I wanted to share with you all some useful websites for various teaching needs.
Reproducibles and Worksheets:
Try going to the scholastic printables page for ready to use reproducibles and worksheets. Click here for this website.
There is also a site for games as well as reproducibles (worksheets, awards, etc) at http://www.primarygames.com/ You can go to the Print Zone section and print out the reproducibles.
A site called abcteach has worksheets, writing prompts, and more (note some resources are available to members only, usually the ones at the bottom).
A similar site called A to Z Teacher Stuff has reproducibles for teachers. There is also a useful link for Character Education materials here.
Another site is called http://www.ezschool.com/ and has resources for various subjects and grade levels.
At the http://www.gradebook.org site there are a number of resources for teachers (ranging from worksheets to awards). Click on Primary teachers or Secondary teachers depending on what you teach.
Websites that provide links to useful sites:
There is a website called The Best on the Web for Teachers where you can find links to many useful websites.
Another useful site that indexes useful websites for teachers is Sites for Teachers.
Creating your own crossword puzzles, wordsearches, and boardgames:
There is a great free website called Puzzlemaker where you can make and print your own crossword puzzles, wordsearches, etc to supplement your lessons. Click here for this website.
To create your own boardgame, you can go to the Bare Books company and and purchase a kit that has a blank, durable game board (just like real boardgames), spinner, money, cards, and any other item you can think of. Great too for if you want to create your own family boardgame, you can even print out digital photos of each family member and attach that to the playing pieces to move around the game. (See more about the Bare Books company in my section about Publishing in this same post).
Grants/Funding:
There is a great program called Adopt a Classroom where you can submit a request for your classroom to be adopted. Then a company looking to donate money to your classroom will adopt you (they get a tax deduction to do so by the organizers of Adopt a Classroom). The website handles all the logistics, all you have to do is type up your wish list and when you get adopted, you get to choose materials from various online stores, such as Staples. I did this one year and it was amazing -- so easy to do and we got so many great supplies -- the students were excited when our packages of materials started arriving and we were so thankful. It is a win-win situation because the companies can also get a tax deduction for helping your classroom. Click here to go directly to this site.
Teacher Supplies and Books:
Check out the Scholastic Teacher Store because they often have impressive sales where products are down to $1.00 (called Dollar Day sales) and they also have a Bargain Bin section. Click here to go to their site.
Some stores that are useful for supplies are: Big Lots (especially for items like scissors or prizes), 99 cent store or Dollar Tree (great for plastic tubs to store classroom library books by category), and stores like Target.
To keep track of notes you give to parents/students/administrators and have a record of them, you can buy the Carson-Dellosa Publishing Teacher form booklet that is carbonless and has two parts (one part you write on and give to the person, the other keeps a copy of what you just wrote). This is great for if you are in a hurry, but want to keep documentation of notes to parents/students/administrators. They are really convenient.
One way to help the environment while finding free materials is to join your local freecycle organization. This is where people offer free items for you to pick up in your own city. Oftentimes I will see people post free children's books, classroom supplies, stationary, toys, and so on.
There is always your public library as a source for books for your classroom (especially if you are learning about a special topic and want more books for research projects). They also usually have a bookstore at the library with cheap children's books.
Videos:
Ask your school if they have a subscription to Discovery United Streaming videos. A website where you can search for educational videos online.
Brainpop is a website that has short educational film clips that teach about specific academic topics. They also have a quiz at the end of each clip. Some film clips are available for free and the link I provided are the free films. Check with your school site to see if they have a membership, in which case all the films would be free for you as a teacher with your school's log in information.
Games:
There are some fun math games for students to play and reinforce their skills at http://www.coolmath4kids.com/ (the games are divided by categories, such as fractions and times tables).
There is a site called http://www.funbrain.com/ that also has a section for teachers. Click here to go to the teacher section. On this site you can search for games based on the state standards or curriculum.
Drama:
Order amazing plays or musicals that come with CDs and scripts and everything. Fantastic company!!! The website is http://www.mtimusicalworlds.com/ Their website has links for Broadway Junior shows, Kids Collection, and Disney Collection. I ordered from this company when my Drama class did a production of Seussical the Musical. A great musical as it appeals to audiences of all ages and has great songs and the beloved characters from Dr. Seuss's books.
Publishing:
A great way for students to feel like real writers and publish their work is to provide them with Bare Books. The website http://www.barebooks.com/ has tons of affordable hard bound books for kids to write and illustrate on -- these last a long time, in fact, I have a friend who still has hers from when she was a child.
This same website also has products for creating step flip charts (great for practicing facts), durable baby books, calendars, and more. I find these products to be reasonably priced. One year I motivated my 3rd graders to do the writing process by having them write their stories into their Bare Book once they had edited them and had the final draft approved by me or my teacher's aide. They then had a long-lasting collection of their stories and were so proud to see their work in hard bound book. It also helped them understand that writers do not instantly publish their work, instead they revise their drafts and then publish their final draft. By getting to include their story into their Bare Book only once they had done the full writing process, it helped them want to revise and not just try to stop after the first draft. They also had fun doing the illustrations and cover.
Character Education Websites:
Check out http://webtech.kennesaw.edu/jcheek3/chared.htm for a list of useful websites to use when teaching Character Education.
Also look through my posts about Character Education by clicking here
Find more Character Education resources at http://www.gradebook.org/Character%20Development.htm
On the A to Z Teacher Stuff website there is also a section on Character Education here.
Now it's your turn...I would like to hear from you :).
Click on the comment link at the bottom of this post to share other resources that you have come across. To email this post to others, just click on the email link at the bottom of this post (icon looks like an envelope).
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