CONTENT
PARTNERS
Staying Connected
Connect and collaborate on issues important to you through the Thinkfinity Community, Facebook or Twitter
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Home > History
LESSONS:
Stories of Freedom & Justice
Learning resources, videos and stories about American freedom and justice.
MORE LESSONSINTERACTIVES:
TOOLS & RESOURCES:
PODCASTS:
History Explorer Podcasts
Hear what Museum curators have to say about the fascinating stories behind the objects at the National Museum of American History.
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Home > Math
LESSONS:
Figuring in Football
Students identify figures on a football field. They look for both congruent and similar figures, and they consider figures that are the same but that occur in a different orientation because of translation, rotation, or reflection.
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Paying for Your Wheels
As students enter high school there is often one thing on their mind—getting their drivers license. In this lesson students will consider the costs of owning a car and ways to lessen those costs by calculating distance and miles per gallon, as well as analyzing and extrapolating data.
MORE LESSONSINTERACTIVES:
Turtle Pond
Guide a turtle through a pond using length estimation and computer commands.
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Home > Professional Development
Webinars
Thinkfinity Webinar:Captivate Your Students
This overview webinar will help you learn how Thinkfinity can help captivate your students as they head back to school for 2010!
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Thinkfinity Webinar Schedule
Join educators, parents and afterschool practitioners are for educational webinars from Thinkfinity.
VIEWTools & Resources
Using Technology
The resources in this collection provide ideas for how adult education instructors have used technology and where you can find free visual aids on the Web to enhance your presentations.
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Reading Resource Collections
New collections on these three components of reading: fluency, vocabulary, and alphabetics. Use the courses, interactives, and print pieces to gather ideas for teaching adults.
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Literacy Centers: Getting Started
Gives teachers resources and guidance to create reading, listening, computer, and poetry Literacy Centers in their own classrooms.
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Share Your Story
ReadWriteThink would like to hear how www.readwritethink.org impacts you and your teaching.
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Home > Reading & Writing
LESSONS:
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
Students will learn about Washington Irving's tale of the Headless Horseman has become a Halloween classic.
MORE LESSONSPODCASTS:
Chatting About Books
Discussions on the best children’s literature for ages 4 though 11.
MORE PODCASTSTOOLS & RESOURCES:
Persuasion Map
Create a persuasive argument for an essay or debate and then map it out using Persuasion Map.
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OurStory
The OurStory collection brings you American history stories and activities that educators, parents and children can do together.
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Home > Science
LESSONS:
Grasslands and
Climate Change
Students understand the underlying ecological properties of grassland communities and to distinguish between short- and long-term responses to climate change.
MORE LESSONSINTERACTIVES:
Gravity Launch
Explore how the earth’s and moon’s gravity affects the path of a rocket launched into space.
MORE INTERACTIVESPODCASTS:
Thoreau’s Plants
Learn how global warming has altered the composition of plants on the shores of Walden since the time of Henry David Thoreau.
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Home > Building a classroom community
featured:
Creating Classroom Community by Crafting Themed Poetry Collections
Students create poetry collections with the theme of "getting to know each other."
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Start Your Own Book Club
Elementary students can enjoy the community-building benefits of a bookclub.
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Community-Building with Intearctive Graphic Maps
Get things off to the best start by asking them to respect their differences and make the most of their similarities.
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Weekly Writer’s Blogs: Building a Reflective Community of Support
Students explore the conventions of blog writing while using it to reflect on their writing and communicate with classmates about each other's work.
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Home > Innovation & Technology in Education
featured:
Plant Hunters
Discover plants from around the globe with a virtual visit to The New York Botanical Garden.
VIEWGravity Launch
Launch a rocket into space to see how the force of gravity can pull an object toward the earth and moon.
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Home > 3-5
Lesson PLans:
Opening the Door for Reading: Sharing Favorite Texts to Build Community
Students build classroom community by exploring environmental print and a teacher-created display that focuses on a favorite book.
VIEWBuilding a Learning Community: Crafting Rules for the Classroom
Students will learn to mind their ps and qs in this lesson on etiquette and appropriate behavior in the classroom.
VIEWBuilding Classroom Community Through the Exploration of Acrostic Poetry
What do your students think about each other? Find out as you teach them the concepts of acrostic poems and challenge them to write an uplifting acrostic about a classmate.
VIEWCreating Classroom Community by Crafting Themed Poetry Collections
Students create poetry collections with the theme of "getting to know each other."
