A Must-Have for Primary Research
Community Review for PebbleGo
My Take
Pebblego is the best non-fiction resource that I have seen for students in grades K - 3. It is user friendly, easy to navigate, and it gives students the option of having everything read to them. It includes non-fiction text features, videos, and pronunciations. It also has games that the students can play which reinforce what they learned from their reading. I think every K-3 student needs this resource in order to research Life science, Earth & Space, Biographies, and Social Studies. It is aligned with Common Core standards in grades K - 3 in these areas.
How I Use It
This has been the go-to resource that students & teachers in my school have used for research in grades K - 3, SPED, and/or students on an RTI plan. Because of the layout of the program, it scaffolds the research process for students by giving manageable pieces of information broken down into sections such as habitat, diet, and life cycle with the option to read it to students. The biggest downfall is the cost. It is pretty pricey for a 1 year school license that includes all 4 academic areas listed above, but I believe it is worth the price. You can get a 10 day free trial to test it out. Another potential downfall is that its information is limited. Advanced students that wanted information about a specific type of camel, for example, could not find their particular species. This site is designed for beginners, so more advanced research would have to be done on another site. All things considered, however, I think pebblego is worth the expense for our young researchers.