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Saturday, March 15, 2014

Spark Student Motivation: Scholastic News

So I've been a terrible blogger!!!!  I love to blog truly.  I love getting to share what is going on in my classroom and how my students are becoming amazing problem solvers, but the TIME!!!!  There is just not enough of it!!!!  I've been working on a "Tried It Tuesday" post for 3 weeks now and just can't seem to get it published.  I really need to work on spending time getting posts ready and scheduling them to post.
I decided to take one of my "Tried It's" and turn it into a Spark Student Motivation Saturday Post.  I've never linked up with Joanne over at Head Over Heels for Teaching for her weekly linky, but I love reading about what everyone is doing to keep students engaged and motivated to learn.
We got a subscription to Scholastic News this year through our fabulous PTO.  We didn't actually start getting the magazines until January but we wanted to make the best use of the half year we will get them.  My kids love getting to read Scholastic News!  There are so many interesting articles and it's a great spark for independent research and such.  Well, since I have my class set of laptops, I decided to explore the online version of Scholastic News.

I played around with it a little one morning and decided to give my kiddos a chance to explore and see what they thought. Here is the screen when the students log in.


This was the result!!!  Yes, the volume is turned up!


My kids were totally silent for the 15 minutes I gave them to "play" on Scholastic News. There are so many features to love about the online version of Scholastic News.  There is a read aloud function, which is wonderful for my SPED and ELL students who have difficulty reading grade level texts.  There are videos to go along with the articles and the students can take the "quizzes" on the back page electronically as well.  I gave our class code to my parents as well, so they can access the magazines from home.
My students now ask if they can get on Scholastic News any time they have a little free time!  That's what I call student motivation!
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5 comments:

  1. Matt March 16, 2014 at 8:43 AM

    This is excellent. The sound of silence on the computers is a pretty cool thing to see because of all the eyes focused on the task in front of them. The interactive features for these digital magazines just make the experience even better.
    Thanks for sharing Rissa!

    Matt

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  2. UnknownMarch 16, 2014 at 10:27 AM

    My kids love Scholastic News as well! I think more teachers would subscribe if they knew about the site online. Thanks for sharing!

    Smiles,
    Sarah @ Hoots N' Hollers

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  3. Jennifer LaffinMarch 16, 2014 at 3:27 PM

    We get print copies of SN, but don't have the online access. I think it is so cool that your kids want to spend extra time on the site! Great way to build background knowledge!

    Jennifer
    Mrs. Laffin's Laughings

    ReplyDelete
  4. Joanne MillerMarch 16, 2014 at 4:57 PM

    Our school gets Scholastic News and we love it too! I loved your "silent movie"-all of your students so engaged! And, how you offered choice in their research is very motivating! Thanks for sharing and linking up Rissa!
    Joanne
    Head Over Heels For Teaching

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  5. Alison RoseMarch 16, 2014 at 7:51 PM

    I am definitely going to be checking into Scholastic News print and online version! I've missed you...but I know how time consuming blogging is...and you have a little one at home. XO
    Alison
    Rockin' and Lovin' Learnin'

    ReplyDelete

I love comments and hearing from all my blogger friends! I like to respond via email so make sure that you are not a no-reply blogger! Thanks for stopping by!

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