Teachers First - Thinking Teachers Teaching Thinkers

Find answers to the most curious questions that students ask on this great site. Search the site for your topic of interest, such as how cars work, what makes a refrigerator cold, or how construction has changed and the materials that are used. Articles provide diagrams, text, videos, images, and a range of other resources to show a curious student what makes something tick. The site's explanations are a great resource for "kitchen science" projects, getting budding inventors started, or providing added explanations of how things work the way they do. Click the top menu topics for the various subjects such as Adventure, Animals, and Autos through Money, Science, and Tech. Can't find your answer? Ask in the search, and it may become the question of the week. Sign up for the monthly newsletter. Search the other areas of the site such as "Games," "Quizzes," and "Pics and Puzzles." Find great podcasts and blogs. Scroll to the bottom to find fun facts, trivia, and even a poll of the day! Ignore the advertising; the site content is worth it.

tag(s): independent reading (81), questioning (36), trivia (19)

This free, fast loading, online calculator can be viewed full screen and operated by your mouse or keyboard. Various types are available from the most basic one to the scientific or BMI calculator. There is also a stopwatch tool available. If you speak a language other than English, simply click to change to the language of your choice - it's that easy.

Be aware: this site does include advertisements.
This site includes advertising.

tag(s): latin (23)

MindMeister is a free mind mapping program. It is easy to use online, on your mobile, or offline. Only the BASIC plan is free, allowing you up to 3 free collaborative mind maps. This is a device-agnostic tool, available on the web but also available for free as both an Android and iOS app. Use it from any device or move between several devices and still access your work. App and web versions vary slightly. There are many highly interactive features: printing, sharing (emailing), and collaborating with others in "real time."

tag(s): brainstorming (18), DAT device agnostic tool (147), graphic organizers (48), mind map (27)

Math is Fun when you visit this website that is loaded with games, activities and much more! Math activities are divided into topics such as Algebra, Data, Games, Dictionaries, Worksheets, and more. After choosing a topic there are several choices for appropriate activities within the category. The teachers page has links to many virtual manipulatives, puzzles, speed math and other classroom activities. All activities contain an explanation and solution to the puzzle. Although this site may appear as another "drill and kill" site, is also has a lot of extra features and activities included. If you are a math teacher, this is definitely a site worth taking a look at.

tag(s): logic (161), measurement (122), problem solving (233)

Learning Games has a large selection of games divided into easy to find categories. Topics include typing, music, history, science, health and more. For example, in the Social Studies category there are games to learn U.S. presidents and women in history. Each game includes an explanation of game rules. There is even a category with education songs and videos that includes Science songs!

tag(s): keyboarding (28), women (150)

Click on 10 Easy Steps to find out how to implement this tried and true technique for cooperative learning in a classroom studying any subject. Basically, teachers divide classrooms into groups of 5 or 6 students and appoint one as the leader to direct and report on the group's activities. Teachers divide the day's learning into as many groups as there are in their classrooms. Students read their parts. Groups may exchange expert learners to report on what is going on in other groups. Back in the original groups, each group reports on its part and students have some type of evaluative activity, like a quiz or other summary activity.
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Shmoop Pre-Algebra offers students an overview of basic operations, basic geometry, fractions, decimals, ratios, percentages, probability, and algebra including terms and additional websites. Interactives follow many topic overviews. The easy user interface will make it a favorite for students, though it is text-heavy in places.

tag(s): decimals (85), fractions (160), percent (59), ratios (47)

Primary Resource's Maths page has useful materials for teaching number concepts, measurement concepts, data and probability, computation, and much more. Resources include handouts, presentations, graphic organizers, worksheets and other printables, and lesson ideas. Most activities include a key that indicates the appropriate age group, grade level, or required skill level needed as well as its file format. This site is from the UK, so some of the pronunciations and spellings may differ from those in American English. This site does include advertisements.

tag(s): addition (129), measurement (122), subtraction (110)

Lego Education Activities are designed to be rich, fun-filled, creative learning experiences. They offer educators a means to use LEGO sets as essential tools that engage students while challenging their creativity and enhancing their knowledge and comprehension. As a thinking teacher, you only need to look on the Teachersfirst Editor's Blog here to realize what a hot topic teaching creativity is and how it fits into the classroom. From role-playing and meeting the needs of early childhood development to theme-based sets for older students, LEGO Activities offer a multi-disciplinary approach to teaching. There are also specific sets designed to cover specific subject areas, including technology curriculum. As you browse the activities, you will find obvious connections to curriculum in simple machines and other science topics, as well. Stay current and find a lot more stimulating ideas by checking out the LEGO Education and LEGO Smart Blogs available from theLego Education Activities page.

