Teachers First - Thinking Teachers Teaching Thinkers

Take a virtual field trip to one of the oldest and largest museums in the world without leaving your classroom! The Hermitage Museum located in St Petersburg, Russia offers virtual visits, viewings, and academies through their extensive website. Virtual Tours offer descriptions and panoramic views of all rooms in the museum. Choose the Virtual Viewing link to exhibits, art collections, and themed exhibitions exploring different people and eras in Russian history. Be sure to check out the Children and Education link for many offerings in the virtual academy exploring topics such as medals and the Winter Palace. App versions are available.

tag(s): artists (76), DAT device agnostic tool (171), medieval (27), museums (50), religions (67), russia (38), virtual field trips (51)

Explore the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum site to learn about the effects and aftermath of nuclear war. View guided tours and images of over 57 monuments located in Hiroshima. These monuments were constructed as memorials to those who lost their lives. Visit the Kids Peace Station for activities geared toward younger students. Explore the virtual museum to view exhibits such as damage caused by the atomic bomb blast and recorded testimony of survivors.

tag(s): atomic bomb (11), japan (62), virtual field trips (51), world war 2 (142)

JogNog offers some free online learning games aligned to Common Core Standards. Easily find games for 2nd grade up to college level by topic or type. Search relevant keywords to find games. Hover over search results to view a short description of each quiz along with the number of levels and questions included. Create a class and share any quiz with a quick click to create a class code and URL link to selected quizzes. The first level of every Quiz is always free. Every review quiz is free. Grade Books and Questions Report provide feedback on class participation and correct responses. Choose the design link to create your own personalized quizzes using your own content or from questions already on the site. Play JogNog on personal computers or any mobile device by downloading the corresponding app. Creating quizzes is FREE at all times. The free trial (offers additional materials) is good for only 30 days.
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tag(s): DAT device agnostic tool (171), quizzes (101), test prep (96)

Become an expert at Roman Numerals! Practice with a Roman numeral converter, chart, videos, games, quizzes, and interesting facts! Enter any number into the numeral converter to view the Roman Numeral. Explore one of several charts with numerals from 1-10 on up to 1-1000. Watch a video explanation about how to create numbers using the Roman number system. Other informative portions of this site include short explanations of the origins of Roman Numerals and four rules for understanding how to use Roman Numerals. If your district blocks YouTube, they may not be viewable. You could always view the videos at home and bring them to class "on a stick" to share. Use a tool such as KeepVid reviewed here to download the videos from YouTube.

tag(s): roman numerals (9)

Between 1909 and 1930, photographer Edward Curtis set out to document the life and culture of the North American Indians, and this site shares his work. Like so many of his time, he viewed Native Americans as a "primitive" race of people whose customs were a source of curiosity. As westward expansion began to destroy the culture of indigenous people, Curtis wanted to record, through photographs and narratives, what he believed was a savage and mysterious world before it disappeared. While Curtis' work represented the popular viewpoint of his time, today we recognize that it is, at best, the impressions of someone who neither understood nor particularly valued what he was recording. This digital reproduction of the entire project needs to be carefully previewed and introduced so that we don't perpetuate this way of viewing Native American life. In fact, some of the images of the ceremonial life were never intended to be seen by "outsiders," and their use today is controversial. The site does a good job of setting the context for the use of Curtis's work and helps establish respectful boundaries.

tag(s): native americans (78)

An artist sees the world and then tries to communicate that vision through his or her work. The Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester presents 17 works of art, each illustrating the artist's view of America. Each piece is indexed by theme such as Meeting America's People or Telling America's Stories and is accompanied by a rich set of resources including lesson plans, classroom activities, and a printable image that can be duplicated. There are works from as early as the 18th century up until the present time. An interactive timeline helps pinpoint pieces according to the dates they were created.

tag(s): art history (72), artists (76)

