Lesson 1: Advanced Challenge + Common Core Connections

1. Using World Book Kids, go into one of the following special features: "World of Animals," "Science Projects," "Maps and More," “Compare Places” or "Games & Activities." Report your findings and mention ways you or your students could use these.

I looked through 'Science Projects'. This is a great idea! Many schools have Science Fairs, and this gives students simple experiments that almost anyone can do. The equipment needed for the experiments are items commonly found in the average household. 

There are topics that kids can choose from, such as 'Animals', 'Machines', 'Matter and Energy', 'Microscopic Life', 'Our Planet', 'Plants', 'Science You Can Use', and 'Your Body'. I'm sure that any kid could find something of interest here. There are also links for finding more information on how to do science projects and selecting a topic to research. 

This section of World Book would be a great lesson for librarians to show to classrooms a month or so before a Science Fair is scheduled. Using this would help decrease the anxiety of finding a science project or fighting with other students to get their hands on the few books in their school library that contain Science Project ideas. 

2. Using World Book Student, go into one of the following special feature sections: "Explore," "Biography," “Behind the Headlines,” “Quizzes and Activities” or one of the Research Tools that are new to you. Report your findings and mention ways you could use these with your students. 

I took a look at, 'Behind The Headlines'. We actually have an Encore class that deals with Current Events, so this would be a valuable resource to both the teacher and the students. The class or individuals also have the option of trying a Current Events game. I took the quiz...not telling you how I did! But you can have your results emailed to you, which would be a good way to make it a little more non-threatening for kids. They could look up their results privately. There are also Lesson Plans included for teachers. Awesome!

3. Using World Book Advanced, go to the E-Book Center (bottom center of the home page). Feel free to browse for ebooks, but please look up either Andersen's Fairy Tales orThe Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Note the special tools available and the Related Information. How might this be useful for your students? 

I looked up Andersen's Fairy Tales. I liked how the Chapters or various stories included in the book were listed to your right. You are able to download the book if you would choose to read it using an eReader, or you can just read it directly on your computer. If you have a student that isn't a terrific reader, and you just want him to know the content, you are able to have the book read to him/her aloud. They could just use headphones if they are in the classroom. The text can be translated if you have some ESL students in your school. If this is something that interests a student, there is a section of 'Related Information' with a link to take the reader to material related or similar to what was just read. :) 

4. Using World Book Discover, go into the special features under “Reference Tools” (left side of the home page) and explore. Which ones would best suit your students and why?

I would say that a lot of the Reference Tools would suit my students, but I got caught up in the Timeline. It was great. This would be a terrific resource for a History teacher. I plan on talking to the Social Studies teachers at my school about it...maybe visit them individually or crash one of their team meetings. The Dictionary is always a good tool, with Vocabulary Word Assignments and such. The Visual Dictionary was interesting, too. I am assuming they would use this for Clip Art. The more time I spend using World Book, the better I like it. 

Common Core Connections 

In Lesson 1A, choose the World Book School Edition module that best fits the age of the students you work with. Spend some time exploring article and special feature content. Consider how you would use this resource to meet a Common Core standard. 

I chose World Book Student since I work with Middle School Kids. There are a lot of ways to use this resource. Actually, I used this it just last week. I worked with the Science teacher and helped show the students how to use World Book Student to research minerals. They were each assigned a mineral, and they needed to find 3 reliable sources from the web. I went in to the classrooms and showed them how to search for their mineral and how to cite their sources. They seemed to enjoy the project. I enjoyed it, too! 

Common Core Connections 

In Lesson 1A, choose the World Book School Edition module that best fits the age of the students you work with. Spend some time exploring article and special feature content. Consider how you would use this resource to meet a Common Core standard. 

This resource would work well with so many areas of education, that it's hard to pick just one. I really enjoyed the timelines, so I think the first lesson I would like to do with World Book Student, would be to work with the History teacher and timelines. The students could be an event in history, and they could map out the timeline of the event, inserting visual information with it. The standards that would be covered would be 6-8.RH.7 Integrate visual information with other information in print and digital texts & 6-8.WHST.8 Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, using search terms effectively;