Teachers First - Thinking Teachers Teaching Thinkers

Need a PowerPoint? Check this site first to find one on a topic you need from the vast array available. The free PowerPoints and interactive activities are easily downloaded. To find the FREE PowerPoint presentations, click on the FREE Presentations in PowerPoint Format link found directly under the red train. There are literally hundreds of topics (over 1,200 at the time of this review). Topics are listed in alphabetical order. There are so many topics: Plagiarism, Integers, Interjections, IQ Tests, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Graphic Organizers, Graphs, Gold Rush, the Bible, Economics, Amelia Earhart (and many other heroes), Descriptive Writing, Coral Reefs, Civil Rights Movement, Autism, Ancient Civilizations, Presidents, Louisiana Purchase, Money, Music Instruments, How to Write an Outline, Rosa Parks, Resumes, Terrorism, Vietnam War, and many MANY others. Primary teachers will appreciate simple activities on Dolch words and other sight vocabulary! Pages are arranged in topics such as "Plants and Animals," "World History," "Biology, Chemistry, and Physics," and "Problem Solving." There are many professional topics on exceptionalities, as well. Each page includes a vast array of subtopics. Other links on the page include "Greta's Game Station" and "Hannah's Help" which offers information on researching.

tag(s): 20th century (62), adhd (27), back to school (55), electricity (61), flight (34), inventors and inventions (82), literature (221), parts of speech (39), polar (10), politics (119), speech (69), states (125), war of 1812 (15), world war 1 (79), world war 2 (161)

This subsection of the Songs for Teaching site has excellent chants and other childhood favorite songs which get children moving, speaking, and rhyming. Words to the fingerplays and songs are copyable, and many contain Quicktime sound excerpt files as well (enough to get you going with the song, though not the complete song). A few even have pictures of someone going through the motions of the song or rhyme. A link to Songs for Early Childhood allows you to see even more action songs. There are even songs to go with class content, such as Martin Luther King, Jr. Your kinesthetic learners will retain the concepts in these songs. ESL, ELL, and speech/language students will respond to the music; it aids with articulation, accent development, and memory. This site requires Quicktime. Get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.

tag(s): plays (32), preK (284), rhymes (22), songs (46)

Learn about New Year's celebrations around the world. Click on the name of a country to read a brief synopsis of its customs and traditions. Includes links to New Year's-inspired recipes, poetry, and songs. The songs provide lyrics only

tag(s): new years (5), poetry (196), songs (46)

This site offers some basic research on MANY "Amazing" Americans. Click to learn more about "Amazing" Leaders & Statesmen, U.S. Presidents, Activists & Reformers, Adventurers & Explorers, Musicians & Composers, Writers & Artists, Industrialists & Entrepreneurs, Scientist & Inventors, or Athletes and Entertainers. Be prepared: when you click on one of the topics you may have a few people pop up OR more names than you can count! This is an excellent site for research, teaching students about American heroes, or using to enhance your social studies, science, or music curriculum. There are pictures and short articles of information. There are a few interactives that require Flash, however most of them don 't and the articles are well worth your time to investigate.

tag(s): composers (17), explorers (64), inventors and inventions (82), presidents (136), scientists (70)

This site offers an interesting mix of activities for all classes to use to celebrate the 100th day! Some are simple: songs, quick art projects, counting activities, or exercises. While others are more complex: learning to say hello in 100 languages, researching 100 African Americans who have made a difference (connecting 100th day activities to Black History month), and many others. This site is a basically a list of activities, but worth taking a look at.

tag(s): 100thday (9), black history (134), counting (61), writing (326)

Need lyrics to your favorite patriotic song? Find a wealth of patriotic lyrics here with a quick click. . Play the instrumental audio file, as well. Find Yankee Doodle, Navy Hymn, America the Beautiful, and about twenty other patriotic songs.

Note: Please assume that most songs are copyrighted, so please honor the authors and musicians by not distributing these songs.

tag(s): holidays (193), lyrics (15), memorial day (18), presidents (136), songs (46)

Endless children's music titles await your ears at this site. You will love the wide range of classic and contemporary children's songs. Lyrics to most songs are provided. Download these songs onto your classroom's computer or to an mp3 player, and your class will enjoy the wide variety of music offered.

tag(s): lyrics (15), preK (284), songs (46)

This page has been archived, but the links still work. This highly motivating website demonstrates step-by-step how to prepare a school musical. The website includes lyrics, drama vocabulary terms, musical notations, scenery, props, and an introduction to various types of music (including calypso). There is a Directors link that includes curriculum information, a glossary, and more. Use the website to teach your class about calypso music, drama vocabulary terms, and many other details pertaining to music and drama. Some of the activities require Flash, but most of this doesn't.

