Teachers First - Thinking Teachers Teaching Thinkers

The 180 Days Challenge is based on the PBS series 180 Days: Hartsville documentary. Take the challenge as a teacher, administrator, or parent to answer problem-based scenarios related to education. After completion, view results that provide insight into your education style and how it relates to the current educational climate. In addition to the challenge questions, this site includes several video excerpts from the series featuring events such as conferences and a discussion of generational poverty. If your district blocks YouTube, they may not be viewable.

tag(s): classroom management (120), professional development (385)

Get Hott Notes to create sticky notes, lists, or scribbles, to keep on your home screen. Never again have your sticky notes get buried on your desk or lose their stick and fall off the wall! If you have a Windows machine, download the program, and find the hot notes icon on the task bar. Easily create a note, list, or scribble at no cost. Add an alarm feature to a note or change colors of notes. Lists have a check off feature to help keep track of each item completed. Done with a note? Click it away. Never buy or lose your important sticky notes again. See the download section for directions about how to take your computer desktop stickies with you everywhere!

tag(s): note taking (36)

Learn the 19 most important topics to teach for Digital Citizenship. Also, get many great ideas for resources by grade level K-8 with this interesting article. Most resources discussed in the article also include a short description of how others have used it in the classroom.
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tag(s): copyright (44), creative commons (28), cyberbullying (40), digital citizenship (85), internet safety (114)

Homeroom Mom is an online community to share tips and tools for working with classroom teachers. Don't let the title fool you, this site contains valuable information for anyone working with students! Choose from the many categories to find ideas for decorations, crafts, holidays, and much more. Select Letters, Flyers, and Forms to find a yearly planning calendar, party sign-up sheets, and other handy forms for immediate use.

tag(s): classroom management (120), field trips (8), holidays (187), parents (57), preK (271)

The Diabetes Quiz is a free educational resource to help you learn about diabetes, healthy bodies, and minds. There are 400 multiple choice questions about diabetes basics, diet and nutrition, fitness and exercise, stress and relaxation, and statistics. Take a quiz and find out what you know. Make a plan for a better you! Diabetes Quiz will work on any device with a modern web browser and an Internet connection.

tag(s): mental health (48), nutrition (140)

Common Core Math is a PDF document providing an overview of mathematics skills developed through Common Core Standards. Designed for use with curriculum nights or conferences in mind, information on each grade level fits on the front and back of one page when printed (two pages for high school). View advice for use as a parent or teacher on the first page. Be sure to scroll down to the two last pages providing an excellent overview of the big picture of teaching math and general tips for parents.

tag(s): commoncore (73), parent conferences (21), parents (57)

Go Ask Alice! answers participant-submitted questions on topics like alcohol, emotions, nutrition, relationships, and sexuality. Browse the recent Q & A category to find information on emotional and mental health, relationships, alcohol, and more. Choose Fun Stuff to take several quick quizzes on sleep, stress, and nutrition. Stay up to date with the latest health news with resources located in the Health Info & Resources tab. This site includes mature discussions of sexuality, alcohol, and drugs so it is important to preview all information before sharing with students.

tag(s): adolescence (12), difficult conversations (57), drugs and alcohol (28), mental health (48), sexuality (15)

Young Men's Health provides researched health information for boys and young men. Browse through health guides in alphabetical order or review topics such as Nutrition & Fitness, General Health, and Emotional Health. Preview all information before sharing with students. This site contains specific information relating to teen health including sexual questions. Preview before you share with students!

tag(s): adolescence (12), fitness (39), mental health (48), nutrition (140)

Receive quality health information at the Center for Young Women's Health geared toward female teens. Browse this reference site for quizzes and parent guides, as well as health guides divided into topics such as Nutrition & Fitness, Sexuality & Health, Health & Development, Gynecology, and Emotional Health. Click the Parents link to find many articles and guides for discussing teen health issues. This site contains specific information relating to teen health including sexual questions so it is suggested that you preview all information before sharing with students.

tag(s): adolescence (12), fitness (39), mental health (48), nutrition (140)

Give your students practice and instruction in standardized test style format. Find an easy way to create Common Core assignments using PARCC and Smarter Balanced question types. Passages allow for highlighting, graphs, image labeling, and video sections for background knowledge. Questions include a section for written response to improve evidence-based answers as well as multiple choice. Teachers can share their assignments or use other teacher created assignments. Students receive immediately graded feedback. With a free teacher account, save questions to your library.

tag(s): assessment (147), test prep (69)

Need practice worksheets or new teaching techniques? Go to Dads! Find printable flashcards, fact family math with timed tests, place value, decimals, fractions, patterns, negative numbers, word problems, order of operations, geometry, time, measurement, rounding, and metrics. Find several versions for multiple opportunities for practice. Included is an online timer. Join the newsletter to view the latest new additions.
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tag(s): addition (129), fractions (160), measurement (122), order of operations (29), subtraction (110), worksheets (69)

