Use this exceedingly simple idea to manage your time handling email or to generate writing prompts that are meaningful in today's world. The site itself simply explains the rationale for limiting all email responses to five sentences, saving you time digging through the mailbox and increasing the likelihood that others will actually read your response.
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This is a site created in partnership with Google as a project to help generations share and talk more through social networking. The concept is that young people ask older people to share their photos; these photos are then uploaded through Google maps to show the world as it once was. The older pictures can be compared to today's images through Google street view. In addition to uploading photos, stories can also be shared about the time period and the pictures. Historypin is still in Beta stage; however, there are plans for events throughout the world to launch the site in the near future.
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TeachersFirst offers tried and true getting-to-know-you lesson plans, some with a creative twist. Get off on the right foot to establish your classroom as a learning community.
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Lego Education Activities are designed to be rich, fun-filled, creative learning experiences. They offer educators a means to use LEGO sets as essential tools that engage students while challenging their creativity and enhancing their knowledge and comprehension. As a thinking teacher, you only need to look on the Teachersfirst Editor’s Blog here to realize what a hot topic teaching creativity is and how it fits into the classroom. From role-playing and meeting the needs of early childhood development to theme-based sets for older students, LEGO Activities offer a multi-disciplinary approach to teaching. There are also specific sets designed to cover specific subject areas, including technology curriculum. As you browse the activities, you will find obvious connections to curriculum in simple machines and other science topics, as well. Stay current and find a lot more stimulating ideas by checking out the LEGO Education and LEGO Smart Blogs available from theLego Education Activities page.
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This fast paced, highly interactive activity will keep students interested while developing vocabulary and thinking skills. Sixteen words are presented on a board, the goal is to sort them into four groups of four related words in three minutes and then name the word that connects all of them together. Patience and thinking outside the box are needed to be successful. There is no need to register to play for fun, and there are choices of many walls. Tournament play is also included; however, registration is required. Only Connect walls can be created for any subject or topic discussed in the classroom.
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This site has a collection of free classics in the public domain downloadable for mp3 and m4b audio book format for iTunes and iPods. Of special interest at this site is the recently added section where readers may find books that are not available at other free book download sites. Also distinguishing this site is that some books offer "human narration" and some have "text to speech" technology doing the reading.
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This site will spur student photographers to expect more from their work and to learn from others. Each day "The Daily Shoot" posts an assignment meant to motivate and encourage photographers across the world. A daily tweet on their twitter account (@dailyshoot) announces that day's assignment. Simply shoot, upload, and share your response. There are 12 different photo-sharing services available to use. Upload the photo and tweet out a link to the @dailyshoot. Be sure to include an assignment hashtag in the tweet. There are no submission deadlines or due dates. Feel free to go back to past assignments and post to them. Students who are not quite ready to share their work will enjoy browsing through the pictures other photographers have taken. The Daily Shoot is not only an opportunity to learn more about photography but a chance to develop the discipline of daily practice and self-motivation.
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Reading Rewards is a new, free reading incentive program for teachers, parents, and students that can be used as a teaching tool in the classroom or at home. Kids accumulate Reading Reward "Miles" on the site, which they can exchange for fun things on the site: joke of the day, video of the day (always safe, kid-friendly videos their editors find), mini-games, and more. Watch the introductory slide show for the program showing you how to set up Reading Rewards for your class(es). A side benefit of this site is that you can also use it to teach about distinguishing between advertisements and actual content on a site.
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Writing Exemplars and Scoring Guides provides descriptions and links to authentic writing samples organized and evaluated by grade level, as well as scoring guides and rubrics. Samples, also referred to as anchor papers, include narrative, informative, and creative writing. Although scoring guides and rubrics may vary between states and school districts, they share a similar criterion that incorporates the various traits of writing. This is one of the many useful pages from the Farroutlinks blog site, which continues to post new ideas on an ongoing basis.
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This site, created for homeschooling families but useful in any classroom, provides downloadable game boards that can be used in any subject area. Game boards come in two varieties, start to finish and racetrack. The two varieties come in several different styles. Printable dice and game cards are also available as well as directions on how to assemble the game board.
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Here you will find the English teachers dream come true! Read.gov is from the Library of Congress and is a new website for readers of all ages. The site offers pages specifically designed for kids and teens, as well as adults, educators, and parents. There is so much here: Contests, books online, book lists, and more. The webcast section is truly extensive. There are Webcasts from famous authors such as R.L. Stine, Jon Scieszka, Jan Brett, David Baldacci, John Grisham, Neil Gaiman, and many more. These webcasts also include interesting topics like "Mystery Writers Discuss Their Craft" and "The Nuts and Bolts of Historical Fiction" among others.

