Teachers First - Thinking Teachers Teaching Thinkers

If famous people from long ago had inboxes, what would be in them? Famous Inboxes takes that concept and creates inboxes for characters in literature, entertainment, and history. Choose from artists, musicians, great leaders, authors, and many more categories. Each inbox contains a screenshot of the person's email (mythical) inbox including the subject of the email and the sender. This is an entertaining and provocative site sure to inspire lots of ideas for your own use! Be sure to preview before you share as some of the topics (or "texting" language) may not be appropriate for the classroom.

tag(s): creative writing (124), digital storytelling (154), gamification (83), social networking (61)

Doorway Online provides several early elementary level learning activities in the areas of literacy, math, typing, and memory games. Choose one of the categories to view game titles, then click to play. Some games offer learning or testing modes as an option for play while others provide several options for differentiating activities. Created in Scotland, this site uses British spellings and currencies.

tag(s): addition (129), alphabet (53), counting (60), keyboarding (28), Online Learning (36), phonics (51), preK (270), sounds (43), spelling (97), subtraction (110), time (91)

This site offers three useful, downloadable posters to help parents help their student with Reading, Spelling, and Math. Each poster includes several easy to implement suggestions for help at home: letting your student see you read, having your student explain how to solve problems when doing homework, and more. Click on the links provided with each poster to go to the original graphic or to print a PDF version of the poster. Be sure to give proper credit.
This site includes advertising.

tag(s): back to school (55), literacy (121), parent conferences (21), spelling (97)

Skype as a Learning Call is a PDF loaded with information on using Skype calls in your classroom. Different pages include information such as what to do before, during, and after a call for both you and your students. Also included are student handouts to record information from calls. Be sure to check this out as an excellent resource for getting the most of your Skype learning experiences!

tag(s): skype (2), webcams (19)

Room Recess contains several educational games for elementary students created by a 3rd Grade teacher, and is still growing! Room Recess has more than doubled in size since this review first published, and now offers more than thirty free games. The games are arranged in four categories; math games, reading games, word games, and matching games. Choose from free word or math games with titles such as Pizzeria Parlor and Prefix Popper. Practice skills such as basic operations, sequencing, spelling, sight words, tic-tac-toe, and many more! The games are in four categories; math games, reading games, word games, and matching games. Each activity includes short directions before play begins.

tag(s): addition (129), antonyms (12), division (98), flash cards (44), fractions (160), game based learning (205), keyboarding (28), multiples (15), multiplication (122), operations (72), parts of speech (39), prefixes (10), preK (270), reading strategies (96), sequencing (17), spelling (97), subtraction (110), time (91)

Flask is a very simple list maker. Type in your first to-do item and press enter to create a new list. NO membership required! The unique url generates, and your list is ready to use. Continue typing items as needed and change the name of your list if desired. Use the share button to view the url, embed link or to email the list.

tag(s): organizational skills (88)

Tools for Educators is a great site to build an engaging classroom. Worksheet templates, printables, and game makers enhance your classroom instruction. Customize printable word searches with images in seconds. Crossword puzzles can be created as well and even on the same page as a word search. Design your own dice with images or text on the face of the dice. Roll the dice and create dice with text and images! Are your students bored with games? Need activities for centers or stations? The board game maker is a worksheet wizard that allows you to create board games on any theme with pictures. Tools for Educators currently has games for over 20 themes. Build your own BINGO boards, or be amazed by the maze maker. Make your own mazes for the students to explore with questions on content! Don't fall over, but create your own dominoes with text on the left and images on the right. You can't go wrong! Create spelling and reading worksheets as well as handwriting worksheets for students to trace. Tools for Educators is an award winning site itself. Choose from 70 different themes in over a 1,000 styles to create certificates. Picture this...vocabulary words with images. Tools for Educators allows you to create visual vocabulary handouts.
This site includes advertising.

tag(s): back to school (55), handwriting (15), images (263), printables (36), puzzles (149), resources (83), worksheets (69)

Don't remember how to play certain games or need to find some new ideas? This is the site for you! How Do You Play contains instructions for many classroom-friendly games and activities. Choose from categories of active games, board games, classroom games, icebreakers, sports, and many more. Find instructions and information for great icebreaker questions/games, how to build the tallest tower, playing spoons, how to play a photo scavenger hunt, egg drop with teambuilding, life timelines, and much more. Each game or activity includes a list of materials needed, number of players, time required, and directions for play. Some directions for strategy games also include strategy options. Although many of the games seem juvenile, the team building and icebreaker options are even good for adults.

tag(s): back to school (55), firstday (22), sports (82)

Download and print many types of papers easily from Printable Paper. Lose the excuse, "I don't have any graph (or other) paper!" Choose from popular types such as lined paper (college or wide rule), several forms of graph paper, letter templates, and much more. Use the categories listing to find specific options to narrow your search such as different forms of penmanship paper, score sheets, or music papers. There are even several different comic page templates and storyboard templates for storytelling or story mapping. Click on any paper image to download in PDF format. A special heading for teacher resources includes lesson plan paper and more. The specialty papers include doorhanger patterns to decorate and cut out. Don't miss the printable games.
This site includes advertising.

tag(s): charts and graphs (171), comics and cartoons (55), handwriting (15), letter writing (19), musical notation (34), preK (270)

Inspire yourself and your students with Windows to the Universe Motivational Quotes. Although a rather simple site in appearance, there is a lot of "good stuff" here. Add creativity, encouragement, and an atmosphere of excellence to your classroom and your life.
This site includes advertising.

