Teachers First - Thinking Teachers Teaching Thinkers

Snapshot Serengeti helps researchers count and locate animals living in Serengeti National Park in Tanzania. More than 200 remote camera traps placed in the park capture images. The movements of animals trigger capture of images. View a short tutorial to learn to categorize and identify animals. Identify the type of skin, the pattern of the fur or skin of an animal, and the style of horns (if any) that an animal has. Based on those classifications, Snapshot Serengeti will suggest a few animals that match what you're seeing.

tag(s): animal homes (57), animals (294), classification (22), habitats (92)

This teens' branch of Learn English, reviewed here, contains interactives, short stories, poems, grammar bits, and a video zone with many short videos. You can also write captions for humorous photos. The vocabulary zone organizes words into various categories. The exam section gives advice on exam preparation for all types of tests including listening, speaking, and reading as well as study tips. Don't miss the free time section and a magazine with articles written by peers. A free log-in allows teens access to printed versions of the stories (with questions), the ability to make comments, enter competitions, answer polls, and even submit writings. The videos reside on YouTube. If your district blocks YouTube, the videos may not be viewable. Since this site was created in the UK, you will notice some spelling differences from American English.

tag(s): creative writing (124), grammar (137), test prep (69), video (266), vocabulary development (94)

Listen to soundscapes recorded all over the world. Find a place of interest on the map, listen to the recording, and read the information about the location. Some locations have a link to a Google Map tour. Upload your own soundscapes using the site or through the iPhone/iPad app.

tag(s): cross cultural understanding (173), listening (93), maps (220), senses (20), sound (72), sounds (43)

Visit Peek and "Create Your Perfect Day." Register using email and a password. Pick a city or area to visit. Start planning your day using the prompts provided for morning, afternoon, evening, and night activities. Choose from pictures provided based on your input or upload your own. When finished, publish to share your "perfect day" via it's unique URL or through social media sharing links. This site is part of a travel website. The main page includes many activities (with prices). Avoid the homepage and go directly to "Create Your Perfect Day."
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tag(s): creative writing (124), local history (14), virtual field trips (128)

See the history of the world from 3500BC to 2005AD! TimeMaps offers a look at every nation, empire, and civilization as one story using maps. Choose a date or time period to begin exploration. Use pinpoints located on the map to view specific information about that location. Use timelines located under the map to narrow down topics within a time period. For example, at 100 AD choose to view information by Ancient Rome, Mayan Civilization, Medieval India, or Ancient China. This is an excellent site for providing an overview and exploration of world civilizations during any given time period. Choose the "Are You a History Teacher" link to find several suggestions for using TimeMap in your classroom along several different lesson plans.
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tag(s): 1600s (20), 1700s (36), 1800s (75), 1900s (72), 20th century (62), africa (148), asia (116), china (81), egypt (56), europe (84), greeks (46), india (32), israel (14), maps (220), mayans (23), north america (15), romans (52), timelines (56)

Use this tool to find the median household income of the US by each Census tract. Search by city or state. Or click the "little orange man" and drag him to the location you want to view on the US map. You will be taken to "Street View" (see the street up close) to view the income for that exact block. Find the median income by color blocks.

tag(s): census (13), maps (220)

Find over 50,000 sounds of music, nature sounds, spoken words/poetry and human environments. Click dots on a map to see the location and play the sound. Search by keyword or by category and save to your playlist for future use once you create a free account.

tag(s): cultures (180), multimedia (53), sounds (43)

The Gettysburg School Bus is a blog for educators all about the Civil War created by an Education Specialist at Gettysburg National Military Park. Her stated purpose is to tell stories, answer questions, and provide information that creates interest in learning about the Civil War along with the people living through those times. Search the site through tags, recent posts, or archives. Be sure to check out the lesson plans for many classroom ideas.

tag(s): 1800s (75), battles (18), civil war (139), gettysburg (15), gettysburg address (12)

Understand the thoughts and emotions of the men who fought in the Civil War through poetry and music of the time. Choose from Confederate or Union Poetry or Music of the War links. Listen to popular music of the day such as Oh! Susanna and My Old Kentucky Home. Explore poetry separated into categories including battles, soldier life, and the home front. Other options for exploring the site include searches by title, first lines, and authors.

tag(s): 1800s (75), battles (18), civil war (139), poetry (193)

This website, produced by the Martha's Vineyard Museum, tells the story of Laura Jernegan and the journal she kept on her voyage on a whaling ship. In October 1868, Laura Jernegan, a 6 year old girl from Edgartown, Massachusetts set out on a three year whaling voyage. Laura, her father, mother, brother and the ship's crew set off to the whaling grounds of the Pacific Ocean. The site also tells the adventurous history of whaling. Choose from many different topics for exploration such as information about whales, a timeline of whaling, interactive map, and explore the ship. Dive deeper to view artifacts, meet the crew, and view a picture gallery. Lesson plans (and complete units) are provided for grades 1-3, 4-5, and even high school.

tag(s): 1800s (75), whales (11)

Project Britain is your guide to British life, culture, and customs, designed for even young readers to understand. Follow icons to learn more about the Royal Family, weather, folklore and traditions, and everything else British. Each topic has a short introduction followed by a series of questions with links to answers and further information. View answers to questions posed by the site's young readers and by teenagers. One interesting portion of the site compares British countries to states and other countries.
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tag(s): cross cultural understanding (173), cultures (180), england (50), folktales (34), great britain (16), ireland (11), scotland (8), transportation (30)

