Teachers First - Thinking Teachers Teaching Thinkers

Download free shareware games to encourage thinking and practice identifying geometric shapes. Many of the downloads are games, while others provide opportunities to view computer art and find the hidden geometry or for students to create their own! There are also activities connecting math to physics and astronomy.

Be sure to check with your technology department about the ability to download these applications to school computers. Many districts have restrictions on the ability to download. Click on each game icon to read a description of the games included and some uses. Games are Mac and Windows compatible. Read their FAQ link with each set of games for the most asked questions about the shareware. Once downloaded, to "stop" a program, click Esc. If you are not allowed to install software on your own, share these powerful games with your math or art supervisors so they can advocate for you with the tech folks.

tag(s): geometric shapes (134), symmetry (26), tessellations (3)

Padlet offers many tools and resources for creating online bulletin boards to display and organize information on any topic. Create a new board from scratch or choose from many templates, including timelines, maps, storyboards, KWL boards, and many more options. Padlet also offers AI features to use as a tool to automatically create interactive activities and custom boards based on topic, grade level, and additional details such as standards or teaching objectives. Padlet Sandboxes allows members to interact and collaborate in real time using sticky notes, drawings, and more. Customize the appearance and format of your Padlets using options such as allowing comments on posts, moderating posts and comments before they are publicly posted, and sorting options for easier viewing. When adding posts, you can add links, images, videos, documents, polls, and more. This is a link to Padlet's Help section for posting a video or an image. Free accounts allow you to make 3 Padlets that include search, themes, stats, premium wallpapers, and cross-device support for uploaded videos. You can always delete an old Padlet to create a new one. Find video tutorials and examples by scrolling to the bottom menu and clicking "Support" on the left side of the page. Padlet is a device-agnostic tool available on the web but also available for free as both an Android and iOS app. Use it from any device or move between several devices and still access your work. App and web versions vary slightly.

tag(s): artificial intelligence (177), biographies (94), blogs (65), book reports (28), brainstorming (18), bulletin boards (15), DAT device agnostic tool (147), images (263), journals (15), rubrics (37), timelines (56)

This short video (less than 3-minutes) about the subject of online photo sharing. This site refers to Flickr, reviewed here), but other services are also named. Learn how online photo sharing keeps your photos safe from fire (and even computer crashes). Learn ways to share and enhance your photos. Despite a paid membership model, Common Craft still offers this video for free, but it does have a watermark saying, "For evaluation only." If you wish to share this with a group, they will need to view it on individual/partner computers (or IOS devices) or on a projector that has a zoom function to enlarge a selected area of the screen.
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tag(s): photography (130)

As part of their extensive site for vocabulary, roots, and more, MyVocabulary.com has added a themed area for Mother's Day. Find interactive vocabulary activities using Mother's Day vocabulary words. You will also find printable crosswords, fill in the blanks and more, all using the same theme words. This and other "themes" available on the site will make vocabulary development fun.

tag(s): mothers day (12), vocabulary (238)

This is a great site to mine for quick lesson plans, ideas on thematic units, or simply daily writing prompts. There are detailed lesson plans available for math, arts and crafts, nutrition, health, music, math, reading, physical education, technology, writing, science, and social studies. Visit the Seasonal Items link to find even MORE resources related to Read Across America, 100 Days ideas, Daily seasonal writing prompts, and much more! Many of the links will take you to other sites, but the onsite printable worksheets and calendars make it worth a visit. Note: the site is laden with advertising, something TeachersFirst users may not appreciate!

tag(s): fractions (160), nutrition (140), parts of speech (39), phonics (51), speech (69), themes (16), writing (325)

Use Make comics to prompt writing, assess understanding, teach summarizing, or as digital storytelling. Looking for an alternative to a quiz or an assignment of boring vocabulary definitions written on notebook paper? Trying to find a way to prompt students to write even short passages? Trying to teach simple dialog to ENL/ESL students? Working on appropriate language and interpersonal skills with emotional support students? Looking for a creative way to make clever newsletter additions, bulletin board items, or class rules? Use this great online tool for both students and teachers to create web-based or printed comic strips from a selection of characters and voice bubbles-- and with your OWN text! Select a language to change information to one of many offered languages.

This site also features writing prompts. To find the writing prompts, click Comic Starters or Writing from the top menu. Registration is NOT required unless you want to save your comic; in that case, use an email address or login with your Google account.
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tag(s): comics and cartoons (55), communication (129), digital storytelling (154), summarizing (23), writing (325), writing prompts (61)

DLTK has created this website that features crafts, songs, cards, poems, puzzles, interactive games, recipes, language arts activities, themed writing paper, and more. Some of the activities require Flash which is not supported in all browsers.

tag(s): crafts (64), mothers day (12), poetry (193), puzzles (149), songs (46)

This all-inclusive website provides language arts activities, math fun, and numerous crafts. Specific activities include similes, poems, reading comprehension, mazes, math worksheets, and more. There is also a simple list of literature to use in your classroom to acknowledge this special day. The printable pages require Adobe Acrobat. You can get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.

tag(s): mothers day (12), preK (270)

This interactive collection of seasonal, secular games helps early elementary students strengthen mouse skills while tapping into several content areas. Hunt for eggs, play some matching games, decorate virtual eggs, and read an Easter egg story. A few activities still require Flash, but there is enough to do here to make a visit worth while.

tag(s): colors (63), easter (10), eggs (5)

Your early learners will benefit from the hands-on activities highlighted on this loaded blog. Art meets academics here, as clear instructions for alphabet learning, book reviews, songs, parent involvement, and much more are presented. Promoted as a resource of activities for young children that encourage play, discovery and learning, this blog site is a favorite. Not only are lyrics written for you, but you can watch the songs performed as they are intended on video.