A special feature of the site is an exclusive story, called “The Exquisite Corpse Adventure.” The Exquisite Corpse was a game in which someone would start a story, fold over their part, and the next person would add to the story and on it would go until the last person ended the story. For this Exquisite Corpse, Jon Scieszka started the story and passed it on to Katherine Patterson, who passed it on . . . and so it goes for 18 episodes. The entire story will take a year to write to the finish. There is an illustration that goes with each segment.
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This site is a blog entry discussing exactly what it says (word errors), but it also gives explanations to go with words that writers often confuse. How about you? Do you ever confuse further and farther? Do you know when to use effect or affect? Which is correct? "Supposed to" or "Suppose to"? On this blog entry you will find the answers to these conundrums and more.
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The Secret Millionaire's Club (SMC) will enhance any math, economics, language arts, or social studies lesson. This site provides students with financial and investing advice. The site is a partnership between AOL Kids and Warren Buffett. The site provides many areas for students to visit. There are episodes that students can watch that tackle a financial issue. The site also provides games for students to play and there is blog that is written by one of the kids in the SMC. In addition, students can sign up to participate in the Buffett Bucks stock exchange where they can earn Buffett Bucks.
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TeachersFirst Edge review: For any technology user comfortable with watching video and/or using video cameras. The more adventurous users can create their own videos to share. GotBrainy is a vocabulary development site with a twist. User-created combinations of images/videos and text explain the meaning of the words. There are two areas: BrainyPic and BrainyFlix. GotBrainy has numerous user-created sentences to illustrate SAT/ACT vocabulary, with images depicting the word on Brainypics, or videos demonstrating the word on BrainyFlix. Anyone can access the Brainypic vocabulary “flashcards” or offer new sentences for the words, simply by supplying an email address. *Be aware, anyone can click “go on to the next flashcard” and be taken to a new word. The words are in random order, so you are not able to preview. Be sure to set guidelines with students about if they can/can’t click on the other virtual flashcards. With an optional (free) registration, you can vote on the sentences and videos, or you can create your own sentence/image combos or videos. Once fully registered, you submit your uploaded video depicting the word, which then goes into a “holding” area. That video then awaits approval by the website’s moderator before becoming available. Because of the layering of approval, this site mitigates safety (and accuracy) concerns for students or schools. Searching the site and simply viewing the videos does not require any registration or log-in. Note that BrainyFlix videos are actually hosted on other sites such as YouTube, TeacherTube, or SchoolTube and simply embedded in Brainyflix, so some might be blocked by school filtering.

Here is an example of a Brainypic.
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Shmoop has an entire section just for William Shakespeare. If you click on his name at the top you'll be taken to his biography page. This address will also list the Learning Guides that Shmoop has developed for Shakespeare's works. All you need for your Shakespeare unit on one page!
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This collection of reviewed resources from TeachersFirst is selected to help teachers and students learn about oil spills and the short and long term impact on the environment caused by these environmental disasters. As students read and see images of animals, be aware that younger students may have more questions than they can explain.
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The Common Core State Standards Initiative is a nationwide effort led by the National Governor's Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers to establish a common set of educational standards which aligns benchmarks and expectations across state lines. This system builds on what states are already doing by providing an opportunity to share experiences, best practices, and lessons, while maintaining high expectations that insure the quality of education across America to enable our students to maintain a competitive edge in the global economy.

Visit this website to find out exactly what the national K-12 standards are for English language arts and literacy in history/social studies, science and technology, as well as mathematics, and to find out if your state is one many states (at the time of this review) that have already committed to adopt the Common Core State Standards. Watch videos and the recorded webinar, and read about the key points and rigorous curriculum standards, including the content and skills related to the use of media and technology for critical analysis and production.
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This tribute to 9/11 is a series of interactive photographs that highlights the episodes that transpired from shortly after 8:00 a.m. when the American Airlines flight was hijacked and struck the first tower of the World Trade Center, to the aftermath when the pile of debris that was once the Twin Towers became flooded with volunteer rescue workers doing the indescribable heroic work of helping the surviving victims and recovering the remains of the human lives that were destroyed. Move your curser over the photographs to read actual descriptions from flight attendants, survivors, firefighters, family members and others who were part of tragic history in the making. This is an opportunity to “relive” that day, almost minute by minute, as if you were actually there.
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Hear multiple perspectives from the actual recovery site of the September 11, 2001, attack on the New York World Trade Center. Understand what the devastation and challenges were really like and how horrific the experience actually was by listening to voices recorded from ordinary citizens that were actually there on that fateful day. Move your mouse over the dots to listen to the emotional audios of various eyewitness reports. This is a realistic opportunity to hear different perspectives on the recovery experience from the point of view of a Salvation Army volunteer, a photographer, a medical examiner, a police commander, a family member and others.
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Are you looking for ways to inspire meaningful discussions of September 11th and to help make sense of this tragedy? The Tribute World Trade Center Visitor Center of New York City presents awards to honor teachers who have created exemplary educational projects for students to express and sustain the memory of September 11th. This site shares their projects from the globe and involving all aspects of the arts and humanities, including history, language arts, visual, media and performing arts. Although this site is mainly designed for grades 5-12, there are some activities for younger elementary students found in the "Resources for Your Classroom" section of the site.
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