Teachers First - Thinking Teachers Teaching Thinkers

Take a virtual tour of Mount Vernon, the home of the first President of the United States, George Washington. Beautifully executed, and packed with special features, the tour is billed as the "second best way to visit Mount Vernon," and doesn't disappoint. Click on the three dots with a checkmark in lower right corner to find a menu of places to look. Click the video play button in the middle of the page and watch the tutorial so you don't miss any of the many tips and tricks to get the most out of your virtual tour.

Bloomz is a tool that has several free features that teachers need to communicate with their classroom community: share photos, schedule conferences, send reminders, and more. These features are all in one place. So don't use one program to share photos, one to send reminders, one to share calendar updates, and another to schedule volunteers and conferences. Just use Bloomz and do all of the work from the same site. Once you have signed up with your email, watch the introduction video and view the demo class to see how easy Bloomz is to use. This tool works with all mobile devices and computers. Be sure to check out Bloomz' Privacy Polixy to read about their FERPA and COPPA compliance.

Looking for a quiz tool that is better than all the rest? Quizizz is a free tool. It works on any device: web browser, iOS, Android and Chrome apps. You can access hundreds of ready-made learning quizzes or create your own. Join as a teacher, pick a quiz, and use the code for a virtual room to give to your students. Alternatively, you can create your own quiz on Quizizz, even importing questions from excel/CSV files with just a click of a button. Students use the code to enter and submit a nickname, code name, or numerical name (students do not have to register). Quizizz now has to be marked as trusted by an administrator to be able to use it with your Google Classroom account, even if you have been using it. With Google Classroom, students can join by signing in with their Google Account with just one click. Even better, if you assign a Quizizz through Google Classroom, all your data gets updated in your Classroom dashboard. You will get notifications when students complete assignments and their responses and grades show. Teachers can choose to make their quizzes public or private. Embed images with your questions. Check or uncheck the settings, including music. You can even duplicate an existing quiz to save into My Quizizz. A created Quizizz can have randomized or non-randomized questions.

Don't miss the memes that are displayed when students answer a question; these are sure to be a hit with students. You can also customize your Quizizz by creating your own Memes. Use images of the school mascot, students' pets, or favorite game characters to create a set of ten or more memes. Click the My Memes from the top menu, then the plus symbol. You are now ready to start. Be sure to Click "Start Game" after students have entered the code. Send the game link to students (or other teachers to use with their classes) by email, website, or social media. Set time limits of 30 seconds to 5 minutes for students to answer each question. This allows more time for more complex questions. Students earn points for speed and accuracy. Unlike other sites, both teacher and students can see the questions, answers, and the leaderboard throughout the quiz. Most other tools require the teacher to project the answers and leaderboard on a whiteboard. The leaderboard can be turned OFF in this tool as well. And, what is the best part of this tool? Two separate classes can play together using this tool. Quizizz works on any web-enabled device, including smartphones and tablets, and has an iOS app.

You can now email student reports to parents (even send the student reports to multiple/all parents at once), the main navigation bar has moved from the top to the left, and there is a search bar that you can access on all pages, and now you can search both your quizzes and your reports. Quizizz is now available in Spanish and will soon be adding other languages. Don't miss their new Jungle theme with music, backgrounds, and GIFs... oh my!

Access commonly taught themes for classic literature and discussion questions for that theme. Plus there are Text Sets perfect for social studies teachers! Choose a Lexile'''''® grade level for reading and download the text in PDF format or read online. Each text has a menu across the top offering Paired Texts, Related Media, a Teachers Guide, and a Parent Guide. Accompanying the text are critical thinking questions, an Assessment, and some have Guided Reading Mode. Choose the size of the font, listen to the Read Aloud (and pause it), translate to Spanish, and Highlight. Track student progress. You can search by Book, Genre, Grade Level, Literary Device, Text Set, Theme, and Spanish Texts. All of this for free! What else could one want? Well, you can also request a text, and they will negotiate with the copyright holders to have that text on their site. Take a look at their blog, too! You'll find lots of suggestions and thoughtful reflections for using nonfiction texts with your students.

View the ever-changing borders of European countries through this time-lapse video. Beginning in 1141 with the domination of the Holy Roman and Byzantine Empires, watch borders change year by year until reaching Europe of 2012. This video provides an exciting, dynamic look at changes in Europe throughout the years.
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This tool is a great lesson plan resource for correlating art with other curricular areas! First, scroll down to Featured Resources, Resources by Subject Matter, or Resources by Grade Level. Curricular Areas include Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, STEAM, Social Justice, Critical Thinking, and several others. Click the resulting lessons to view a PDF that includes links to artwork images at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Common Core standards, and a detailed lesson plan.

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.

Make a collage of your images into a variety of shapes. Download the free program for Mac OS, Windows, Linux, iPhone, and iPad. Drag images into the window and choose the collage shape (heart, characters, animals, and more) or create and customize your own shape. Collages do not show the company watermark, and you can export them to Photoshop. Click Help from the top menu bar and follow the demo video for tips and tricks.

