Websites for Students in Constructivist Classrooms

All four of these websites were featured in Moving Towards Constructivist Classrooms, created in 2001 from a graduate student, Themla Cey, at University of Saskatchewan. This website entailed what Constructivism is and how to teach and learn in this way.

Website one is entitled Kid's Web, which is a digital K-12 library, is a site where students can do their own reading and research. I found it a great resource for all students looking to do research OR to read on their own all kinds of books.

Website two is entitled Exploratorium, which is an exploratory website for students to do research and ponder all kinds of questions and topics. It is almost blog-like, since kids can contribute to topics. It seems like a great resource for students in secondary elementary and above looking to do open-ended projects and research.

Website three is entitled BrainPop, which is an online resource for students in multiple areas of study, such as social studies or science, for example. Students can do all sorts of activities from this site ALL ON THEIR OWN. Very fun, interactive and attractive to the eyes!

Website four is entitled National Geographic for Kids, which is an online magazine resource for students to explore about the world and what inhabits it. It is an AMAZING resource for kids of all ages.

Digital Books for Children

I found four websites that have online, digital books for students and teachers.

Website one: The International Children's Digital Library is an amazing resource for teachers and students to listen to, read or watch thousands of different books from their home or school computer. The neat thing about this site is that it has books from all over the world, meaning there are many books in many other languages.

Website two: The Digital Librarian is a site that has links for about 50 external websites that offer digital books and literature for children. Ranging from fables to poetry, it has a wide array of options for any teacher in the classroom.

Website three: Tumblebook.com is an online e-book library for children, with a large number of very popular children books titles. The site is easy to navigate and even students with a low level of skills could listen to a book on this site!

Website four: This website from the Online Learning Centre explains how to create an e-book with your young students. I thought this would be a good addition to my 4 websites because it gives steps and great ideas on how to use it.

Legal and Ethical Issue Website Descriptions

Website one, entitled The Flickering Mind, discusses the "false promise of technology" in the classroom and in education. Todd Oppenheimer reflects on his book on this website, discussing how schools are wasting time, money and effort by implementing technology into their classrooms.

Website two discusses social, ethical and legal issues with technology in classrooms, discussing the new challenges teachers face, as well as students.

Website three discusses ethical issues with electronic classrooms and learning.

Website four, from the National School Board Association, looks at implementing technology and the possible legal issues that may arise from it.

Details about Educational Blogs

I picked four blogs that I thought condensed the ways students, educators and schools use blogs.

The first blog, Ms. Buckley's 5th Grade Class, is an example of student blogging. Students are allowed to post on a "daily journal" for parents to read about each school day, as well as partake in online math groups, reading discussions, and groups.

The second blog, 2nd Graders, is an example of a teacher-run blog for parents to enjoy quotes, both serious and comical, of her students. This seems like a more fun approach for teachers to connect with parents.

The third blog, Mr. Austin's Class, is an example of a collaborative blog, used both for students and parents. Ranging from a school calendar, online resources, fun facts, and a homework reminder, this page seems to cover all the bases for students and their families at home and in the classroom.

The fourth blog, Meriwether Lewis Elementary School, is an example of a school-wide blog. This seems like it would be an excellent resource for students, parents and teachers too, since the site has school calendars and information, a translation option (good for ELL students and families), and pages for parents to comment or inquire to other parents or the school about questions.

These blogs are posted under Educational Blogs on the right side of this blog. Enjoy!

Picture of Mrs. Bunday and her new husband :)