Lesson 1c

I looked at the American Elk in the Spanish version.  I could see this type of thing being used in our Spanish classes when looking at classification, building descriptions, etc. For students who already speak Spanish, this would be a great way to integrate what they know into the classroom.

Again, I could see the read aloud feature being used in the Spanish classroom for students who need work with fluency or pronunciation.  Spanish-speaking students who face challenges in reading would also find the read aloud feature helpful for comprehension.

Lesson 1b

I chose the panther for the 2nd part of the lesson.  The World Book Online for kids let me know that panthers are also called mountain lions, pumas, catamounts, or cougars.  The writing is written at a level that elementary students can understand with links for additional photos and articles.  The links on the left also suggested lesson ideas for students to teach what they learned or make a model of it.

The info finder gave many additional links to the generic search for panther.  The links were more specific than what I found on World Book Online.  Info finder would be, in my opinion, a better resource for a student with the ability to discern what information would be relevant and what would not.  Elementary students would likely need assistance deciding which links to follow.

The World Book Online reference center has links to maps, ebooks, history, presidential papers, Danish royalty, etc. I think that teachers and more advanced students could use the reference center for all types of needs.  I could see myself pulling it up during biology class to quickly find a diagram that might better convey what I'm trying to explain.  Students could use it for just about any class.

Lesson 1a

I chose the sugar glider as my mammal to research.  The World Book

Kids Edition used a pretty large font and simplified language to describe the

habitat.  World Book Student Edition had similar information, but the

writing was more advanced.  It also included more about how to cite

the source and the scientific classification.

Using World Book Advance, I chose to look up Argentina.  I was surprised to see just how many options were available to expand my research.   I could really see HS students using this option for a variety of research needs.  I especially liked that they included things like the sound of the national anthem and a walk back in time.  When I clicked on one of the links, I noticed the Lexile level, options to print, email or save the source for future research, and even standard correlations.  I would use that!!

The World Book Discover would be helpful to ESL students because it is available in a French or Spanish version or could be translated to a variety of other languages.