This website offers a tribute to mothers. Learn about the history of Mother's Day, how to say mother in various languages, jokes, quotes, poetry, gift ideas, recipes, information about Mother Teresa, craft ideas, and more.
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This site offers levels, important information about safe Internet use, at three difficulty It addresses kids' favorite ways to use technology, including cell phones, chat rooms, instant messaging, e-mail, etc. A glossary of Internet terms and warnings throughout the easy-to-read pages make the information accessible. It also motivates the students who use it to proceed carefully and thoughtfully while communicating and downloading information. The three levels (beginning, intermediate, and advanced) differentiate for prior Internet knowledge, rather than grade or reading level. The site is an excellent introduction to doing Internet research, as well.

This site comes from the UK, so some of the language is distinctly British. This site requires Flash. Get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page..
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Can’t afford classroom magazine subscriptions? Check into this original online magazine for children ages 7-12. As its name implies, the articles, games, tunes, recipes, career center, and much more-- feed the imagination of youth. The feel of the magazine is positive, such as the celebrity interviews, articles on careers, contests, and quirky quizzes. The magazine has lively colors and easy access the different sections. It’s all free. One note of caution: This magazine has a bulletin board for “dishing.” Sign-in, with password, is required for its use, and may need monitoring. This site requires Flash. Get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page..
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While this site is geared towards writers, it also delivers powerful information to teachers and librarians. From the homepage, find the left-side links for Teachers and Librarians. These include essential information on planning a great school visit from an author, resources for teaching reading and writing, and Teacher’s Pets (tons of reviews of well-loved books). Also, at the SmartWriters homepage, click on the For Young Writers links to find how-to activities, contests, and publications for your students’ work.
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This "news-worthy" site is all about teleprompters and television. Students are presented with a practice round to hear a reporter reading from a teleprompter. Students are able to make the reporter speak slowly or quickly. Then students have the opportunity to read their own teleprompter at various speeds. There are several timely topics to choose from. Students are also able to type (or paste) in their own short story. Speech clinicians can use this speed control to help students practice articulation, as well. This website requires FLASH. You can get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page..
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This interactive website does a thorough job of explaining the water cycle. The specific links (or activities) include What is a River?, What is a Coast?, The Water Cycle, How do Rivers Change?, How do Coasts Change?, People and Rivers, People and Coasts, & What Happens When Rivers Meet the Coast? This website makes the difficult concepts easier to understand by comparing rivers to sliding boards and making other comparisons that kids can visualize. There is a Teachers and Parents link that includes lesson plans, standards, explanations of the online activities, printable pages, and more. The website does require Flash. You can get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page..
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Reading literature with complex characters worthy of analysis and individual profiles? Do your students need practice creating their own polished “profiles”? This tool creates professional looking profiles of students or for a character in a book, historical figure, animal, or scientific object/concept. Amazingly, you may choose to set up a profile for nonliving creatures or even abstract concepts. You simply type in the requested information into the boxes, and immediately, you have a perfect profile layout, ready for photocopy publishing. (Saving your profiles is not an option, so all must be printed immediately.) This site requires Flash. Get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page..
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This site requires students to read a New York Times article about Gatsby (accessed through the site) and respond with a quiz and writing assignment. The entire activity is geared for comprehension of Gatsby in the urban classroom, but makes interesting discussion and learning in any classroom that teaches The Great Gatsby. Standards are included with the lesson plan.
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This site offers a continually updated variety of podcasts on news subjects at a level appropriate for ESL and ELL students. A short description tells the subject of the podcast as well as other extras like quizzes, speakers, and creators or originators. Students and teachers can listen from the Internet or download to an MP3 player or local computer. A "Read the Web Page" link takes viewers to the news article or other special feature mentioned in the broadcast. Be certain to preview the podcasts that you plan to use in your class. Some are not appropriate for elementary students and young adolescents. This website requires Flash. You can get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page..
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Engage your students in higher-order thinking skills with a collaborative activity using Intel Education’s free Visual Ranking Tool. Visual ranking leads students though focusing, identifying, and refining criteria as they assign order or ranking to a list presented as a visual diagram. Students use a simple click and drag to organize ideas, explain their reasoning, debate differences, and reach consensus with each other. This web-based tool is accompanied by project ideas, instructional strategies, assessment tips, and research. There are also detailed lesson plans for grades 3-5, 6-8, or 9-12. Registration is free and creates a teacher workspace in which to build the class project. The password-protected workspace is accessed through the Internet where students log on with the teacher-created ID, team ID, and password.

Teachers can use the comprehensive tutorial to learn the features of the tool. The Try the Tool section has a demonstration workspace for teachers to practice with ranking a sample list and then comparing it to other lists. Take advantage of the experiences of other teachers in six detailed unit plans that provide usable handouts and student work samples.

