Thursday, December 9, 2010

Information from an Owl? I hope it is a Wise one ...

One of the resources that is available for WSFCS teachers from Learning Village is NCWiseOwl. I admit that for years I thought NCWiseOwl was just for the media center. I am happy to find out that I was wrong. I have been pleasantly surprised at the things I have found on NCWiseOwl. There are zones for Elementary School, Middle School, and High School with resources for each level for students as teachers. There is also a Professional Zone as well as a zone for Media/Technology.

I found this in What's New on NCWiseOwl section:
"When we added the EBSCO databases last year we were not expecting the overwhelming response they would receive. The Student Reference Center quickly became the most popular resource on WiseOwl, and several other EBSCO databases have become extremely popular as well. This year we're hoping for a similar outcome as we add Britannica Online to our collection. Britannica replaces the Grolier encyclopedias with a product that offers a broader scope and more multimedia features. At one end of the scale, The Learning Zone adds an interactive K-2 resource; and at the other end, Britannica High School provides a useful research starter and curriculum reinforcement tool for grades 9-12. "

The former elementary school teacher in me went automatically to the Elementary Zone. In the sidebar, I found the Learning Zone which would be good for younger grades since it covers shapes, numbers, and sounds. There are areas to explore, play, read, and draw. There is a section on Amazing Animals from Grolier Online Passport where students can find information on animals and habits, see images and videos, play the Jungle Jumble and read an article.

The Featured Websites section is organized by month. For December, there is lots of information available on the Wright Brothers and various holidays.

I could go on and on about the things I found, but then this post would go on for 2 miles ... so I just encouraged you to go check out NCWiseOwl and see what you can find!

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