How Can Teachers Use It?
You could use the online or printable quizzes to test students on grammar rules. You also could use the PowerPoint presentations, which cover more than 15 concepts, in the classroom.
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What's It Like?
In Grammar Bytes! you get a list of grammar-related terms, complete with explanations and example sentences. Topics range from sentence fragments to punctuation to subordinate conjunctions; interactive exercises test your comprehension on a dozen subjects.
Kids also can watch a few grammar-related videos and test their know-how with grammar-related challenges like adding commas to sentences. Quizzes include documents kids can print out to record their responses as they key them in online.
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Is It Good For Learning?
Grammar rules are explained well. The site doesn't cover everything, of course, but its content aligns with many of the Common Core standards for middle and high schoolers. Kids can look up explanations for any quiz answer, whether they get it wrong or right, so the learning potential is much higher than with tools that only supply correct answers or only give explanations for wrong answers.
Unfortunately, Grammar Bytes! doesn't have a huge wow factor. The design is pretty basic, and the multimedia materials aren't much more compelling than the text. The few videos and PowerPoint presentations either are too long -- some are more than 14 minutes -- or just aren't very dynamic. For example, even when PowerPoint presentations are interspersed with clip art, they're still mostly reading. Likewise, quizzes aren't particularly fun or inventive. Without more interactive elements, Grammar Bytes! may have a hard time landing repeat users. What kid is going to come back to a site to read about grammar rules?
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Extreme zoom on an interesting object – but what is it? Google Sky won’t tell you.
For correct answers, kids earn a pretend prize such as a virtual car or a trip.
Students can find out the rationale behind answers in the site's exercise section.
Users can print out PDF documents to write down answers as they answer questions online.
The site also offers several grammar-related videos, ranging from approximately 4 to 14 minutes.