Cars are more than a way to get from point A to point B, and Hans Tangerud, a Norwegian car enthusiast, recognizes American's love of cars in this historic collection of sales brochures. Cars, particularly in the United States, represent an important part of the culture. Their design, their advertising, their features all communicate something about what matters to the people who bought them. Tangerud has scanned images of American Car advertising and brochures back as far as the 1920s up through the present. A very deep resource, there are well over 100 brochures here, part of a larger site that focuses on his obsession with cars, particularly those from the US.

tag(s): 20th century (53), advertising (33), history day (24), transportation (41)

Even the youngest person can feel down at times. If the sadness continues for too long, however, get some advice for dealing with depression at e-learning for kids. Go on a journey with Lenny and Emma, and help them make choices to deal with their sadness. There are four different options to choose from, and each one gives the positives and negatives for that choice.

tag(s): emotions (34), social skills (21)

Explore fifteen Life Skills lessons ranging from Emotions to Stress to Choosing the Right Career. One of the activities, Dunkin' Doc, is a Jeopardy type word game for words associated with school, communication, emotions, relationships, and family. Another area of the site, You and Others reviews peer pressure, fitting in, and cliques. Read and learn about self image and puberty in Growing Body and Personal IDM.

tag(s): bullying (52), careers (136), child development (25), emotions (34), family (59), human body (126), stress (15)

Doodle is an online tool to simplify scheduling meetings with several participants. Follow the three easy steps to find the best meeting time: set up a poll, invite participants, and confirm the date and time. Set up your poll including proposed dates and times including as many time slots each day as you wish. Refine using options such as only the administrator may view responses or limit the number of participants in each time frame. When ready, send invitations using your email service with the Doodle link or connect your address book for invitations to come directly from Doodle. Two links will arrive in your email: one to administer your poll and the other to share.
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tag(s): calendars (46), classroom management (148), organizational skills (128)

Send simple invitations or surveys with Yarp. Choose the type, name it, add more information, and choose responses such as Yes/No or other clever possibilities. Click "Let me see it" to view the survey. Send the link to your Yarplet to others. No membership is required to create Yarplets or to vote! Click "Save my Yarplets" for instructions to keep track of your polls and invitations when moving from one device to another. This tool will work on any mobile browser.

tag(s): data (151), polls and surveys (55)

Create a debate or ask specific questions of a group or the entire web using ProConit as a social evaluation tool. Questions can be pro/con, either-or choices, or open-ended evaluations of a specific topic. Get creative and write your questions to make them even more engaging. You can embed the ProConit topic in multiple web locations, such as websites or blogs, using ProConit's free widget. Get started simply by registering with your email or other social network log-in. The pubic can vote and add their own comments to the ProConits left open to the public. You can also make them private.
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tag(s): critical thinking (111), debate (44), persuasive writing (56), polls and surveys (55)

Looking for quick web pages that even students can author? Then "wiki-wiki" this way! (Wiki means quick in Hawaiian.) This is the one tried and true wiki to use. Create your own Wikispaces site by creating a site name. Educators get a free upgrade to a non-ad site, so remember to confirm it is for educational use. Enter your students manually (or upload a list). Students can also create an account and "join" your wiki. Use Settings to manage privacy settings for viewing and editing. Be sure to check out many of the settings that make Wikispaces versatile including the ability to lock pages so others do not edit them. Individual students can have their own page and/or belong to a group page. Check the participation of individual students in the group by checking the history of the page to "see" what each student edited at specific times. Choose traditional Wikispaces which looks like traditional sets of pages on a site. Also choose from the new Wikispaces Classroom (this can be done at any time and can be converted back to a traditional wiki as needed). In Wikispaces Classroom, members of your wiki can be assigned to various project groups the teacher creates. Set the privacy settings for each individual group or for all of them. If private, only members of that group can see their information. Create announcements, calendar events, discussions, and more for individuals, single groups, or all groups. Wikispaces Classroom takes interaction and management of student projects to a new level. As they work on an assigned project, the teacher can view the activity of each student including pages editing and viewing. Follow help videos or simply play to learn the simple wiki editing toolbar and settings. Creating a site has never been so easy. If you have not tried a wiki yet, visit the TeachersFirst Wiki Walk-Through for a step-by-step explanation, starter help, and practical management and safety tips. Be sure to check your district's Acceptable Use Policy. We recommend having parents and students sign a Wiki Warranty (downloadable here ), spelling out wiki behavior and consequences.

