Teachers First - Thinking Teachers Teaching Thinkers

Need a PowerPoint? Check this site first to find one on a topic you need from the vast array available. The free PowerPoints and interactive activities are easily downloaded. To find the FREE PowerPoint presentations, click on the FREE Presentations in PowerPoint Format link found directly under the red train. There are literally hundreds of topics (over 1,200 at the time of this review). Topics are listed in alphabetical order. There are so many topics: Plagiarism, Integers, Interjections, IQ Tests, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Graphic Organizers, Graphs, Gold Rush, the Bible, Economics, Amelia Earhart (and many other heroes), Descriptive Writing, Coral Reefs, Civil Rights Movement, Autism, Ancient Civilizations, Presidents, Louisiana Purchase, Money, Music Instruments, How to Write an Outline, Rosa Parks, Resumes, Terrorism, Vietnam War, and many MANY others. Primary teachers will appreciate simple activities on Dolch words and other sight vocabulary! Pages are arranged in topics such as "Plants and Animals," "World History," "Biology, Chemistry, and Physics," and "Problem Solving." There are many professional topics on exceptionalities, as well. Each page includes a vast array of subtopics. Other links on the page include "Greta's Game Station" and "Hannah's Help" which offers information on researching.

tag(s): 20th century (62), adhd (28), back to school (55), electricity (61), flight (34), inventors and inventions (80), literature (221), parts of speech (39), polar (10), politics (118), speech (69), states (124), war of 1812 (15), world war 1 (77), world war 2 (161)

Explore the Humane Society Career page to learn all about animal protection issues like puppy mills, fighting animal cruelty, the fur trade, factory farms, pet homelessness, cosmetics animal testing, and other sensitive topics and what you can do to stop these tragedies. If you don't see your topic on this main page, type it in the search bar. This site features a FREE online webinar, printable PDF pages on HOT topics, and a podcast section cleverly titled Humane Voices. Other resouces interesting for teachers and students are from Nose to Tail, which has 5 lesson plans, a Farm Disaster Kit, and the Puppy Mills issue has a terrivic resource "7 ways to stop them." There is also an abundance of information in the category for animals, from alligators to zebras, including why they are important to our environment. Be sure to investigate the blog for current issues.

tag(s): animals (294), careers (156), service projects (17)

This Canadian site provides a week's worth of lessons to teach your students about bullying. It doesn't matter when your particular school highlights this important topic, you can use these valuable lessons and tools any time of the year. Please be aware that the statistics at this site are Canadian, however; the USA stats can be found via the internet with ease. Click on the left hand menu on each day of the week for a healthy stash of activities to use. From surveys to books to school-wide activity suggestions, be sure to save this site in your favorites. Music, videos, and more also await you at the Resources link.

QuickTime, Flash, and Adobe Acrobat are required for music and videos. You can get them from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.

tag(s): bullying (48), cyberbullying (40)

This site offers free publications about teaching, literacy, reading instruction, child development, math, and school safety. The offerings include materials for all levels (brochures, posters, videotapes, newsletters, and more). The intended audiences include students, teachers, parents, and administrators. Many publications and also site information come in Spanish and English.

tag(s): literacy (122)

Your students will create comics in minutes using this Comic Creator site. No log-in is required. Just type in the prompted information, such as the name of comic character, author, caption, and of course, the dialog that goes into the speech bubble. The 'creator' chooses the number of panels, type of characters, style of speech bubble, and various props. Two actions are needed: clicking and dragging the items to go into the comic strip, and typing dialog into the bubbles. Then, presto....a genuine comic appears, ready for printing. The tool DOES support accent marks pasted from Word. (Unfortunately, there is no way to save your comic masterpieces.)

tag(s): comics and cartoons (55), sequencing (17), summarizing (23)

This site is a discussion-opener on safe use of the "social web." Some of the tools included are social networking sites, virtual worlds, chat, cell phones, video-sharing, and more. There are tips and advice for just about any medium kids and adults use today, as well as discussion forums where parents can ask questions and share information. Each article and advice section can be emailed at the click of a mouse. You can also download and share printable version (site creators do ask that you not modify them and that you simply tell them if you do download and share). While some posts may not represent your point of view, the important thing is to open dialog.

tag(s): internet safety (114), safety (68), social networking (61)

Start the first day of school or a new marking period with a getting-to-know-you activity from this great, searchable collection. The activities are designed for all ages, so some will not work well with very young ones (such as writing things on slips of paper). The site is easy to navigate and sorts ideas by group size and activity level for easy retrieval. There are also activity suggestions for distance and remote learning. You are invited to submit your own ideas. Since the site is designed for general use, not for schools, some ideas may be impractical in a classroom setting but could be easily adapted. Substitutes - check out some of these icebreakers, the kids will love them....and you!

