Teachers First - Thinking Teachers Teaching Thinkers

Not only did Neil Gaiman's book Coraline become a movie in 2009, but his book The Graveyard Book, won the Newbery Medal at the same time. Explore the world of Nobody Owens, the main character in The Graveyard Book. But, if you want to know more about Nobody's creator, definitely explore this site. Listen to Neil read from his award-winning book. Read interviews to learn more about this fascinating man. Print posters, enjoy wallpapers, and play games based upon Gaiman's work. Enjoy video and audio of his books by clicking on "Extras."

tag(s): literature (221), posters (43)

Get an overview of any web search visually using Spezify. Spezify is a search engine that provides both visual and verbal results for the search terms you enter. It pulls in images from Flickr and anywhere on the web as well as print excerpts, and (coming soon) video. Click on the image or text box you wish to read just as you click on text in search results lists. Visually display the "big picture" on any topic. Searching "edison inventions" brings up pictures and articles for visual learners, ELL/ESL students, or non-readers to get the gist of the topic at a quick glance. Spezify also suggests possible additional search terms and related topics across the top of the page as white text within the narrow black stripe. If you click the plus sign (+) next to one of these terms, it will add that term to your search, narrowing the results. If you click on the word itself, Spezify will search that term instead (not adding it to your previous search). There does not appear to be any specific ranking (as Google has) or sorting of the results by reputation, popularity, etc. No "about" information is provided to explain how Spezify determines which results show first. The tool is still in beta and provides a way for you to provide feedback, as well. NOTE: as with any online image search, you should be careful what you enter as search terms, since Spezify will pull up images without any "filter."

Four significant dates surrounding the Declaration of Independence are examined in this lesson that gets students thinking about why we celebrate the nation's birthday on July 4. With an emphasis on reading and writing, students investigate the origins and characteristics of myths, develop strategies for spotting bias and missing information, and, in the process, learn a lot about the birth of our Independence Day observance. Handouts, worksheets, and a project rubric are provided along with links to related resources. Aligned to .Common Core Standards.

tag(s): declaration of independence (16), holidays (194), july 4th (12)

Padlet offers many tools and resources for creating online bulletin boards to display and organize information on any topic. Create a new board from scratch or choose from many templates, including timelines, maps, storyboards, KWL boards, and many more options. Padlet also offers AI features to use as a tool to automatically create interactive activities and custom boards based on topic, grade level, and additional details such as standards or teaching objectives. Padlet Sandboxes allows members to interact and collaborate in real time using sticky notes, drawings, and more. Customize the appearance and format of your Padlets using options such as allowing comments on posts, moderating posts and comments before they are publicly posted, and sorting options for easier viewing. When adding posts, you can add links, images, videos, documents, polls, and more. This is a link to Padlet's Help section for posting a video or an image. Free accounts allow you to make 3 Padlets that include search, themes, stats, premium wallpapers, and cross-device support for uploaded videos. You can always delete an old Padlet to create a new one. Find video tutorials and examples by scrolling to the bottom menu and clicking "Support" on the left side of the page. Padlet 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.

tag(s): artificial intelligence (186), biographies (95), blogs (67), book reports (28), brainstorming (18), bulletin boards (15), DAT device agnostic tool (146), images (263), journals (16), rubrics (36), timelines (57)

This website accompanies Kidscoop, a feature in many local newspapers, but it is not necessary to have this section in your paper to enjoy the benefits of the site. Find activities for kids, parents, and teachers that focus on the real news of the day. Interactive activities for kids include news summaries with pictures, word searches, book reviews, quizzes and polls of the week among many other activities. Teacher offerings include links to Newspapers in Education materials already familiar to many educators. Also, there are lesson plan banks, coupons, activity ideas to use with newspapers, weblinks, etc. Take some time to explore this great resource! Other offerings include a free subscription to a weekly newsletter and weekly writing prompts. Although many resources are available for purchase, there is plenty of free content that will be useful. Some features require Adobe Acrobat Reader. Get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.
This site includes advertising.

tag(s): news (226), newspapers (93)

This simple website offers information about the history of Father's Day, quotes about fathers, puzzles, cards, music, a countdown, and more. The music requires QuickTime. You can get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.

tag(s): fathers day (14)

As a result of a teacher survey in 2007, NEA has compiled this list of 100 Best Books for Children from an online survey The list is unfortunately not labeled, as the 1999 listing from NEA was, with age/grade ranges. You will find many classics as well as some newer entries onto the shelves.

tag(s): book lists (167), reading lists (77)

This site offers five "ready to go" lesson plans for Father's Day. Lessons include art, history, writing, and more. Standards are provided. There is also some general history of Father's Day provided.

tag(s): fathers day (14)

