The website I looked at was national geographic for kids. This website can be used by students in elementary and middle grades. It can be used in the classroom to show visuals as well as articles about specific things such as animals, countries, and important news that is happening in different areas of the social sciences. This particular website has a lot of connections with fourth grade content in terms of space and animals. I have seen the fourth grade teacher in my pod use this website many times in order to help her students get a better understanding of a topic or subject area. There are games and videos for students to watch which makes the website more interactive and kid friendly. I think depending on what the teacher is teaching the class at that time they should be supervising to make sure all the content is appropriate as well as students staying on task because it is a busy website with a lot going on. The great thing about National Geographic is there is little to none commercials and ads on the website so there is nothing that students can click on that could be trouble or off topic. Since the website is NatGeo kids, you do not need to sign up which is good because it will be accessible to students at home to play on with their families and friends.
Overall I think this is a great website for kids. I think it is engaging, visually appealing, and fun for students to learn about topics that can be hard to incorporate hands on activities with. As a teacher, I will always be looking towards websites such as these that are written for children and appealing to them in a way that an adult website may not. Once students know how to navigate the page and work with the materials, they will be entrapped in the website and be able to get work done in the classroom .... I only know this because I have seen it before. I think NatGeo kids is a great resource that needs to be used not only online but through their magazines as well.
I found the same things to be true when I reviewed National Geographic Kids. I loved the lack of sparkle and sound, and yet, the appealing, clean nature of the website. I can't wait to sneak it into a relevant English lesson!
ReplyDeleteI loved that you chose this site because I have used in many times in my internship year! The great thing about this site is when you think National Geographic, you usually think of social studies/history. This site helps make connections to other areas and gives plenty of resources for lesson plans and fun activities!
ReplyDeleteBlaise, I really like this website too. I had spent some time with my second graders on this site when teaching about habitats... I really like that you brought up how it could be used along with the actual magazine. I like this idea and can remember my parents getting Nat Geo magazine and how they got me the "Jr." addition... I loved it and could see both uses in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteI love national Geographic for kids. They are great websites and great magazines. The Jr. Edition is great for my students. I don't think that we think of social studies enough, especially in the younger grades.
ReplyDeleteI have been consistently impressed by how good the NG folks have been at making quality educational material for children over the years. Their pictures are fantastic, for starters, but they also have great, differentiated texts to go along with everything.
ReplyDeleteI also like their class sets of children books. Those are worth checking out for sure...
(http://www.ngsp.com/PRODUCTS/ThemeSets/tabid/114/Default.aspx) Note: I do not work for NG :p