Teachers First - Thinking Teachers Teaching Thinkers

Make your story-telling come to life in any content area with this free tool! Story Map uses a map or pictures to tell the story. The simple editor in this tool syncs to Google Drive editor to create a storymap. The created storymap is a sequence of slides for a map location or image that includes a heading, text, and even images and embedded video. The map or image and included information appear side by side. You can click between the slides connecting one location to another (or portions of an image to another). Your story is now interactive! To use: Follow the prompts to connect your Google Drive to the tool. Choose the type of story to create, Map or Gigapixel (image). Don't worry about the map image showing on the first page. When building a map, the front page will include the portion of the World Map based on map points throughout the project (ex. USA or Europe). Add a headline and detail to the appropriate areas. Include links and change font to bold and italic if desired. Add images to any page by uploading from your computer (through Google Drive) or by entering a link to an image. Enter the URL of the Vimeo or YouTube video you wish to use. Need help? Click on the Gigapixel tab along the top for help in uploading images and videos. The Media box not only has an area for the URL, but also an area to enter a caption and credit for the image. Add additional pages by clicking "Add Slide" in the left-hand menu. Add points to your map, one per slide, by typing the building, street, city, and country. Use the zoom bar in the top left to find the location. Customize the map style, background color, and font using the Options buttons. Click Share to send through social media or to use an embed code. The embed code can be used in any site, adjusting its width for different sites. If using Gigapixel, use a large image (as the image will literally be the "map" and your points move around the image). Save your image to Google Drive and copy the URL of the image as you will need it in the first step.

tag(s): maps (220), stories and storytelling (58), timelines (56)

The U.S. Map Distorted by Population offers a visual look at the size of states based solely on population. Follow the link in the short article to find the actual populations of each state. This simple image provides a good introduction to population vs geographic size of states.
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tag(s): population (51), states (124)

International Museum of Women merged with Global Fund for Women making this site a powerful voice for women. Learn about women's issues from around the world and find out how Global Fund's grantmaking and fundraising are helping. Global Fund's recent campaigns include Artist Change Maker, Me, Too, International Day of the Girl, Girls Lead in Tech, Adolescent Girl Advisory Counsil, and more. Past projects have included IGNITE: Women Fueling Science and Technology, a global campaign and media project that explores the roles of science and technology in advancing gender equality. Read stories of activism, gender equality, and heroism. The videos are hosted on YouTube. If your district blocks YouTube, they may not be viewable.

tag(s): sustainability (50), women (151)

Find more than 350 ready to use ideas for training games and activities at Thiagi Training Games. Titles include types of activity, for example, whether it is a card game, role play, etc. Choose a title and view a full description including playing time, number of players, and materials needed. Although created for corporate training sessions, many ideas fit right into classroom use such as debate ideas, getting to know you activities, and more.

tag(s): back to school (55), debate (42), firstday (22), game based learning (205)

Annenberg Classroom Civics Games offer a small but excellent selection of games about the Constitution and related topics. Topics include Death Penalty, Citizenship, Discrimination, Immigration, Freedom of the Press, Free Speech, Guns, and many others. You can try to be the leader of the Legislative Branch. Choose three main issues and the most productive way to succeed in your cause. Most activities begin with a short video followed by questions. Most activities also include a glossary of terms used.

tag(s): bill of rights (33), branches of government (65), constitution (96), game based learning (205), supreme court (27)

ABC Splash is a large educational website from Australia containing videos, games, and audio clips. Special sections for parents include informational articles, teaching resources, and education news. Choose from primary or secondary level to view offerings sorted into categories or go to games and sort by topic or grade level to find resources. Register on the site to store and save favorite activities for later use. The site was created in the Australia, so some of the pronunciations and spellings may differ from those in American English.

