Cathy Salinas

Why do your students love PebbleGo?

Students love PebbleGo because it has such fascinating information about subjects they love. My students also love this resource because it is so easy to use. It is easy to search, and the way the content is presented in tabbed short paragraphs helps young researchers find and organize information for reports. The fact that the content can be read to students is a major plus. The pictures and diagrams facilitate learning and are great additions to reports. Students like the short videos as well.
 

Why do your teachers love PebbleGo?

The teachers at my school love PebbleGo because they too find it easy to use. A major reason they love it is because the content is aligned to the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) standards. They use PebbleGo to present new material on units of study. They also rely on it for teaching research skills. For major projects, students need a book and an online resource, and PebbleGo is the preferred online resource. PebbleGo is great for reports and projects. Since the content can be read to students, children find it easy to find the information they need.

Our kindergarten teachers can't live without this resource.

Our prekindergarten teachers send topics for projects home with students with information on how to access PebbleGo. Parents work with their children on the project with print out activity sheets and help students complete them. Our kindergarten teachers can't live without this resource. They use it for their weather, community helpers, and cultural celebrations unit. First grade teachers rely on this resource for their animals and life cycles units. Second grade teachers do an in-depth biography unit culminating with a "Living Museum" in which students dress and present information on the famous person they studied. Students learn research skills, take notes, draw portraits, write reports, and even write poems as part of this unit. PebbleGo is a major source of informations for this unit of study.  Even our third grade teachers encourage students to use PebbleGo when they study planets and countries of the world.
 

What do you love about PebbleGo?

I love the way PebbleGo is designed the way children think. The layout is so intuitive. Children can easily find the information they need and then use it in their research project. Our school has been using PebbleGo for over seven years, and it is now part of our school culture. Teachers, students, and parents rely on it for research, homework, and projects.

Every year I host a few workshops to introduce new parents to this resource but to be honest, it is so easy to use, students, parents, and teachers spread the word themselves about the value of this resource. It does not take a lot of my time to teach students how to use it because it is so intuitive and perfectly designed for young learners. Teachers love it because it coordinates so well to their state standards (TEKS).

In addition, this resource keeps getting better and better as more content is added to it. I also love that a child can use PebbleGo to explore topics on their own. Years ago kids would learn on their own by reading the encyclopedia. Now they have a better resource to use to learn for the sake of learning. As a librarian I love the fact that children can easily find the button to cite the source.