Teachers First - Thinking Teachers Teaching Thinkers

Are you looking to experience science and math through a different lens? STEMbite is a YouTube channel with engaging "bite-sized" lessons from a unique first-person perspective through Google Glass. This intro page explains the project and gives the link to the actual YouTube channel. Math and science surround us in our everyday life. STEMbite opens your eyes to infinite possibilities. The videos engage you through a short explanation and motivate you to learn more. Examples of videos include math at the pharmacy, washing machine physics, chemistry in your kitchen, probability challenge, the polarization of light, and more! Subscribe to the STEMbite YouTube channel to make your mind hungry to learn about the application of math and science in our everyday life. STEMbite will change your point of view on math and science. If your district blocks YouTube, then STEMbite may not be viewable for students at school.

tag(s): atmosphere (21), energy (144), probability (105), STEM (214), video (241), waves (15)

Create circuit diagrams easily with this tool. Drag and drop elements onto the schematic. Name each of the elements (resistors, etc.) and save schematics once you create an account. Add layers by clicking on the Settings tab. Use the Help tab to find the most common shortcuts with this tool. This tool has been tested in Chrome which is the recommended browser. Other browsers work, though there may be some issues with how items look or perform.

tag(s): circuits (16), electricity (63), makerspace (33)

Tools for Educators is a great site to build an engaging classroom. Worksheet templates, printables, and game makers enhance your classroom instruction. Customize printable word searches with images in seconds. Crossword puzzles can be created as well and even on the same page as a word search. Design your own dice with images or text on the face of the dice. Roll the dice and create dice with text and images! Are your students bored with games? Need activities for centers or stations? The board game maker is a worksheet wizard that allows you to create board games on any theme with pictures. Tools for Educators currently has games for over 20 themes. Build your own BINGO boards, or be amazed by the maze maker. Make your own mazes for the students to explore with questions on content! Don't fall over, but create your own dominoes with text on the left and images on the right. You can't go wrong! Create spelling and reading worksheets as well as handwriting worksheets for students to trace. Tools for Educators is an award winning site itself. Choose from 70 different themes in over a 1,000 styles to create certificates. Picture this...vocabulary words with images. Tools for Educators allows you to create visual vocabulary handouts.
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tag(s): back to school (56), handwriting (17), images (250), printables (35), puzzles (155), resources (87), worksheets (64)

The World Digital Library makes it possible to discover, study, and enjoy digitized cultural treasures from around the world. Resources include manuscripts, maps, rare books, musical scores, recordings, films, prints, photographs, and architectural drawings. Browse by place, time, topic, type of item, and contributing institution, or use the open-ended search available in many languages. Information included with items includes a description, place of event or item, date, location of the item, and tags for viewing items similar in nature or topic. Move the timeline to view items for specific time periods.

tag(s): 1600s (15), 1700s (33), 1800s (54), 1900s (48), 20th century (48), africa (135), asia (67), australia (27), china (57), cross cultural understanding (141), europe (68), images (250), north america (11), south america (36)

If famous people from long ago had inboxes, what would be in them? Famous Inboxes takes that concept and creates inboxes for characters in literature, entertainment, and history. Choose from artists, musicians, great leaders, authors, and many more categories. Each inbox contains a screenshot of the person's email (mythical) inbox including the subject of the email and the sender. This is an entertaining and provocative site sure to inspire lots of ideas for your own use! Be sure to preview before you share as some of the topics (or "texting" language) may not be appropriate for the classroom.

tag(s): creative writing (118), digital storytelling (127), gamification (78), social networking (82)

Doorway Online provides several early elementary level learning activities in the areas of literacy, math, typing, and memory games. Choose one of the categories to view game titles, then click to play. Some games offer learning or testing modes as an option for play while others provide several options for differentiating activities. Created in Scotland, this site uses British spellings and currencies.

tag(s): addition (144), alphabet (46), counting (65), keyboarding (30), Online Learning (16), phonics (36), preK (233), sounds (47), spelling (89), subtraction (127), time (100)

Pinterest and Learnist are for general public use, but Participate takes the best of both of those tools and puts them together for educators and their students. The real difference with Participate for educators is the ability to create classes and have portfolios. Make your clipboards public or private. Post videos, documents, links, or upload files. Get great ideas by browsing existing clipboards with no registration, or save those searches and create subject specific clipboards by registering for free.

tag(s): bookmarks (53), Learning Management Systems (26), organizational skills (95), portfolios (22), social networking (82), Teacher Utilities (107)

This down to Earth site encourages you to view and appreciate nature (even on your smartphone!). Become an active part in the quest to understand nature. Share your experiences through photos, called Spottings, and tag your location. Act as a "citizen scientist" to discover organisms and share findings. Document living things (natural creatures, plants and other living things) discovered by using a camera or mobile phone. Upload the contribution to Project Noah for further studies and projects by the community. Use the search tool to look for specific organisms by name. Sightings are recorded using Google Maps. Download the app available for iPhone and Android. Click Education to access teacher tools and set up a class account.

tag(s): DAT device agnostic tool (167), qr codes (18)