Teachers First - Thinking Teachers Teaching Thinkers

Find answers to the most curious questions that students ask on this great site. Search the site for your topic of interest, such as how cars work, what makes a refrigerator cold, or how construction has changed and the materials that are used. Articles provide diagrams, text, videos, images, and a range of other resources to show a curious student what makes something tick. The site's explanations are a great resource for "kitchen science" projects, getting budding inventors started, or providing added explanations of how things work the way they do. Click the top menu topics for the various subjects such as Adventure, Animals, and Autos through Money, Science, and Tech. Can't find your answer? Ask in the search, and it may become the question of the week. Sign up for the monthly newsletter. Search the other areas of the site such as "Games," "Quizzes," and "Pics and Puzzles." Find great podcasts and blogs. Scroll to the bottom to find fun facts, trivia, and even a poll of the day! Ignore the advertising; the site content is worth it.

tag(s): independent reading (81), questioning (36), trivia (19)

This free, fast loading, online calculator can be viewed full screen and operated by your mouse or keyboard. Various types are available from the most basic one to the scientific or BMI calculator. There is also a stopwatch tool available. If you speak a language other than English, simply click to change to the language of your choice - it's that easy.

Be aware: this site does include advertisements.
This site includes advertising.

tag(s): latin (23)

MindMeister is a free mind mapping program. It is easy to use online, on your mobile, or offline. Only the BASIC plan is free, allowing you up to 3 free collaborative mind maps. This 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. There are many highly interactive features: printing, sharing (emailing), and collaborating with others in "real time."

tag(s): brainstorming (18), DAT device agnostic tool (147), graphic organizers (48), mind map (27)

Create polls that can be answered online or through the use of text messaging. Voters submit answers by sending SMS messages to a short number. Poll everywhere tallies the responses which can then be accessed and viewed. Use the free plan for unlimited question and unlimited voters. Make it visual by creating a word cloud of the responses. Use the apps for PowerPoint or Keynote slides of the poll results and create charts that can be embedded into a web page. There are several other apps such as Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and ohers. Simple and easy to use!

tag(s): polls and surveys (49), quiz (67), quizzes (90)

This free audio book site offers classical literature and philosophy books in the public domain for download at no charge. In addition to typical classics, it offers recordings of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, some Mark Twain, and a few Christmas recordings for children including "Twas the Night Before Christmas," "The Gift of the Magi," and "Scrooge: A Christmas Carol."

tag(s): audio books (26)

Discover a collection of free classics in the public domain downloadable for mp3 and m4b audio book format for computers and mobile devices. Of special interest at this site is the recently added section where readers may find books that are not available at other free book download sites. Also distinguishing this site is that some books offer "human narration" and some have "text to speech" technology doing the reading.
This site includes advertising.

tag(s): literature (221)

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 (65), images (263), movies (54), photography (130), slides (43)

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)

Find free on-line books perfect for emergent readers. The author of the site, the Center for Literacy and Disabilities studies at the University of North Carolina, wants to provide free resources to give everyone an opportunity to learn to read and write. For free registration you will need a code. Just email them and it will come within 24 hours. All books are free and available for download as slideshows using PowerPoint or Impress. Book topics include biographies, fairy tales, history, science, math, nursery rhymes, poetry, food, animals, and more! All stories have speech enabling, can come in as many as fourteen different languages, and are compatible with touch screens. Since a wide range of age groups use this site, they have a rating system to suggest what is suitable for younger readers. Tar Heel Reader is also a great way to write books. Upload images from your computer or Flicker, add text, create, and share student stories with an authentic audience of readers. Tar Heel Reader is a great way to engage students with reading material, increase class participation, and create inclusive instruction for those with illiteracy or learning disabilities.

** This site does contain some materials NOT suitable for all classrooms. Be sure to read the "rating" system, and contribute your own opinions (as the ratings are only as reliable as the pool of contributing voters). Books rated 'E' are meant for everyone but a 'C' means to use caution as it may not be proper material for some. Determine what titles are suitable and save them to the favorites file for students to access.

tag(s): book lists (167), digital storytelling (154), literacy (122), writing (325)

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 (154)

Create an online portfolio created from your flickr set of specific photos. Choose your photos by choosing a set or a specific tag. Pictures are displayed in an elegant and beautiful format. Since Pullfolio is not flash based, the ipod/iphone app is another plus. Pullfolio instantly updates as you update your flickr set or continue to use the tag. Use the free version or go pro to use your own domain and access additional features.

tag(s): flickr (2), images (263), photography (130)

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)

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 (84), 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 (238), word choice (14), word clouds (13)

Use this fantastic application for note-taking and idea collecting from ANY device. Think of Evernote as a ubiquitous set of notebooks ready for you to add and read from ANY computer or web-connected device. Evernote is available on the web, but also available for free as both an Android and iOS app. Use it from any device or move between devices and still access your work. App and web versions vary slightly. Take snapshots of whiteboards, products, or whatever you like and upload them to Evernote. Search your uploads through the search function which will also search handwritten or printed text sections in photos and images. Sync everything through Evernote across all the platforms. Use Evernote to create notes and to-do lists and even clip entire Web pages. Use to manage passwords or even record audio. Everything added to Evernote is automatically synchronized across platforms and devices and made searchable. Evernote offers a free account as well as a premium paid version. If you use it a LOT, you may max out the free allotments for data, but try it to see! The free account offer 60 MB of new uploads per MONTH, and syncing across 2 devices. Categorize and organize information using tags, note titles, and notebooks. Keep track of several projects with the "Notebooks" feature. Use the web version or downloadable version of Evernote to share read-only notebooks with others. Download Evernote to add an extension to your browser to do web clipping with a click of a button. Click "New" to create a new document in your notebook. Use the search function at the top and even save searches for later use. Safety/security tip: If you have sensitive information (such as passwords, etc.) on your Evernote notebook but want to share other parts? Simply highlight and right click to choose "Encrypt Selected Text" to remove from the page to be shared.

tag(s): DAT device agnostic tool (147), images (263), organizational skills (88)

This animation tool will help create a video or a video slideshow with pizzazz. Add personal sounds, videos, and other media to create the next level of video for your classes. This tool is great for schools without access to other free video or multimedia creation software. Create 30 second videos including music choices from over 50 soundtracks. A typical thirty second video requires twelve images making this a reasonable choice for projects with middle and high school level students. Also look through their many templates making this video creator easy to use for anyone. Students ages 13+ can set up their own Animoto account if they have a school email, but their account won't be connected to your teacher account, therefore, they will need to email you their completed video links. A better solution for some teachers may be to consider using a "class set" of Gmail subaccounts, explained here; this tells how to configure Gmail subaccounts to use for any online membership service. Using Gmail subaccounts will provide anonymous interaction within your class. You will also recieve emails from Animoto when videos are completed and passwords are changed. You can also use the Gmail subaccounts for students under 13, with appropriate parent permission. See this Animoto Blog Post, about how teachers can set up student accounts.
This site includes advertising.

tag(s): animation (65), images (263), movies (54), photography (130), slides (43), video (266)

Poems and Stories for Kids, created by poet Mark C. Bird, offers collections of poems that speak to kids and focus on relevant themes like explore, think, and laufh. While Bird's poetry speaks to kids, you will want to be selective in using his poems due to some sensitive issues. Besure to look at his blog to find more poems and stories for kids.

tag(s): poetry (193)