Teachers First - Thinking Teachers Teaching Thinkers

Visit Peek and "Create Your Perfect Day." Register using email and a password. Pick a city or area to visit. Start planning your day using the prompts provided for morning, afternoon, evening, and night activities. Choose from pictures provided based on your input or upload your own. When finished, publish to share your "perfect day" via it's unique URL or through social media sharing links. This site is part of a travel website. The main page includes many activities (with prices). Avoid the homepage and go directly to "Create Your Perfect Day."
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tag(s): creative writing (124), local history (14), virtual field trips (128)

Kinteractive Learning offers several free and useful teacher tools for use on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Use the dartboard selector to randomly choose students from your class. Import your class from a txt file or input names manually. Easily edit your class list with absent students. Once ready, click to spin the dartboard, launch a dart and see what names appear! Open each tool in a new window for a larger viewing area. At the time of this review, the other free tools included a random name generator, scoreboard, and stopwatch. Access to all tools is available after registration with email and a password. Note that other areas of this site are subscription-based.

tag(s): classroom management (120)

Join Ruff Ruffman in the PBS Kids Game show, Fetch. Learn about animal science as you view (and participate) on this educational game show including 5 contestants ages 10-14. "Ruff" hosts the game show, reality style with children contestants, learning about science and also crazy challenges. Topics include (but are not limited to) animals, engineering, deserted islands, dinosaur footprints, hover crafts, mummies, song birds, and more. There are past episodes and games available.

tag(s): animal homes (57), birds (46), dinosaurs (43), diseases (67), literacy (122), machines (17), simple machines (19), vocabulary (238)

Future Me is an email service that allows you to write an email and have it delivered in the future (up to 50 years later). Insert your email address, subject, and write your email. Choose a future date for delivery, and it's ready to go! Options include adding an image and making the email public or private. Note - the public gallery is unmoderated so may contain content not suitable for school.
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tag(s): back to school (55), creativity (86), digital storytelling (154), letter writing (19), Teacher Utilities (198)

Scoop.it considers itself a free "publishing-by-curation" tool on the web. You create a Scoop topic and add articles and websites to the topic. People who view your Scoop see what you want them to see. This is a way to deliver subject focused articles and information to a specific audience. Scoops can be shared through social media or using a widget to embed on your website.

tag(s): bookmarks (43)

Understand the thoughts and emotions of the men who fought in the Civil War through poetry and music of the time. Choose from Confederate or Union Poetry or Music of the War links. Listen to popular music of the day such as Oh! Susanna and My Old Kentucky Home. Explore poetry separated into categories including battles, soldier life, and the home front. Other options for exploring the site include searches by title, first lines, and authors.

tag(s): 1800s (75), battles (18), civil war (139), poetry (193)

Check out this online journal with a twist. Each day the site sends an email with questions about your day to prompt you to write. Respond to the email with your entry for automatic posting. Images can also be added to entries. Personalize the site using your choice of color and fonts. View entries as a PDF for easy printing as desired. Register with an email and unique name for your diary.

tag(s): blogs (65), creative writing (124), journals (15), writing (325), writing prompts (61)

This is a wonderful site for finding quality images to use in projects. Use these images for either personal or professional projects. Registration is not necessary to download them. All images are copyright free. Search images by name (or category - photos, video, illustrations and vector) and filter by orientation (landscape or portrait) and image type (photo, clipart, video, or vector.) Be sure to use the filters at the top. Right click to download. Use good search terms to find the best pictures possible. You must know where to save images on your computer. Be sure to give credit to the person who took the picture and show their name wherever the image is used. Consider adding images to this site to increase the number of options and expand the ideas of Creative Commons. Adding images does require you to join the site (email required).

tag(s): creative commons (28), images (263), photography (130), search engines (48)

Digital Learning Day is an annual February event spotlighting successful instructional practice and effective use of technology around the country. Choose the "About DLDay" option to find out more about the goals of Digital Learning Day, begin with a detailed description listing the characteristics of digital learning. View exemplary models, showcases, lesson portals, and more using links provided. Sign up as a participant for Digital Learning Day then plan your own classroom activity, provide a presentation to parents, or choose from other ideas offered on the site. Explore the Participate portion of the site to find digital tools, online resources, graphics, lesson plans and more. Sign up isn't required; however, it does allow you to receive emails with updates and learning ideas throughout the year. The digital learning content demonstrations are conducted in four areas: math, science, language arts, and civics/social studies; critical areas, such as working with ELL or special education students, will be woven into the lessons.

tag(s): digital citizenship (85), digital storytelling (154), modeling (8), preK (271)

This website, produced by the Martha's Vineyard Museum, tells the story of Laura Jernegan and the journal she kept on her voyage on a whaling ship. In October 1868, Laura Jernegan, a 6 year old girl from Edgartown, Massachusetts set out on a three year whaling voyage. Laura, her father, mother, brother and the ship's crew set off to the whaling grounds of the Pacific Ocean. The site also tells the adventurous history of whaling. Choose from many different topics for exploration such as information about whales, a timeline of whaling, interactive map, and explore the ship. Dive deeper to view artifacts, meet the crew, and view a picture gallery. Lesson plans (and complete units) are provided for grades 1-3, 4-5, and even high school.

tag(s): 1800s (75), whales (11)

Explore and listen to poetry at No Water River. Click the Poetry Video Library to choose from many poetry videos offered to view and hear poems, some read by the actual authors. If you want to see the whole post for a particular poem (including an interview with the poet and extension activities) just go back to the home page and search the poem or poet via the search box in the right sidebar. Choose the resource link to find tips for performing poetry and for big lists of children's poets, poetic forms, and poetic terms. Some of the video clips are hosted on YouTube. If your district blocks YouTube, then they may not be viewable.
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tag(s): poetry (193), rhymes (22)

