Online Tools: Suggestions from TeachersFirst

This editor's choice collection offers timesavers and organizational tools for teachers. They include "utility" sites for teaching tasks such as seating charts, rubrics, and certificates. Other tools facilitate parent communication, such as text messaging or online conferencing. Our editors have also hand picked simple, timesaving, creative tools from the TeachersFirst Edge. These tools organize to-do lists (for yourself or for students), convert files, remove ads from web pages, check web site readability, write a one-time blog, generate an online signup sheet, make a simple graphic organizer or chart, create online corkboards or stickies, and much more. Mark your Favorites using your free TeachersFirst membership, so you can find them quickly!
For a full listing of reviewed "creation" tools by category, try the TeachersFirst Edge, today's hottest tools for creating teacher and student projects online.
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Armored Penguin - Armored Penguin
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Need a puzzle to reinforce the words in a particular unit? You may find one already created. If not, it is simple to create and save to your computer or share by URL (remember the online version is saved for two months). Use the "Quotes" page for great quotes of the day, the "Illusions" page for optical illusions, or the "Fresh Words" page to see what words can be made from a word, phrase, or collection of letters. Have cooperative learning groups create their own puzzle pages for a topic that they are researching or learning about in class and use them to challenge their classmates or another section of the course. Have students create puzzles as a cost-free, printable gift for families on special occasions such as Mother's Day.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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E.ggTimer.com - David LeMieux and Ben Lew
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
What a fabulous alternative to a traditional egg timer. Project the time on an interactive whiteboard or with a projector while students take a test, solve a drag and drop, practice speeches, rotate between learning centers, or during cooperative learning groups. Be sure to turn up the volume for the "time's-up" alert! As you teach basic concepts of time in primary grades, use this timer for students to understand the real concepts of one minute or ten seconds. Show the relationships between minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, etc. You can even use it to teach counting backward from 60!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Make Beliefs Comix - Bill Zimmerman
Grades
2 to 12This site also features writing prompts. To find the writing prompts, click Comic Starters or Writing from the top menu. Registration is NOT required unless you want to save your comic; in that case, use an email address or login with your Google account.
This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
This resource is ideal for an interactive whiteboard or projector. Demonstrate the tool on the whiteboard or projector and allow the class to create a strip together before you share the link on your teacher web page. Have students create strips as a quiz or other assignment and email the links to you. No more papers to carry around and grade! Build a collection of comics on different curriculum topics to use as anticipatory sets/activators or to spark discussion. Use the writing prompts to excite reluctant writers. Have younger students make comic strip greeting cards for Mother's Day. There are many new features including Free eBooks and Printables, new characters, interactive PDFs, and more. The possibilities are endless. Use the links on the website to use Makebeliefscomix in a variety of languages including Spanish, French, Italian, German, Latin, Portuguese, Chinese, Croatian, Dutch and many others in addition to English.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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ScreenPal (was Screencast-o-matic) - ScreenPal
Grades
4 to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
You will need to know how to use whatever computer software, website, or skill you are demonstrating. Following basic directions and managing browser windows or tabs are a must, as well as the managing settings of the computer being used. There are plenty of tutorials to explore for PC's, Chrome Books, Mac's, and downloading their apps.Use the symbols in the upper right corner of the page to start. You will also find your content there and under the personal (could be a white circle) icon find settings, tutorials, support, and of course, your log-out. Select Capture Screen Screenshots. As a first-time user files for the Screen Recorder will need to be downloaded to your computer. Follow the prompts as they appear. Choose the screen size when played and whether audio will be needed (audio can be tested here as well, which is recommended: settings may need to be adjusted for different microphones.) Open a new tab or browser window and enter the web address of the site (or software) that will be the subject of your screencast. Drag the black frame by clicking the line and dragging it in order to choose what will be recorded during the screencast. The microphone icon has a green bar that shows recording levels. A green arrow showing instead of a green bar denotes that sound is not being captured. The red button is used to start recording while the black "X" stops the recording. Once you stop recording, click on your screencast tab or browser window and preview your recording. You can then either upload or discard your screencast. At this point you can create an account easily. Save your screencast to a channel of your own. Use the embed code to place your screencast into a blog, wiki, or other site. You can also use a widget code to embed the screencast player into a website. Screencasts can then be made from your other site and will save directly to your screencast channel. Screencasts can be set to different levels of privacy and comments can be turned on or off.
