Teachers First - Thinking Teachers Teaching Thinkers

Carrd is a simple to use, one-page website creator. Think of it as similar to an online business card. Begin by choosing from available templates or start with a blank page. A quick page of instructions provides an overview of tools available to use, including adding images, links to social media accounts, tables, and more. When complete, save and publish to your unique carrd.co URL. Please check out the templates and published wording used. It may be inappropriate for your students.

tag(s): blogs (65), communication (129), multimedia (53)

HomeAdvisor presents a series of lessons, activities, projects, and videos for grades K-12 introducing young people to the world of construction. Choose a grade level band to begin browsing content. Topics include real-world activities such as viewing and building bird houses, scientific experiments to learn about erosion, and analyzing electric circuits.

tag(s): animal homes (57), animals (295), architecture (75), bridges (11), circuits (20), counting (60), electricity (61), engineering (129), erosion (15), geometric shapes (135), habitats (92), insects (69), makerspace (40), pyramids (21), simple machines (19), solar energy (34), STEM (297), water (102)

Create a poster (meme), postcard, or add captions to a photo. Also, resize and crop images. Save in medium or best quality to your device or download as a PDF or Word doc easily with Picfont. No registration is required. Choose images from your computer or device or select a picture from the gallery. Change not just the color and size of the font, but add an outline in any color and size, place it anywhere on the photo, and many more effects. Use Picfont to spice up social media postings; select to create a Facebook header, and a post with photos, a header for X (formerly Twitter) and an In-stream, an Instagram Post, a LinkedIn cover, or select from several ad sizes. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click features for directions about how to use the different features of Picfont.
This site includes advertising.

tag(s): DAT device agnostic tool (147), digital storytelling (154), editing (93), images (263)

Emoji Science takes the simple and understandable world of emojis to explain complex science concepts. Explore the Emoji Table of Experiments to find videos (with special guests), do it yourself science experiments, and more. The broad range of topics includes content such as super materials, the human brain, and plants. Scroll down the homepage to find the link to Emoji Education that includes lesson plans aligned to standards. If your district blocks YouTube, the videos may not be viewable.

tag(s): climate change (99), energy (133), human body (93), magnetism (36), solar energy (34), solar system (110)

Ribbet is an online photo editing and sharing site that doesn't require sign-up, download, or installation. Follow prompts to upload images, then use Ribbet's editing tools to crop, resize, and fine tune the photo. Liven-up images with stickers, filters, or create collages and more with Ribbet's additional photo tools. When finished, download the picture to your computer or share to Facebook and photo storage sites using the links provided. Free registration allows members to save images and editing history to Ribbet.
This site includes advertising.

tag(s): editing (93), images (263), photography (130)

Though this blog has current articles, this particular 2015 article offers suggestions for the first of five activities for creating community in the middle school classroom at the start of ANY school year. Each activity offers students the opportunity to participate in a risk-free situation while getting to know each other and the teacher. Find the remaining four activities in the site archive on the left menu, In Case You Missed It, under July 2015.
This site includes advertising.

tag(s): back to school (55), classroom management (120)

UBC (University of British Columbia) Commons offers several guides for learning and sharing with digital tools. From the top menu click Academic Support, then choose Academic Integrity and Citations. Begin by choosing any guide of interest with topics including how to avoid plagiarism and a guide to properly citating online resources. Each guide provides an excellent description of the topic along with related resources and links. Some include videos and a FAQ section. If your district blocks YouTube, the videos may not be viewable.

tag(s): citations (33), copyright (44), creative commons (28), digital citizenship (85), plagiarism (34), Research (87)

Write down your thoughts in an organized, structured way with Thought Plan. The simplicity of the features allows for easy use with flexible editing for personalized use. Register for an account to begin creating your first Thought Plan. Add a title, then begin creating a list of your main ideas. Share or download to your computer with the provided links. The introductory video resides on YouTube. If your district blocks YouTube, the video may not be viewable.

tag(s): gifted (66), organizational skills (88)

Edulastic provides free assessment tools to track learning and mastery of Common Core Standards and state standards. The program contains more than 2000 customizable assessments with automatic grading capability. Register to create an account, then begin using the assessment library and adding students to your class using a code, emails, or upload a data sheet. Be sure to take advantage of Edulastic's articles, training, and free webinar videos to learn about all the features included with this program. If your district blocks YouTube, the videos may not be viewable.

tag(s): assessment (147), commoncore (73)

Novel Engineering offers an integrated approach to teaching engineering with literacy. Learn about it through the short video on the home page. To find ideas, select the "BOOKS" link at the top of the page. Choose from several well-known books to find the engineering problem(s) in the book and possible solutions from students.

tag(s): engineering (129), problem solving (233), STEM (297)

Create and share beautiful digital content with Marq (formerly Lucidpress). After registering for a free account, follow the prompts to add a document type from the available templates. Short tutorials along the way help guide you on using available features. The easy drag and drop features allow you to personalize flyers, posters, presentations, and more. The free features allow you to include three documents.
This site includes advertising.