Textivate is a simple web tool to automatically generate a range of online activities based on any text you enter (up to 500 words). Type or paste a chunk of text into the text box on the Textivate front page and click on the "Textivate Now" button to see the available exercises that can be generated from that text. Choose from various activities based on the amount of text used such as drag and drop, sorting, or fill in the gaps. View an example on evaporation located here. Register on the site for further options such as uploading text, embedding your textivate onto a website, or share via hyperlink.

tag(s): grammar review (31), process writing (37), sequencing (17), summarizing (23), word study (59)

Draggo is a convenient way to save, share, and organize your bookmarks from anywhere. With Draggo, you use the web to store your favorite links, preventing loss from computer problems. Join for free. Inside your account, add pages to store, share, and organize links. Add the browser button or drag links into Draggo to put in your inbox; organize when you have time. You can have up to 10 tabs to save your important links. Choose to keep private or make public via your own personalized Draggo URL. Editing is not possible without a user name and password. The introduction video to this site is the only part of the site that appears to require Flash.

tag(s): bookmarks (43), classroom management (120), curation (32)

With over 5 million dollars granted, Voya Unsung Heroes has supported teachers through grants provided by its Unsung Heroes Program. Each year grants are provided to K-12 educators utilizing new teaching techniques and methods that improve learning. Applications are judged on three criteria: innovative method, creativity, and ability to positively influence students. 100 Finalists are chosen yearly to receive $2,000 grants with at least one award going to each of the 50 states. Three top awards of $25,000, $10,000 and $5,000 are given to the top three recipients. Follow links provided on the site to apply for the grant. The deadline is generally the end of April each year.

tag(s): grants (15)

Kevin Brookhouser created 16 videos based on "writing crimes": common errors found in writing. These videos are succinct, straightforward, and devoid of cutesy cartoons or music. At the beginning of each, he shows a snippet of a video and then uses the information in the video to explain the grammatical problem and how to solve it. The videos include often confused words, compound sentences, punctuation, passive voice, and more. Each video is between three and four minutes long. If your school blocks YouTube, they won't be viewable.
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tag(s): grammar (137), grammar review (31), punctuation (25), spelling (98), writing (325)

iFakeText is a tool to create fake screenshots of a series of iPhone text messages. Write a name, then choose an operator and write text in the provided box. Click the link "Create your Screenshot" to view the picture. Have the operator READ the text message (great for non-readers). Take a screenshot or share via different social networking platforms or via a link.
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tag(s): creative writing (124), text to speech (20), writing prompts (61)

Discover a huge collection of interactive illustrations to help explain complex concepts in science, technology, art, math, and a range of other topics. Use these activities to create interactive visualizations. There are thousands of Mathematica Demonstrations. A demonstration is a Mathematica notebook that takes advantage of Mathematica's manipulate command. Use the manipulate command to create sliders or buttons or check boxes to change the values of parameters in the displays in the demonstration. The result is you control the animation. View demonstrations on topics ranging from odd and even numbers to odd and even functions, fractions to fractals, and from linear functions to linear algebra and linear programming. In addition to mathematical topics, there are demonstrations illustrating the time in different cities around the world, global demographic information, the solar system, and art and music concepts. You need to download the Wolfram CDF player to use and interact with the demonstrations.
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tag(s): addition (129), animals (295), architecture (75), computers (109), division (98), fractions (160), geometric shapes (135), gravity (43), logic (161), maps (220), money (113), multiples (15), multiplication (122), plants (146), psychology (65), statistics (121), subtraction (110), weather (160)

Go to Google Street View instantly with this handy site. Begin by typing in an address. As you type the screen changes automatically to the best street view image of what has been entered so far. Many may find the constant changing of images as you type distracting; others may find the variety of seeing new areas exciting. Click "About" in the lower left hand corner for an explanation of color boxes and controls. Download and share the view easily.
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tag(s): map skills (63), maps (220)

ReadWorks provides a free, research-based, and Common Core-aligned reading comprehension curriculum. Click Explore Content from the top menu to search through hundreds of lesson plans organized by grade level, topic, or titles. Register to download materials and save lessons to your folder. (A valid email and password is required). Be sure to start with the Teacher Guide to see all the many features ReadWorks offers about using and teaching the provided lessons and differentiation. For a quick start, click Explore Content then select options from the left menu: Text Options - Reading Passages, Aritcle a Day, and Paired Text, Curriculum Support, Grade, Topic, Text Types - Nonfiction, Fiction, or Poetry, and Lexile. There are thousands of reading passages along with question sets to support learning activities for grades K-12. Each selection contains the text with audio, a vocabulary link, and a questions set. In the left margin, you will find related resources such as standards and related materials. Teachers can create classes to assign reading and track assessments (which are automatically graded). After signing up with email, click on Admin from the top menu and create a class. Students join the class by using a code and their Google account. No Google account? No problem. Create a roster and provide the class code to students. Easily create assignments for the whole class, or individuals as a way to differentiate. This is a perfect tool to use for remote (or distance) teaching and learning!

tag(s): characterization (19), context clues (5), figurative language (17), guided reading (33), main idea (8), parts of speech (39), plot (15), point of view (8), reading comprehension (149), reading strategies (96), sequencing (17), Teacher Utilities (198), themes (16), vocabulary (238)

Find an easy, interactive tool to create storyboards at Storyboard That. Choose between three and six frame storyboards, and build a storyboard using the free library with drag and drop technology. Before you begin, you may want to look at the example storyboards for business and teachers. With a free account, you can create two storyboards a week with the classic storyboard layout. To share and save storyboards, you must register with an email.
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tag(s): charts and graphs (171), creative writing (124), digital storytelling (154), writing (325)