The first website I looked at today was http://www.brainpop.com. This website is useful for a variety of grade levels and has a lot of different topics to explore. This website is not free, however, you can sign up for a free trial period and there are things you can explore on this website for free. Within this website there are movies to watch, articles to read and games to play. This website would be a great way to further your instruction.
The last website I explored was http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/. This website was not as interactive as many of the other websites I have found, and it had more difficult text to read than others, however, it had great articles about just about anything you wanted to know about. As a teacher you could read the text to the students or have students explore many different topics. This website also has video clips for your students to watch as well as games for them to play. This website would be a great resource for teachers as well as students.
Interactive websites add life to your teaching, as well as it engages your students. I encourage you to use an interactive website every now and then with your students, they are a great learning and teaching tool.
Michelle, I agree that websites used in classrooms should be interactive more times than not. Kids have to stay engaged and boring, hard to navigate websites are not good for that. I also wanted to tell you how I appreciated the recommendation for BrainPop. It really is a great website and some school districts pay for a subscription so you don't have to worry about paying for your students to have a great interactive website.
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ReplyDeleteI use BrainPop all the time and I absolutely love it. I wish it was free because there is so much that the site has to offer, and the videos are so educational and easy to understand at a students' level. I think that even if you introduced websites like these in a newsletter to the families of your students it would be a great way to get students exploring outside of the classroom. I know that not all families have a computer, but there are libraries which have access to the internet. It would be a great way to get the families to see what the students are learning in school, and it is fun!
Michelle, these are really great websites. I have used both of these websites as resources. National Geographic has a lot of great information. BrainPop contains some really great activities that could enhance a student's learning experience. So many teachers use interactive websites ineffectively. Teachers need to remember why they are using these sites and what their purpose is. These sites can really add to a lesson and make lessons fun and engaging.
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