tag(s): back to school (55), firstday (22), newbies (11), remote learning (54), substitutes (25)

This site provides a wealth of information for teachers, administrators and others that work with children. Guidelines are provides to help students deal with bereavement and other losses that affect the school and/or community.

tag(s): parents (57)

Though titled for administrators, this article is a must-read for all education professionals interested in making their schools safe and secure. There are ideas for planning, communication, parent information, and general security that should be automatic in every school.

tag(s): safety (68), school violence (10)

When you bill yourself as the world's leading website on Learning Disabilities and ADHD, you'd better prove it. LD OnLine does that and more. LD OnLine provides in-depth professional and parent articles, expert advice columns, forums, and disability/differences resources for parents and educators within this easily-navigated site. Many of those articles offer strategies to help deal with the disabilities. The site also includes a convenient yellow pages directory for those who need further professional advice.

tag(s): adhd (28), dyslexia (11), learning disability (21), Special Needs (53)

This site provides the alarming news on obesity. The interesting topics include a comparison of obesity from 1970 to 2000, a "help" page, a body image page, information about eating disorders, quizzes, interactive videos, information about what obesity means and more. though some of the activities and the video require FLASH there is still plenty to learn and discuss at this site.

tag(s): eating disorders (6), obesity (8)

This site offers information about the devastating facts of domestic abuse. There is a 12-minute video (requires FLASH), real-life stories by students who have experienced domestic abuse, an interactive quiz and a vast array of information on the subject of domestic abuse. Remember this site was created in the UK, so some of the language may be new to your students. You may need to discuss the noticeable differences. The interactives and video require Flash; however, there is a lot to learn and discuss at this site that doesn't require Flash.

tag(s): bullying (48), parents (57)

This site addresses the important issue of bullying. It includes videos, reports, information guides, quizzes, polls, and more. This site also talks about the less frequently discussed forms of bullying - such as girls bullying girls, cellular phone bullying and other less "traditional" forms of bullying (which unfortunately are becoming more common).

tag(s): bullying (48), cyberbullying (40)

Help students develop personal financial literacy as a real-world connection to your curriculum. At this site, teens take a quiz to find out their background, financial needs, and monthly expenditures. The next page shows users how much money they need to earn to fulfill just their basic needs. The calculator breaks the amount needed to earnings per hour times how many hours per week they'd need to work. It also displays a breakdown of what types of employment would yield the desired amount. Of course, the site also shows that the more educated one is, the better the wages.

tag(s): money (113)

A Free, Interactive Course in Studio and Field Production-- This is a free course aimed at students interested in going into television production. It is exhaustive in its entirety and covers all aspects of the production from scripts to news reporting, editing, legal and ethical issues, etc. While it is geared to college students, upper level high school students would do well with some of this as well, especially those motivated by this subject matter. It also offers the entire course in Spanish and Portuguese.

Clicking on the "Readings and Information" menu will give you a "classroom related" menu that includes lesson plans and ideas. Scrolling down the main page, you can check on interactive test, crosswords, quizzes, video projects, and notes for both students and teachers.

tag(s): gifted (66), vision (44), writing (325)

Home page for the state's department of education.

Home page for the state's department of education.

Engineering Resources is a K-12 website that contains a multitude of information including lessons correlating to national and state standards. Search for activities and ideas by grade level and curriculum topic using the Search and Advanced Search buttons. Narrow choices provided in the curriculum section by filtering options to include lessons, activities, complete units, and more. Maker Challenges offer a variety of experiences for hands-on learning with topics including titles like A Doghouse Design Project and Create and Control a Popsicle Stick Finger Robot. Other site options allow you to search by educational standards and provide information and resources for teaching engineering to students in grades K-12.

tag(s): amazon (11), architecture (75), bridges (11), cells (82), density (17), engineering (129), environment (252), forces (37), friction (9), heart (27), human body (93), latitude (10), light (56), longitude (9), map skills (63), marine biology (31), mars (26), medicine (57), motion (47), pollution (52), robotics (24), rockets (11), simple machines (19), space (222), STEM (297)

This website provides a wealth of information for children, teenagers and educators. Specifics include cosmetics, germs, food safety, hand washing, careers in food science, online games, interactive coloring pages and more! While most of the content appears elementary, there is information on food science careers and some higher level informaiton under Kids, Teens, and Educators.

tag(s): careers (156), safety (68)

Part of a larger Canadian site designed to help secondary school students make career and educational decisions, this section is focused on career choice. There are a number of nice personality and abilities quizzes that offer career guidance. Some of the questionnaires are printable worksheets (requiring Acrobat Reader), and some are on-line and generate feedback automatically. One of the instruments generates a Myers-Briggs style personality type.

tag(s): careers (156), psychology (65)