Teacher+Resources

media type="custom" key="5945123" **This page includes several helpful websites I've found during my educational searches through the Internet. I hope they'll be as helpful to you as they have been to me!**

1. Brain Pop Jr.

BrainPOP. (©1999-2009). Story Elements. // Brain Pop Jr  //. Retrieved April 10, 2010 from http://www.brainpopjr.com/readingandwriting/storyelements/.

I can't say enough wonderful things about this website! They have entertaining, educational videos that follow some very lovable characters. The whole website is incredibly easy to move around, plus their activities are fun and easy to print out for use in the classroom. There is a charge for becoming a member, but it's worth every penny. Great website!

2. Interactives

Annenberg Media. (©1997-2010). Elements of a story. // Interactives //. Retrieved April 19, 2010 from http://www.learner.org/interactives/story/.

Interactives is a great tool for teaching the elements of a story. You can select the stories to be narrated as well as read by the student, it's easy to navigate through it, and it offers a lot of great activities for the classroom. The site is just as interactive and fun as Brain Pop Jr. (the main website selected for this lesson plan), but the reading level on the website is a bit too advanced for my first grade students. It would be excellent for a higher reading level class.

3. Lesson Planet

Education Planet. (©1999-2010). // Lesson Planet //. Retrieved April 17, 2010 from http://www.lessonplanet.com/.

Lesson Planet is a great resource for teachers looking for good lesson plan ideas. You do have to sign up for an account, but it's filled with hundreds of easy-to-do lesson plans and many activities. The website is very well organized and user friendly.

4. Freeology - Free Graphic Organizers

Freeology. (n.d.). Free Graphic Organizers. Freeology. Retrieved April 21, 2010 from http://freeology.com/graphicorgs/.

It seems like every time I searched for graphic organizers, a website came up offering to sell them to me. Luckily, I came upon Freeology.com, that offers free graphic organizers, charts, and graphs. They have a great variety and are all downloadable as a PDF file for easy access.

5. Storyline Online

The Screen Actors Guild Foundation. (n.d.) Storyline Online. Retrieved April 10, 2010 from http://www.storylineonline.net/.

This website has famous actors narrating popular picture books. They have a great selection of stories, and they change quite often. It's a great technological alternative for reading time, and you can even turn on "captions" so the students can follow along while they listen to the story.

6. Kid Sites

Kid Sites. (n.d.). Activities. Kid Sites. Retrieved April 18, 2010 from http://www.kidsites.com/sites-fun/activities.htm.

Kid Sites is brimming with links to interactive activity pages online. The site is currently going through a bit of an overhaul, but it still has its old links available for use.

7. Stories to Grow By

Lindy, Elaine L. (©1998-2009). Absolutely Whootie. // Stories to Grow By //. Retrieved April 14, 2010 from http://www.storiestogrowby.com/default.html.

Absolutely Whootie is a great websote with a varied, and not to mention free, selection of stories and play scripts for classroom or individual use. It even includes a website search engine that let's you search for a story by age, type of story, theme, etc. Very user friendly and visually pleasant.

8. PBS Kids - Teacher Resources

PBS. (1995-2010). Teacher Resources. PBS Kids. Retrieved April 15, 2010 from http://pbskids.org/island/teachers/.

 PBS Kids is one of my favorite kid-friendly websites, so when I found out that they included a link for teacher resources, I was ecstatic! The site has many lesson plan and curriculum ideas, tips, tools, and even a link about professional development, aside from all of the fun games and videos that can be incorporated into your lessons from this great site. I highly recommend it!