VIEWGetting to Know You: Developing Short Biographies to Build Community
Students transform into investigative reporters as they interview a classmate, compile the biographical data into graphic form, and introduce the student to the class.
VIEWSystems of the Human Body
Students learn that there are different systems within the body and that they work independently and together to form a functioning human body.
VIEWGroup Rules and Expectations
Helps students better recognize and understand how groups influence the behavior of their members through rules and expectations.
VIEWOpening the Door for Reading: Sharing Favorite Texts to Build Community
Students build classroom community by exploring environmental print and a teacher-created display that focuses on a favorite book.
VIEWSocial Trade-Offs
Students make and evaluate decisions by weighing the benefits and drawbacks of each alternative.
VIEWValues and Attitudes
Students identify some of the skills and attitudes that are essential for solving problems effectively.
VIEWIt Came From Greek Mythology
Students will learn about Greek conceptions of the hero, the function of myths as explanatory accounts, the presence of mythological terms in contemporary culture, and the ways in which mythology has inspired later artists and poets.
VIEWWhat Was Columbus Thinking?
Students read excerpts from Columbus's letters and journals, as well as recent considerations of his achievements in order to reflect on the motivations behind Columbus's explorations.
VIEWLascaux: La Vie en Caverne!
Students learn how to explain the purpose of cave paintings and rock art; identify some of the animals that roamed France in prehistoric times.
VIEWEgypt’s Pyramids: Monuments with a Message
Students learn to explain the meaning of the word artifact, discus the size and scale of one of the pyramids, and discuss the purpose of the pyramids.
VIEWCinderella Folk Tales: Variations in Plot and Setting
Students will analyze why Cinderella is loved by so many generations and how the story changes as it is adapted for different cultures and translations.
VIEWGravity Launch
Explore how the earth’s and moon’s gravity affects the path of a rocket launched into space.
VIEWTools:
Plant Hunter
Take a virtual walk through The New York Botanical Garden, exploring 66 plants from around the globe through photographs, videos, and interactive games.
VIEWMarble Mania
Students explore uncertainty and probability by controlling an interactive bag of marbles.
VIEWJailed for Freedom - The Story of Women's Suffrage from Smithsonian's History Explorer
Explore Women's Suffrage during the 90th anniversary celebration of women receiving the right to vote.
VIEWPodcasts:
Interactives:
Be a Movie Director
Create a movie using images from the collections of the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History.
VIEWLearning Resources:
Get Ready to Go Back to School!
Classroom activities, websites and related resources for Back to School!
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Home > 6-8
Lesson PLans:
Alcohol and Its Impact on the Brain
Helps students understand how alcohol affects different parts of the brain, which in turn affects behavior.
VIEWEnergy Resources and Trade-Offs
Students look at different energy resources, where they come from, what they produce, and the trade-offs of using them.
VIEWGrasslands and Climate Change
Helps students understand the underlying ecological properties of grassland communities and to distinguish between short- and long-term responses to climate change.
VIEWMy School as a System
Students apply the concepts of systems to their lives—in this case, their schools.
VIEWCells 1: Make a Model Cell
Students review and compare plant and animal cells and then build a model of an animal cell.
VIEWPodcasts:
History Explorer Podcasts
Hear what Museum curators have to say about the fascinating stories behind the objects at the National Museum of American History.
VIEWCell Phone Air Sensors
In the future, your cell phone may be used by the Department of Homeland Security to detect airborne toxins.
VIEWMars 500 Mission
Hear about six volunteers who have locked themselves in a model spacecraft to simulate a 520-day trip to Mars.
VIEWTools:
Skeleton
Students learn about the skeletal system by having them place bones in the correct location on a human body.
VIEWYour Carbon Diet
Students learn about how we use different energy sources and how it affects not only our environment but also our budget.
VIEWThe Legend of Sleepy Hollow
Students will learn about Washington Irving's tale of the Headless Horseman has become a Halloween classic.
VIEWA Story of Epic Proportions: What makes a Poem an Epic?
This lesson will introduce students to the epic poem form and to its roots in oral tradition.
VIEWLearning Resources:
Stories of Freedom & Justice
From the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, stories of freedom and justice as related to the Civil Rights Movement.
VIEWOn the Water
A variety of learning resources from the Smithsonian National Museum of American History that include creating Flickr photo essays and sharing them with the Museum, a Webquest, an interactive Gold Rush journal and more. Each activity explores the history of the United States as a maritime nation.
VIEWInteractives:
Van Valen’s Gold Rush
Interactive journal of Alex Van Valen, a man who set sail in 1849 to stake his claim in the California gold fields, to discover what life was like during the gold rush.