tag(s): digital storytelling (154), posters (43), social media (48)

CyArk offers an online library of cultural heritage sites using 3D and digital technology. One of their main goals is to provide a resource for saving representations before losing them to the natural progression of time, disasters, or other unknown factors. View offerings by theme or project for 3D images, photographs, and in-depth information about the site. Within the theme link, use the timeline to view by period, or use the dropdown boxes to choose by culture or country. CyArk also includes many lesson plans based on principles used in creating the website.

tag(s): archeology (28), egypt (56), environment (252), erosion (15), graphic design (49), mayans (23), photography (130), romans (52), speech (69), virtual field trips (128)

Growth Mindset Archives offers a selection of resources for teaching and developing a Growth Mindset in math. Resources include downloadable posters, videos, and inspirational messages. Click on any title to view. If your district blocks YouTube, the videos may not be viewable.

tag(s): brain (56), learning styles (18), professional development (385)

What Do We Do All Day? is a blog created by a stay-at-home mom and is packed full of learning activities and resources for children. Choose the Kids Activities link to find ideas sorted by kitchen learning, outdoors, math, science, and more. There is also an extensive book list sorted into categories with a short synopsis of each book. A few of the videos are hosted on YouTube, but most are not. If your district blocks YouTube, then they may not be viewable.
This site includes advertising.

tag(s): blogs (65), cooking (32), printables (36), puzzles (149), STEM (297)

Create personalized crossword puzzles to embed on your blog or website with this easy puzzle creator. View the help for the directions and examples. It is as simple as typing a question on each line followed by an asterisk, then the correct answer. When complete, submit to view your puzzle online and choose from different options for sharing. Also, you can download puzzles as PDF documents.

tag(s): crosswords (19), puzzles (149)

Keep up to date with the latest 2016 Summer Olympic news from Rio de Janeiro at the official site of the Olympic Games. Follow individual sports through links featuring background on each event, photo galleries, and features on Olympians to watch. Learn more about the athletes and countries by choosing the respective links. Follow this site for the latest information on results, medal counts, photos, videos, and all things Olympic.

tag(s): olympics (45), seasonal (16), south america (47), sports (82), summer (28)

Get into the excitement of the Summer 2016 Olympic Games with these 16 fun facts! These facts include information about the host city, Rio de Janiero, as well as facts about Olympic games and events. This article provides just enough information to whet your appetite for the games, and learn more about the events!
This site includes advertising.

tag(s): olympics (45), south america (47)

Turn your typing into cool rhythmic beats with TypeDrummer. Listen to your creation as you continue typing into the box. For a change of pace, switch from the drumbeat to the song "Fool" by Moon Bounce. Click on "load new samples" only. Warning: Clicking on "Fool" will take you out of the TypeDrummer tool. After finishing your creation, use the link to share with others at the URL created for you.

tag(s): back to school (55), musical instruments (52), rhythm (21), sound (72)

Create attractive newspapers, brochures, and posters with the interactive tool, Printing Press. No log-in is required. Just choose which format you want, from one of five templates, and upload images. Choose text features and type or paste the text. Edit your work, if needed, before printing, downloading it as a PDF, or share through email. Save your draft to your computer to continue at a later date. Find a basic planning sheet, here, in the overview, to help students gather ideas. Turn the sound off or on at the top right.

tag(s): book reports (28), creative writing (124), newspapers (93), posters (43)

This free interactive site is an extensive digital literacy curriculum that improves technology proficiency, builds information literacy and digital citizenship skills, and provides 21st century and project-based resources online. The 21 Things are 'big ideas' in technology and learning such as Visual Learning, Global Collaboration, Powerful Presentations, Search Strategies, Digital Footprint, and many others. The student activities use free web resources designed to address the ISTE National Educational Technology Standards for Students, and the Partnership for 21st Century Skills. The non-sequential Things, delivered as project-based Quests, provide links, resources, and activities for students to earn badges and awards. Registration for teachers is required and gives access to teacher resources and a downloadable Moodle version of the site; Moodle is not required to use this site. To access certain external activities and tools, students may need to register with an e-mail. Each Thing contains a Teacher Lesson Guide, Student Checklist, Learning Objectives, and links to various web resources and apps. Choose a Things and see that the Quests have roadmap documents for students to use for tracking progress. A Quest includes an introduction (frequently as a short, animated video), vocabulary, directions, tutorials, standards, apps, and a student checklist. Extensive teacher resources and support are provided. Assessments are through multiple-choice quizzes at ProProf with a provided password. You may want to choose MITECHKIDS where you will find grade level links and categories by curriculum.

tag(s): blended learning (37), careers (156), computers (109), consumers (14), cyberbullying (40), digital citizenship (85), digital storytelling (154), evaluating sources (29), game based learning (205), internet safety (114), media literacy (109), organizational skills (88), social media (48), social networking (61), thinking skills (17), webquests (8)