Teachers First - Thinking Teachers Teaching Thinkers

Penzu offers a FREE service to write journals or diaries online with exceptional privacy options. As an added benefit, you can add images or your own artwork as illustrations. There is a very short demo video on the home page. On Penzu you can keep everything completely private or share selective posts by email or URL. Perhaps share selections on a class wiki page? Don't have a wiki? See the TeachersFirst Wiki Walk-Through for practical management and safety tips for a class wiki. Note: Premium service is available, but this review is for the free version.

tag(s): communication (129), DAT device agnostic tool (147), journals (15), writing (325)

eGFI Online Magazine is great nonfiction reading in science and math. It is completely portable as it is online. It can be shared to your Delicious or Diigo site or other social networking sites. Use this site to enhance cross curricular teaching and learning of reading and interpreting nonfiction text. Plus, this is current and exciting stuff to read for students who are even vaguely interested in science. There are also video links throughout the magazine connecting the text to different, relevant videos. There are lesson plans and activities for grades K-5, 6-8, and 9-12. Some of the recent entries (at the time of this review) included the topics of velocity, Earth Day, robots, sports physics,

tag(s): engineering (129), tornadoes (14), watersheds (8)

This word cloud generator is made specifically for children. This site takes any text and creates a "word cloud" (graphical display) of the words in a passage of text. The most frequent words appear larger. Paste in any passage or grouping of text to create a word cloud of the text. Students can choose their own colors, type of display, font, and the final cloud can be printed or saved.

tag(s): speech (69), vocabulary (238), word choice (14), word clouds (13)

Weebly is an easy, free website creator with tons of features for you to choose from. The easy, "drag and drop" elements allow even novice technology users to create their own website. Besides the basic "drag and drop" features for the title, text, text with a picture, etc., the free version allows you to use cool items: photo gallery, slide show, YouTube videos, Google Maps, an assignment form, and lots more. They promise that the free service will remain 100% feature-packed.

tag(s): blogs (65), communication (129), portfolios (23), writing (325)

Post-it Teachers has a teacher page written by teachers for teachers, all using the little sticky notes that we cannot imagine our lives without. They are used in thousands of ways; they are not just for bookmarks anymore! This web site is an activity center for using Post-its in all subjects and grade levels. Each activity is complete with estimated time needed, objectives, description, easy-to-follow steps, and even assessments, at-home activities, and lesson extension ideas. Search by grade level (K-8, or ESL) and topic (art, classroom management, history, language arts, reading & writing, music, math, science, special education, learning activities & templates). Or you are able to search by teaching technique (K-W-L, cluster mapping, questioning strategy, storymap, timeline, Venn diagram, and several others).

tag(s): classroom management (120)

This very simple tool allows you to show how the earth's rotation affects daylight. By viewing different time zones, latitude, and longitude you can see where it is day and night. The site does allow you to zoom in slightly, but not too close. There are many "custom" viewing options for current cloud cover, IR imagery, and much more.

tag(s): earth (184), globe (12), iwb (31), maps (220), seasons (37), weather (160)

This web page consists of an adaptable lesson plan and information that is chock full of creative, interactive, practical, ready to use activities based upon the discovery and usefulness of the kite. There are interdisciplinary projects including art/history, science, geography, language arts, and math that are fun for students of all age ages. Spring, or any season, is the perfect time to introduce your students to the fascinating world of kites. At the time of this review, two of the links were no longer active. However there are many useful links that make this site a worthwhile tool!

tag(s): crafts (64), seasons (37)

Several familiar "games" are offered with an animal twist: Penguin Quest, Zoodoku, Super Trivia, Crossword, Bedazzled, and Matching. This site, created by Minnesota Zoo, also has links for teachers under "Education."

tag(s): animals (295), logic (161), puzzles (149)

Todoist is a simple, task manager. With the free account you will have access to 5 personal projects, one week activity history, integration of a built in calendar and email, and more. Set up free accounts in minutes with email. The intro and support videos reside on YouTube. If your district blocks YouTube, the videos may not be viewable.

tag(s): calendars (37), DAT device agnostic tool (147), organizational skills (88)

This is an extensive collection of ready to go, teacher-made SMART Notebook activities. This collection covers all grade levels and subject areas. Click Elementary, Middle School, Jr. High, or High School to find the many (MANY) resources). The topics vary greatly and the quantity is impressive. You must have Smart Board software installed on your computer to open these files. Some files will work using the SMART Notebook Express online viewer available here. (Download the notebook file from Longwood's collection to your desktop and then upload to SMART Notebook Express site.)

