Teachers First - Thinking Teachers Teaching Thinkers

Wimp offers a wide variety of videos with family-friendly content. Browse through the site using a keyword search or choose categories such as popular, life, culture, learning, and more. Choose a video to read a short description and view. Videos are imported from many different locations such as Vimeo, YouTube, and individual websites. Also, view Wimp on your mobile device by clicking on their link that is optimized for mobiles. If your district blocks YouTube, then they may not be viewable. Although the content is family-friendly, this site contains comments that aren't monitored. If sharing with students, go to the direct link provided with each video for viewing without some of the distractions (and possibly inappropriate comments).
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tag(s): animals (294), musical instruments (52), video (266)

This tool is a great lesson plan resource for correlating art with other curricular areas! First, scroll down to Featured Resources, Resources by Subject Matter, or Resources by Grade Level. Curricular Areas include Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, STEAM, Social Justice, Critical Thinking, and several others. Click the resulting lessons to view a PDF that includes links to artwork images at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Common Core standards, and a detailed lesson plan.

tag(s): art history (102), artists (84)

Make a collage of your images into a variety of shapes. Download the free program for Mac OS, Windows, Linux, iPhone, and iPad. Drag images into the window and choose the collage shape (heart, characters, animals, and more) or create and customize your own shape. Collages do not show the company watermark, and you can export them to Photoshop. Click Help from the top menu bar and follow the demo video for tips and tricks.

tag(s): collages (17), images (263), themes (16)

Choosing color schemes for web pages, projects, and displays becomes easier with Color Schemer! Click on any color in the color bar at the bottom of the page to view a display of compatible colors along with hex and font color numbers for HTML use. Choose "lighten scheme" or "darken scheme" to adjust and personalize colors as desired.

tag(s): colors (63)

Common Core Conversations is your place to find Common Core resources. The Standards, Resources from state education departments, free resources in all subject areas, using tech tools for learning the standards, and a section for parent information provides a great basis for your Common Core needs. Resources include: ENL/ELL, library, careers, family and consumer sciences. Join the online community to join in the conversations.

tag(s): commoncore (73)

Discover a large collection of free to use images for presentations, slide shows, reports, and more at Free Tiiu Pix. The creator of this site designed all images available. Go to the image gallery to browse images sorted by categories. The categories range from Architecture, Food, Animals, Insects, Plants and more. Right click to save images or choose optional links for different resolution sizes. In addition to the image gallery, be sure to check out the slide presentation gallery including visually appealing PowerPoint presentations on many topics. From the Clip Art Gallery (with free clip art to use) there is also a link to Learn How to Draw Your Own Clip Art. These are FREE to use. However, be sure to read and understand the Terms of Use! Note: you must be 18 to use this site. So while this is an excellent site for teachers to find resources, this shouldn't be shared with students to use independently.
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tag(s): images (263), photography (130), slides (43)

Celebrating the Holidays at A Kid's Heart contains online games, puzzles, printable activity pages, mini games to download, screen savers, clip art, coloring pages, gift tags to print, desktop wallpaper, and whole lot more! Build background knowledge about the many holidays people around the world celebrate. Some of the holidays included are birthdays, New Years, Winter, Father's Day, Martin Luther King's Birthday, Valentine's Day, Summer Time, Independence Day, Presidents' Day, Purim, St Patrick's Day, Spring Time, Passover, Mother's Day, Earth Day, Grandparents' Day, Fall Harvest, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Autumn, Christmas, and Hanukkah. Find informative, entertaining activities at this site.
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tag(s): christmas (38), earth day (60), fall festival (6), hanukkah (12), holidays (187), july 4th (12), martin luther king (45), new years (5), preK (270), rosh hashanah (13), st patricks day (12), valentines day (11), yom kippur (15)

Planet Nutshell offers a small selection of animated videos for preschool students. Topics include art, music, patterns, and time. Each video is under two minutes in length, perfect for use with young students with short attention spans!

tag(s): drawing (61), geometric shapes (134), numbers (120), patterns (61), preK (270), rhythm (21), video (266)

ABC Splash is a large educational website from Australia containing videos, games, and audio clips. Special sections for parents include informational articles, teaching resources, and education news. Choose from primary or secondary level to view offerings sorted into categories or go to games and sort by topic or grade level to find resources. Register on the site to store and save favorite activities for later use. The site was created in the Australia, so some of the pronunciations and spellings may differ from those in American English.

tag(s): addition (129), animals (294), antarctica (30), atmosphere (22), australia (28), cells (82), climate change (99), continents (33), counting (60), decimals (85), division (98), earth (184), earthquakes (46), ecosystems (83), egypt (56), energy (133), environment (252), food chains (19), forces (37), forensics (12), fossil fuels (10), game based learning (205), gold rush (15), human body (93), immigration (68), insects (68), light (56), maps (220), molecules (43), money (113), multiplication (122), nuclear energy (20), nutrition (140), oceans (149), parts of speech (39), percent (59), perimeter (20), place value (34), plants (146), probability (99), rhymes (22), rocks (35), songs (46), sound (72), subtraction (110), time (91), vietnam (38), volcanoes (55), weather (160), whole numbers (9), world war 1 (77), world war 2 (161)

Learn about the history of house structures in Eastern Canada, with connections to home building in general. See how homes adapt to the settings in the Living in the New World section. See a timeline of homes in Canada (similar to homes history in some portions of the U.S.). Learn about the skilled builder trades on the Youthzone. The architectural Glossary is great for learning the names of all those things that stick out or hold up your house! The Homo Renovus section is all about terms and techniques in home renovation.

tag(s): architecture (75), homes (5), structures (18)