tag(s): wikis (21)

Discover blog ideas galore from the "friendly writers" at Wordpress, especially these ideas for connecting your blog with other bloggers via special events, such as "blog hops." A blog hop is simply a response to the same prompt during a fixed time frame, with links to the other bloggers' responses so you can "hop" to read the many takes on the topic from the original post or prompt. Share writing around a common theme, image, quote, or topic by checking out the offerings compiled here. Note that this collection is intended for the general blogging public (not schools), so some topics may not be school-appropriate. On the other hand, making contact with "real world" people blogging about how they write, do photography, stay fit, and more. Click on the link to the updated list of blogging events to find inspiration and connection, sorted by general areas of interest. Don't miss the detailed information about how to Start and/or Participate in a Blog Hop.

tag(s): blogs (90), writing prompts (94)

This grass roots effort by a Tennessee science teacher spawned a monthly Twitter chat between high school science students in MANY locations and practicing scientists in the "real world." The site looks plain vanilla, but the topic is dynamite! Find information, preparation, and topics for upcoming chats, basic information about the chat formats, chat archives, past pre-chat prep resources, and Twitter handles for the scientists and teachers who participate in the chats. Don't forget to follow @2footgiraffe, the instigating teacher, and click through to his blog for some of the back story on how he was able to convince school administration to unblock Twitter (and other tales of tech challenges). The TeachersFirst editors met Mr. Taylor at the ISTE conference and knew this was a resource our users would want to know about.

tag(s): social networking (112), twitter (43)

This interactive social bookmarking and collaboration tool does so much more than any ordinary bookmarking tool. It is a research tool, knowledge-sharing community, website annotation tool, and social information network all rolled into one "cloud" package. To get started, check out the About link. You will find information and videos on the uses of Diigo. Set up an account, being sure to click the FREE education edition upgrade. This is a device-agnostic tool, available on the web but also available for free as both an Android and iOS app. Use it from any device or move between several devices and still access your work. App and web versions vary slightly.

This tool can be used as a basic bookmarking tool, simply allowing YOU to save, sort, and access your own bookmarks from ANY computer or mobile device (once you are logged in). You have the choice whether your bookmarks are public or private. You can gradually ease into more advanced and interactive features: highlight parts of sites and save or share those annotations, add sticky notes to parts of websites, pictures, screen-shots, documents, audio, and more. Do group collaborative research. Organize your bookmarks by tags. Unlike sorting bookmarks into file folders, adding tags permits you to put multiple tags or "labels" on one site. The same site you tag for book reports could also be tagged for biographies, for example. Aditional Diigo features include groups (a way to share and exchange bookmarks with a certain group of Diigo users), messaging, and search features. You can search all the public bookmarks made by others and discover other people with similar interests, already bookmarked and ready for you to mark as your own. There are many groups you can join, such as those with a specific teaching interest or hobby. See "Tools" for many helpful options, including bookmarklets to make bookmarking instant on multiple devices. Bookmarklets drag directly to the toolbars on your computer and are well worth it. It goes beyond simple bookmarking and adds options like highlight, capture, send, read later, comment, search bar and Diigo message options. You decide your own level of use and desired tools to be shown on the bar. If choosing not to install the toolbar, then there is an applet called Diigolet that will be used in its place. It is not as strong a tool as the toolbar, but will work well if the toolbar installation is not possible. Check our sample group. You can also install a widget on your blog (or class web page) that will show your bookmarks there.
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tag(s): bookmarks (64), DAT device agnostic tool (171), forum (9), social networking (112)