Teachers First - Thinking Teachers Teaching Thinkers

Dictionary.com provides much more information than a typical dictionary. Browse the page to find the Word of the Day, grammar tips, and word trends. Use the menu tabs at the top of the page to play games, find the meaning of Emojis, Slang, Acronyms, and more. Creating an account isn't necessary; however, it allows you to save words as favorites.
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Diffit is a tool that helps teachers differentiate lessons using any text, article, or web page. To use Diffit, you need to create a free account. Then, select one of three options: Literally Anything, An Article (or URL), or Any Text or Excerpt. Then, choose the approximate reading level you want for the differentiated materials. After entering all the necessary information, click Generate Output. Diffit will produce an adaptive reading passage, a summary, key vocabulary words, multiple-choice and short-answer questions, and open-ended prompts. All of the generated content can be edited or added to. Use the dropdown box to adjust the reading level or language. Share the materials with students by copying them into a document, printing, or exporting them to Google Docs/Forms.

Enjoy playing with photo puzzles using DigiPuzzle. Choose from the selection of world wonders, animals, or jigsaws for kids. Choose a picture option to begin. Scroll down to view puzzle choices such as sudoku, word search, memory, hangman, and others. Get a personalized puzzle for your website, follow the directions on the personal photo page to email the site owner with your photo.

Digital Citizenship offers a large number of resources for teaching digital citizenship for students of all ages, teachers, and parents. Scroll down the page to find categories for Online safety, Healthy online habits, Teaching and learning, and more to begin. Each section includes articles and resources for learning responsible digital citizenship. The site was created in Australia. American English speakers may notice some slight differences in spellings and pronunciations. The videos reside on sites other than Digital Citizenship. Some are on YouTube. If your district blocks YouTube, the videos may not be viewable.

Digital Learning Day is an annual February event spotlighting successful instructional practice and effective use of technology around the country. Choose the "About DLDay" option to find out more about the goals of Digital Learning Day, begin with a detailed description listing the characteristics of digital learning. View exemplary models, showcases, lesson portals, and more using links provided. Sign up as a participant for Digital Learning Day then plan your own classroom activity, provide a presentation to parents, or choose from other ideas offered on the site. Explore the Participate portion of the site to find digital tools, online resources, graphics, lesson plans and more. Sign up isn't required; however, it does allow you to receive emails with updates and learning ideas throughout the year. The digital learning content demonstrations are conducted in four areas: math, science, language arts, and civics/social studies; critical areas, such as working with ELL or special education students, will be woven into the lessons.

This interactive social bookmarking and collaboration tool does so much more than any ordinary bookmarking tool. It is a research curation tool, knowledge-sharing community, website annotation tool, and social information network all rolled into one "cloud" package. To get started, check out the About link. You will find information and videos on the uses of Diigo. Set up an account, being sure to click the FREE education edition upgrade. 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. At this time Diigo is experiencing issues with the "Top 10 Tags" from the menu on the left.

This tool can be used as a basic bookmarking tool, simply allowing YOU to save, sort, and access your own bookmarks from ANY computer or mobile device (once you are logged in). You have the choice whether your bookmarks are public or private. You can gradually ease into more advanced and interactive features: highlight parts of sites and save or share those annotations, add sticky notes to parts of websites, pictures, screen-shots, documents, audio, and more. Do group collaborative research. Organize your bookmarks by tags. Unlike sorting bookmarks into file folders, adding tags permits you to put multiple tags or "labels" on one site. The same site you tag for book reports could also be tagged for biographies, for example. Additional Diigo features include groups (a way to share and exchange bookmarks with a certain group of Diigo users), messaging, and search features. You can search all the public bookmarks made by others and discover other people with similar interests, already bookmarked and ready for you to mark as your own. There are many groups you can join, such as those with a specific teaching interest or hobby. See "Tools" for many helpful options, including bookmarklets to make bookmarking instant on multiple devices. Bookmarklets drag directly to the toolbars on your computer and are well worth it. It goes beyond simple bookmarking and adds options like highlight, capture, send, read later, comment, search bar and Diigo message options. You decide your own level of use and desired tools to be shown on the bar. If choosing not to install the toolbar, then there is an applet called Diigolet that will be used in its place. It is not as strong a tool as the toolbar, but will work well if the toolbar installation is not possible. Check our sample group. You can also install a widget on your blog (or class web page) that will show your bookmarks there.
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All Aboard.... the Dinosaur Train! This website takes two topics that kids love (dinosaurs and trains) and turns the experience into a wonderful lesson in language arts, science, social studies, and more. Climb aboard the train and find lesson plans, games (which ARE educational), a field guide (introducing the various dinosaurs), a print option for printable pages of dinosaurs, and a video button to view clips of this educational show. Scroll to the bottom of the page for links for parents and teachers (with lesson plans, class activities, overview of the show, and more).

