Teachers First - Thinking Teachers Teaching Thinkers

This resource allows you to create slide shows, greeting cards, scrapbooks, invitations, collages, and more. There is a free basic program, but there are paid upgrades available if desired. For educational purposes, the upgrades are not needed. Photos, videos, and music can all be added to your creations. A Smilebox template must be used to make your creations. Products made with this program can be shared to web pages and blogs, social networking sites, or emailed for free. Several themes in each category are free. You no longer have to download this program.

tag(s): blogs (67), images (263), movies (55), photography (131), slides (43)

This Fraction Webquest entitled "Come and Get It," takes students on a comprehensive journey through computation of fractions. The activities included in the webquest are thorough and engaging.

tag(s): cooking (33), fractions (160)

This interactive, bridge building simulation is a hands-on way to learn about not only physics but also cost effective design. There are clear, on screen instructions that students can easily read and follow. Even better, if they do not read the instructions, they may learn even more by trial and error. It all depends on the instructor's level of comfort and time constraints for purposeful play. There are 8 levels of bridge building and the goal of the simulation is to build a sound bridge that little creatures can safely pass over a large chasm. The little creatures remind one of a little purple cartooned lemmings. The only frustration is that once you click a spot on the screen you are stuck with that decision. If you make the decision and you do not look at it, you have to start all over again to fix it. This takes a plain bridge building lab to the next level by adding technology and allowing for multiple attempts without wasting materials. Another neat feature of this simulation is that you can embed it on your own website.Be aware: there are some advertisements at this site.

tag(s): forces (37), gravity (43), structures (18)

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 (71)

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 (146)

The Secret Millionaire's Club (SMC) will enhance any math, economics, language arts, or social studies lesson. This site provides students with financial and investing advice. The site is a partnership between AOL Kids and Warren Buffett. The site provides many areas for students to visit. There are episodes that students can watch that tackle a financial issue. The site also provides games for students to play and there is a blog that is written by one of the kids in the SMC. In addition, students can sign up to participate in the Buffett Bucks stock exchange where they can earn Buffett Bucks. The videos are hosted on YouTube. If your district blocks YouTube, then they may not be viewable.

tag(s): letter writing (20), money (114), writing (325)

Mathwizz.com provides help with many math related topics ranging from arithmetic to decimals to financial math. Interactive calculators allow students to test their own knowledge. Brief lessons or descriptions provide simple explanantions to various concepts.

tag(s): calculators (36), decimals (85), fractions (160)

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)

Solve distance, rate, and time problems with this engaging site. View a video introduction, learn how to solve sample problems, read about experiments, and learn strategies for solving these types of problems. Click on sample problems to solve. This site offers teacher and student materials as well as other resources. Want to challenge your students, click on the link for the FlyBy Math Simulator which allows you to manipulate the parameters of the plane and the problem being solved.

tag(s): measurement (123), ratios (47)

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 (155)

Math Warehouse offers numerous interactive Flash-based activities for middle school or secondary students. In addition to the interactives, Math Warehouse provides worksheets and links. The interactives provide ways to experiment with concepts followed by practice problems. Advise students to ignore the advertisements

tag(s): angles (52), calculators (36), equations (119)

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.
This site includes advertising.

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)

This site takes students through the history of the Abacus across various cultures and time periods in addition to showing how to use an abacus for calculating math problems. Students can follow directions to make their own abacus. Click to practice using an abacus to solve problems in addition, subtraction, square roots, cube roots, and more. Explore some of the artistic renditions of the abacus as inspiration for a visual-artistic math project.

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 (83), search engines (48)

Take brainstorming to a whole new level, including easy collaboration with others. Use Stormboard to place sticky notes, photos, and videos on a shared whiteboard. As you enter information on your sticky, new suggestions pop up along the bottom. Use this phenomenal aspect of Stormboard as suggestions by their "Idea Bots" may take you closer to your goal. Revisit "storms" as they are saved which adds more perspectives when viewing later. Let others' ideas incubate a bit and return to see what they have added. Free accounts allow up to 5 users, 1 administrator, and unlimited "storms." Begin by entering the name of your storm, choosing privacy options, adding a description, and inviting users to join in (Stormboard members or by email). Type on the stickies. Drag them to arrange. Stormboard will suggest possible new stickies along the bottom. The center sticky on your screen will drive the "smart" suggestions. If Stormboard's suggestions take you away from your goal in your description, move another sticky into the center spot or close the suggestions area. Use the viewfinder to see where all your stickies are located. Group related ideas together by aligning them together or color-coding them. Contributors can drag an "idea vote" to mark the ideas that they like best. Click on the tab "Top Ideas" to view those with most votes. Click on "All Unrated" to view all, including those with no votes (great idea if you may have missed one).

tag(s): brainstorming (18), creative fluency (5), organizational skills (88)

This site takes any quotation or poem and creates a "word cloud" (graphical display) of the words in a passage of text. Paste in any passage or the URL for any blog entry or web page (including newspapers online) to create a word cloud of the text. Enhance basic word clouds by using this site to create clouds in various shapes, use mouse rollover options, use font effects, and more. Elevate your word clouds into an art form. Once registered, change your password by clicking on the profile tab and entering your changes. Before creating a word cloud, agree to their terms that includes only using appropriate content. Copy and paste series of words or use the URL of a page where the words can be found. Choose a shape such as a heart, cloud, or geometric patterns. Choose a font as well as other options, and then click "Build the Cloud." Preview your cloud before saving. WordArt.com is free for personal and non-commercial use. However, you can only download Standard Quality (SQ) images for free.

tag(s): images (263), vocabulary (242), word choice (14), word clouds (13)