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February 15, 2016
Thinking Teachers Teaching Thinkers®
This week we celebrate Valentine's Day and Presidents' Day. Find resources for both occasions at TeachersFirst. Celebrate Lincoln and bring the Civil War to life with TeachersFirst’s Gettysburg by the Numbers. This Civil War unit engages learners with numbers and questions that will help students grasp the scope of this landmark battle. Don’t miss the supporting teacher ideas and resources.
World Read Aloud Day
Regardless of what level or subject you teach, prepare now to celebrate World Read Aloud Day in your classroom—Wednesday, February 24. Find some great ideas for all levels and subjects in TeachersFirst’s Reading for All.
OK2Ask: FREE Online Workshops
The February and March workshops are open for registration. All sessions are offered on Tuesdays at 7pm Eastern. Read our FAQ for general information about certificates, etc. Please be sure to read the detailed descriptions and suggested technology comfort levels BEFORE you register for the best match for your learning needs.
Easy Book Report Alternatives; February 16
Three Cool Tools to Power Up Your Images; February 23
Game-Based Learning: The Quest for Classroom Success; March 1
Digital Storytelling; March 8
Excite Students Using Comics
Are you looking for some new ways to engage your students in writing? Explore the many resources shared at TeachersFirst’s Comics and Cartoons Collection. Find tools for all ages to explore comics together.
Revolutionary Idea: Teaching Common Core ELA with History
Common Core and other testing initiatives sometimes places history (or social studies) on the back burner. Our young citizens are not getting the class time they once had to learn social studies. If you would like to put more history back into your elementary classroom, check out Highlighting Our History: American Revolution Read-Alouds PLUS for the Common Core. The read-aloud suggestions and ideas provide a way to leverage the power of daily Read-Alouds to practice Common Core Standards for the English Language Arts while infusing some Social Studies content, specifically the Revolutionary Period. This article is just one of several in TeachersFirst’s Implementing Common Core in Elementary Grades collection.
A Squall of Resources
This winter has been brutal in many locations. Don’t dread the delay or snow day. Plan ahead now by adding some Snow Day Resources to your class web page for those inevitable school closures. This page includes ideas for both online collaboration and snow-related learning.
Wiki – Blog – Neither?
This week’s Teacher Poll asks: Do you have a class blog or wiki? Place your vote on the teacher poll on the TeachersFirst home page.
Featured Sites
This week in our Featured Sites you will find:
- XMind
- Workflowy
- Typing.com
- An Illustrated Guide to Income Equality in America
- tchat
- Unite for Literacy Library
- The Nanoscale Informal Science Education Network (NISE)
- And more
IMPORTANT NOTE: If you are reading this February 21, or later, the link above will take you to the Featured Sites for the current week. Find the archived February 14th Features here, and don’t miss our many other recent additions from the link at the bottom of the Featured Sites page.
The TeachersFirst Team