Educational+Software

Kids love cartoons! This is the fundamental concept for BrainPOP, an animated website featuring digital learning objects catering to grades K-12. The program is the brainchild of [|Dr. Avraham Kadar], an immunologist and pediatrician from New York. Since 1999, BrainPop has grown in its expansive subscription from schools and individuals, generating over 5 million visits every month. The site also has a built in search tool powered by [|Academic Benchmarks] that locates all state standards, an extremely helpful tool for teachers.
 * [|BrainPop] ** **(Website)**

//“Uniquely suited for 21st-century learning, all products are fully compatible with interactive whiteboards, learner response systems, projectors, Macs, and PCs. No downloading, installation, or special hardware is required.” Dr. Avraham Kadar//

Celebrating ten years of operation, BrainPop has amassed a number of learning objects for Science, Math, Social Studies, English, Arts and Music, and Technology; however the majority of these are geared for upper elementary and middle school students. The site also has a link to [|BrainPopJr.], which caters to K-3 students. If you are looking for high school resources you’ll find the site interesting, but not entirely practical. Regardless, everyone is granted a free trial period of all functions as long as you have a working email address. If nothing else, high school teachers will be stimulated to create their own learning objects for their students. Additionally, all teachers can benefit from an RSS subscription to [|BrainPop Educators], a blog offering tools, tips, and resources for tech-savvy teachers looking to go digital in their classrooms.

Rating: Review by Michael Herron

====In 2004 Clearvue/eav and SVE & Churchill Media created a phenomenal website that can be used for all grade levels. By just simply signing up, educators have access to thousands of standard-based learning tools such as podcasts, videos, audios, images,quizzes, lessons, and so much more. Not only will you be able to find lessons to use, but you are also able to create and add activities of your own to the site to share with everyone. ====
 * [|PowerMediaPlus] (Website)**


====PowerMediaPlus will make planning so much easier because everything is right at your fingertips. This website will assist you in keeping your students engaged in your lessons. ====




===**[|Wordnik] (Website) ** ===


====Wordnik is a clever word tool for the 21st century. On the site's main page there is a place for you to type in any word; when you press "Find a Word" it brings up a page with everything it could find on the word including: definition, quotes from magazine or journals in reference to the word, pictures relating to the word pulled from Flickr, and part of speech, to name a few. The site is great if you're looking for a new way to make vocabulary acquisition lively. The site is easy to navigate and fun to use. The only real drawback is that it only really serves one function - vocabulary acquisition. ====

Review by Rosa Frederick
[|Free Rice (Website)] FreeRice.com is a fun website if you have a SmartBoard in your classroom. It is an interactive game that allows students to answer questions from an array of subjects including: grammar, vocabulary, foreign language, art, geography, math, and chemistry. When a student answers a question correctly ten grains of rice are donated to the UN World Food Program. The publisher of the site is run by the United Nations World Food Program is listed as a non-profit. Students love the site and it works well as a warm-up. Rating: Review by Rosa Frederick

[|Bubba Brain Regents Review]

Bubba Brain is a website that is dedicated to reviewing for various New York State Regents exams. Bubba Brain contains hundreds of interactive matching quizes for various subjects and grade levels. Over the past few years I have used this site for review in my World History and U.S. History classes, It is especially nice to use if your room is equiped with a SMART board.

Rating: Review by Chad Whitney