Try Curiosity

The 50 Best Websites of 2011 by TIME magazine included a site launched in 2010 by the National Center for Family Literacy.  Chief financial support for Wonderopolis comes from the Verizon Foundation making Wonderopolis a member of the Verizon Thinkfinity group.  Inspirational code words at the site include:  create, laugh, imagine, explore, learn, smile and grow.

Did you ever wonder why dogs chase their tails, if woodchucks really chuck wood or how much rain can a cloud hold?  Those questions and 577 (and counting) others are answered daily through the Wonder of the Day.  Each Wonder of the Day is designed to educate but with a high fun factor.

Click on the question to be taken to another screen which addresses the answer in many different ways.  Each page begins with a pertinent video.  This is followed by other related questions (Have you ever wondered...), a descriptive narrative (Did you know?), additional activities (Try it out!), a list of corresponding terms (Wonder words to know and use), more fun things to do (Still wondering?) and a hint of the next Wonder of the Day (Wonder what's next?).

At the bottom of each Wonder viewers can post a rating and comment.  Wonders can be shared on Twitter, Digg, Delicious, StumbleUpon, Thinkfinity Community, Facebook or via email.  A print option is available also.

Users can enter in keywords, tags, to locate questions or toggle through previous postings by clicking on the arrows. Trust me when I say you could be here for hours. 

 One unique feature is a Wonder can be nominated by completing an online form. 

A Wonderopolis app is now accessible for iPhone and iPad as well as Android users. 

The Wonderopolis team offers a widget by easily embedding HTML code into a website or blog that is updated daily with a new Wonder of the Day.

Who doesn't want to make learning fun?  Wonderopolis does but offers other possibilities.  Wouldn't it be great to generate a list of questions?  Students could check the site to see if they have been answered which teaches thinking of keywords and keyword searching.

Show students the form for submitting a Wonder.  Searching could be done for videos or images that match any given question.  Students would need to formulate a reason for wanting a question to be considered as a Wonder of the Day.

To be sure Wonderopolis is instructional but it's so entertaining you won't be able to resist repeat visits.

Beat The Heat---I Challenge You To Read

In it's fifth year the Scholastic Summer Challenge encourages reading throughout the vacation months. 

This program is free to use and provides incentives for students to log the minutes spent reading.  In the 2012 Scholastic Book of World Records the top 20 schools with the most minutes read will receive recognition. 

All participants must have a user name and password.  Users can track their minutes read on their own private page at the Summer Challenge site.  Upon registration the school name and location will be requested.  This is just so a record can be kept of the total minutes read school wide.  No school information will ever be displayed in relation to a particular student.  The student, the student's parent or the student's teacher can provide this information. 

Teachers can "bulk" register students and add to this list at any time.  Randomly generated user names and passwords are created.  When students log-in the first time they are required to change their password.  The new password is unique to them and for their eyes only.  Teachers can still track their minutes read by class or grade level if they have multiple classes.  Parents can also receive email updates about their child's minutes and progress in the reading challenge. 

If a child/young adult wishes to participate by registering on their own that is available too.  No personal information is ever asked except for country, state, gender and age.  Only the username chosen will ever be displayed.  A new user is also asked to select a security question and to provide an answer.  If the student is under 13 years of age they will be asked to provide a parent's email address where consent can be given.  When a child/young adult signs up they have the option of creating a THE STACKS account.
THE STACKS is Scholastic's site about books and reading for tweens, where children can create profiles and communicate with other children about books, authors and other subjects of interest.

At the end of the Summer challenge all school information is deleted from the students' accounts but they continue to have a Scholastic.com account, including user name and password, and the user's minutes read, badges and prizes won will continue to appear in that user's profile and widget(if any).

Scholastic 2011 Summer Challenge Privacy Policy is available online for more in depth information.

During the summer of 2011 I have registered as a teacher/library media specialist for Charlevoix Middle School keeping track of our students' minutes read.  In addition to receiving any of the incentives provided at the Scholastic web site, prizes for the top reader in each grade will be provided at the end of the Summer Challenge by Mrs. Culver.  Let's read everyone and put Charlevoix Middle School in the 2012 Scholastic Book of World Records.  Let 's show the world what we can do!

In Pursuit of Reading

In her most recent post, Kelly Tenkely, of iLearn Technology blogs about being invited to join in a virtual book discussion group via Facebook.  It is titled Kelly Gallagher's Interactive Book Club.  It is created by the Michigan Reading Association and will begin on May 2, 2011.  Participants are invited to begin discussions, ask questions or just read posts.  Author Kelly Gallagher will be dropping in to add her views.  During the month of May what this thought-provoking book, Readicide: How Schools Are Killing Reading and What You Can Do About It, offers and suggests will be openly deliberated. I have wanted to read this book and now is my chance to commit with the added bonus of sharing this experience with others committed to making sure that all students are life-long readers. Will you join in too?