Ginny Boughter

How I Use PebbleGo

PebbleGo is usually the first platform students at my school use to learn about how to research. Students love PebbleGo because it is so friendly and easy to use! It is easy to navigate for our youngest students because of the amazing photographs and the voice that reads the topics. They really love the articles with videos and sounds. One minute I hear monkey howls sounding through the library, and the next I can hear kids gasping at the fearsome shark videos. 

How PebbleGo Benefits Students

It is so important that we teach students about how to find relevant information. With technology, it’s easy for kids to find information online, so we have to make sure they also have the skills to be critical of the information they find. Just because it’s on the internet doesn’t mean it is automatically true, and we need to make sure kids know that. Databases like PebbleGo are the perfect place to start with our young students. They can find information they can trust and teachers know they can trust PebbleGo.

PebbleGo is also amazing for our students who are ELL/ESL because of the option to have the articles read to them. The voice is fluent and real, not like a robot! We want our ELL/ESLs hearing great examples of fluent reading, and PebbleGo provides that. They also are not overwhelmed by the text because the articles are divided into sections that make them easy to read and provide the information they are looking for quickly

What’s the most fun you’ve had using PebbleGo with your students?

I love making trading cards with my students. Students use PebbleGo to ask questions about a topic and challenge another student to answer the question from the trading card. The trading card includes a picture the student thinks will help the other student find the answer, the name of the article, and the question. I use trading cards made by older students to introduce PebbleGo to younger ones. They love knowing they were made by older students and are excited to try to answer the questions.