Teachers First - Thinking Teachers Teaching Thinkers

This site, a collaborative effort among the National Archives, National History Day, and USA Freedom Corps, highlights the most important documents in US history. Each of these "milestone" documents is detailed and photographed on a separate page; the photo can be enlarged for presentation on an interactive whiteboard. Use this site with DocsTeach, with tools for educators. This site was clearly designed with teachers in mind! Click the items from the menu on the right.

tag(s): history day (39), primary sources (117)

As of January 2019 Teen Read Week has been sunset and replaced with a new, month long celebration called TeenTober. You can still find all the ideas and information for Teen Read Week on the Wiki for Teen Read Week. Use TeenTober and Teen Read Week to raise teen interest in reading and reading related activities; encourage your teens to participate in some of the Teen Read week activities! This annual event is held in mid-October. Be sure to sign up for updates to TeenTober.

tag(s): creativity (86), posters (43)

This site offers several galleries of mathematical art sorted by different contributors. Included are Algorithmic Artwork, Fractal Art, Origami, and more. After choosing a gallery, all contributions are listed along with a thumbnail view and short description. Click on the thumbnail for a larger image including information from the artist. Galleries can also be viewed in slideshow format by double clicking the first image and following the arrows above the image or choosing the slideshow icon above the image. Files can even be sent as e-cards.

tag(s): artists (84), origami (14), symmetry (26)

How are rainbows formed? Why do they only occur when the sun is behind the observer? If the sun is low on the horizon, at what angle in the sky should we expect to see a rainbow? This lab helps to answer these and other questions by examining a mathematical model of light passing through a water droplet. Follow each step of the lab - how light travels, reflection, refraction, exploration, and analysis - to solve the questions. Each segment offers some information about the topic and questions to explore or experiments. The focus of each of the activities is the Mathematical equations and principals involved in creating rainbows.

tag(s): angles (52), colors (63), light (56), problem solving (233)

Connect art and math using this site. The Bridges Organization was created in 1998 as an organization dedicated to promoting how Mathematics and the Arts work together. Each year they hold an annual conference in cities from North America to Europe. Members include mathematicians, artists, sculptors, dancers, computer scientists, and many more. The website contains background information on the organization, links to past conferences, and current conference information. Perhaps of most interest to classroom teachers are the links to the galleries. Contained within these are hundreds of works of art that have been featured at the conferences (try the link to the 2010 Bridges Conference for example). Click on any of the links and find pictures of their work along with a short explanation of how math is used in the piece.

tag(s): art history (102), artists (84), geometric shapes (134), tessellations (3)

Have lots of fun learning about color on ColorCube. Several different activities explore the world of color. In Color Paintbox mix colors from the 5 color palette to recreate the color given on the site. Explore the color systems of hue, saturation, and lightness with Color Slide by deconstructing images to find the various colors within. Try the Color Scrambles puzzle to practice color sequencing and recognition; choices at the bottom of the page allow for easy, intermediate, and difficult puzzles.

tag(s): colors (63), light (56), photography (130)

This unique site by Multicultural Canada is part of a digitization project that aims to tell the stories of the cultures that make up Canada. Other modules include Chinese, Japanese, Scottish, Indonesian, Italian, Jewish, Vietnamese,and Pakistan collections are included in the learning modules. Detailed lesson plans, related resources, with rubrics are included. IN this module, Simon Fraser University shares their collection of Wayang Kulit, or shadow puppetry from Indonesia. Wayang Kulit often portrays moral or political messages. The university featured the exhibit, Crossing Oceans, Crossing Cultures, which includes the shadow puppets and stories about good and evil, respect, duty, friendship, and loyalty. The website shows some of the Wayang Kulit shadow puppets, as well as providing information on traditional stories. Photographs of several intricate shadow puppets are included. Ideas for projects using a variety of free downloads are suggested. There is also an introductory video.
This site includes advertising.

tag(s): canada (24), myths and legends (37), readers theater (12), stories and storytelling (58)

Sumo Paint is a free, web-based painting and photo editing application. Without even having to create an account, you can edit images from a URL or personal desktop file. Simply go directly to the site and begin editing images or creating work directly from a web browser, or download the app to your desktop. The painting tools included are layering, cloning, blur effects, a magic wand, shape tools, paint bucket, lasso selecting, filters, and the ability to add text. The photo editing tools allow for the adjusting contrast, hue saturation, and color balance. The application works with JPGs, GIFs and PNGs and saves work as a JPG and PNG format. The support tutorials provide tips on how to use these various features. Sumo Paint also serves as a global network of artists and is available in over fifty different languages. Without an account, you can view work but cannot share or post comments. Signing up for a free account will provide artists an opportunity to share their work, comment, view, and rate the work others artists. A free account also grants access to features such as the ability save the layer data incomplete artwork, back up files, and participate in collaborative image creation.

