COMMON SENSE MEDIA is a website providing information related to media and technology for parents and teachers. In addition to a great place for educational ratings and reviews, it’s also an effective way to keep up with the movies, games, apps, TV shows, websites, books, and music of interest to youth of particular ages.
Their K-12 Digital Citizenship Curriculum and interactive learning games are outstanding. The free materials are available as iBook textbooks or as printable lessons with online videos and interactives. Topics include internet safety, privacy and security, relationships & communication, cyberbullying, digital footprint & reputation, self-image & identity, information literacy, and creative credit & copyright. You can even download colorful posters for library displays.
Graphite is their new service that helps educators find the best apps, games, and websites for the classroom. This website is aligned with the Common Core State Standards and provides lots of tools for searching and organizing websites.
To learn more, go to COMMON SENSE MEDIA at https://www.commonsensemedia.org/.
STARFALL has been a popular educational website for more than a decade. Focusing on fun reading, math, and music experiences for preschool through primary grades, the website contains dozens of free activities and e-books that can be used on desktop, laptop, and tablet computers. Beyond the free website, hundreds of other wonderful interactives are available at a membership rate. Prices are available for teachers, labs, and schools. Additional print curriculum materials are also available.
Recently, STARFALL has created an App-based (Apple, Google, KindleFire) experience for youth. The app environment contains no ads and no in-app-sales for members. In addition, individual titles are available for a small fee rather than paying the membership price for the whole collection. Unfortunately, very few of the app-based resources are available for free.
In addition to their use in classrooms, these materials are also effective for special needs students and those needing extra help with reading. Consider how these tools might be integrated into the computers and tablets available in the library.
To learn more, go to http://www.starfall.com/.