Need a resident artist in your classroom for free? Learn from the French master artist, Paul Cezanne. Discover a biography of Cezanne's life and artworks. Discover Cezanne's style and see his work juxtaposed with two different groups of American artists. Explore the way 20th-century artists were influenced by Cezanne. Choose from the Mix and Match Comparisons and see for yourself. Use the Look and Learn Guides that give one-page tutorials with discussion questions to focus on the central idea. Encourage your students to join the challenge project to incorporate Cezanne's techniques in their own artwork. Submit to the Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) for possible posting; get parental permission first.
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tag(s): art history (102), artists (84)

These high quality, high-resolution photos can be used for free. No worries, it is not a stock photo site. Find a small number of new photos added weekly. Use any photo for either personal or commercial projects. Find a variety of landscapes, animals, people, and situations in the black and white or colored photographs. Though these are free, the work should be attributed to the artist. At the time of this review our editors found nothing inappropriate in the photos. However, we always recommend to PREVIEW!

tag(s): images (263), photography (130)

PastBook is a wonderful site for creating online photo albums,wall calendars, poster,cards, or photo books. You can even use your Facebook and Instagram photos, etc. into a photobook! Choose "Create" to begin. Add a title, description, and pictures by uploading from your computer or social network accounts. Provide the text to describe images and a date if desired. When ready, choose "Create Your Book/Calendar, etc." to complete the process. View finished products online or download for free in PDF format. Invite others to collaborate on your product through social networking links. Privacy settings allow only those with the URL to view your work. This tool is available on the web and iPhone. Sign-in using your email or FaceBook account. You can invite people via email or SMS.
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tag(s): calendars (37), digital storytelling (154), images (263), photography (130), portfolios (23), posters (43)

Ducksters is a safe, extensive, educational portal for kids. Find a wide choice of content such as interactives, sports, movies, and music. Begin by choosing a category to explore choices. The study category includes extensive information such as world history, many biographies, science explanations, and information on all continents and many countries. Interactive subjects include math times tables, checkers, and guess the country. There is a TON here to explore.
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tag(s): addition (129), african american (115), american revolution (82), animal homes (57), animals (294), artists (84), biographies (94), china (81), civil rights (209), civil war (139), cold war (30), continents (33), countries (73), data (151), division (98), egypt (56), elements (33), energy (133), environment (252), explorers (64), fractions (160), friction (9), geometric shapes (134), greece (47), habitats (92), human body (93), inventors and inventions (80), keyboarding (28), mean (19), median (16), mode (13), multiplication (122), planets (113), presidents (135), puzzles (149), recycling (45), renaissance (38), rome (37), solar system (110), sound (72), sports (82), subtraction (110), sun (71), world war 1 (77), world war 2 (161)

Canva presents a simple way to design almost anything with drag and drop technology. Create custom timelines, posters, business cards, infographics, presentations, badges, flyers, charts and graphs, and more using a custom layout or a blank page. Begin by choosing the type of design you want to create. Choose pre-made templates or design your own. Upload images from your computer or your Facebook account. Change your background, add text, and personalize as desired. When complete, choose link and publish to save and download your creation as an image or PDF file or copy the link to share via URL. For creating charts and graphs go to the Features tab. There are iOS & Android apps (free) available for this tool. Canva has recently made the desktop application available for Windows as well as Mac OS. Note: you must register (with email and password) before you can access this site.
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tag(s): DAT device agnostic tool (147), graphic design (49), images (263), posters (43), slides (43)

Enhance STEAM activities (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art/Design, Math) through great ideas found on the this blog. The ideas demonstrate activities for use including instructions and images of students completing activities. View archives for additional lessons. Find art, articles, lessons, or resources under the categories link. Add your email for notification of new posts and updates.

tag(s): blogs (65), STEM (297)

Create your own Roman Mosaic with this interesting online tool. Choose a color and mosaic piece then click to add to your design. When complete, copy and paste the code generated into a word processor file. Learn more about Roman designs by clicking links to information about the different patterns such as Greek Key, Maze, and Knot.

tag(s): patterns (61), romans (52)

Do you need a snow day? Create a virtual snowflake without folding and cutting. Send it to your friends and family with a message. You will receive notification when someone responds. The site keeps track of the total amount of flakes ever made (currently over 14 million). The site also tells you how many others are currently creating snowflakes (in "real time") by sharing "Current Conditions."
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tag(s): preK (270), snow (17)

At Getty Collection Images, select from thousands of photos. Explore more than 100 years of photography from Woodrow Wilson to the present. Click the Explore Art tab, and find Teaching Materials and Podcasts both with numerous topics for teaching. For most of this collection, the watermark has been dropped, and the service appends a footer at the bottom of the picture with credit and a link to the licensing page. Creating an account is optional. There is also a video category; however this review is about the images only.
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tag(s): images (263), photography (130)

Use your pictures and PhotoFunia to create photo collages, flyers, family trees, holiday albums, and more. PhotoFunia has hundreds of effects and filters. More are added weekly. To add shadows, age your photo, or render it black and white just visit the Filters category. Add clever features such as an astronaut or a Santa suit, a witch's hat or a queen's crown. Looking for an attractive frame for your photos? Find one here. Write on the sand or graffiti text on the wall. Carve your name on the ground or create your very own road sign using text effects. The program is as easy to use as picking the effect and uploading a photo. Save it to your computer or email it. Try using PhotoFunia online or get the free app for iOS or Andriod, and most other smartphones. At the time of this review, all photo effects appeared appropriate for use in the classroom. However, we always suggest you preview the tool before sharing it with students.

tag(s): collages (17), comics and cartoons (55), DAT device agnostic tool (147), editing (93), images (263), photography (130), posters (43)