Teachers who must request certificate approval by tech staff may want to try this tool at home and create some sample projects to convince administration of its educational value. Unless checked to turn off comments, this site will allow comments on your work. Many districts prohibit such interaction and steps should be taken to prohibit commenting from others. When using the widget, the tool does not attribute work to specific students. You may wish to have the students identify their work while creating the screencast. Screencasts will only be able to be viewed when using an embed code in a site, wiki, or blog. By marking the screencast "searchable," it can be available to the public. Recently created screencasts do not appear on the home page of screencast-o-matic. Students are able to self-register, but you may want to keep a record of logins and passwords for students who forget.
Make how-to demos for communicating instructions on using and navigating your class home page, class wiki or blog, or other applications you wish the students to use in creation of classroom content. By narrating how you want students to navigate through a certain site or section, you can eliminate confusion, provide an opportunity for students to use the information as a refresher for the future, and maintain a record for absent students. Software demonstrations add an increased flexibility with helping students who need it while allowing students to begin and work at their own pace. Added audio is a great asset for many students including learning support and those who might need to access the material in smaller "chunks." Use this site for students to give "tours" of their own wiki or blog page. The presentation of their web-based projects and resources can be more engaging. Use screencasts to critique or show the validity of websites, identify a resource site they believe is most valuable, or explain how to navigate an online game. Challenge your gifted students to create a screencast as a final project rather than a more traditional project. Social studies teachers could assign students to critique a political candidate's web page using a screencast. Reading/language arts teachers could have student teams analyze a web site to show biased language, etc. For a powerful writing experience, have students "think aloud" their writing choices as the record a screencast of a revision or writing session. You will probably need to model this process, but writing will NEVER be the same! Math teachers using software such as Geometer's Sketchpad could have students create their own narrated demonstrations of geometry concepts as review (and to save as future learning aids). Teachers at any level can create screencasts to demonstrate a computer skill or assignment, such as for a center in your classroom or in a computer lab. Students can replay the "tutorial" on their own from your class web page and follow the directions.
Edge Features:
Parent permission advised before posting student work created using this tool
Includes Interaction w general public/ public galleries with unmoderated content
Includes social features, such as "friends," comments, ratings by others
Requires registration/log-in (WITH email)
Products can be embedded
Products can be shared by URL
Requires download/installation of software
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ProProfs Quizmaker - Proprofs QuizSchool
Grades
1 to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Use this site to create online quizzes. Create a quiz as a review to share on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Have students take the quiz independently or in cooperative learning groups. Have students create their own quizzes to use for review or as a final project. Embed your quiz (or provide a link to it) on your class website.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Test Maker - Help Teaching
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Use this website to create personalized quizzes and tests for your students. You could also ask students to design their own tests for each other to review using your teacher log-in or appoint a student "quizmaker" each week for the content your class has covered, making this an assignment that each student does once per semester.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Assign-A-Day Online Calendar - 4Teachers.org
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Consider creating a shared calendar for a grade level or subject area with your colleagues! Be sure to give your students and parents the web address to the Assign-A-Day web site. They can find your calendar using your name or calendar ID number. If you have a teacher web page, add a link to Assign-A-Day or ask your web master to add a link on the school web page. Besides assignments, use the online calendar to remind students and parents about other class-related items such as field trip forms, materials for science projects, great weekend family events, and the birthdays of historical figures. Since this is a public calendar, remember to protect your students' safety by not including student names. Check with your Information Technology department to make sure the web site is not blocked at school so that you can add assignments during prep time.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Block Posters - blockposters.com
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
You could actually use this tool in any subject or grade level to create visual displays for your classroom or have students make their own (upper elementary and older). If you allow students to use this site, beware that the images in the Gallery may change frequently. What may be 'art' to some may be questionable to others. For art teachers, the use of this tool offers endless possibilities. Student artwork will take on a different air when blown up to gallery-sized prints. Teachers, think E-A-S-Y bulletin boards!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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CuePrompter.com: The Online Teleprompter - Hannu Multanen
Grades
2 to 12In the Classroom
Why bother with this one? Lots of reasons! Once they see it, your students are sure to come up with more, but here is a start: Try making a sample dialog for students to follow out loud as your project it in a foreign language or ESL/ELL class. Be sure to write in script format so they know who is speaking! Or share this tool with students who need help getting their nose out of their notes in presenting speeches. They can run it on a laptop only they can see and look out at the audience past the prompter. The comfort of having their text right there will ease many butterflies.An alternate use: build reading fluency by having students read aloud from this tech-tool. They will be FAR more motivated to read up to speed! Speech clinicians may want to try it for articulation practice, as well.
