Remote learning has definitely posed some. new challenges for teachers looking to finish the year virtually. One of these is the ability to monitor, differentiate and provide scaffolding for student learners. Wonderopolis is a great resource for teachers looking to provide meaningful content to students to use for learning, while also being sensitive to the various learning situations student have at home.
How Can Wonderopolis Be Used in Remote Learning?
Wonderopolis is a great resource to use during remote learning because it is founded on children’s’ innate curiosity and during this time of distance learning it is more important than ever to keep our instruction and content as relevant and responsive as possible. Learning, discovery, and curiosity, as well as the concept of sharing the experience with family members, are strongly encouraged throughout the site and with students learning while at home the more involved the family can be the better.
Remote Learning Features of Wonderopolis
There are many features already built in to Wonderopolis that are very useful for teachers and students to take advantage of during remote learning. These are features that have always been a part of the Wonderopolis platform, but now with teachers having to teach the remainder of the year remotely, they are great to add to distance learning lessons.
Wonder Lengths
The articles, referred to as “wonders” remind me of the fairy tale Goldilocks and the 3 Bears—they aren’t too long, they aren’t too short—they are just right! Every Wonder is numbered making them easy to find, and they are a reasonable length for students who may be working independently.
Immersive Reader
Speaking of working independently, another feature found in every Wonder article is Microsoft’s Immersive Reader. Immersive Reader is an embedded tool that will benefit students in two ways. First, it will read aloud all the text found on the page. This is great for primary students who may be more accustomed to having text read aloud to them, benefits students who may be doing more of their work independently without adult help available, and for students who may read below the reading level of the selected text. The second benefit of Immersive Reader is its ability to translate the text on the page. Students can choose over 50+ different languages to have the Wonder article translated to. This can be a great advantage for our learners of other languages.
Vocabulary Assistance
When reading through the Wonder article, students will find various words highlighted. These are words pre-identified as words the readers may not know, and when you hover over them, a short kid-friendly definition will pop up. Wonderopolis doesn’t offer Wonder articles in various reading levels, so a feature like this, paired with Immersive Reader, helps students who may be reading at a lower level than that of the Wonder article.
Try it Out
At the end of each Wonder article is the Try It Out section. This is a great resources for teachers and often lists various activities or projects to try related to the Wonder. These suggestions range from discussion questions, STEM activities, creative writing prompts and much more!
Flipgrid Partnership
In addition to all the features Wonderopolis offers on its website, it has an amazing partnership with Flipgrid. Wonderopolis is one of the many featured partners that can be found in the Disco Library. The Flipgrid Disco Library is full of already made Flipgrid topics that educators can take and use right away with their students.
Simply click on the Wonderopolis icon and search through the already created Flipgrid topics. Students will be able to read the article on Wonderopolis and then participate in a class discussion with one another on Flipgrid.