Useful Science is a newsfeed of one-sentence summaries of articles from peer-reviewed scientific publications and journals. Browse through the home page for the newest summaries. View content sorted by topics: Creativity, Fitness, Happiness, Healthy, Nutrition, Sleep, Parenting, and more. Click the summary to view the entire journal article (or abstract). Some of the summaries link to the entire journal article, while others only offer an abstract of the full text. Warning: Some of these articles are not appropriate for less-mature students. Please remember to preview before you share.
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tag(s): creativity (86), fitness (39), nutrition (140), parents (57), science fairs (20), trivia (19)

Expect more, Achieve More is a coalition of business, community, and educational organizations working towards higher standards in education. Find explanations of Common Core and its importance in our country and government. A parental brochure explains the importance of Common Core and ways to assist at home. View the importance of Common Core to teachers and community members.

tag(s): commoncore (73)

Gift Cards for Good collects gift cards with a "little" left on them and uses them to buy things for charities. This 501C3 tax-exempt organization, was created by a 10 year old. Explore the links to find out where to send your leftover gift cards. Find the links to various charities around the world. Find other ideas about how to help around your community (without gift cards).

tag(s): service projects (17)

Lifesaver is a crisis simulation that fuses interactivity and live-action film to teach how to help someone during a heart attack and CPR in a new way. View different crisis simulations while reacting within acceptable limits. Scores give feedback at the end of each scenario. In addition to the simulator activities, view answers to medical questions related to heart health, CPR, and choking by scrolling down to choices at the bottom of the home page. This simulator works on any device. However, the CPR demonstration does offer more ease in the free app versions than on a personal computer. This site was created in the UK. American English speakers may notice some slight spelling differences. Tip: you must check that you accept the terms to "Enter" the site!

tag(s): DAT device agnostic tool (147), heart (27), medicine (57)

Homeroom is an online tool and mobile app to share your class photos privately with parents, students, and others. Create an album and invite people to view it. Each time you update it, the members will be notified. When you populate your album with photos, you can also add a comment. Access Homeroom and upload photos on any device. For Initial registration you can use the app (iOs or Android) or register using your Google or Facebook account, or manually using email. Once registered, you can access the tool using any device using your username and password. Invite others from any device or computer by phone number or email address. They will become members and will be able to update your photo albums. You will be alerted about the new content. Albums are private. Only the people with the invite have access to the photos.

tag(s): DAT device agnostic tool (147), images (263), photography (130)

The Parenting Guides provide informative guides to child development from preK through High School. Choose from grade-level charts to view academic, health, and social guidelines with benchmarks and tips. Articles by noted experts offer up to date information and advice for parents and teachers of all grade levels. Don't forget to browse through the National Resources for local help with Mathematics and English, searchable by state.

tag(s): child development (24), learning styles (18), parent conferences (21), parents (57), preK (271), social skills (22)

Make the most of Red Ribbon Week with ideas and support from the official Red Ribbon Campaign website. Choose from many downloads such as the official planning guide, Red Ribbon fact sheet, printable pledge sheet, and photo contest flyer. Sign an online pledge for adults to help children grow up safe and drug free. Read the Red Ribbon Blog to stay up to date on all the latest events and information about the Red Ribbon Campaign.
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tag(s): drugs and alcohol (28), red ribbon week (9)

We all know that the Internet is a busy, non-stop source of activity and information. This interesting infographic spells out just how much data is generated each minute as of April, 2014. Find information such as how many Google searches occur in a minute, how many emails are sent, and the number of Apple app downloads take place every minute. This fascinating infographic provides a wealth of information to help understand the size of the Internet and social networking sites.

tag(s): infographics (56), internet safety (114)

Visit Pacer's National Bullying Prevention Center (PNBC) to discover resources for implementing a bullying prevention program in your community and school. There are many pages to explore through clicking on the menu tabs at the top. There are over sixty videos of special interest for all age groups. The Students with Disabilities section (scroll down the main page) has five facts everyone needs to know, and you can download it in PDF format. Investigate the Educator Toolkits and Activities. The Student Activity Kit is for students to help them prevent bullying. There is a Year Long Toolkit available for all classrooms. Use the search bar to find a variety of toolkits, including a Community Toolkit that has ideas for holding a rally, organizing a run, or creating an advocacy program. Under the Educators tab, slide to Middle/Highs School Acitivities where you will find activiites for Instagram, Student Created Videos, music, and others. The videos are hosted on YouTube. If your district blocks YouTube, they may not be viewable.

tag(s): bullying (48), character education (79), cyberbullying (40), digital citizenship (85)