Web Resources Annotated Bibliography

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Bohenek 1

URL

http://teacher.scholastic.com/
products/bookflixfreetrial/

https://www.brainpop.com/

Description
Bookflix is a great digital literacy resource that compares books on grade
level side by side for students. It purposes is to engage students in
comprehension of fiction vs. nonfiction texts through storybook videos
and reinforcing positive reading habits. The owner of this website is
Scholastic which is a well established and trusted company in education.
Credentials include several awards such as winner of the Association of
Educational Publishers and rated top 10 digital resources by School Library
Journal.
The main features of Bookflix are Fiction-Nonfiction pairs, Spanish pairs,
read along option, educational games, and definitions along with narrated
text support. Therefore the targeted audience of these features is
students, particularly K-5th grade. In addition, the site is also a teacher
resource with features such as educator resources, author biographies,
and editorially selected web links. Thus this website is designed for both
students and teachers. Bookflix is a great teacher resource because it can
be utilized in the classroom during independent reading, small group
rotations or whole group activities. In addition, students may be able to
access Bookflix from home for further reading depending on the school's
subscription.
BrainPop teaches concepts aligned with Common Core standards to
students through brief animated video clips. Although the videos are not
long-winded with detailed information, the videos provide a quick
overview to spark interest. Numerous subjects are presented through
BrainPop including engineering, technology, art, music, health and the four
key subjects of math, language arts, science and social studies. The author
is Avraham Kadar M.D. who was an immunologist and pediatrician and he
founded the site almost 15 years ago. Since then, his team has created
several other educational programs and has received numerous awards for
creating short animated clips that teach difficult concepts to students. In
addition, the team continually partners with educators and parents to

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make improvements and fit the needs of the classroom.
The main features on the website include educational videos, learning
games, interactive quizzes, concept mapping, and primary source
activities. BrainPop is geared towards 3rd to 8th grade students. However
additional resource links are included such as BrainPop Jr. K-3, BrainPop
Espanol, an ESL version, and BrainPop Educators which includes lesson
plans, organizers, etc. BrainPop is a good resource for teachers looking to
incorporate elements of a flipped classroom approach. In addition, it is a
valuable resource that gets students hooked on a topic for the upcoming
lesson.

http://www.doe.virginia.gov/

VDOE is the Virginia's official website for education throughout the

entire state. The author is the Virginia Department of Education which is
comprised of Superintendent Steven Staples and the school board. Their
mission is to increase student learning and academic achievement by
partnering with local schools throughout the state. The link provides
teachers with the mandated SOL standards for all grade levels along with
various curriculum frameworks and lesson plans. Other main features
include information on licensure, job opportunities, the Virginia Board of
Education, statistics and reports. In addition, VDOE is a great resource for
teachers because it provides current information about the latest
education legislation. It also allows for recognition of great teachers
throughout the state and showcases new methods to integrate in the
classroom. However the website is geared towards more than teachers, it
offers sections for students, parents, special education, and public
education administrators too.
The Department of Education website allows teachers to sign up for
another link- Teacher Direct. Participants receive monthly emails about the
latest news in Virginia concerning education along with upcoming events
to earn professional development points. Therefore this is a valuable
teacher resource to ensure he or she is meeting state expectations, and
Teacher Direct also encompasses a library which leads to various locations
on the site such as media resources, instruction, and SOLs which are
helpful.

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https://www.ixl.com/

http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/

IXL is an independent business that creates math and language arts

exercises to make learning more enjoyable for students. The website
allows students K-12 to practice skills aligned with California Common Core
standards. IXL Learning has existed for almost 20 years and began with the
creation of QuiaWeb. The leaders include Paul Mishkin, Jennifer Gu, and
John Harrington; each has a passion to make web-based technologies
more readily available to teachers and students. In addition, their team
consists of several engineers and leaders with degrees from top
universities such as Harvard and Stanford. The site is user friendly and
engages students in practicing concepts by typing correct responses to
questions. In addition, the website can be used for free or a subscription
can be purchased for more detailed practices and thorough analysis of
individual student progress.
The intended audience is both students and teachers. For students the
main features are fun math and language exercises. These practices can be
selected based on the concepts learned. For teachers, the main headings
include how teachers use the site, analytics, and community which include
training videos and methods for integrating IXL into lesson plans. This
website is a great resource for teachers because it allows teachers to
integrate technology and provides students with intriguing practices that
are more colorful and interactive than a worksheet.
National Geo Kids is an offspring of the world renowned National
Geographic Magazine. This website designed for kids is a "world-class
scientific organization at its core" and their mission is to teach kids about
the world and how it works (National Geo Kids). Therefore the parent
company- National Geographic is a creditable source which has been
around for over 100 years. Overall the website allows students to view
digital publications of the popular magazine. The main features are
coverage of various different topics such as differing animal groups and
countries- facts, culture, language, etc.
This website is intended for elementary student use; most students are
very intriguing by the unique facts and astonishing photographs presented
in the publications. This is a good teacher resource for elementary teacher