tag(s): alphabet (53), blogs (65), preK (270), songs (46)

The title says it all: "Inspired Picture Writing!" Use this free drag and drop literacy tool to create great sentences inspired by beautiful pictures. Alternatively, add inspirational or humorous captions to pictures. "Lesson Plans" provides learning opportunities and examples for creating captions, compound sentences, or paragraphs. Video tutorials can be found under the FAQs tab. "Explore the Gallery" to see already-created PicLits as well as comments and ratings. After selecting a picture (or using the one they provide) and dragging a word onto the screen, choose different forms of the word by using the drop-down menu next to the word. Move your words anywhere on the screen for creative writing. You can also click "freestyle" instead to type in your own words instead of choosing from their list. Word lists change, depending on the image selected. If your district blocks YouTube, the videos may not be viewable.

Registering for a PicLits account requires the use of an email address. PicLits can be used without an account but you are unable to save or blog about their creation without an account. A class account can be created instead of individual student accounts. However, it does not show which work is attributable to which student. You may want to require that students initial their contributions in order to get credit. All work on the site can be seen without a login. All projects are public. NOTE: Our editors regret that PicLits occasionally allows advertising on their home page to include images that are not classroom-friendly. Teachers should preview to determine whether or not your students can ignore the ads.
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tag(s): creative writing (124), digital storytelling (154), images (263), sentences (22)

Learn firsthand from experts and specialists at NASA! Join free and interactive video-conferencing events or view podcasts for use in classrooms. Use the "Event Catalog" to find events for specific grade levels, science subjects, or topics. View the event's focus and description as well as downloading Adobe pdf files of introductory activities and complete educator guides for different grade levels. A variety of webcasts are available. For example, in 2009, NASA's offerings include "Exploring Other Worlds," "The Earth System," and "Global Warming, Causes and Consequences." Educators must create a login and register for events. Access to video conferencing hardware is necessary for the live video-conferencing events. Download applications needed for viewing the webcasts from the "Tools and Plug Ins" page. The tools are also available at the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.

tag(s): air (101), earth (184), environment (252), nasa (30), space (222)

Original illustrations of classic Christmas memorabilia highlight this no-frills site. If you need a quick explanation, with photos, about the origin of Christmas, Christmas trees, and evolution of Santa, this site will suit your purpose well. The four main topics include: Origins of Christmas, Evolution of Santa, The Christmas Tree, and Twas the Night Before Christmas. Students researching old customs will appreciate the simple approach.

tag(s): christmas (38), trees (18)

Have your students decorate paper grocery bags for Earth Day! The "Earth Day Groceries Project" is cost-free and one of the largest and oldest projects on the Internet. The project, managed by Mark Ahlness (a third grade teacher in Seattle, Washington), challenges students to decorate paper grocery bags for Earth Day featuring environmentally friendly messages. There are four steps to the project, all well-explained on the site. Be sure to visit the Project Starter Kit link. This link includes a PowerPoint presentation about the project, screensavers, project details, and more.

tag(s): creativity (86), earth (184), earth day (60)

You will want to bookmark and follow this blog. Always adding ideas, this site offers a how to make a book for any age student. Not only ideas, read the extensive blog material to learn about author presentations. The creators say this site is part scrapbook and notebook, so click on the categories frequently to see the new content. Teachers who desire professional development and fresh ideas will want to include this site in their repertoire.

tag(s): blogs (65), reading lists (77), reading strategies (96), writing (325)

This website provides a wealth of resources for any elementary school teacher. There are reproducible math worksheets (numerous subjects and levels), lots of challenging puzzles, writing pages, reading activities and puzzle worksheets. Plus they provide craft ideas, poems, recipes and cards. If you are planning your Valentine's Day lessons - this site is a must have!

tag(s): holidays (187), preK (270), valentines day (11)

If you need a little bit of inspiration for a class Valentine's Day activity, check out this collection of simple ideas. Includes interactive games, recipes for Valentine cookies, coloring book pages, and Valentine cards to print out and share. This site requires Flash. You can get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.

tag(s): cooking (32), holidays (187), valentines day (11)

This site offers an interesting mix of activities for all classes to use to celebrate the 100th day! Some are simple: songs, quick art projects, counting activities, or exercises. While others are more complex: learning to say hello in 100 languages, researching 100 African Americans who have made a difference (connecting 100th day activities to Black History month), and many others. This site is a basically a list of activities, but worth taking a look at.

tag(s): 100thday (9), black history (133), counting (60), writing (325)

If you are teaching your students about Picasso, visit this website for some new ideas. This site focuses on the years of 1892-1906. There are links to learn more about point of view, reflection, focus, and more. The site includes a timeline of Picasso's life. Teachers, be sure to visit the "for educators" link to find math, social studies, and language arts activities to coincide with teaching about this amazing artist. Several of the paintings allow you to zoom in on certain features of the painting. Be aware, at the time of this review, the forums were closed to additional comments.

tag(s): picasso (5), point of view (8)

The Imagination Factory is a tool that can help teachers, students, and community members use creative ways to recycle by making art. The site offers a large compilation of activities and crafts made from what most people consider to be everyday trash. The site is easily searchable based on two search methods: by Category and by the Trash Matcher. Need a project for the beginning of the year? Look it up through the Category listing. Have old dryer sheets, dried markers, junk mail, and roll-on deodorant bottles you just don't know what to do with? Look them up by matching your trash to a project in the Trash Matcher!

tag(s): crafts (64), earth (184), earth day (60), ecology (103), recycling (45)