tag(s): firstday (22), quotations (19)

Deep Space Sparkle is an out of this world site that provides art lesson plans, student examples, tutorials, tips, and techniques. Are you looking to become art smart? Are your students craving creativity? These ideas are classroom tested and teacher approved. Perfect for art or classroom teachers in grades K-6, this site was developed by an elementary art teacher. Lesson plans are organized by subject, grade, and techniques. Use the search box to find specific lessons. Visit the "Art Basics" section to build your background or review art vocabulary found in the lessons. Go "Inside the Art Room" for information on classroom management, organization, supplies, and how-to videos. The posts are detailed and provide insight with authentic classroom experiences. Don't forget to dig through the "Scrap Box" section of the site for more great art information! Blog posts, book reviews, and art shows are just a few of the items located in the "Scrap Box" section. At the time of this review, there were also a few Common Core and the Arts blog posts. Deep Space Sparkle is free, but offers eBooks and eCourses for purchase. This review was for the FREE portion only. Don't forget to subscribe to the Deep Space Sparkle mailing list to receive updates.
This site includes advertising.

tag(s): architecture (75), art history (102), artists (84), design (79)

Tableizer is a "cool tool" for creating HTML code to show spreadsheet data in table format. No one wants to learn how to write HTML (web page code) to make tables, but adding a table to your blog is sometimes a must to line up information into columns. Copy and paste your cells from Excel, Calc, or other spreadsheets into the box provided. Choose options such as font size and style and color. Click the Tableize it! button to view the HTML code along with a preview of the results. Copy and paste the HTML code into any web page you create, such as your blog or wiki. The best part: no registration is required.
This site includes advertising.

tag(s): blogs (65), data (151), spreadsheets (23)

Do you wish you had enough time in your schedule for one-on-one personalized writing conferences with your students or writers you know? Kaizena (previously 121Writing) can make that dream a reality. Kaizena allows you to give feedback on writing via an audio recording. Writers often have difficulty reading the margin notes from teachers or other readers, or they need more explanation. An audio recording of the feedback provides a personalized experience to enhance the writing process. Kaizena works best by synching with your Google Drive account. There is an option at the bottom of the page to sign up by sending in your name and email address. However, this can take a while, so plan ahead! Sign in with your Google account to watch a helpful video and learn how to connect to your Google Drive account or school Google Apps account.

Start by highlighting a text selection, hit record, and provide your feedback. Writers will be able to listen to your feedback and revise or edit their writing as though you were face to face. Tag your highlighted text with keywords that can be tracked in a mastery-based rubric. You could tag conventional errors, mistakes, or selections that are amazing. Verbal feedback can be played on an iPad so students can listen in the best learning environment to meet their needs. Writers will progress as you enhance the writing process with explicit audio feedback. Kaizena can enhance feedback for written work for any school subject or even outside of school. With the free Kaizena you can create up to 5 lessons.

tag(s): communication (129), editing (93), process writing (37), writing (324)

EnglishForEveryone.org is a great resource for printable English/Grammar worksheets. This site contains hundreds of worksheets that are broken down by category. Each category contains a lesson explanation with links to PDF worksheet with answers.

tag(s): grammar (137), grammar review (31), spelling (97), worksheets (69)

Newsela offers four leveled news articles at five reading levels for teachers to choose from. The articles will be available for four weeks; Newsela Lite is free for any teacher to access four pre-selected news articles, select and lock reading levels for students, see alignment to state standards, schedule assignments and set due dates, access students' quiz scores, and respond to students' writing prompt submissions and annotations. Many of these features were on the "premium" account until the 2023-2024 school year.

Incase you're wondering - Newsela features current events stories tailor-made for classroom use. Click "Products" on the top menu and slide down to browse content in subject areas (social studies, science, etc.). Stories are student-friendly and can be accessed in different formats by reading level. Use Newsela to differentiate nonfiction reading. Newspaper writers rewrite a story four times for a total of five Lexile levels per story. All articles have embedded Common Core-aligned quizzes that conform to the reading levels for checking comprehension, customizable assignments, writing prompts, and annotations. An account is required to use Newsela, both for teachers and for students, but students sign up using a teacher or parent-provided code rather than an email address. Click the Resources tab at the top to find guides and short webinars. Teachers can create classes and assign reading-level specific articles to individual students or download printable PDF copies of the article in any of its reading-level versions. There is no outside advertising.

tag(s): DAT device agnostic tool (147), differentiation (84), guided reading (33), independent reading (81), news (228), reading comprehension (149), remote learning (54)

Teach students how to develop close reading skills with Actively Learn. Choose from over 150 commonly taught texts that include embedded Common Core aligned questions and multimedia. Choose from any public domain texts or any article from the Internet and be guided through creating your own Common Core aligned questions. Also, embed your own multimedia or images. Reading "school texts" becomes much more personalized when students are able to write notes, questions, or respond to their reading directly on the page they are reading. This is like the old way of using paper and pencil to annotate the text in the margin. Others can respond to questions and notes written by peers reading the same text. Actively Learn makes it easy to set up an assignment by having a "help" button for each area that will show a video for help, or download a PDF to read the instructions. Not only will you find poetry, drama, and stories, but also nonfiction for the sciences and the humanities. The introduction video requires Flash. The rest of the site does not.

tag(s): guided reading (33), reading strategies (96)