INTRODUCING STUDYLADDER (Virtual Classroom)
A Site
that brings fun to classroom and Home
Studyladder
is a site that provides educational resources across a wide range of subjects.
It was created by a team of experienced school teachers who could not find the
resources they needed on-line. It provides parents and teachers with resources
to help students learn. Studyladder is now used by over 400,000 teachers
worldwide and was awarded the 2012 "Best Website for Teaching and
Learning" by the prestigious AASL (American Association of School
Librarians a division of the American Library Association). The standard
version of Studyladder is free for teachers and parents to use.
Studyladder is a
website (and Chrome app) that features lessons on a wide variety of subjects
for kids in preschool through sixth grade. Subjects are meticulously aligned to
and searchable by Common Core State Standards and include, among others,
mathematics, literacy, science, music, art, language, culture, health, safety,
and even citizenship. The site also includes some interactive games, videos,
and other content. From handwriting practice exercises that let students write
directly on the screen to worksheets on how to get to school safely,
Studyladder is jam-packed.
Schools
and teachers can access quite a bit of Studyladder's program for free or
pay for additional features. The site is easy to search; grade levels are
color-coded, and you can also search by type of resource (tutorial, printable,
whiteboard, interactive play). The site also makes it easy to maintain a
school-home connection, as kids can log in from home to complete activities.
Finally, the site is accessible from a variety of Internet-connected devices.
What can I do with Study Ladder
You
can use Studyladder to supplement nearly any classroom
curriculum. Whether you throw in a Studyladder game as a reward or use
the activities every day, it's easy to work content into your lesson
plans. There's a wealth of good stuff for your students to learn from the site,
and the resources for you to work with are plentiful. You can arrange for
kids to work on specific topics or let them explore freely on their own. It's also
easy to track students and their progress within the site. Plus, kids will have
at-home access to anything you assign.
As a free resource
for teachers and their students, Studyladder is outstanding in terms of depth
and variety of activities. There's simply so much standards-aligned curriculum
here, and there are all kinds of goodies for teachers, such as templates
for letters to parents and a great system for organizing classes within the
site.
The
content itself isn't always stellar -- for example, some tutorials are
bare-bones and dry, and assessments are simple with repetitive multiple-choice
questions (often with only two answer choices, which makes it quite easy for
kids to fly through without having a real understanding of the material). Also,
some kids might not like the site's system of motivation and rewards. Kids earn
"rewards points" by completing activities. They can then spend points
in the Rewards Room, adding features to their avatar or room. It may be fun for
some kids, but not all kids are motivated in the same way.
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