Wonderopolis vs Buncee

Wonderopolis could be a useful tool for any inquiry-based elementary classroom. With a new question posed and answered every day, you'll have an engaging and relevant resource to spark students' curiosity. Just plan on scaffolding for your not-yet-proficient readers or for your kindergarten and first- and second-grade students, as the content is not differentiated. The Common Core search option mostly helps narrow the search of the 1000+ questions; the site might help teachers better by offering clearer connections to the standards and explanations. Each question and its response is accompanied by a variety of resources: video teasers, an audio option, comprehension checks (literal-level), vocabulary terms with linked definitions, and a word-match exercise. Also of note, there are some open-ended extension activities that are more experiential in nature, and bound to engage students.

- Amy Lauren B.

I love using this site because of the accessibility features. It allows all types of learners to understand the text. The images are rich and the content is engaging. Since it identifies the vocabulary it helps the students better understand the content. If you want a great science article this is it. Along with the article there is a section called try it out. This section explains to the students how they could work with family or friends to dive into the topic more.

- Melissa Z.

This is a great tool for research on many topics. It incorporates visuals, interactive quizzes, vocabulary, and much more. It could be used to study science or social studies type topics with literacy intertwined for presentations, writing, and reading. The video could have the option to be read aloud, but other than that, it is a great addition to the classroom.

- Meredith Portis

When we first saw Buncee, we were immediately convinced that it had great potential in our district. It met our criteria for effective tools - powerful, easy to use and manage, applicable across grades and subjects, and affordable.

- Dr. Roland Rios

Buncee is a versatile platform where teachers and students create and share multimedia presentation boards by adding Buncees, or slides. The site (iOS and Chrome app, too) offers simple, free-to-try tools for creating slideshows that can be embedded or shared via email, social media, QR code, or URL. The simple interface helps students create slideshows easily. Students start by naming the project and then work through the menus to add content to the slides in the form of drawings, animations, videos, emojis, stickers, and tons of other design features. There's an extensive image library as well as options to search for online images, music, and videos, though some content may be inappropriate or blocked by school or district filters. Just be sure to teach kids about giving proper credit for content they find online. Users can also get inspiration from the blog and make copies of boards contained in the gallery. There are also premade SEL lessons and toolkits around a variety of competencies. The free version is limited to one board with up to three Buncees (slides); an upgrade to a Classroom Lite or Classroom Plus account allows teachers to create classes through the dashboard, where they can assign, accept, clip, and grade individual and group boards. Rosters can be imported via CSV file or synced through Microsoft Office 365 or Google Classroom.

- Marianne R.

Quality and Effectiveness Buncee is being used by educators in a wide variety of ways, such as writing prompts, digital storytelling, flipping a classroom, and more. Ease of Use Buncee has a very easy-to-use drag-n-drop user interface, as well as a step-by-step tutorial that helps users/students create a project. There is even a free mobile iOS app that makes it easy to create a buncee on a mobile device. Creative Use of Technology This is where buncee really stands out, as it takes commonplace presentation applications (PPT/Keynote) to the next level. It does this by allowing students/educators to create dynamic presentations on the web and not be limited to one device. Also, a user can record her voice to add a narration that is an effective tool for Guided Learning. Best of all, a “buncee” can be embedded into a site/blog for safely sharing with others. Suitability for Use in a School Environment Buncee is an excellent tool for an educational setting. An educational account will allow a teacher to create up to 30 student accounts (that’s ideal for COPPA compliance), as well as a teacher dashboard to assign buncees as well as track/grade student’s progress. Finally, buncee can be used by any educator for any subject or curriculum. Top features: Web-based: can be used by any type of computer and viewed on any browser0based mobile device User-friendly Educational portal: teacher creates and manages the student accounts (no student email is necessary to sign up)

- David Kapuler