Comments
While this is a great tool. I found http://www.freeteleprompter.org/ much easier to use. Cueprompter looks rather cluttered and dated. Just my 2 cents as you guys would say.Dave, , Grades: 6 - 12
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Tiny URL - Gilby Productions
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
If you make a map in Google Maps, an online graphic organizer, a set of online flash cards, to anything else that allows you to share my emailing or copying a URL, this tools will save you from endless errors or emails full of ten-line URLs. Be sure to show your middle and high school students how to use it, as well. This will solve the problem of URLs that get split and no longer work when the text wraps around to another line.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Tools and Templates - Education World
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Check out the icebreakers for the first day of school, and back-to-school sections for many ideas and ready to use templates. Remember that if you want to SAVE a file from a download, you should RIGHT-click the link and choose "Save As" to save it to your computer.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Kathy Schrock's Guide to Everything - Assessment & Rubrics - discoveryschool.com
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Although this website is plain vanilla (basically a list of resources). The list is phenomenal and includes an eclectic mix of many types of rubrics and assessments.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Rubric Maker - Recipes4Success
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Use these free rubrics with any grade level and any subject area. Note that in the free version you LOSE your work when you close the page, so make sure you have printed first!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Bibme - team exibeans
Grades
6 to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
This is a great tool for students who are both learning to cite correctly and as a helpful tool for those who forget some of the "little" things that count when writing a bibliography. It offers a great example, too, of the difference between what is in a "Works Cited" page and what actually appears in the text as a citation. Teachers can use this on a Smartboard or simply through a computer lab or projector to demonstrate the correct way to cite as well as mistakes to avoid. Be sure to include the link on your teacher web page for students finishing reports in the wee hours of the morning on the due date. Set up a free account for yourself so you can "save" example bibliographies. If you assign independent projects to your gifted students (or any student), be sure to make Bibme part of your instructions so they learn to organize their sources early on. If students are allowed to set up individual accounts, this tool is worth the time! They must be 13 or have parent permission.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Word Shape Generator - A to Z Teacher Stuff Tools
Grades
1 to 4In the Classroom
Special education teachers, ENL teachers, or regular teachers with students who are dysgraphically- or dyslexically-challenged will find this a valuable tool. Any student who learns visually would find this helpful in learning their spelling words. This tool generates the worksheet quickly.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Leveled Books Database - A to Z Teacher Stuff
Grades
K to 6In the Classroom
Two warnings:1. This site is still being developed; however, the database of books is vast.
2. This site does not give the lexile level of the books. For teachers using lexile leveling, it is disappointing.
The usefulness of knowing the level of books for guided reading, AR, or RR deems the site very worthy, especially since it is so fast and easy to use. The site offers to connect you to Amazon to buy the books, but simply being able to look up books you already have is very helpful--- and free! TeachersFirst members who teach reading will certainly want to make it a Favorite.
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English Exercises - Vocabulary - Viktor Gayol
Grades
K to 5In the Classroom
Use this for a center with vocabulary review activities in any primary classroom or with speech and language or special ed students for vocabulary development. Using it in ENL classes will also be great, even on an interactive whiteboard with a small group. Students can also use the games on their own to practice vocabulary outside of class, so be sure to include the link on your teacher web page.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Handwriting Generator - A to Z Teacher Stuff
Grades
K to 1In the Classroom
Share this on your teacher web page for students and parents to practice at home with this week's spelling words. You can also project the "worksheets" onto your interactive whiteboard for a tactile approach to teaching the letters as students "magically" trace them -- with their fingers acting as the interactive whiteboard pen. For students with weak fine motor skills, this "finger" practice may help them before they can quite hold the pencil well.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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instacalc - instacalc
Grades
6 to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Visit the site and observe how the shared examples work. If you find one you like, you can get the link (try the little disk icon) to go directly to it. If you are feeling more adventurous, try creating one of your own, perhaps for calculating the class average on a test. Your web-savvy students will love this tool for collaborative lab reports or graphs of statistics. For safety's sake do not use any student names or information if you share calcs online.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Fun Activities at Your Library: So much to See, So Much to Do - American Library Association
Grades
K to 5In the Classroom
School librarians and reading teachers will want to use these activity offerings to familiarize children with the library. Make your library a happenin' place with a bookmark contest!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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