Teachers First - Thinking Teachers Teaching Thinkers

Create and play with poetry using this interactive magnetic poetry kit! Drag words from the word bank onto the blank board to build poems. Click the more words option to find additional words for use. When finished, save and share to Facebook or via email using the form provided.
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tag(s): interactive stories (31), poetry (222), sight words (35)

Find an extensive collection of art and drama lesson plans for use in all grade levels. Choose a grade level from categories on the left side of the page. Pick from sub-categories such as type of medium, art period, or artist. One particularly useful category is by integration: ideas you can choose for lessons in subjects such as health, science, or language arts. Once you choose a lesson title, specific details include materials used, appropriate age levels, instructions, and images of projects. Many, but not all lessons also include correlation to national standards. Click on the printer friendly link to print lessons without all the clutter on the page.
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tag(s): animals (322), artists (80), colors (77), geometric shapes (170), insects (72), japan (60), native americans (82), origami (15), painting (62), preK (282), recycling (60), symmetry (49)

Sometimes it's best to go straight to the source. The US Department of Education offers advice, information, and links for those searching for financial aid to attend post-secondary education. Not a fancy site, but all the relevant information is there: defining the kinds of financial aid, applying for financial aid, comparing financial aid offers from colleges, and understanding the repayment process. There is also a link to the new "College Scorecard" site that provides more guidance in comparing the potential financial costs of different colleges. In addition there are several infographics and videos (which link to YouTube) that provide important overviews in each of the broad categories covered on the site. If your district blocks YouTube, then 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 Tube Offline, reviewed here, to download the videos from YouTube.

tag(s): careers (148), college (47), financial aid (16), financial literacy (109)

This website is for girls to learn about STEM careers and the various research and educational opportunities that exist for them. Famous women in STEM careers and other prominent women are a focus of this site. Learn about great STEM careers and how STEM impacts much of our world. Watch and learn from others, view video clips, take challenges, learn about careers, and more. Some of the videos are hosted on YouTube. If your district blocks YouTube, then 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 Tube Offline, reviewed here, to download the videos from YouTube.

tag(s): engineering (131), STEM (209), women (101)

Search America's historic newspapers from 1836-1922. Use the U.S. Newspaper Directory to find information located within American newspapers published between 1690-present. The front page contains images and links to newspaper topics for the current date 100 years ago. Click on links to view more from each paper, such as additional pages or other issues. Use the search bar to narrow newspaper searches by date, state, and keywords. View content in PDF or text format, or clip image to print or download to your computer. If you get stuck on the site, click the "Ask a Librarian" button for advice and help.

tag(s): 1800s (52), 1900s (45), journalism (63), news (257), newspapers (99), primary sources (98)

Picture History contains licensed digital images covering 200 years of American History. Search the site using the search box or browse by category, decade, photographer, or anniversary. Images include information on the subject, date (or approximate date), and image size. Additional topics include nature, life cycles, politics & government, science, health, medicine, and much more. Be aware that these are copyrighted images intended for SALE. This means that Fair Use does not apply because you would be taking away the owner's opportunity to earn income from this property. Register to download high resolution images without watermarks (this option requires a fee). You can send an "e-card" using an image. Click the envelope below the image to send.

tag(s): 1800s (52), 1900s (45), architecture (84), business (55), digital storytelling (143), images (269), life cycles (23), lincoln (84), medicine (64), politics (106), transportation (47)

This free tool is an academic search engine that uses resources trusted by educators. Choose from various subjects at the top or enter your search term directly into the search bar. Infotopia uses a Google Custom search to find information that is appropriate for students.
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tag(s): search engines (58)

Join John and Hank Green on the you Tube channel, Crash Course. Crash Course consists of highly engaging video presentations that explain the basics on many topics: about 10-15 minute in length, humorous, and engaging! The general topic areas include World History, Literature, and US History. At the time of this review, biology topics include: the carbon cycle, water cycle, molecules, nutrition, animal and plant cells, photosynthesis, heredity, DNA, mitosis, meiosis, natural selection, evolution, genetics, taxonomy, evolution, simple animals, complex animals, animal behavior, various systems of the body, bacteria, protists, and even more. In literature, five videos cover subjects from Romeo and Juliet to The Great Gatsby. There are over forty world history topics: Agricultural revolution, Mesopotamia, Ancient Egypt, The Persians and Greeks, Buddha and Ashoka, Chinese History, Alexander the Great, The Roman Empire, Christianity from Judaism to Constantine, Fall of the Roman Empire, Islam the Quran, and the Five Pillars, Venice and Ottoman Empire, Russia, Columbus, The Spanish Empire, The French Revolution, Haitian Revolution, Industrial Revolution, Capitalism, Socialism, Imperialism, and many more. 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 Tube Offline, reviewed here, to download the videos from YouTube.

Tip: to watch or share a video without the ads and clutter, use a tool such as ViewPure, reviewed here, to watch the video ad-free!
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tag(s): animals (322), bacteria (30), bill of rights (27), body systems (59), chinese (48), constitution (92), declaration of independence (13), evolution (105), genetics (89), greeks (33), literature (265), meiosis (15), mitosis (11), nutrition (156), religions (71), rome (25), romeo and juliet (5), russia (37), shakespeare (110), water cycle (32)

The U.S. Department of State designed this interactive game to help ESL/ELL learners to learn American English. However, many non-ESL/ELL students could greatly benefit (and enjoy) this highly interactive experience and look at U.S. culture. Download Unity Player to begin. Registration is free, but does require an email address. Begin your mission with Trace, a teen back in time from the year 2045. Help Trace return to his regular time by completing several challenges. Trace must follow directions (called objectives) on each screen. He travels to 8 separate locations around the U.S. Learn about entrepreneurship, community activism, empowering women, science and innovation, environmental conservation, and conflict resolution. Travel to Kansas, New Orleans, the Grand Canyon, New York City, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C. Complete 28 practice activities. You will also find 4 multi-player practice challenges, 7 graphic novels for extension activities, and an American English dictionary integration activity. The game is so involved, that you will not even realize that you are also learning English.

tag(s): communities (41), conflict resolution (10), conservation (121), cross cultural understanding (134), women (101)

Let's Make Compound Words provides practice in creating compound words. Use with the sound on or off, then drag images from one of two boxes to create compound words. If the two words correctly create a compound word those images disappear. When all images are used, the next activity appears (dragging compound words to complete sentences.) Click the link next to the sentence to hear the sentence read aloud. When finished, reset to complete activities again. The site originates in Canada, so keep an eye out for spelling variations. Our editors also noticed that creative users may come up with alternative compound words that the site may not "think of," such as shoefly. These less common options do not work.

tag(s): word study (74)

Find entertaining videos, web lessons, and downloads to support learning about dictionaries, thesaurus, and "How Words Work." Each video includes a short description of content and the skills addressed. Most videos are approximately three minutes long and include links to related web lessons and print downloads. This site was originally created for adult basic literacy students. However, many of these lessons could be useful with younger students learning the basics of vocabulary. Preview the video for appropriateness before sharing with younger students.

tag(s): antonyms (26), dictionaries (57), prefixes (16), reading comprehension (134), root words (13), spelling (166), suffixes (13), synonyms (35), thesaurus (23), vocabulary (311), vocabulary development (118), word study (74)