Be sure to disable your popup blocker as the site needs to show popup windows during the project. This site requires Flash and Adobe Acrobat Reader. Get these tools from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page..
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Invite your students to step into Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello and experience colonial life. This educational website is beautifully designed for both students and teachers to use the extensive resources to learn about Jefferson, Monticello, and daily life. The Monticello Classroom provides a student portal with fact and resource sheets, an image gallery, online activities, and a saved favorites section. Web pages offer information by reading levels: elementary, middle, and high school. The image gallery contains a slide show builder for students to create a presentation using the images and copies of primary source documents. The presentations can be saved, printed, or emailed. Students can register for an account to save favorites and other resources. Registration requires a user name, password, first name and last name. Check your school’s policies before allowing student accounts, especially with full names! (See more hints below).

TeachersFirst Toolbox page..
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This website presents math activities in a clever format. Although this math link is mainly PDF files that are printable, many of the activities could be projected on a screen or interactive whiteboard while students work independently at their seats. This website offers "ready to print," motivating practice pages in vibrant color. Activities are also available in Spanish. Topics include addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, algebra, coding, puzzles, fractions, factors, and many more. This site requires Adobe Acrobat. You can get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page..
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This entrancing graphic site portrays the cultural and literary history of the fictional Australian characters, the Bunyips. Students and teachers will enjoy learning about all the manifestations of its appearance on stamps, in books, and in folk lore. There are links for Education, Aboriginal Stories, Imagination, Evidence, and Fun & Games. This site requires Flash. Get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.. Although, a non-flash version is also available.
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If students ever wonder exactly what seashells they managed to collect at the beach last summer, this is the site to use. Clear photos click to an even larger and distinct picture of many varieties. Along with the larger picture are the common name, scientific name, region found, and maximum size. Links on the page include more information about identifying shells, cleaning, preserving, and using as decorations.
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Footprints Science consists of simulations and interactives on many key concepts that are difficult to visualize and understand in Science. The site offers purchase of different modules or the complete collection. Samples, however, are free to use. Biology samples include "DNA drag and drop," "Kidney animation," "Fertilisation animation," and "Breathing animation." Chemistry samples include "Periodic Table interactive activity," "States of matter animation," and "Atomic structure activity."Physics samples include "Forces animation," "Power Station animation," and "Phases of Moon animation." Coursework includes "Variables," "Planning," "Graph," and "Line of best fit." More animations and interactives for each subject are available. The items are designed to be used with instruction to make the concepts more engaging. Interactives use drag and drop labeling with immediate feedback and allow pausing to stop the animation. Quizzes and games are also available. Graphics are very well done and easy to see, making difficult concepts much easier to understand. Interactives can be viewed as a large screen. This site requires Flash. You can get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page..
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Use this site to understand the ozone and how it affects our air quality and life here on Earth. Satellite imagery of ozone holes includes an updated daily picture and comparison over the last decades. NASA facts listed on the side include an opportunity to learn more about the information presented, watch satellite images from the last 7 days, view animations, compare year-to-date, and look at the annual records since 1979 using "Ozone Hole Watch." Information about the ozone and how it is measured is explained in detail here. "Explore the ozone with NASA" by viewing a short video that outlines the ozone and discusses new research and climate change. Use the "Resources for News Media" to view the Multimedia gallery for pictures of the largest ozone hole on record, the Arctic vortex, and Earth's Atmospheric Layers. Information about ozone depleting chemicals and ozone chemistry is also found here. View video of the ozone missions from NASA. "Ozone Hole 101" provides basic content about the ozone that is easy to understand for students. Read interesting information such as "Ozone levels drop when hurricanes are strengthening" and "Ozone hole is a double record breaker." This site requires Quicktime and animations require Flash. You can get both from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page..
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Children's author Cynthia Reeg offers a poem whose lines follow alphabetical order. The first word of the first line begins with "a," the next with "b," and so on. Imaginative illustrations change as the student clicks on the forward button to see the next lines.
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TeachersFirst EDGE entry: for slightly adventurous technology users. This online tool allows you to create an interactive multimedia timeline on a topic of your choice. You are able to use pictures, videos, or text to mark an event. Video and audio files hosted elsewhere (podcasts, TeacherTube videos, etc) can be included in your timelines. Pictures can be included by upload or by URL. Embed the "finished" timeline into a website or blog or share it via URL. See a sample created by our Edge review team. Viewers can comment on the events in your timelines, unless you have opted to keep the events "private." Free registration is required to create a timeline. This site requires Flash. Get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.. NOTE: as of this review, circaVie is in beta, so there may still be some "glitchy" behavior from this tool. AOL has purchased this tool, so its longevity may be more protected than some other web 2.0 start-ups.
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This interdisciplinary math/ geography practice activity challenges students to answer several math questions in 80-seconds. Each correct answer flies Maggie and her helicopter to a new destination in the world. Students can choose a difficulty level of easy or hard. They can also choose to play the game using addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, or a mix of all four. This activity is also available in Spanish. This math journey requires Flash. You can get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page..
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This highly engaging website challenges students to rescue Maggie's dog, Dude, from a rooftop). To help the dog, the students must answer several math questions correctly. Each correct answer flies the helicopter closer to the dog. This activity can be differentiated by ability levels (easy, hard, or extreme). You are also able to pick addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, or a mix of all four operations. This adventure requires Flash. You can get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page..
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