Marvel’s Kids! Section As
a Resource and Tool
By: Carol Reed
I
remembered using Marvel in the past, but I am amazed at how much it has changed
on the elementary side. When I used this with my students in the past, I found it wasn't so
easy for the younger grades to use. They have such a harder time reading
than the older students do and it was so difficult to help everyone at once. It became chaotic. I
ended up not using it anymore. So when I heard about this course I thought it
might be a chance to revisit this resource and learn to effectively use this
with my students. For this lesson, I chose the Kids! section from the Select a
Subject side on the left. I found it easy to pick out because the Kids! section
has kid-friendly font that easily attracts your eyes. Once I clicked, the menu on
the right changed and I decided that I would review each of the choices that
the kids I teach would be able to chose from. What I really liked about having
all the choices was there were different levels of searching depending on the
capabilities and age of the student K-5. I love the changes within the website
and found it to be much more friendly for younger and lower level students.
I
was immediately drawn to the K-2 Britannica Learning Zone because researching with younger students can be a challenge. This is an excellent
resource for teachers because the teacher could use this as a computer center
in their room. The K-2 student exploring this section could choose from exploring different parts of the
world, playing different games from each school subject, reading books online,
or drawing different pictures on the computer. There are many choices and
subjects to choose from. It is an excellent resource and I will be using this
as an integration with all my K-2 classes at both schools that I teach at. The
older version, K-12 Britannica Online, offers students access to videos, the
K-2 Learning Center, geography help, learning games and activities, news
updates, curriculum standards by state, expanded searches, and it allows you to
save your favorite resources so you save them until you are done searching. I
would use this with my students in grades 2-5. What a great resource for kids!
While I was on this site I checked out the other sections, but most were not as kid-friendly as the first
two I discussed. Kids Search was easy to use because it was visually
stimulating for younger kids, but I am not sure they would be able to navigate
it without constant teacher help. The NoveList K-8 Plus was a great resource
for kids who were looking for a book. My favorite part was that they can use it
to find a book that interests them when they don’t know what to read. It gives you
the ability to search by tone, genre, writing style, or subject. I also found
the star-rating and book review to be very helpful for kids when they need help
choosing the right book. The Primary Search, though I realize you are searching
a database for primary documents, was too hard for kids to use and understand
on their own.It would have to be adult driven. It is, however, a great resource for teachers to find primary documents to extend the curriculum. Seachasaurus offered the ability to choose books and articles by lexile
level. It offers both citations and full text options. The Student Resource
Center allows for searching by periodical, primary sources, or even by photo,
map or flag. I would mainly use this with older or upper level students.
Windows on Maine is an awesome resource for anyone looking for information on
Maine. It allows you to search, browse, or stream downloaded educational videos
about Maine. At both my schools, the fourth grade teachers are truly going to
love this resource not only for teaching, but also for projects and discovery. After
reviewing these resources I have to admit I am ashamed of having such a great
tool for my students and not being aware of it. This will make both of our
lives so much easier.
