{"id":728,"date":"2017-03-23T15:51:50","date_gmt":"2017-03-23T21:51:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/teachersfirst.com\/blog\/?p=728"},"modified":"2017-03-23T20:13:15","modified_gmt":"2017-03-24T02:13:15","slug":"teachersfirst-special-topics-collections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/teachersfirst.org\/blog\/2017\/03\/teachersfirst-special-topics-collections\/","title":{"rendered":"TeachersFirst Special Topics Collections"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>If you are a frequent user of TeachersFirst, you know our site contains an amazing amount of information and resources. A quick look at the home page shows a calendar, news and updates, search, TeachersFirst Edge resources, and Featured Sites. But that\u2019s just the beginning; the home page also links to Classroom Ready-to-Go and a set of tabs linking to additional pages on the site.<\/p>\n

With so much information on the site, it is not surprising that some resources may be overlooked or underused. One of these items may be our Special Topics Collections<\/a>. There is a link to all of these collections in the Classroom Resources section of the site.<\/p>\n

So, what is a Special Topics Collection? These are collections of resources for holidays, events, and frequently-taught subjects specially prepared to make planning easier. For example, if you search TeachersFirst for the phrase Earth Day, you will find 128 resources with Earth Day either in the title or somewhere in the description or classroom use portion. In fact, if you aren\u2019t careful with your search, you will find over 2,000 results with the both earth and day in them! That is overwhelming for anyone.<\/p>\n

TeachersFirst editors have curated the Special Topics Collections to contain the \u201cbest of the best\u201d for any subject. Typically, you will find 30 resources or less in each collection, although some may provide more. Right away, this weeds out some items that might show up in a search, but not be relevant to what you need. It also eliminates resources that might be \u201cok\u201d in favor of sites that offer more useful resources for teaching that topic.<\/p>\n

Special Topics pages\u00a0also include information for all appropriate grade levels. As much as possible, there are similar numbers\u00a0of resources for all grade levels within the topic page.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s take a look at some examples of Special Topics Collections that may be useful to you through the end of the school year.<\/p>\n