PowerKnowledge Website

PowerKnowledge is a very fun website with lots information regarding the science curriculum. I focused on looking for interactive websites for grade 3 science, and found that this was captured my interest even at my age.

This website has a picture list of different topics in science that appear on the homepage, where students can easily choose what to look at. For the purposes of this blog post, I am focusing on the unit Rocks and Minerals in grade 3 science.

Here is a screenshot of the website, which you can go directly to by clicking this link: http://www.pkearthandspace.com/

GLO 3-5

- Demonstrate knowledge of materials that comprise Earth's crust, and demonstrate skill in classifying these materials.

SLO

- Compare samples of various kinds of rock, and identify similarities and differences.

- Given a description of the properties of a particular rock or mineral, identify a sample rock or mineral that matches those properties.

This website can be integrated into the classroom as an introduction to a unit. Clicking on Rocks and Minerals, I was taken to a more specific list and was able to choose from a variety of options, such as types of rocks, the rock cycle, volcanoes and earthquakes, to name a few. From there I learned about the subject through a short video and a short description. This is perfect for third graders because it has tons of visual imagery and has a short definition of words that are not commonly in everyday reading.

In this picture, I scrolled over the word minerals, and a little yellow box popped up explaining what the word meant.

From my last picture, you can see how easy of a read the text is, and how kid-friendly it looks. There's even a listen button in case students have trouble reading the text and need oral support. This website can help reach the SLO of needing to know the different types of rocks and their properties.