Teachers First - Thinking Teachers Teaching Thinkers

Find a mystery in art, and use art to solve the mystery. Tour American paintings, sculpture, and decorative arts that reside at The Metropolitan Museum of Art to solve the murder of Virginie Gautreau AKA Madame X, painted by John Singer Sargent. The scenario is an evening gala in 1899, and you put clues together using either your mobile devices or a computer. Players must examine the art work since you are witnesses. There are possible weapons and crime scenes. There are three possible avenues to take to reach the solution, so the game can be played multiple times.

tag(s): art history (86), artists (77), critical thinking (112), interactive stories (21), mysteries (19), thinking skills (14)

This free science resource shows the key features of all the elements of the periodic table. Click on an element to bring up the specifics of each element along the right side. Find trends by clicking the characteristic at the left. Click the tab at right to see orbital filling. Don't miss the navigation bar at the far right for more features, including visualization.
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tag(s): atoms (42), elements (32), periodic table (44)

Originally created for an adult basic literacy audience, TV411 offers lessons and videos covering a variety of science topics. Learn about heat, photosynthesis, carbohydrates, and other topics in easily approachable terms. Each lesson begins with an introduction (typically a video) to the activity including questions to answer. Feedback is given to the questions including an explanation of the correct answer. Math skills are reinforced with the content. Videos can include recipes that reinforce the material discussed. On the right sidebar you will also find a few lesson plans (not formerly written).

tag(s): bacteria (21), charts and graphs (169), nutrition (134), plants (145), water (102)

ReadWorks provides a free, research-based, and Common Core-aligned reading comprehension curriculum. 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 Find Content then select options from the right 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 (16), context clues (5), figurative language (15), guided reading (32), main idea (8), parts of speech (40), plot (8), point of view (7), reading comprehension (143), reading strategies (98), sequencing (17), Teacher Utilities (146), themes (11), vocabulary (237)

This international, interactive map site contains over 100 puzzles and activities in English to practice map skills by location. This review should direct you to the English version. Removing the filter for English reveals many more maps in Spanish and other languages. Use the box at the left to select a language. You can also choose by categories of continents, countries, capitals, most visited, and more. Each map has a short description of the activity to read before opening. Double click to open a map and play. Correct responses earn points toward the maximum available.

tag(s): asia (69), canada (23), capitals (15), continents (32), countries (69), landforms (37), map skills (56), maps (207), oceans (147), rivers (13), states (122)

Don't miss this unique search engine for math and science. Search for equations, formulas, and expressions using mathematical symbols and scientific notations or search using text. Choose from options before beginning a search such as basic, operators, physics, trigonometry, and others. Results provided are the most relevant results that are theoretically similar instead of visually similar. Take a tour of the site with the video provided at the home page to beter understand its capabilities. Download the extension for Chrome or Firefox using links provided. Be sure to check out the Formatting Tips link for tips and suggestions on using Symbolab.

tag(s): calculators (37), equations (119), scientific method (47), symbols (15)

Join the Cat in the Hat, Sally, and friends on an adventure that teaches, reinforces, and enriches learning for young students. Easily navigate through Games, Printing, and Videos. Each area features different concepts: colors, shapes, numbers, letters, matching, easy art projects, videos, songs, and spatial reasoning. Be sure to check out the activities on the top menu; they change with each page you click. There are also seasonal/timely activities on the main page. A wide variety of games keep you coming back to find yet another adventure with the Cat in the Hat. The site features user friendly directions for any age.

tag(s): alphabet (51), colors (64), dr seuss (6), geometric shapes (136), measurement (126), numbers (119), preK (255)

BiblioNasium is a READING social platform for learners ages six to twelve. Students, teachers, and parents all have their own login on the site. Students need a parent (or legal guardian) to give permission to use this site. Teachers and parents can set reading goals and rate and recommend books. There are some similarities to Goodreads reviewed here in that this is a reading club where you can read reviews about books, write reviews, and rate books, too. Students will treasure finding new books recommended by others. Reluctant readers will become avid readers because it is easy to find topics of interest. Flash is used only for the introductory video.
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tag(s): classroom management (128), descriptive writing (39), independent reading (85), social networking (67), writing (315)

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 (169), creative writing (121), digital storytelling (141), writing (315)

Find a clickable, online poster explaining the most common logical fallacies. Simply rolling your cursor over the icon for the fallacy will give a definition. Click on it to find a further explanation and an example. Reducing each fallacy to a single simple sentence makes these easier to understand, and the examples given are amusing. There is also a free downloadable PDF of all the fallacies and their explanations presented on this site. A free poster in PDF format is available in three sizes. The free poster can be found at the bottom of the first page of this site.
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tag(s): critical thinking (112), debate (37), logic (164), persuasive writing (55), reading comprehension (143), thinking skills (14)