NOTE: the popularity of this site can make it slow to load, especially at peak times. Open it on the classroom computer before the lesson so it is in the "cache," and avoid heavy traffic times such as 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Eastern time when schools are online across the U.S.

Journey back 65 million years to discover and learn all about dinosaurs and their time on earth. Choose a section to explore from links provided: Dinos A to Z, Giants of the Jurrasic, Dino Comic and others. Above these categories click Educators in the upper right corner where you'll find lessons for grades K-8 and In-depth Units of Study, not only about dinosaurs, but Pirates, the Circus, Greece, The Health House, Dinosphere (in different grade ranges), Native Americans and the Natural World, Anne Frank, and many others. Be sure to check out the Blog. There is a menu on the left with many topics including dinosaurs.

Here's an extensive site devoted to students' explorations of mold! The Minnesota Science Museum collected student experiments, images, and reactions to their study of mold fungus. The images are suitably yucky, and the content could help a young experimenter become excited about his or her own exploration.

Learn what to do before, during, and after a disaster with these fact sheets from FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency). From the top menu select Information and slide down to Immediate Needs and a topic to view information (some in PDF format). There are several available types of disasters including hurricane, drought, tornado, and more. Each fact sheet is two pages long and includes a quick fact check, words to know, and advice for dealing with the disaster.

Prowl around this virtual kitchen in search of thirteen safety hazards. Click on each one to find out what trouble it could cause and how to prevent it. Note: This site requires the Shockwave plug-in. Get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.

Bring the forest into your classroom with these educational interactives. Match animal tracks, learn how to use a compass, and create leaf rubbings. Download and print the "Book of Stuff To Do" outside. Find Educator Resources (including lesson plans) under Get Involved on the top menu. Sound can be turned on or off along the bottom of the site.

DiscoverWater.org is an interactive educational website dedicated to teaching children about the importance of water, its uses, and conservation strategies. It offers a variety of engaging activities, games, and learning modules to explore the science and management of water enjoyably. The site aims to inspire responsible water stewardship and increase awareness about the critical role water plays in our environment and daily lives. While there are informative videos on the site, they are YouTube videos. If your district blocks YouTube, the videos may not be viewable.

If you can't make the journey to the Washington, D.C.'s American Museum of Natural History then take your students to this website for an online tour of the panoramic dioramas that are among the museum's most impressive features. Short videos, audio clips, 360''? panoramic views, and descriptions of geographic locations and species round out the virtual experience.

Travel to the world's most amazing places whenever you like with Discovery Education's Virtual Field Trips, no chaperones or payment required! Explore the Curriculum tab at the top by subject and scroll down the landing page to view Virtual Tours where you can filter by subject area. The virtual field trips include a video along with multiple additional resources like a Teachers Guide, links, and additional resources to download. Some videos are hosted on YouTube. Search for your topic in the search bar, you never know what you'll find. This review found Pi Day virtual field trips!

Use Disney's Healthy Living for kids to learn more about different foods and energy. View videos and enoy activities to learn about balancing food, portion control, recipes, healthy habits (proper hand-washing), and exercise for a healthy lifestyle. Directions are spoken and written for many types of learners. Use the search box to find a food quiz.

Finding and implementing engaging lessons is difficult and time-consuming; Ditch That Textbook offers practical teaching ideas that adapt quickly to all content and grade levels. There are three main areas of the site to search for resources - the Blog, Google Ideas, and Resources. Blog content includes suggestions for feedback, gamifying classrooms, and sources for finding free content. Use the keyword search to look for specific information. The Google Ideas section shares material for all things Google, including using Chromebooks. Scroll down the page to find ideas sorted by Google tools and links to videos, templates, and related blog posts. Select the Resources link to find an abundance of free templates, how-to videos, and tools for remote learning. Be sure to dig around at length; there is much more available on this site, including a handful of free online courses for educators. The videos are hosted on YouTube. If your district blocks YouTube, then they may not be viewable.