tag(s): addition (129), animals (294), antarctica (30), atmosphere (22), australia (28), cells (82), climate change (99), continents (33), counting (60), decimals (85), division (98), earth (184), earthquakes (46), ecosystems (83), egypt (56), energy (133), environment (252), food chains (19), forces (37), forensics (12), fossil fuels (10), game based learning (205), gold rush (15), human body (93), immigration (68), insects (68), light (56), maps (220), molecules (43), money (113), multiplication (122), nuclear energy (20), nutrition (140), oceans (149), parts of speech (39), percent (59), perimeter (20), place value (34), plants (146), probability (99), rhymes (22), rocks (35), songs (46), sound (72), subtraction (110), time (91), vietnam (38), volcanoes (55), weather (160), whole numbers (9), world war 1 (77), world war 2 (161)

Ask Smithsonian answers fascinating questions via videos that are less than two minutes long. There is a new video each week. Find out if your interesting science question has an answer here. Sometimes you may think your question is not scientific, such as "Will Chicken Soup Cure a Cold?" or "How Do People Get Phobias?" Well, the answer to those questions is at Ask Smithsonian. Give it a try and see if your question has an answer.
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tag(s): animals (294), bacteria (22), human body (93), insects (68), plants (146), space (222), time (91), video (266)

National Geographic offers a rich and extensive site for educators through its Education homepage. Scroll down the page to find resources, reference materials, maps, media, collections, and much more. Scroll to the bottom of the page to find Explorer Classroom. For specific content searches use the search bar to find and filter results by grades, subjects, resource type, and audience.This site is frequently updated. Check back often!

tag(s): animals (294), climate change (99), commoncore (73), earth day (60), ecology (103), energy (133), food chains (19), map skills (63), maps (220), migration (45), multimedia (53), oceans (149), STEM (297), weather (160)

Free Online Stopwatch offers an assortment of popular clock tools - all ad free, simple, and easy to share! Choose from the Stopwatch, Alarm Clock, Current Time, Timer, or Date Countdown. Also, find emoticons for social media and email at the bottom of the page. Click on any of the social media links at the top to easily share your countdown. Download the program to begin.

tag(s): classroom management (120), organizational skills (88)

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in 1911 represents a turning point in the history of labor relations and workers' rights to a safe work environment. In commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the fire, and in tribute to the 146 young, immigrant workers who lost their lives largely due to unsafe working conditions, you'll find an overview of the fire and the circumstances that led up to it. There are a large number of historical images of the building itself, primary documents related to the event, newspaper accounts of the investigation and trial, brief biographies of the victims, as well as interviews with survivors (19 were women). Audio recordings of oral histories from three survivors, and transcripts of those interviews are a valuable resource.

tag(s): 20th century (62), immigrants (34), immigration (68), industrial revolution (22), industrialization (12), labor day (5), safety (68), women (151)

Create a presentation that has the familiar slides of PowerPoint with the commentary of a screencast. With this tool, you have the control. You can determine whether to see the presentation as created or browse slides and listen to only the portions that you want. Upload your content from Google Drive or a computer. Click "Present" to begin making your presentation. Be sure to approve the tool to access your device's sound and camera. Create your presentation and then share the link to the recording. Share by using Gmail, Google+, Google Drive, Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Dropbox, and other social media. You can also embed the link on your blog or wiki. You may need to manage the size of the slides and images before uploading. If they are too large, you may have difficulty moving to the Present phase (this problem may be a temporary one). Find several tutorials for using Presentious by scrolling down the Support page.

tag(s): blended learning (37), multimedia (53), slides (43)

Find interactives to cover many environmental and science topics as well as economics and history. Explore and learn about environmental and political issues through a gaming process. Before dismissing the thought of games in education, check out the About Us section of this site. The activities here are vetted by educators as part of an educational grant. These (mostly) free, browser-based interactives also include answer keys and have been field tested in middle and high school classes. Hover over the Games and Activities tab to choose from the subjects in the drop down menu. Each subject page outlines the activity and includes an informational paragraph and links to the documents. Some interactives require a download to your computer.
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tag(s): animals (294), earth (184), ecology (103), energy (133), environment (252), financial literacy (93), fish (18), game based learning (205), human body (93), map skills (63), migration (45), natural disasters (18), planets (113), plants (146), politics (118), problem solving (233), stars (71)

