Kids Discover Online

Grade Level Gr 2 Up

Cost $1,499 per year

Overview The Kids Discover Online database invites students to an educational environment where they can read, play, and follow their natural curiosity.

The Kids Discover Online landing page presents a Search Tool, Discover Map, Standards, and Scavenger Hunts in the top banner. The Discover Map is an especially helpful tool for students and teachers to navigate categories that include American and World History; Earth, Life, Physical, and Space Science; Human Body; Technology; and more. Another very useful tab, Standards, enables searching State, Common Core, or Next Generation Science Standards as well as grade level and subject matter standards. This is truly a time-saver for teachers. The Scavenger Hunts tab takes students to six fun topics to practice their search, navigation, and reading skills.

Content The highlight of the landing page is a banner showcasing videos on a wide range of topics, from Lasers and Eclipses to American Government and Ancient Egypt. Also featured are links to the subject matter categories. Below the categories are sections ranging from printable infographics, lesson plans, featured videos, and quick reads. Vocabulary activities, such as fill-in-the-blank sentences, crossword puzzles, and matching, are included with each unit.

Some units feature think pieces that can inspire students to investigate higher-order, depth of knowledge questions. For example, in the Thomas Jefferson unit, questions like, “What do you think was Thomas Jefferson’s most important contribution to his country?” give students a chance to expand their thinking. Built-in Quick Quizzes help students check their understanding as they progress through the articles.

A Scavenger Hunt feature helps students learn to use key terms to search content for answers to riddles on topics like The Constitution, Muscles, or Earthly Extremes. The video instructions on how to complete the scavenger hunt are not intuitive, so educators will have to walk students through the process at first. This new feature is engaging and should serve as a useful tool to help students refine search terms and sharpen close reading skills.

The Featured Videos section offers high-quality videos on wide-ranging topics from How Bicycles Work to Remembering 9/11. Within some videos are Pause Points that ask students to consider important concepts or how they would explain the ideas in their own words. The Quick Reads feature offers short articles on a range of topics. With clear, colorful images to capture students’ attention, this tool can help them learn about anything from Hickory Horned Devil caterpillars to Harriet Tubman. The short, informative passages provide comprehensive summaries on subjects that can be used for scaffolding before engaging in deeper investigation. Many of the highlighted features, headers, and lesson plans seem to focus on primary grades, though there’s plenty of content for middle and high school classrooms.

Student Ease of Use/Visual Appeal The landing page is filled with vibrant and exciting photos arranged by category and grade level that students will find appealing. Sections are organized into lesson plans, featured videos, and units. Content areas include a range of interests from STEM to geography. There is a wealth of information, but the site’s organization is scattered and might be difficult for younger students to navigate.

There are printable infographics with appealing visual information on diverse topics, such as the water cycle, states of matter, and the digestive section. Free downloads are available within each infographic tab. Another section for Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) for lower elementary grades offers excellent photos and articles ready to use in standards-aligned lessons. The impressive photos of wildlife within their habitats are especially vivid and will invite students to dig deeper. Inside the Human Body section, interactive diagrams allow students to explore the circulatory system and learn about the functions of various organs, how bones work, and the parts of the brain. Photos and diagrams are supplemented with high-quality, full-color illustrations. The content is copyright protected, and students are blocked from copying and pasting information with a pop-up copyright protection notice. The articles are written clearly and concisely in a student-friendly style. In some places, the readability level may be high for the stated grade level, but the graphics, diagrams, and captions will help guide students in their reading.

Verdict With interactive and engaging activities for students, Kids Discover Online offers ready-to-use learning experiences for K–12 students and teachers. It offers a vast array of information and standards-based lesson plans and is an excellent tool to add to any collection of resources for educators.

Darby Wallace, formerly a K–12 teacher librarian and public library director, Mountain Home, AR.