tag(s): design (79), editing (93), painting (54), photography (130)

This wonderful collection of interactive whiteboard activities is designed for students ages 3 to 18. Topics include Math, Literacy, Science, Physics, History, Art, Music, and Religion. Within each topic are categories to help narrow down search results. Activities contain a short summary, a link to the resource, and some have objectives. Because this is a British site, be aware that some vocabulary and content may be unfamiliar to American students, so preview carefully before using.

tag(s): descriptive writing (42), energy (133), environment (252), forces (37), grammar (137), literacy (122), literature (221), map skills (63), maps (220), novels (34), persuasive writing (58), poetry (193), preK (270), religions (95), rhythm (21), rivers (16), seasons (37), shakespeare (99), speeches (23), spelling (98), water cycle (22), weather (160)

The goal of this site is to educate youth about philanthropy and giving their time and knowledge for the global good. To do this, they offer over 1400 free lesson plans for teachers, parents, and community leaders. Lessons are coded to state standards and can be searched by grade level, keyword, subject, or academic or philanthropy standard. Some lessons are geared toward private or religious schools and are clearly labeled as such. Lessons include subject, key concepts, vocabulary, objectives, materials needed, approximate time, procedures, extensions, handouts, and much more. An example of a grade 3-5 lesson would be Cool Kids Compost which explores responsible use of resources by gathering data about lunchroom waste. Don't let the concept of philanthropy keep you from exploring the site, there are many great classroom lessons available for all subjects.

tag(s): african american (115), animal homes (57), animals (294), character education (79), charts and graphs (171), colonial america (95), communities (35), data (151), diversity (40), ecology (103), environment (252), heroes (24), money (113), recycling (45)

Give students a taste of the Victorian celebration with this site showing greeting cards from the Victorian era, and explaining the Victorian origins of many of today's Christmas traditions. We wish the images were bigger, but this is a nicely designed introduction to Victorian celebrations.

This site includes biographical information and images of a large number of murals and other works by Diego Rivera. Useful as examples for students studying contemporary art, or as an art history resource. This site is also available in Spanish.

tag(s): painting (54)

Begin your investigation of the Carlos Museum by clicking Learn from the top menu and sliding down to Teacher Resources. There, you will find Artful Stories with lesson plans; the stories are on video for you and your students to enjoy. You will also find an Odessey Online lesson for South Asia, which has many interactives or videos. Scrolling down the page, you will discover SmARTy Packs, some of which the museum made available online during the pandemic; most are still functional and have hands-on activities. Elsewhere on the site are images from the museum's collections, emphasizing the art of several ancient cultures worldwide. Using this link, Carlos Museum virtual resources find Making an Impression Virtual Tour and The Avatars of Vishnu, both are virtual tours.

tag(s): asia (116), egypt (56), greece (47), museums (52), rome (37)

The San Diego Museum of Art offers this online gallery of art collections, that can searched by subject, artist, collection or encyclopedia. Each painting is accompanied by a short text that provides more information on the artist, movement and the painting itself. Excellent site to tie art history into social history. Searching through the encyclopedia section allows the user to find movements in history, such as the Counter-Reformation, and art that reflects upon it.

tag(s): artists (84), painting (54)

This beautiful French site documents the discovery and preservation of the ancient cave paintings discovered in caves outside Lascaux. The site contains explanations of the ancient people who likely created the artwork, its symbolism, and the science behind its preservation. It's an interesting blending of science and art.

tag(s): painting (54)

This site offers an extensive collection of art lesson plans for young students, as well as places for teachers to exchange art education ideas and for students to submit their work. Try it out for specific lesson ideas, or just for artistic brainstorming.

tag(s): crafts (64)

By clicking Art and then Past Exhibitions, this site provides an excellent introduction on how to experience contemporary art which could help prepare any family or class for any contemporary art field trip, wherever you are. There are also online exhibits formatted to feel as though you are walking through the actual museum! The valuable art links included within this site are user-friendly.

tag(s): art history (102), artists (84), museums (52)

This is a nicely constructed collection of art and art appreciation activities. Well illustrated ideas and concepts could be used in a variety of settings and grade levels. If you're looking for art projects, there are dozens of ideas here.

tag(s): artists (84)