tag(s): creativity (86), critical thinking (127), logic (161), problem solving (233)

Sodoku is a popular game for all ages, this interactive site allows the you to play online. Choose from different ability levels from easy to hard and pick the tiles to use from numbers, symbols, or letters. Other options include a timer, sound, and placement of tiles. The bright, interactive format is easy to use and will keep all users engaged.

tag(s): logic (161), problem solving (233), puzzles (149)

This site features several free downloadable fractions worksheets including modeling fractions, reducing fractions, adding fractions, subtracting fractions, multiplying fractions, and dividing fractions. All of the fraction worksheets come complete with an answer key.

tag(s): worksheets (69)

This site, created for homeschooling families but useful in any classroom, provides downloadable game boards that can be used in any subject area. Game boards come in two varieties, start to finish and racetrack. The two varieties come in several different styles. Printable dice and game cards are also available as well as directions on how to assemble the game board.

tag(s): printables (36)

This site contains links to many different sources for rubrics. You can search by grade level, subject, or type making it easier to find an appropriate rubric.

tag(s): assessment (147)

The Common Core State Standards Initiative is a nationwide effort led by the National Governor's Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers to establish a common set of educational standards which aligns benchmarks and expectations across state lines. This system builds on what states are already doing by providing an opportunity to share experiences, best practices, and lessons, while maintaining high expectations that insure the quality of education across America to enable our students to maintain a competitive edge in the global economy.

Visit this website to find out exactly what the national K-12 standards are for English language arts and literacy in history/social studies, science and technology, as well as mathematics, and to find out if your state is one many states (at the time of this review) that have already committed to adopt the Common Core State Standards. Watch videos and the recorded webinar, and read about the key points and rigorous curriculum standards, including the content and skills related to the use of media and technology for critical analysis and production.

tag(s): commoncore (73)

At this site you will find a slide show with at least fourteen different programs you can use instead of PowerPoint for your lectures. Are your PowerPoint lectures boring you and your students? Take a look at this online slide show, and choose one of fourteen different programs to convert just one of your PowerPoint lectures. Not only is each program explained, but many have suggestions for integrating your lectures with the program. Take a look. Learn about some great web 2.0 sites (Prezi, TypeWith.me, Animoto, ToonDoo, and many others). Note that many of the tools mentioned are also reviewed on TeachersFirst in greater detail if you want to learn more.

tag(s): chat (41), comics and cartoons (55), digital storytelling (154)

Basic Mathematics is designed to help students and adults with the basic understanding of mathematics concepts and operations. Instructions follow a sequential logical order and concepts are presented in clear, simple terms. Advertisements can be distracting.

tag(s): decimals (85), fractions (160)

Mathematics Help Reference offers definitions, explanations, and examples for various math concepts from statistics to geometry to decimals. Although this site is rather "plain vanilla" it does offer a lot of great information in a sequential and concise manner.
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tag(s): decimals (85), integers (21), probability (99), ratios (47)

This site is quick, easy, requires no registration, and FREE. Upload your image to this site in order to create a smaller file size for use on other sites and applications as well as adding effects such as corner rounding, rotating, tinting, changing contrast/brightness, or adding borders/edges. Upload an image up to 5 MB to alter easily with this site. Web resizer automatically reduces the file size to create an optimized image. Be sure to click "apply changes" once you have finished making selections. Click "start over" to remove previous changes. Download the image easily in a JPEG format.

tag(s): images (263)

This site allows you to safely share YouTube videos and crop the parts that you do not want from the video. The process is simple. Find a YouTube video that you would like to share with your students. Paste the link for the video into safe share TV, click to edit, and copy the link of your trimmed YouTube video. It can be pasted into powerpoint, webpages, social networking sites, and anything else you can think of! A safe and easy way to bring media into your class for free.

tag(s): safety (68)

Looking for the most from your search? Use Goofram to find the best of both Google and Wolfram alpha all in one place. View top Google searches using Safesearch as well as Wolfram alpha (which include definitions and abundant resources.)

tag(s): resources (84), search engines (48)