After
reviewing the National Geographic website for kids in my first technology
review, I became interested in other nature based websites for children. I
really like the Ranger Rick magazines, so I decided to see if they have a
comparable site to National Geographic. The Ranger Rick website is sponsored by
the National Wildlife Association, so I feel like it is a trusted site to be
accurate and appropriate for students. You do not have to sign in or create an
account for the website and there are no advertisements except for the
magazine.
On
the home page of the Ranger Rick website, students have the option to visit
Ranger Rick or Ranger Rick Jr. I primarily reviewed Ranger Rick Jr. since this
is the age range I would like to teach. From the home page, students can choose
to play games, read, learn about different animals, and read about students who
have found animals. All of the games involve animals like name the shark, fish
food, birdbrains, be bear-aware, and matching monkeys. I played a couple of
these games and they are actually really fun. While students may not be
explicitly learning something in all of these games, I still believe they are
building their background knowledge about the different animals.
The
“Lets Read” section contains short texts about different animals. Students
navigate through the pages by clicking left and right arrows at the bottom of
the page. The pictures are detailed and realistic. Although the pictures
provide wonderful support, the text is placed in separate boxes or bubbles. The
text is about one to two sentences and while it is relatively short, it may be
difficult for students in the emergent stage of reading. One feature I wish the
reading section had was to be read aloud to.
Overall
I really like the Ranger Rick website. It is easy to navigate, appropriate for
students, contains accurate information, and is fun. I think this website could
be used in the classroom or at home. There is also a section of the website for
educators that include school activities and lessons.
I pay for a subscription for my first grade class to receive Ranger Rick Jr. I didn't know they had a website also! How exciting! I'm sure my students would love playing the games and reading the online articles. Thank you for sharing! :)
ReplyDeleteMy students are on the National Geographic site all the time, and I was unaware of the Ranger Rick site. This sounds like a great companion site that we can use when doing research on animal habitats in our writer's workshop. Thanks for making me aware of this great resource!
ReplyDeleteI am a science teacher for middle school, so I love finding new sites. The Ranger Rick for older kids would probably be more what my students need. I like the nature information as well and am glad that there are both pictures and texts. It's also great for students to read about experiences of other children in the section where they can read about other interaction with animals. Great site!
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