the links at the top to activities for specific ages were not all working at the time of this review. Please preview the activities to be certain the links are active.
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tag(s): addition (129), multiplication (122), operations (72)

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)

Find math advice, tips, ideas, games, and e-books to help bring math alive. Activities focus on two age groups, 3 - 5 and 5 - 7. The free e-books have math themes. The site's origin is British, so the "maths" curriculum or terms may be slightly different from the U.S. But numbers are still numbers! The standards are from the U.K. Don't miss the "jargon busters" under the Expert Help menu for parents to understand the math terms teachers may use. Although the site has links to items for sale, there is enough free material to be worthwhile. On some of the interactives you must click the "mark it" check mark to see if your answer is correct or not.
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tag(s): addition (129), counting (60), multiplication (122), numbers (120), preK (270), subtraction (110), time (91)

EasyBib, the automatic bibliography and citation maker, instantly creates and formats citations for your sources in MLA format. Cite websites, books, newspapers, journals, and data bases correctly in seconds. All you have to do is enter your website URL, or the title or ISBN number of the book, journal, etc. in the form. You can copy/paste citations from Easy Bib into a document to create your works cited list. You will need to alphabetize the citations yourself. The paid version offers APA and Chicago/Turabian style and additional features. Pick up the latest tips and tricks in their research guide. Review the writing and citation process in an instant. and review citation rules for various styles using the reference guides.
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tag(s): citations (33)

Find hundreds of useful charts and diagrams that illustrate philosophy, english, history, science, current events, and more for free, online viewing. You will find PDFs, posters, timelines, etc. Learn about topics such as: Most Famous Paintings, World Leaders Timeline, Muppet Voices Chart, New Seven Wonders, Human Evolution Timeline, and more. General "subjects" include Social Studies Charts, Most Popular Charts, Psychology Charts, Philosophy & Religion Charts, English Charts, Science Charts, and many others! The site is selling charts and downloads, but you can view the site for FREE. Zoom in to see details using the View menu in your web browser or touchpad zooming on Macs.
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tag(s): art history (102), charts and graphs (171), grammar (137), multiple intelligences (7), myths and legends (37), poetry (193), politics (118), psychology (65), religions (95), solar system (110), space (222), timelines (56)

MathFlix is a resource of over 1000 videos sorted by topic. The site also includes over 400 downloadable worksheets that reinforce concepts and provide additional practice. The videos themselves are hosted at many different locations on the web, but this index makes it easy to find them by math topic. Enter the site by choosing either the "I am a teacher" or "I am a student" icon. The teacher link lists topics by standards and content within each standard. Choose from Number & Operations, Algebra, Technology, and more. Each of these links leads to further subcategories listing video titles to view. The student link leads to clickable images or words, including topic and subcategory. Choose one of these links to go directly to the list of videos available for that topic. Be sure not to miss the links at the bottom of the page. They aren't quite as obvious as information for the videos; however, they include additional information relating to Common Core, assessment, and curriculum support.

tag(s): area (53), charts and graphs (171), decimals (85), estimation (33), fractions (160), inequalities (25), logic (161), money (113), numbers (120), patterns (61), percent (59), perimeter (20), polls and surveys (49), probability (99), problem solving (233), statistics (121), symmetry (26), variables (14), whole numbers (9)

This short article provides some quick tips for using QR (Quick Response) codes in the classroom. Most ideas are easy to use immediately in a classroom setting. For example, use QR codes to link to exemplars to provide examples of quality work for students or use codes to make learning stations that link to online content. If you are interested in using QR codes in your classroom, this article will help you get started. Be sure to read the comments from others for some additional ideas for using QR codes in the classroom.

tag(s): qr codes (18)

Learn and explore everything about agriculture, food processing, sustainable farming, and equipment engineering interactively at this informate and entertaining site! The activities feature different concepts and promote various aspects of agriculture, math, science and society. Hover over the game icon with your mouse to view a short description of the activity, approximate playing time, grade range, curriculum area, and agriculture theme. At the end of each interactive, you can watch short, related video stories from the public television show "America's Heartland." Don't miss the Equipment Engineering challenge. The Educator Resources section contains standards, implementation ideas, and many activity sheets for classroom use. View resources by curriculum area or agriculture topic using the links on the left in this section.

tag(s): agriculture (49), animals (294), careers (156), conservation (102), life cycles (21), plants (146), problem solving (233), rounding (8)

Turtlediary is a one stop shop for learning games and more for early elementary students. Choose from various categories: games, videos, stories, and arts and crafts. Included under each heading is an age range and description of each activity. Be sure to scroll down near the bottom of the page to find lists of all learning games sorted by subject, sort further by choosing a grade level from preK through 2nd grade. For full access to this site, you must register (which does cost a fee). However, most of the interactives are currently available for FREE to guests with no registration.
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tag(s): addition (129), alphabet (53), alphabetical order (8), colors (63), counting (60), dinosaurs (43), gravity (43), human body (93), life cycles (21), map skills (63), phonics (51), preK (270), puzzles (149), subtraction (110)

Watch full episodes of your favorite PBS shows without having to record them. Videos may be searched by show name or by subject. Use the subscribe button to automatically subscribe to the show so you will never miss a new episode again.

tag(s): video (266)

If you need a resource for countdown timers, Promethean flipcharts, or phonics videos you may find what you need at this "extras" site from Crickweb. These are resources that don't fit neatly into their useful grade level categories, so are in this "other" spot on the site. Included are several Promethean flipcharts in zip format for easy download. Topics include function machines, weigh ins, and a number Venn diagram. Timers are for use on any PC or whiteboard and include countdown clocks in several formats such as a clock, timer, or "bomb." Some items require flash which is not available in all browsers.

tag(s): iwb (31), phonics (51), preK (270), time (91)