There are plenty of simulation interactives for major life events such as pandemics, but what happens in everyday life? NationStates brings to life daily decisions. This multiplayer online interactive features you as the head of your nation to create and shape how you see fit. To get started, create your nation by giving it a name. Customize various aspects, such as the flag, history, and national animal. Then get into the heart of your nation: political, social, and economic issues. These choices determine the initial status of your nation. As you play, these problems will change with your choices. Every day an issue is presented and the choices you make affect the outcome of your nation. Your choices become the national law in your nation. Warning: There is one problem a day, but you can change that to two in your account settings. As you play, various aspects of your nation change and the type of government shifts (maybe even including anarchy). Choose to stay an independent nation or join others to create a region. Participate in the World Assembly (the pretend U.N.). View debates in the forum that actually touch on current events in the game and in real life. One thing to note: If you are not attentive to the issues that come up each day, the game ends quickly. The good news is that it takes very little time to view the issue, act, and see the result. Note: This interactive is loosely based on the novel Jennifer Government by Max Barry.
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Learn where in the world cities are with Quizzity. Click the start button and a city and country will appear at the top. Zoom in on an area by clicking on the plus symbol. Once you have clicked on an area, two tabs will appear. The brown tab is where you placed the marker and the green one is where the city actually is located. Get six locations and see how well you know the cities of the world. No registration is required.

Begin a research unit with Mission Possible, a downloadable online movie promoting research skills, effective searches, writing skills, citations, and Internet safety. Along with the video, find an accompanying teacher lesson plan for providing a great start for the introduction of a research project. A student worksheet goes along with the lesson.

Create interactive fiction (choose your own adventure) type stories, poems, games, and interactive art with Twine. You can either download the software to your computer or click on "use in your browser" next to the download button. Scroll down the page to start with The Twine Reference Guide under Learn with Twine. Twine helps you stay organized with little Post-It type squares with arrows to connect each section to one or more other sections. See how to do this by watching this short (15 min) YouTube video, here. Drag and drop the squares on the page, and they will stay connected. There are a few templates to choose from, and you can upload images. For those who are adept at programming, click on the Twine Story Formats and see the other quality, development resources Twine offers. Work is saved in a variety of ways; read about it in the Twine Cookbook or watch the YouTube video above. On YouTube you can watch several video tutorials. If your district blocks YouTube, the videos may not be viewable.

Find unbelievably informative videos about a variety of topics on this YouTube channel. Search an extensive list of subject matter: the environment, popular science, agriculture, medicine, engineering, and more topics of interest. Choose from popular and new videos or click the Videos tab to view them all. Subscribe to the TED-Ed YouTube channel and mark specific videos as favorites or save in your playlist. The videos are hosted on YouTube. If your district blocks YouTube, then they may not be viewable; be sure to look at alternatives for sharing the videos on classroom computers.

Never leave your easy chair as you journey beyond the road to faraway places using Google Maps Treks! Choose Gombe National Park, Pyramids of Giza, Angkor Wat, Colorado River, or the polar bears at Churchill. Tour Taj Mahal, Venice, Galapagos Islands, Eiffel Tower, Mt. Fuji, Everest, Great Barrier Reef, the Amazon Basin, and more. Click on the option and then click the open in Maps or Views button. On maps with multiple placemarks, click the placemark to view information about the location, and then click the title to go to the map. Choose from a variety of images taken at various locations found along the bottom. Some images are photospheres and can be manipulated using the sphere icon along the bottom right. Use the arrows in the sphere to rotate the image, giving a panoramic view of the location as you click. Use the familiar Google map tools to zoom in and out. Some Treks offer short videos that are hosted on YouTube. If your district blocks YouTube, the videos may not be viewable.

Vizualize.me creates resumes in a beautiful and compelling infographic format. Create an account to begin editing your resume. Import data from LinkedIn or personalize your information using Vizualize.me's dashboard. Customize your profile, change themes, and modify colors and styles using the dashboard. Share via URL, embed onto your website, or share on social networking sites. Download to your computer for a printable version. The introductory video is hosted on YouTube. If your district blocks YouTube, the video may not be viewable.
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The twelve videos on this site explore the science, technology, engineering, and math found in current events. These videos look behind the news at topics such as tornadoes, opinion polls, allergies, and drug-resistant bacteria. Each video includes a transcript that opens or closes for use while watching videos.
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Zoom In! is a set of digital tools that support social studies teachers in aligning teaching with the Common Core Literacy Standards. In each lesson, students solve a historical problem by analyzing and collecting evidence, organizing research, and creating a rough draft communicating the solution. Create your teacher account to begin. Browse through 10 lessons with topics as diverse as propaganda and Paul Revere, Labor on the World War II Homefront, Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers, and music in the Vietnam War. Create a class within each lesson to receive a class code for student access.

The Word Counter Tool offers a word and character counter and a typing speed finder. Simply type or paste in your text to see your word and character count. To find your typing speed, press the start button and type for one minute.
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PBS offers this series of lessons aligned to their popular mini-series, The Roosevelts. All lessons include alignment to standards, background information, discussion questions, and evaluation rubrics. Choose from full-length Lesson Plans or Snapshot Lessons containing quick, adaptable activities for classroom use.
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YouTube EDU features some of the most popular educational videos across YouTube. Explore both elementary and secondary topics. This channel integrates content across 100 colleges and universities and offers access to campus tours, research, and lectures. Scroll through to find videos sorted into many categories such as science, mathematics, arts, languages, and much more. Subscribe to receive updates about new videos added. If your district blocks YouTube, then they may not be viewable.