Teachers First - Thinking Teachers Teaching Thinkers

Teach real-world financial literacy using Banzai! Learn to prioritize spending by using simulations, interactives, and "choose-your-own-adventure" style situations. There are three levels: Banzai Jr (grades 3-7), Banzai Teen (grades 6-12), and Banzai Plus (grades 9-12) all available in PDF format. Start the course with an assesment (pre-test) to determine your financial literacy. Then engage in real-life interactive situations covering balancing a budget and paying your cell phone bill, to paying for unexpected bills like car trouble. Student accounts receive free access to Banzai for life, allowing the opportunity to go back and review lessons at any time. After creating a teacher account, request the opportunity to receive the Life Scenario booklets for your class at no charge (this is dependent on funding from local financial organizations). If not available, print the booklets using the PDF download.

tag(s): financial literacy (93), game based learning (205)

Block out all distractions and just start writing with ZenPen. Remove the instructions found on the page (just highlight and click delete). Begin writing without any visual elements in the way. No registration is required! Highlight text and select options to add italics, bold text, or URLs. Use links on the left side of the page to change text and background colors to black and white, toggle to full screen, add a word count, or save work.

tag(s): editing (93), process writing (37), proofreading (21), writing (325)

Technovation Families: Curiosity Machine connects scientists and engineers with young people to help design and create projects together. Create an account to begin using features on the site. Discover challenges to build on your own, including categories such as aerospace, robotics, engineering, and more.See the menu on the left to see them all. Find inspiration by watching videos of scientists and engineers sharing their inventions. Share your finished projects as inspiration for other aspiring engineers and scientists.

tag(s): aeronautics (11), computers (109), design (79), engineering (129), gifted (66), inventors and inventions (80), makerspace (40), oceans (149), problem solving (233), robotics (24), STEM (297)

Milestones offers a collection of videos demonstrating grade-level expectations for Kindergarten through middle school. Choose a grade to start. Select a video from the different categories offered, including reading, math, and writing. These short videos run about a minute in length and provide an excellent look at the successful accomplishment of grade-level goals. If your district blocks YouTube, then they may not be viewable.

tag(s): parent conferences (21), parents (57), professional development (385), video (266)

Finally, worksheets will be cool! Create interactive worksheets, or use one that is already developed and make it your own with wizer.me. After signing up with email get started with Add Task. Follow the prompts for creation; these include selecting text style and color, and choosing a background, adding student tasks (Text, Video, Link, Image), and more. Select question style: Open Question, Multiple Choice, Matching, and more. Then there are the more unusual type responses like Filling in a Table, Image Tagging, Embedding, and others, with promises of more to come. Share with students by posting the URL given, using a pin code on their worksheet board, or use your Google Classroom account. At the time of this review, wizer.me support was through email and real-time online chat. Wizer.me works on any device with a browser and Internet connection but works best on Chrome and Safari.

tag(s): gamification (83), multimedia (53), worksheets (69)

Download Boomerang to organize your Gmail! Schedule when to send messages, remind yourself to follow up if you do not get a reply email, and mark emails that you need to read at a later time. The basic plan is free and includes most features.
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tag(s): organizational skills (88)

Track learning in real-time with Quizalize. Student answers are color-coded on the teacher dashboard for ease in identifying who needs more help. Create scrambled word, multiple choice questions, and ChapGPT quizzes, and each question can have a custom timer. View reports for each student's progress and learning gaps. Create a quiz or select one from Quizalize's growing library. Quizzes can be "gamified" by showing the teacher dashboard as a leaderboard to see progress against other contestents. Quizalize works on any device with a browser and Internet connection. Sign up with an email and password. Create a quiz, assign it to classes, get a code, give it to students, and let the fun begin! The free account provides 3 classes and 5 activities.

tag(s): differentiation (84), game based learning (205), gamification (83), polls and surveys (49), quizzes (90)

Support learning of numbers and operations with these four activities requiring nothing more than pencil and paper. These game-like activities offer practice in mental computation, column addition, combinations of 10, and multiples of 10. Be sure to check out the Math Game Tips offering excellent advice for all math activities.

tag(s): addition (129), base ten (5), game based learning (205), mental math (19), multiples (15)

Seesaw is a digital portfolio that is totally free for all devices and on the web. Students can showcase their work, videos, text, drawings, and images, and get feedback from teachers and parents. Create a class blog in your Seesaw for students to write blog posts. Teachers create an account with email and then start creating as many classes as needed. There is no limit on the number of students a class can have. Once students have parental permission, give students a "join" code for their class, and they sign up from there, choosing to access their account through a Seesaw generated QR code or their email. Teachers can enable or disable student likes, comments, and editing. Blog posts and comments must have teacher approval before becoming public. Students will be able to reflect on their work with a voice recording or text, and can share artifacts from their portfolio by clicking the red button at the bottom of the screen and then either print or get the item QR code. Once you have an account, click Help & Teacher Resources to find Getting Started Tips, Tutorial Videos, FAQs, and Activity Ideas grouped by grade level. If your district blocks YouTube, the tutorials may not be viewable. Please be aware that Seesaw falls under the FERPA laws for "directory information" and "educational records." Any school getting funds from the Department of Education (public schools) is required to disclose to parents and get written consent to use Seesaw with their child.