For educators looking for some great links and help with Google Earth (as well as other Google products.) Even though this site was developed for a training in-service, find some great screenshots, tutorials, and links to great Google Earth examples. Be sure to check out the navigation list on the left for tutorials of other Google products and technology hints. For more information on Google Earth, find our review here. Also, find more support at Google Earth in the Classroom.

tag(s): earth (184), landforms (39), landmarks (22), maps (220)

Create your own motivational posters easily and simply. Choose a random picture (one from Flickr or Facebook) or use one already on your computer. Choose colors and other options as well as the type of text to be used. Enter your text and preview the result. Once complete, save to Flickr, your computer, or print. Remember you can use a saved image in PowerPoint shows and on a class wiki, as well as blogs and other sites.
This site includes advertising.

tag(s): collages (17), images (263), photography (130), posters (43)

This site provides lots of handy study aids and printables for the regular and special education classroom. Resources can be found in the areas of math, literacy, and other. The "other" section contains many resources for teachers to use to print certificates, classroom management, "feelings," printables for science lessons, and more.

This site does include some minor advertisements.

tag(s): classroom management (120), printables (36), resources (84)

Find great pictures of NASA projects and missions with this Flickr group. View descriptions of the photos that are arranged in specific mission groupings. Read the notes that have been included that talk about the missions, people involved, and other facts. View the source material by following the given links. Hover over the pictures with your mouse to look for squares that pop up with additional information. Note that these images have no copyright restrictions since they are in the public domain!

tag(s): flight (34), images (263), nasa (30), space (222)

This fun website about caves and caverns provides background information about what one may find in a cave, different mineral and rock formations, and inhabitants of caves. Find basic information about the different caves and view the many pictures. Warning: this site may make you want to tour a cave!

tag(s): animals (295), caves (7), earth (184), environment (252)

Cool Earth is an organization that works to protect the Rainforest from deforestation and prevent climate change. The site is a valuable resource for information about the Rainforest. There is a variety of ways for schools to participate. The site contains valuable information useful for research projects, short videos, galleries full of rainforest imagery, submit questions, and read blog entries written by visitors currently in the Amazon. Cool Earth also explains ways to cut carbon emissions. Scroll to the bottom menu to Learning and Resources to find activities for your classroom. Be aware: this site also includes some items for sale. You may want to advise students to steer clear of these links.

tag(s): carbon (17), climate (84), ecology (103), environment (252), sustainability (50)

Create online sticky type bulletin boards to view from any online device using lino. Click to try it first without even joining. The "Give it a shot!" button has a "How to" canvas has stickies explaining how to use lino. Join and create your own canvases to share stickies, reminders, files, and more. Change sticky colors from the menu in the upper right hand corner or use the easy editing tools that appear when the sticky is selected. Use the icons at the bottom of each sticky note to "peel them off," share, edit, and more. Create a group from your lino page to share and collaborate on canvases. You can also share canvases publicly so anyone with the URL can participate. This is a device-agnostic tool, available on the web but also available for free as both an Android and iOS app. Use it from any device or move between several devices and still access your work. App and web versions vary slightly.

tag(s): bulletin boards (15), collaboration (93), collages (17), creative fluency (5), creativity (86), DAT device agnostic tool (147), gamification (83), note taking (36)

This site is all about teeth! There are quizzes, infographics, terms, definitions, and more. This site includes interactive quizzes for elementary, middle, and high school students. Some examples of topics include: Dentist Office, Cavity Prevention, Types of Teeth, Parts of the Mouth, Tongue Anatomy, Facial Anatomy, and others. All of the quizzes include options to learn more about the terms and definitions before taking the quiz.

tag(s): dental health (14)

This handy website contains three egg timers that can be set to run individually or simultaneously. Simply click the arrows above or below the numbers to set the time, and click "start." All three timers have the same "ring tone."

tag(s): classroom management (120), experiments (55), preK (271)