Teachers First - Thinking Teachers Teaching Thinkers

Take a much-needed 2 minute break with Do Nothing for 2 Minutes. When you enter the website, the 2 minute timer begins. Relax and enjoy the soothing sounds of waves and the beautiful beach image. If you do anything, such as move your mouse, the timer resets challenging you to take the full 2 minutes of relaxation time. What a fabulous tool for lowering your stress or refocusing!

tag(s): social and emotional learning (81), stress (8)

Classroom Authors uses four easy steps to publish an e-book or a printed book: writing, editing, proofing, and publishing. Teachers create an account and a project. Have students join the project with a code. Every student with the project code will have a chapter to create. Student accounts require email, but they can use a parent email address or an "+" extension of the teacher's email address, for instance, myemail+studentname@myschool.org. All students invited to the project can be working on their section, on multiple computers, at one time. Adding content is as easy as using a word processing program and uploading images to the gallery. Drag and drop the images into the chapter. Students can view the entire book, but only edit their own chapter. Teachers have complete control over editing, style and leaving comments. There are default templates so the books created are professional looking. Customize to give the book your own look. Classroom Authors is not only a vehicle for publishing; this tool will fulfill the Common Core Standard requirements for using technology for collaborating and writing across the curriculum. The best part of this site: it is EASY to use! Classroom Authors uses ePub to format e-books and offers one free printed book for each published project that has 10 or more students collaborating. Beyond that, there is a cost for printed books. E-books are FREE.

tag(s): creative writing (121), descriptive writing (39), ebooks (39), process writing (38), writing (315)

Prepare your students for success with Common Core Math skills at this excellent site presented by Khan Academy. 50,000 unique questions cover conceptual understanding, procedural fluency, and real world applications. Use the link to "Browse Our New Common Core Map" to find interactive math problems for grades K-12. Each activity lists the number of skills and problems available for each level. View step by step solutions to each problem. Many problems even include video explanations. The Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium and Illustrative Mathematics partnered with Khan Academy to ensure the rigor of materials and full alignment to the Common Core Standards. Learn more about Khan Academy reviewed here. Videos are hosted on YouTube. If your district blocks YouTube, then they may not be viewable.

tag(s): addition (128), angles (51), base ten (5), coordinates (15), counting (60), data (147), division (98), equations (119), factoring (25), fractions (159), functions (52), geometric shapes (136), measurement (126), mixed numbers (8), multiplication (122), negative numbers (12), number lines (33), number sense (70), polynomials (20), prime numbers (26), probability (96), quadratics (26), rounding (8), square roots (15), statistics (114), subtraction (109), transformations (12), vectors (16), whole numbers (9)

Find a constantly updated collection of informational articles about the environment of the Great Lakes. Subscribe to receive news of current feature articles. The variety of article topics is sure to catch the interest of almost any reader. The articles have Creative Commons Attribution - Share Alike licenses so are free to use and recopy (be sure to attribute!).
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tag(s): animals (281), fish (18), insects (69), plants (145), pollution (50), water (102), watersheds (8), weather (164)

Inequality.org aspires to be a portal for those seeking information on the impact of inequalities in areas such as income, health, race, and more. Choose the topic of Data and Statistics to view charts, graphs, and discussions of inequalities and changes over time. For example, you can view several videos with topics such as CEO pay, Tax the Rich Fairy Tale, and Wealth Inequalities. Although this site certainly has a one-sided point of view as its focus, it is one that is sure to get you thinking.

tag(s): inequalities (23), racism (76), statistics (114)

Find science current events and more with this wonderful site. This section also includes information on STEM careers and teaching science to teenagers. Find interesting articles and information about Atoms and Forces, Earth and Sky, Humans and Health, and more. Below each article is words used in the article and their meanings. Find information about science projects in the Student Resources section.

tag(s): news (229), science fairs (19), scientific method (47), scientists (62)

Showbie is a tool for assigning, collecting, and reviewing student work. You can access Showbie via the web or download the free app to your iPad. Begin by creating your class list and noting the class code to be provided to students. Add assignments including a due date, and add files, images, or videos directly from your computer. This tool also works with the Pages application used on iPads. Upload these files directly from an iPad onto Showbie. Additional options to add to assignments include text and voice notes. Students use the class code to access assignments and return for review and grading. The free version allows unlimited classrooms and assignments. However, the maximum amount of students you can "enroll" in a class is 35.
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tag(s): assessment (146), classroom management (128), data (147), Learning Management Systems (22), organizational skills (90), Teacher Utilities (146)

Top Documentary Films contains a large collection of documentaries from around the world. Choose "Browse" to explore the films available, or use the Categories menu on the right to view by topics such as Politics, Science, etc. Choose List form the top menu to view a complete listing of all available films. Each listing includes a short description along with a link to view the video. Videos are hosted on YouTube. If your district blocks YouTube, they may not be viewable. Be sure to PREVIEW videos before showing to a class as they are unmoderated. Comments are also unmoderated. There is a wonderful disclaimer at the lower left of the home page about bias and documentaries. It is well worth noting as you watch ANY "documentary."
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tag(s): advanced placement (26), animals (281), artists (77), biographies (93), drugs and alcohol (27), environment (240), evolution (85), hiv/aids (16), humor (16), media literacy (102), mental health (34), money (119), politics (112), psychology (67), religions (75), sports (77), vietnam (35)

Search Creative Commons images by COLOR(s)! Choose up to five colors. As you choose each color, the tiled squares fill with a myriad of images that include that color. Click a second color to view images that have both colors in them. Choose up to five colors. Click on "Next" in the lower right hand corner to view more pages of images. Click on the image you like to go to its Flickr site. Use CTRL-click (or right click) to view the different sizes of images and download pictures. Our editors did not notice any inappropriate photos. However, we highly recommend previewing this site before sharing with students. You will want to discuss what to do in the unlikely event that an image comes up that is not classroom appropriate. As with all Creative Commons images on Flickr, you will want to look at the details of the license to be sure you can use any image as you intend to. Some have limited use (such as no "derivative works"). Click the Rights link at the right when viewing an individual image to see the specifics.

tag(s): colors (64), creative commons (29), design (82), graphic design (50), images (262), media literacy (102), psychology (67)