To celebrate America's history of the freedom to read, the American Library Association sets aside one week every year to celebrate that freedom by bringing the most important banned books to the attention of everyone. Traditionally held the last week of September; go to the website and vote for your favorite banned book and have your older students do the same! Find out what books have been most frequently challenged. Find out about the history of book burning, print out posters for your classroom, and find out how support of this week adds to the intellectual freedom of all readers: students, teachers, librarians, and other adults.

tag(s): book lists (167), reading lists (77)

Find interactive reading activities for emergent/beginning readers at Starfall. It combines instruction in letter-sound relationships, word recognition skills, and reading comprehension strategies. Seasonal activities can also be found on the main page. The four "levels" of reading at Starfall include "ABCs," "Learn to Read," "It's Fun to Read," and "I'm Reading." There is also a premium option, this review is only for the free interactives. The app (available on iOs, Google Play and Kindle Fire) offers more free intereactives than the web version.
This site includes advertising.

tag(s): DAT device agnostic tool (146), phonics (52), reading comprehension (150)

Ever wonder what the next best book to read is? Here's a helpful list of 100 Top Books complied by the Madison Public Library. The most recent books added are listed in red. In additon to this list, be sure to check out the two menus on the left - More Reading & Viewing and Even More Lists (which has a link for The New York Times Best Seller Lists). Never again feel like you don't know what to read next!

tag(s): reading lists (77)

From Atwater's "Mr. Popper's Penguins" to White's "Charlotte's Web," this list provides some great reading ideas for the 4th and 5th grade set.

tag(s): reading lists (77)

This site is an excellent way to help ENL and ELL students improve reading and comprehension skills using short passages of different kinds of reading. The site includes signs, multiple choice, true-false for details, questions on getting the "gist" of a reading, matching questions, and gap (fill-in) questions. This site is excellent for reading comprehension in the regular classroom too! Students select a "set" which contains a short sampling of each kind of question. Once they answer, they get immediate feedback.

tag(s): reading comprehension (150), test prep (69)

This collection of online videos and activities features British pronunciation, but the story clips are short and easy to understand. Many of the characters are also on American television (64 Zoo Lane, Teletubbies, Jakers, and others). Students will enjoy watching videos and playing games with characters from the tv show.

tag(s): interactive stories (22), rhymes (22)

"Dedicated to making your kids readers for life" is the sub-heading to James Patterson's new site ReadKiddoRead. This well-known author has put together a loaded site full of inspiration, book suggestions, author interviews, and more to inspire educators and parents to promote reading. The titles are divided by age (0-8, 6+, 8+, or 10+). Search by category (within age levels) such as Fantasy & Other Worlds, Real World Fiction, Action/Adventure/Mystery, and others. Teachers who have reluctant readers at all ages will discover ample ways to help them find exciting books. The books at this site also include brief descriptions.

tag(s): book lists (167)

This is a great site to mine for quick lesson plans, ideas on thematic units, or simply daily writing prompts. There are detailed lesson plans available for math, arts and crafts, nutrition, health, music, math, reading, physical education, technology, writing, science, and social studies. Visit the Seasonal Items link to find even MORE resources related to Read Across America, 100 Days ideas, Daily seasonal writing prompts, and much more! Many of the links will take you to other sites, but the onsite printable worksheets and calendars make it worth a visit. Note: the site is laden with advertising, something TeachersFirst users may not appreciate!

tag(s): fractions (160), nutrition (139), parts of speech (39), phonics (52), speech (69), themes (16), writing (325)

This great site offers a helpful set of resources for parents, teachers, and librarians. There are lists of newly published books, links to ordering and other book-related resources, and a list of "not to be missed" titles and authors for various grade levels. The resources are updated regularly, so there's always something fresh to offer to students or other teachers.

Record a message and embed it into your favorite site or provide a link to share, for free. Send to a friend by entering your email and the email of the recipient. Share on many social media sites witht he press of a button. Recording the message is easy and embedding into a site such as a wiki or blog has never been simpler! No login or registration is needed. Although, if you choose to send a message via email, you must choose a password to use at the site. Vocaroos are stored on their server. Created messages can also be downloaded to individual computers. Visit their FAQ's for frequent questions and responses.

tag(s): communication (130), speech (69)

As part of their extensive site for vocabulary, roots, and more, MyVocabulary.com has added a themed area for Thanksgiving. Find interactive vocabulary activities using Thanksgiving vocabulary words. You will also find printable crosswords, fill in the blanks and more, all using the same theme words. This and other "themes" available on the site will make vocabulary development fun. MyVocabulary seems to work best with Microsoft's Edge Browser.

tag(s): thanksgiving (24), vocabulary (242)