Digital Sandbox Presentation
Wonderopolis
GEDU 5900
Presented By: Allison Brown
About Wonderopolis
created by the National Center for Families
Learning (NCFL) in 2010
Daily wonders designed for all ages, but
language is geared towards grades 2-5
Covers a variety of topics and discipline areas
Questions submitted by users placed in the
wonderbank
Two types of assessment
Over 2000 articles currently available
Teacher and Parent resources
Free to access and easy to navigate (No login)
Printable and sharable.
Google Classroom connection
Aligns with Common Core State Standards
Focuses on Inquiry-Based Learning
Immersive Reader- Auditory service that reads
articles aloud.
Multiple Modalities- Each article includes photos,
print, and videos.
Build-in Dictionary- Definitions are available by
hovering cursor over highlighted words.
Assessments- All articles have vocabulary and
comprehension questions.
Important
Purposeful Submissions- All wonder questions are
submitted by students.
Features Voting- Students vote of questions that interest them
for future articles.
Interactive Activities- Every article has additional
projects/experiments kids can try.
Forms of
Assessment
Vocabulary
Assessment
Each article featured on
Wonderopolis contains
'Wonder Words'. These are
vocabulary terms that are Comprehension
used throughout the passage Assessment
and can be defined by After reading an article,
hovering the mouse over students can take a short
highlighted words. After three question quiz to show
understanding of information
reading, students can match
provided in the passage. The
words from the passage to
questions directly relate to
their definition.
content shared in the article
and are entirely text based.
They do not require any
inferencing or personal
connections to answer
correctly.
Classroom Applications
Ways to effectively use Wonderopolis in the classroom setting.
Short reading passages about a variety of topics to evaluate from the lense of
different disciplines.
Decodable text to deliver grade level content without becoming frustrational
Reading
Read-aloud option for struggling readers.
Teach informational reading strategies such as main idea, supporting details,
citing evidence, and text structure.
Mentor Text to use as a model for informational writing. Demonstrates
academic language, text features such as headings citing sources. All articles
use multiple modalities to share information with the reader.
Authors Purpose Lesson- Writing for a purpose to answer questions. Give
Writing power to the writing process and individual choices.
Source material- Grade level appropriate sources for informational writing.
Can easily be quoted, referenced, and cited in student writing.
Peer-feedback- Using the comment feature to teach appropriate feedback
and commenting for peer-review workshops.
Strengths and Limitations
Things to think about before using
Wonderopolis in the classroom.
Inquiry based learning model Online format requires wifi,
allows for flexibility and unless materials are pre
discovery on a variety of topics. printed.
No fee or sign in required. Difficult to save articles or
Easy to decode materials, built- results.
in definitions, media support, Limited grade range due to
and read aloud features to help simplistic writing, no definite
struggling readers. grade/reading level of
Assessments included and can passages.
be shared via online services. Short assessments with only
Suggested thematic activities literal comprehension
related to the topic. questions.
New articles daily. Database of No differentiation of text.
2000+ articles Non-private discussion boards.
Thank you for
listening!