tag(s): blogs (65), communication (129), DAT device agnostic tool (147), digital storytelling (154), Learning Management Systems (20), portfolios (23), Teacher Utilities (198)

Develop rubrics to assess what you expect students to learn with Quick Rubric. Registration is free and allows for saving the rubric. Click Create a Rubric and add a title, brief description, and the maximum and minimum scores. Describe your indicators, add descriptors, and even include standards. At any time during the formation of the rubric add columns and rows. Save and share via URL or printing. The ability to copy and modify a rubric from your account is a great time-saver.
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tag(s): assessment (147), rubrics (37)

ArtsEd LAB is a FREE publication that provides countless ideas, explanations, lesson plans, videos, podcasts, and more. Download one of several toolkits with links to videos and lesson plans. Free resources list of topics include An Article Library, Resource Guides, Free Lessons, and Teacher Workshops.

tag(s): architecture (75), professional development (385), robotics (24), STEM (297)

Help Carl and his friends enter the school raft race challenge. Use your math skills to collect the four items needed to build a raft. Complete as many activities as possible to enhance the quality of your raft. Practice your skills with basic operations, symmetry, time, equations, diagrams, and more. When finished, watch what happens when Carl and his friends enter the race!

tag(s): equations (119), symmetry (26), time (91), venn diagrams (15)

Share positive moments and increase your happiness! Share by describing your happy moment, upload a picture (not required), and place it in categories you create, such as working out, family, and more. Click Share to share with others, including on Twitter or Facebook. Why use categories? If you are lacking motivation for working out, viewing your positive messages from before can definitely help! Connect with others and comment on their happy moments! Read helpful tips to center you on happiness, find mini-courses, and use daily reminders to increase your happiness. Read the many articles on your journey to a happier YOU! This site/app is easy to use with today's busy lives, and interactivity is grounded in actual science.

tag(s): emotions (49), mental health (48), psychology (65), social and emotional learning (102)

The Los Angeles Unified School District offers resources for math instruction in all grades and correlated to Common Core Standards. Choose from elementary, middle, or high school links to find curriculum maps, lessons, and assessments offered by grade level or high school curriculum topic. Middle and High School links also provide intervention through tutorial labs. Be sure to check out the printable article Opening Strong in a Common Core Classroom that provides many suggestions and strategies for the first ten days of school.

tag(s): assessment (147), commoncore (73), professional development (385)

Bill's Games offers a variety of free online activities and puzzles. Although this site is "plain vanilla," there are classic activities that offer challenges for all ages. Scroll through the home page to find puzzles, board games, mazes, and word games. Each activity includes directions for play and many offer options for difficulty levels.
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tag(s): game based learning (205), logic (161), problem solving (233), puzzles (149)

Odd Squad had its start with the television series Odd Squad on PBS Kids. Join the squad as an agent to solve challenges using reasoning and math skills to "put things right again." The activities promote a variety of levels to differentiate for each student. The interactive activities strengthen reasoning and challenge an understanding of math concepts. Find episodes of Odd Squad, Games, and more on this site and bring the television series to life. After registering, earn agent awards for achievements.
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tag(s): critical thinking (127), logic (161), problem solving (233)

Search and share animated GIF files with Giphy. Search using keywords or browse by categories, authors, or stickers. Create a free account to save your favorites. Easily share or embed GIF's using the codes provided.

tag(s): animation (64), images (263), photography (130)

Create an interactive categorization activity with The Vortex. Give the activity a title and begin adding categories. Add items in up to four different categories. When finished, drag and drop items as quickly as possible into the correct bin. Use the provided links to share the activity, embed into a blog or web page, or print it. Use password protection if desired to limit access. Click the question mark on the bottom right toolbar, and scroll down that page to find many templates for inspiration or use.
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tag(s): game based learning (205), quiz (67), quizzes (90)

Design professional looking front pages for a newspaper with this tool. Simply fill in the pertinent information (headline, date, place, and more) and an image. Share via URL, Twitter, or download to your computer. Be sure to view the several samples available, and click on the little question mark at the end of the title to see ideas for use of this tool. No registration is necessary.

tag(s): digital storytelling (154), images (263), newspapers (93)

Conduct virtual conferences with up to 1,000 people at one time with Free Conference Call. Instantly share your screen during online calls for participant viewing or use the active speaker mode. Other features allow for recording and sharing meetings when finished. After creating an account, follow instructions for inviting participants and setting up the conference call. This tool works on any device with a modern web browser and Internet access, or download the free iOS or Android app.

tag(s): blended learning (37), chat (41), communication (129), DAT device agnostic tool (147), parent conferences (21), parents (57), remote learning (54)