VIEWObject of History
Explore six important objects from American history through primary sources, curator interviews, and animations then build your own online exhibition.
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Home > 9-12
Lesson PLans:
Air Masses
Students develop an understanding of air masses and the role they play in weather and climate.
VIEWSkin Cancer 1: Exposing Healthy Skin to the Sun
Students develop an understanding of the science behind keeping skin healthy.
VIEWSkin Cancer 2: Types, Prevention, and Detection
Students expand their understanding of skin cancer and its different types, how it can be detected, and how it can be prevented.
VIEWMagna Carta: Cornerstone of the U.S. Constitution
Magna Carta served to lay the foundation for the evolution of parliamentary government and subsequent declarations of rights in Great Britain and the United States.
VIEWOther Worlds: The Voyage of Columbus
Meet the people whose encounter with Columbus led to the creation of a New World.
VIEWImages of the New World
Students interact with written and visual accounts of this critical formative period at the end of the 16th century.
VIEWHammurabi’s Code: What Does It Tell Us about Old Babylonia?
Students learn about life in Babylonia through the lens of Hammurabi's Code.
VIEW300 Spartans at the Battle of Thermopylae: Herodotus’ Real History
Students learn about the historical background to the battle and are asked to ponder some of its legacy.
VIEWHammurabi’s Code: What Does It Tell Us about Old Babylonia?
Students will hypothesize about Hammurabi's (ruled 1792–1750 BCE) purpose in creating and distributing his "Code."
VIEWComposition and Content in the Visual Arts
Students analyze ways in which the composition of a painting contributes to telling the story or conveying the message through the placement of objects and images within the painting
VIEWThe Beauty of Anglo-Saxon Poetry: A Prelude to Beowulf
Students will study the literature and literary techniques of the early Middle Ages, thus preparing students to read Beowulf with an appreciation for its artistry and beauty.
VIEWChaucer's Wife of Bath
This lesson helps students understand the complexities of the Wife of Bath's character and the rhetoric of her argument by exploring the various ways in which Chaucer crafts a persona for her.
VIEWIntroducing Metaphors through Poetry
Designed to help students begin to engage with metaphors on a deeper and more abstract level.
VIEWChinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart: Teaching Through the Novel
Introduces students to Achebe's first novel and to his views on the role of the writer in his or her society.
VIEWChinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart: Oral and Literary Strategies
Designed to help students begin to engage with metaphors on a deeper and more abstract level.
VIEWDramatizing History in Arthur Miller's The Crucible
Designed to help students begin to engage with metaphors on a deeper and more abstract level.
VIEWPodcasts:
History Explorer Podcasts
Hear what Museum curators have to say about the fascinating stories behind the objects at the National Museum of American History.
VIEWCell Phone Air Sensors
In the future, your cell phone may be used by the Department of Homeland Security to detect airborne toxins.
VIEWMars 500 Mission
Hear about six volunteers who have locked themselves in a model spacecraft to simulate a 520-day trip to Mars.
VIEWInteractives:
Van Valen’s Gold Rush
Interactive journal of Alex Van Valen, a man who set sail in 1849 to stake his claim in the California gold fields, to discover what life was like during the gold rush.
VIEWCell Size and Scale
Gives students the opportunity to see how various small things compare to one another.
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Home > K-2
Lesson PLans:
What is History? Timelines and Oral Histories
Learn about events from the past and discusses how historical accounts are influenced by the perspective of the person giving the account.
VIEWNative American Cultures Across the U.S.
Students will learn about customs and traditions such as housing, agriculture, and ceremonial dress for the Tlingit, Dinè, Lakota, Muscogee, and Iroquois peoples.
VIEWCreating Classroom Rules
Students learn about developing classroom rules, about making rules for a group of people when the group is comprised of many different people, and that different groups of people may have different rules.
VIEWCreating Class Rules: A Beginning to Creating Community
Students work together to create classroom rules by brainstorming why they are at school and what they need while they are there.
VIEWMaking Good Decisions
Encourages students to practice the skill of reasoned decision making and to anticipate the consequences of their choices.
VIEWCave Art: Discovering Prehistoric Humans through Pictures
Students travel to the past to explore how people in earlier times used art as a way to record stories and communicate ideas.
VIEWEgyptian Symbols and Figures: Hieroglyphs
Students study paintings from the caves in France and discover that pictures are a way of communicating beliefs and ideas.