tag(s): ireland (11)

Brain Games offers a collection of over thirty interactive logic games, puzzles, music games, and more. Some specific topics include code breaking, coins, arithmetic, music notes, word scramble, and many others. There is even a card game version similar to "24." All of the activities require Flash. You can get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.

tag(s): logic (160), puzzles (149), sudoku (10)

Lead your students on an exploration of the art of Ancient Egypt! The Metropolitan Museum of Art has created a treasure trove of lesson plans and activities built around their stellar Egyptian collection. The educational resources integrate Egyptian art into language arts, social studies, math, science, and visual and performing arts. This would be a terrific launch point for a gifted enrichment unit. Dig into the Resources area to get an overview of the printable worksheets, bibliographies, maps, and online features. Be sure to click on the Curriculum Connection area for specific lesson plans and activities for your students.

tag(s): egypt (59)

Africa Focus offers a wealth of digital images and sound recordings from contemporary Africa. This collection from the University of Wisconsin contains more than 3000 slides, 500 photographs, and 50 hours of sounds from 45 different countries. Click Search the Collection to see image categories which include artisans, buildings and structures, cities and towns, education, landscape, religion, and women. Sound recordings include drums, greetings, rites and ceremonies, songs, and signing. The site is easily searched by keyword or by subject heading.

tag(s): africa (170), air (100), architecture (84), black history (134)

This site offers an introduction to symphonic music, the orchestra and its instruments in a child-friendly way. Listen to famous composer music clips, learn about the orchestra seating and the instruments included in each one. There are separate sections for students and teachers. Find lesson plans (searchable by grade and topic) in the Teachers Lounge section of the site, several engaging activities by clicking Activities.

tag(s): composers (17), musical instruments (54)

This Wikipedia-type dictionary includes more than 33,000 biographies on men and women from ancient times to today. Search by birth or death dates, professions, achievements, name or other keywords. Anyone can register to edit or add to a biography. If you do recommend this site as a source for research, be sure to have the discussion about its unknown authorship and usefulness as a general information tool but not as a "scholarly" resource.

tag(s): critical thinking (135)

This ESL site uses cute graphics to illustrate a variety of feelings. Users can view them online or print them out as flash cards. Genki's commentary adds suggestions of how to use the cards. An accompanying song file (RIGHT-click and Save Target As to download onto your computer) and lyrics spice up the lesson. There are also illustrative photos of a Japanese elementary class using hand gestures to reinforce the lesson. A free online game allows users to click on graphics when they hear the description of a feeling, such as, "I'm sad." Although the page itself advertises products, enough of the offerings are free to make this a worthwhile beginning-level ESL/ELL, speech/language, or emotional support lesson. This site requires Shockwave. Get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.

This site provides a multitude of songs and nursery rhymes from North America, Europe, Asia, South America, Africa and Australia. It is a user-friendly site with lyrics as well as audio of the song tunes (requires Quicktime). There are songs listed about colors, phonics, and much more in every language imaginable. Simply reading the titles will bring lesson plan ideas to mind! The options are endless with this site for primary and ESL students. World language teachers will also love the options for teaching basics.

tag(s): french (74), lyrics (15), nursery rhymes (9), rhymes (22), spanish (112)

Memory puzzles, comic stories, action alphabet and math flashcards are just a few features at this site. Art, music, reading, math, puzzles and more are accessed through easy dropdown links. The difficulty ranges from simple primary skills to more challenging puzzles. Use these great interactives to teach music composition, practice with numbers, letters, and colors, do paper cut-outs like Henri Matisse, or practice math and reading skills. ESL or elementary spelling teachers will like the simple "crossword" vocabulary interactive.

tag(s): alphabet (53), animation (66), counting (61), numbers (121), spelling (98)

The National Association for Music Education web site

This holiday website has a multitude of information about Christmas. There are close to 100 articles of interest provided. Topics include Christmas around the world, crafts, cooking, entertainment, games, gifts, history and more! My personal favorite aspect of this website was the information provided about the Christmas traditions in America, Australia, England, France, Germany, Mexico, Scotland, Spain and other countries.

tag(s): christmas (38), cultures (209)

Find the lyrics to favorite children's songs, ready for you to share in the classroom. Many also have MIDI audio files with them for you to sing along. The indexing is well done with songs organized alphabetically by the first word of the song. There is also a subject index helpful for planning a lesson on a certain theme. You can also search by phrase and more (see the explanation of phrase searching as well as substring matching. Some songs include a suggestion how it might be used: dance, fingerplay, etc. Information about song origin, adaptation, and copyright information is available as well.

tag(s): lyrics (15), songs (46)