Teachers First - Thinking Teachers Teaching Thinkers

This website, funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Education, provides an enormous collection of "web lessons" (interactives) for all grade levels. There are lessons in language arts, math, science, social studies, and health. There are too many lesson plans to count - and all are projector, laptop, or whiteboard-ready. Just to give you an idea of some of these unique lessons, some of the titles include "Where is Japan?", "Walrus World", "Piece of Pie", "Medians", "Fence Me In", and "Critter Craze". On the main page, a brief description is provided for each lesson plan. Click Teacher Solutions > Lesson Plans to search by subject or grade level.

tag(s): charts and graphs (193), evolution (88), expository writing (31), industrial revolution (22), native americans (131), primary sources (124), probability (129), symmetry (32), writing (308)

Treat your class to a "snow day" at this website. This unique website provides information, pictures and activities about snow and ice. They show authentic snowflakes up close from cities across North America. Please note that you must ask permission before you copy any of the photographs. There is a link available to request permission to copy.

tag(s): snow (22)

This multimedia tutorial gives students a great introduction to line symmetry through authentic examples and interactive elements. After each main section, students are asked to apply what they have learned to a brief visual quiz. This tutorial would also work well as a review activity. Headphones are a must.

A Maths Dictionary for Kids is a fantastic interactive online math dictionary for students which explains over 600 common mathematical terms and math words in simple language. Enter the site using the link on the home page and choose (or browse) math terms. Math terms come to life with a click of the mouse! Virtually all terms have an animated or interactive component - for example, choose quadrilateral to view a definition along with an image of a quadrilateral, the next button changes the quadrilateral to a square along with the new definition, choose next again to see the square change to a rhombus, and so on. Virtually all standard math terms are included so users are likely to find anything they want along with some new terms! A link is included at the bottom of each section to print each definition easily.

Another wonderful portion of the site is a new section titled Math Charts. Search this portion by choosing from areas such as numbers, operations, decimals, or much more then choose one of the sub-topics. Each chart includes a visual description of the topic and is specifically created to be printed for classroom use, choose the print button at the bottom of the page and the content will enlarge to fill the most it can in whatever size paper is chosen. Be sure not to miss the blackline masters located at the bottom of this section that contain many printables for classroom use such as fraction strips, hundreds charts, and much more.

tag(s): addition (136), charts and graphs (193), data (200), decimals (94), division (108), fractions (179), measurement (126), money (113), multiplication (132), order of operations (32), percent (63), ratios (52), subtraction (117), time (93)

Use this interactive activity to help students improve spatial skills involving two and three-dimensional objects. After viewing the net of a two-dimensional object, students must try to figure out how it can be folded into a cube, then click on the net to watch the process. Next, after viewing a collection of nets, students must correctly identify those that will form a cube. Aligned to National Standards.

tag(s): geometric shapes (152)

This interactive is more than just an interactive game about fractions - it's a true brainteaser. Students must apply logic and spatial reasoning to find the 13 ways to divide an 8-piece square in half. This game also integrates lessons on rotation and flipping of shapes to challenge players to see all of the ways to create a half without repeating rotated or flipped squares.

tag(s): fractions (179), problem solving (266)

This fabulous collection of lesson plans, activities, and web links from NCTM is a professional treasury for math teachers. The two menu selections at the top, Lessons and Interactives, are actually drop down menus to find lessons by grade levels, Brain Teasers, Mobile Apps, a Web Sketchpad, and more. The interactives are a challenging practice for concepts ranging from basic fractions and graphing to congruence theorems. Narrow your search with keywords. Each activity includes a description and grade level recommendation. Highlighted activities and Lessons on the home page change often. Many lesson plans also include technology links, but others are low-tech or no-tech. Illuminations is created by NCTM.

tag(s): data (200), measurement (126), numbers (119), operations (71), probability (129)

This is a collection of science and math lessons and web resources ranging from how the Internet works to nanoscience, engineering, biology, and principles of physics and chemistry. The content is predictably detailed, "real science" based on topics and phenomena that will interest students. These are the best-of-the-best lessons and resources with applicability across many settings.

tag(s): antarctica (27), arctic (34), biomes (88), chemicals (36), computers (107), cultures (279), earth (192), engineering (136), environment (248), fractions (179), geometric shapes (152), numbers (119), origami (14), planets (125), robotics (30), space (238), symmetry (32)

This applet is perfect for practicing finding the area and perimeter of regular and irregular shapes. After a shape is shown, there are boxes to input the answer to the area and perimeter of the provided shape. Options are also provided to adjust the size of shapes, to allow only rectangular shapes, and to allow scoring. The learner portion of the site provides an overview of area and perimeter. Be sure to check out the instructor section for links to standards, information for classroom use, standards addressed, and links to similar resources. There is also a printable exploration questions worksheet that can be used in the classroom.

tag(s): area (54), geometric shapes (152), perimeter (21)

This activity provides exploration of tesselations through placement of quadrilaterals and dragging the corners. Colors of shapes can be changed to help the learner visualize changes made. The learner portion of the site provides a short explanation of tesselations and how they are used in the real world. The instructor portion provides a printable with exploration questions, links to standards, classroom discussion information, and links to similar resources.

tag(s): geometric shapes (152), tessellations (6)

This site allows you to create and print different types of graph paper in a PDF format. The site is easy to use and takes you through each step needed. First choose the type of graph paper from the eight different offerings including Cartesian (the most popular) and hexagonal. Next choose paper size, measuring units (inches or millimeters), then choose the paper created from the list offered. Just print after the graph paper is created.
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tag(s): charts and graphs (193)