Discover a huge collection of interactive illustrations to help explain complex concepts in science, technology, art, math, and a range of other topics. Use these activities to create interactive visualizations. There are thousands of Mathematica Demonstrations. A demonstration is a Mathematica notebook that takes advantage of Mathematica's manipulate command. Use the manipulate command to create sliders or buttons or check boxes to change the values of parameters in the displays in the demonstration. The result is you control the animation. View demonstrations on topics ranging from odd and even numbers to odd and even functions, fractions to fractals, and from linear functions to linear algebra and linear programming. In addition to mathematical topics, there are demonstrations illustrating the time in different cities around the world, global demographic information, the solar system, and art and music concepts. You need to download the Wolfram CDF player to use and interact with the demonstrations.
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tag(s): addition (129), animals (294), architecture (75), computers (109), division (98), fractions (160), geometric shapes (134), gravity (43), logic (161), maps (220), money (113), multiples (15), multiplication (122), plants (146), psychology (65), statistics (121), subtraction (110), weather (160)

Go to Google Street View instantly with this handy site. Begin by typing in an address. As you type the screen changes automatically to the best street view image of what has been entered so far. Many may find the constant changing of images as you type distracting; others may find the variety of seeing new areas exciting. Click "About" in the lower left hand corner for an explanation of color boxes and controls. Download and share the view easily.
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tag(s): map skills (63), maps (220)

This international, interactive map site contains over 100 puzzles and activities in English to practice map skills by location. This review should direct you to the English version. Removing the filter for English reveals many more maps in Spanish and other languages. Use the box at the left to select a language. You can also choose by categories of continents, countries, capitals, most visited, and more. Each map has a short description of the activity to read before opening. Double click to open a map and play. Correct responses earn points toward the maximum available.

tag(s): asia (116), canada (24), capitals (16), continents (33), countries (73), landforms (39), map skills (63), maps (220), oceans (149), rivers (16), states (124)

See what the world was like at that time with Take Me Back To. Type in any date you want to visit. Results offer a short text passage about who was president and what music was popular (if available). See samples of movies, magazines, book charts, advertisements, and more. Unfortunately, the site doesn't go back beyond 1900, so any search before that time will default to that date in 1900. Searches can be done on dates up to the present. Note that clicking on some of the images offered takes you to paid services or current issues of the same magazine.
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tag(s): 1900s (72), 1910s (6), 1920s (15), 1930s (20), 1940s (14), 1950s (8), 1960s (26), 1970s (10), 1980s (7), 20th century (62), decades (7), timelines (56)

Set your sights high to learn world languages! Find both visual and audio lessons. Choose a language from Chinese, Dutch, Japanese, Polish, Russian, or Spanish. A list of lessons with tutorials appears and vocabulary for the lesson in your language and the language you wish to learn. Learn colors, counting, days of the week, common phrases, or more challenging language skills. Practice speaking using the microphone tab and say words on your own. Click on the symbols between the tutorial and the vocabulary to try the interactives: matching games, flashcards, listening, and tic tac toe.
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tag(s): chinese (45), japanese (47), russian (26), spanish (109)

This "must-see" site includes many tests for Kindergarten through grade 7. Activities support California State Standards and Common Core Standards. Each activity includes a link with standards addressed. Choose by grade level or topic. Each topic has a drop-down box to further refine choice by grade level and content.

tag(s): addition (129), alphabetical order (8), capitalization (9), decimals (85), division (98), earth (184), fractions (160), geometric shapes (134), homophones (6), keyboarding (28), map skills (63), maps (220), money (113), multiplication (122), number sense (69), reading comprehension (149), sign language (10), spelling (98), subtraction (110), synonyms (15), time (91), vocabulary (238)

SoundCities is an open database of thousands of sounds from around the world. The site itself uses GoogleMaps. However, some of the world maps take you to Google Earth. Recordings range from car sounds to airport announcements and thousands of other typical city sounds. Choose a city from the list at the top of the page. Choose from pins on the map or the list of available sounds on the page. View the site's database to listen to sounds by mood such as mechanical, rhythm, or weather.

tag(s): cross cultural understanding (173), maps (220), sound (72), sounds (43)

This free site provides a color-coded mashup of current news headlines, clickable to see the full articles. View various sections of the news separately by clicking on the colored icons along the top. Sort into World, National, Finance, Tech, Showbiz, and Sport. To read the full article, click on the brief story (in the box). Use the drop-down feature to search news stories in a variety of other countries.

tag(s): countries (73), financial literacy (93), news (228), sports (82)

Join Aviva, Chris, Martin, Jimmy, and Koki on their quest to save the animals of our world. Based on the PBS television show, explore biology, zoology, and ecology of our planet. You will also learn small ways to make a big impact on saving our world. With a login, you can save points earned from games and receive special powers from animals to compete and survive in the games using your avatar. You do not need any email account to register/sign in. Explore the avatar creation area, games, creaturepedia, habitats, and videos to help learn about animals. Click on the Teachers Link (For Grownups) at the top of the page to find lesson plans, printable PDFs, objectives, and more.
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tag(s): africa (148), animal homes (57), animals (294), ecology (103), habitats (92), zoology (18)