Instagrok - A New Kid-Friendly Search Engine

When researching with young children, I typically utilize a Symbaloo to organize sites by different topics and to make access easy. Symbaloos are simple to create and edit, and are easy to pull up both on computers as well as the iPads. Just last week, the first grade students launched their individual research on ocean animals using sites provided on Symbaloo to get started. Here is the link to my page: http://www.symbaloo.com/mix/ldcomputerlab

Fourth grade students, on the other hand, begin practicing their own searching skills to learn about individual states during colonial times. Rather than using Google, which is really geared more toward adults, I introduced students to several more kid-friendly search engines. Some of my favorites include Kid Rex, Boolify, and Quintera for Kids. I also started to use a new search tool called Instagrok.

What makes Instagrok different is how it utilizes both a visual and traditional interface to help kids see connections between topics and ideas. Kids are able to customize their search and even share their results with others. Searches can also be saved for later reference. Check it out at www.instagrok.com

New Word Cloud Site

This week I came across a new 'word cloud' site called Word Clouds for Kids. Sponsored by www.ABCya.com, this site allows students to input text to create a graphical representation from a block of text or other list of words. If words are entered more than once, they are given more prominence in a word cloud.

The idea of creating word clouds is not new. Websites like Wordle, Tagxedo, and WordItOut have been around for many years and have been used effectively by our students. What is different about Word Clouds is its easy to use interface. It is also Flash-based rather than Java-based. Word Clouds is recommended for grades 2-5 but can easily be used by younger students as well.

Here are some of the ways our students have been using word cloud sites this year:

Introduce themselves at the beginning of the year
Practice spelling words
Build story or character clouds based on a book
Create USA clouds
Reinforce vocabulary words
Review important terms and concepts when reviewing a chapter
Reflecting on a project or activity