Teachers First - Thinking Teachers Teaching Thinkers

YiNote is a Chrome browser extension allowing users to take notes while watching online videos. After installing the extension, click the icon in your browser bar while viewing any video to bring up a box for adding notes. YiNote adds a time stamp to match the place in the video of saved notes. Return at anytime and click on your notes to go directly to that point in the video. One-click sharing allows the option to share notes via a direct URL or through links to social networking sites.

Use the power of social media to connect with educators around the world with similar interests with EduMatch. Sign up to be the #edtech Person of the Day and enroll in EduMatch. EduMatch also provides podcasts with discussions on educational issues. Access previous podcast archives or view the calendar for upcoming sessions. Previous topics include issues such as encouraging colleagues to take risks with technology and educator perspectives on grading policies.

Are students puzzled by which dictionary entry to select when they check for a word's meaning? This interesting video shows how the two speakers select the best meaning for a common vocabulary word. Also find a related, interactive "web" lesson and worksheets in PDF format.

Purpose Games is an exceptional resource for educationally specific activities. Practice learning anything from the bones of the human skeleton to the countries of Europe. Want something even more tailored to your needs? Register with your email and create your own game with learning goals that are designed by you. Some of the activities have comments. You may want to preview the comments, if sharing with the class. This site has many advertisements.
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You would never guess by the name of this site that The Exquisite Corpse Adventure opens doors to an engaging way to explore the world of reading and writing a class or group story, book, or even a poem. This project from the Center for the Book and the National Children's Book and Literacy Alliance invites students to read, discover, and create fascinating characters, places, and events in a manner that might be as captivating as one of the many trendy, popular reality shows. The story takes on unexpected twists and turns because it is actually pieced together out of many parts created, put together, and expanded upon by the contributors. Anyone and everyone interested in helping kids read more, write better, and reach deeper into their own experiences, imaginations, and resources to create stories and art will become hooked. The actual original online book, Exquisite Corpse Adventure, is a recently completed, year-long project with episodes, (chapters), written by remarkable authors such as Jon Scieszka and Katherine Paterson, illustrated and posted with companion games, discussion questions, and activities every two weeks.

This site explains the meanings of the great variety of lexile scores found with some books. The search feature allows teachers to check to see if any particular book has a lexile rating, and if so, what it is. The site also compares lexile ratings and grade levels. It also has seasonal booklists and other helpful information for educators about choosing appropriate books. Students can use this site to find books for independent reading.