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because it gets students excited about science and nonfiction texts. In
addition, it exposes students to new animals and science topics in a
presentation of bright colors, captions, and a kid-friendly format.

https://www.pebblego.com/

http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/

PebbleGo is an online database for research and reading that presents

information in an appealing way to students; it is the "emergent reader
research solution" (PebbleGo).This safe program allows students to build
research skills while also learning more about their favorite topics. The
owner of this award winning program is Capstone Press which was
established over 20 years ago. It is known for providing learners with
nonfiction materials and aiding struggling readers. Therefore their goal is
to support the reading needs of all students.
This website is targeted for students K-3 and additional links are
provided for a similar program for 3rd- 6th grade students called PebbleGo
Next. The main features of PebbleGo include searches in the following
databases: animals, dinosaurs, science, biographies, and social studies.
This is a great teacher resource that can be used in the classroom during
small group rotations or for students to research information for a project.
Scholastic is an online resource which allows individuals to purchase
books from the publishing company or view book overviews, details, and
activities for the vast variety of books they offer. Scholastic was founded
in 1920 by Maurice Robinson and since then the company has grown
world-wide and is known for publishing excellent children stories along
with books for students of all ages. Scholastic's teacher page offers several
different resources, and its main features include strategies & ideas,
resources & tools, books & authors, and student activities.
Therefore this website is designed to be a literacy resource for teachers
especially in elementary and middle schools. The website also includes
links to various other Scholastic programs such as Bookflix, Storia, and the
Teacher Store along with other products such as Scholastic News
magazines for students and teachers. Scholastic is an extremely good
source for teachers with regards to literacy and incorporating various
reading genres. The website gives teachers ideas for lessons and

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entertaining activities along with quick book summaries and predetermined reading level or age groups for books.

http://www.tumblebooklibrary.com/
Default.aspx?ReturnUrl=%2f

https://www.visualthesaurus.com/

This elibrary is "an online collection of animated, talking picture books

which teach young children the joys of reading in a format they'll love"
(TumbleBooks). TumbleBooks offers a vast variety of texts to students and
enhances several reading and literacy skills. The website displays the
eBook version for several classic children's stories and adds exciting
graphics, sounds, music, and narration that helps bring the story to life.
Once subscribed, teachers also have access to other information and sites
through the Common Core Portal.
The main components of TumbleBook include nonfiction text, story
books, puzzles and games, videos, read-along books, language learning,
and translation of texts to Spanish and French. This elibrary is for intended
for K-5 students and includes manual and automatic reading features
along with a pause button; this aids student pacing. TumbleBooks is a
great resource for elementary teacher because it allows students to
become familiar with eBooks while also creating a fun and different way to
engage students in literacy. It is utilized in most Virginia Beach Public
Schools and teachers can use this resource during language arts as an
independent station or during computer-lab time.
Visual Thesaurus is a website that provides students with the tools to
expand their vocabulary. It is an interactive dictionary and thesaurus
where students learn synonyms and antonyms along with related topics by
generating word-concept maps. Similar to brain functions, the site uses
schematic mapping and webs to make terms more understandable for
students. Visual Thesaurus was created by ThinkMap Inc which is a
company that strives to make softwares that reinforce visualization of
concepts. The founders are Marc Tinkler and Michael Freedman who both
possess credentials in computer programming and software design.
The site allows for a free trial period but ultimately requires a group
subscription purchase. However this includes access to other resources
besides Visual Thesaurus such as VocabGrabber, Visual Thesaurus Spelling

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Bee, and the online magazine. Although there are a few teacher resources,
the main audience of this site is students. The main features include
developing better vocabulary, mastery of word usage, using words
precisely, emailing and saving created word maps, and improving
grammar. Therefore this site is a great resource for teachers to utilize
because it helps student enhance their writing and reading skills through
vocabulary. In addition, the word maps created are an excellent way to
demonstrate student understanding and also to decorate the classroom.

https://wakek5science.pbworks.com
/w/page/55446800/
Formative%20Assessment%20Probes

Wake County public schools created a wiki of science probes- formative

assessments for teachers. This site provides teachers with easy access to
various assessments based on the topic of study. The author of the
website is Wake County Public School System, and their mission is to
"provide relevant and engaging education and graduate students who are
collaborative, creative, effective communicators and critical thinkers"
(wcpss).
This website is intended for elementary school teachers to present
practical and intriguing science assessment resources. The main sections
include grade, theme, probe title, suggested modifications, and probe
description. For each grade level there are four to five themes and free
downloadable assessments. This website is useful to teachers in my field
because science lessons are a part of each grade level and it is important
to assess student understanding with clear, organized assessments.