VIEWEgyptian Symbols and Figures: Scroll Paintings
Introduces students to the writing, art, and religious beliefs of ancient Egypt through hieroglyphs, one of the oldest writing systems in the world, and through tomb paintings.
VIEWFairy Tales Around the World
Students will learn that because of the worldwide ubiquity of fairy tales, their imagery and tropes have had a vast impact on many different forms of literature.
VIEWAesop and Ananse: Animal Fables and Trickster Tales
Students will become familiar with fables and trickster tales from different cultural traditions and will see how stories change when transferred orally between generations and cultures.
VIEWTools:
Food Chains
Students learn about food chains. It is part of Bitesize, produced by BBC Learning.
VIEWPodcasts:
INTERACTIVE GAMES:
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Home > Tried and True
featured:
Formal Visual Analysis: The Elements & Principles of Composition
The How To helps you translate what you see into written words.
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Goods and Services
Learn about the differences between people who produce goods and people who provide services to a community.
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Lessons:
Stories of Freedom & Justice
From the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, stories of freedom and justice as related to the Civil Rights Movement.
VIEWBrown v. Board of Education
Lesson plans and activities from the “Separate is Not Equal” exhibition.
VIEWTools & Resources:
On the Water
A variety of learning resources from the Smithsonian National Museum of American History that include creating Flickr photo essays and sharing them with the Museum, a Webquest, an interactive Gold Rush journal and more. Each activity explores the history of the United States as a maritime nation.
VIEWPodcasts:
History Explorer Podcasts
Hear what Museum curators have to say about the fascinating stories behind the objects at the National Museum of American History.
VIEWInteractives:
Van Valen’s Gold Rush
Interactive journal of Alex Van Valen, a man who set sail in 1849 to stake his claim in the California gold fields, to discover what life was like during the gold rush.
VIEWFIND MORE
Lessons:
Figuring Football
Hut, hut, hike! It’s time to get back into math. This football lesson will challenge students’ geometry skills as they identify congruent figures, as well as, work to recognize rotations, translations and reflections.
VIEWIsland Inequality Mat
Students learn the differences between less than, greater than and equal to.
VIEWSquare Circles
Students will apply geometric principles to determine perimeter and circumference.
VIEWTools & Resources:
Why We are Worried About Wildlife - Equation
Students will use an equation to determine why we are worried about wildlife.
VIEWPodcasts:
Interactives:
Dynamic Paper
Get precisely what you want in an activity sheet and avoid everything you don’t need! Illuminations Dynamic Paper resource allows teachers to customize activity sheets with everything from a pentagonal pyramid to a set of patterned blocks.
VIEWArea Tool
Learn how to manipulate the base and height of a triangle, parallelogram or trapezoid.
VIEWTessellation Creator
Create a repeating pattern of polygons that cover a plane without gaps or overlaps.
VIEWVector Investigation
Navigate a boat through the water using the magnitude and direction of the boat's speed or water current.
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Lessons:
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
Students will learn about Washington Irving's tale of the Headless Horseman has become a Halloween classic.
VIEWBuilding a Learning Community: Crafting Rules for the Classroom
Students will learn to mind their ps and qs in this lesson on etiquette and appropriate behavior in the classroom.
VIEWBuilding Classroom Community Through the Exploration of Acrostic Poetry
What do your students think about each other? Find out as you teach them the concepts of acrostic poems and challenge them to write an uplifting acrostic about a classmate.
VIEWCreating Class Rules: A Beginning to Creating Community
Students work together to create classroom rules by brainstorming why they are at school and what they need while they are there.
VIEWCreating Classroom Community by Crafting Themed Poetry Collections
Students create poetry collections with the theme of "getting to know each other."
VIEWGetting to Know You: Developing Short Biographies to Build Community
Students transform into investigative reporters as they interview a classmate, compile the biographical data into graphic form, and introduce the student to the class.
VIEWOpening the Door for Reading: Sharing Favorite Texts to Build Community
Students build classroom community by exploring environmental print and a teacher-created display that focuses on a favorite book.
VIEWPodcasts:
Tools & Resources:
What Was Columbus Thinking?
Students read excerpts from Columbus's letters and journals, as well as recent considerations of his achievements in order to reflect on the motivations behind Columbus's explorations.
VIEWFIND MORE
Lessons:
Blast off! Vocabulary Instruction Using a Virtual Trip to the Moon
Students learn new vocabulary through a virturla trip to the Moon.
VIEWExtending the Dots: Geonographic markers in context.
Examine and understand the markers of human migration.
VIEWTools & Resources:
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