This tool is an online Jeopardy game builder. Click support on the top right to find video tutorials to help you get started. Sign up for a free account, enter the information, and you are ready to play! Use the "create game" button and enter your title. Then, start building your game. Enter your email address so you can edit the game later. Enter your series of questions and answers under difficulty levels. It's that easy. Up to four teams or individuals can play at one time. Play the demo history game and choose one of the vegetable icons to get started. Clicking the check mark for correct will reveal the answer.

tag(s): gamification (83), quiz (67), quizzes (90)

Seterra Online is a challenging educational geography activity with more than 100 different exercises. Learn about countries, capitals, oceans, flags and cities in Africa, Europe, South America, North America, Asia and Australia using outline map exercises! Explore the 50 states of the USA and even the capitals. Choose from quizzes sorted by continent or the entire world. Once the map loads, follow the prompts to click on the correct area of the map. After a few incorrect tries, the right area will flash in red. Correct responses on the first try appear in white, yellow indicates a right answer on the second attempt, and the red areas indicate incorrect responses. When complete, view the percentage correct and time it took to finish the activity.
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tag(s): cities (17), continents (33), countries (73), game based learning (205), maps (220), quizzes (90), states (124)

The 150th anniversary of the Battle of Appomattox commemorates the final battle of the American Civil War and the surrender of General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. You'll find important facts about the battle, maps, videos, and images useful in highlighting this important event. Download the Appomattox Battle App for iOs or Google Play.

tag(s): 1800s (75), civil war (139), DAT device agnostic tool (147)

Learn about the history of house structures in Eastern Canada, with connections to home building in general. See how homes adapt to the settings in the Living in the New World section. See a timeline of homes in Canada (similar to homes history in some portions of the U.S.). Learn about the skilled builder trades on the Youthzone. The architectural Glossary is great for learning the names of all those things that stick out or hold up your house! The Homo Renovus section is all about terms and techniques in home renovation.

tag(s): architecture (75), homes (5), structures (18)

In 1912, the city of Tokyo, Japan donated 3,000 cherry trees to the city of Washington, DC, as a symbol of friendship. The trees, planted around the Capitol's tidal basin, have become part of a treasured tradition. Viewing the cherry blossoms in the spring draws millions of visitors. The Library of Congress offers a brief history of the cherry blossoms and connects cherry trees to their cultural significance in Japanese culture.

tag(s): japan (56), japanese (47), trees (18), washington (28)

Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin was a cultural phenomenon when it was published, and continues to be an important window into the mid-19th century anti-slavery movement prior to the American Civil War. Here you will find important cultural context for a fuller discussion of the novel and its impact on American society and history. Browse the site for a variety of primary source material, or interpret the work's significance through one of several lenses: Anti-slavery texts, the influence of "minstrel shows," 19th century Christian revivalism, or Victorian sentimentality. There are several high school level lesson plans to give you ideas for using the enormous number of audio, visual, and text-based resources available to supplement either a literary examination of Uncle Tom's Cabin, or a cultural-historical one. Be advised that much of the primary material reflects the 19th century views on race that prevailed at the time. It should be carefully viewed and used within a discussion of its context.

tag(s): 1800s (75), abolition (7), african american (115), civil rights (209), civil war (139), history day (39), racism (79), slavery (79)

Discover "how the tournament would play out if 32 countries were competing in things other than soccer." This site compares world countries statistics on scores of topics, instantly drawing a "bracket" of the top 32 countries for that statistic around the world. Find out which country "wins" in categories as diverse as milk consumption, population density, or ticket sales for the movie Frozen! Click the topic at left to display the "bracket" instantly. Try predicting who will win as you check out all kinds of topics.

tag(s): cross cultural understanding (173), demographics (13), statistics (121)