National Geographic Kids

[00:00:00] Shanna Martin: Thanks for listening to the Tech Tools for Teachers podcast, where each week we talk about a free piece or two of technology that you can use in your classroom. I'm your host, Shanna Martin. I'm a middle school teacher, technology and instructional coach for Mad District,

[00:00:31] Fuzz Martin: and I'm her producer and husband.

[00:00:33] Fuzz Martin: The Fuzz Martin. And I'm Nat Geo Normal. I got nothing on that. Na Nat Geo What? And a Nat Geo Ordinary Podcast. Nat

[00:00:44] Shanna Martin: Geo. Like Nacho.

[00:00:45] Fuzz Martin: Nat Geo. Nat Geo. Nat Geo Ordinary Podcast producer.

[00:00:51] Shanna Martin: Uh huh. Oh, yeah. You wanna

[00:00:54] Fuzz Martin: start that one over?

[00:00:56] Shanna Martin: No, no, we're great.

[00:00:57] Fuzz Martin: Okay.

[00:01:00] Shanna Martin: It's January and it's cold. Yep. And we are surviving.

[00:01:06] Shanna Martin: We're not. Yeah. So we're here episode 2 26. Wow. And it is January. And while Wisconsin is always like, our weather is something else. Last week it was like 40

[00:01:24] Fuzz Martin: today actually almost got the 60 It did

[00:01:27] Shanna Martin: today. It's what, A high of like three.

[00:01:30] Fuzz Martin: Yeah. Yes.

[00:01:32] Shanna Martin: And the windshield, tomorrow's supposed to be the negative 20.

[00:01:35] Shanna Martin: So

[00:01:36] Fuzz Martin: those are all Fahrenheit numbers, by the way. Yes. They sound cold. They're colder than that.

[00:01:40] Shanna Martin: Yes. So we are here and we are. Talking about Natch Geo. Mm-hmm. So it's been a minute since we've talked about National Geographic kids. I went back in my repertoire of things. We talked about last on episode 56, so it's been a while.

[00:02:00] Shanna Martin: Yeah. And there's been a ton of upgrades since we talked about it last, and I wanted to share some cool things that are coming up. That will have resources for teachers of all grade levels. Often with net, uh, geo National Geographic kids, they, it's elementary to middle, but definitely as a high school teacher, you could use it as a reference point for different pieces of information.

[00:02:22] Shanna Martin: Or if you need to send kids to a quick piece of research, they can definitely do that. Um, but highlights of National Geographic Kids, there's upgrades. We'll talk about that since we've talked about it last, like there's way more resources or easy to navigate. Covers all content areas from science to social studies to, like animals and space and current events.

[00:02:43] Shanna Martin: There's just so many things that are going on that are covered in the site that are super helpful. It's very relevant topics they always have highlighted. So, like Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is coming up today as this podcast comes out. There's tons of resources for that, and all kinds of cool stuff.

[00:03:00] Shanna Martin: It's very easy to navigate. It's very easy to digest information. So if you need a quick piece of information, articles, share with students or, I even think like older students, like journal topics or, discussion points. It's a quick article that you could do it for the first five minutes for your bell ringer at the start of class easily.

[00:03:18] Shanna Martin: And it's visual. So many great graphics and it's easy to see. That is really, really helpful. So. The site is kids dot national geographic.com, A IDS dot N-A-T-I-O-N-A-L-G-E-O-G-R-A-P-H-I c.com. Um, did you follow

[00:03:36] Fuzz Martin: that?

[00:03:38] Shanna Martin: That kids national geographic.com. And there's just so many cool things. So I'm gonna highlight some of those different pieces and, share.

[00:03:48] Shanna Martin: So again, Mar Dr. Martin Luther King. Is the highlight 'cause that's what today is, but that's gonna be a highlight on the screen. There's videos that go with it if you need talking points for your students. No, many students don't have school today, but tomorrow, and year round when you're talking and highlighting important people, there is all kinds of resources.

[00:04:09] Shanna Martin: So our middle school is setting up a Olympic project. And we are talking about the Olympics in every content area so students understand like cross content information. Sure. And so for the week of the Olympics coming up in February, they're gonna study. The math and the physics and science, and then social studies.

[00:04:33] Shanna Martin: We're gonna talk about the different countries of the world and athletes and where they come from. And then the ELA, they're gonna do some persuasion, writing and argumentative pieces. So this is a great place to start. If you go to the search and you literally just type in the search bar and type in Olympics, you'll find.

[00:04:50] Shanna Martin: Information. Olympic National Park, which is great 'cause we just did national parks in my class. Oh yeah. But they go through the first Olympics, the history of the Olympics. They have fun things like animal athletes, and just different pieces of information you can find about the Olympics, if that's something that you are gonna talk about with your students across the top of the screen.

[00:05:07] Shanna Martin: Besides the search bar, when you go to their homepage, they have games to start with. They've got quizzes. That will be about content. So like all things panda, you can take the panda quiz. Oh. US states, which is huge. There's a lot of review from our fourth, fifth graders all the way up through eighth grade when they're like, I know the names of them in alphabetical order, but I can't identify where they are.

[00:05:31] Shanna Martin: Yeah. Which happens. More times than I'd like to point out. Rocks and minerals Cheetos. Like they've got fun little quizzes for kids to take, engage them in information and research, which is awesome.

[00:05:43] Fuzz Martin: I just took a personality quiz. Did you? Yes. I'm a tropical forest. Oh,

[00:05:47] Shanna Martin: are you now?

[00:05:47] Fuzz Martin: Yeah.

[00:05:48] Shanna Martin: And what does that mean?

[00:05:49] Fuzz Martin: Uh, well, uh, in your discover your forest match. Um-huh. I just happened to be a tropical forest. I've, uh, since, since, uh. Off of that, so I'm not quite sure, uh,

[00:06:00] Shanna Martin: exactly how you're a tropical forest.

[00:06:02] Fuzz Martin: Yeah, yeah. But I am

[00:06:03] Shanna Martin: so great. Mm-hmm. They also have puzzles, um, they have like funny fill-ins, kinda like Mad Libs where you can choose and fill in information and like you're far away, place your adjective.

[00:06:16] Shanna Martin: It's like a mad libs and they plug it all in for you, which is really fun. Again, a lot of snow and cold day is coming up where recess kids can't. Go outside for recess 'cause it's too cold for them. Mm-hmm. So these would be great for in-class entertainment and educational. Of course there's a whole collection of videos, so if you click on video, they've got all kinds of cool things about animals.

[00:06:37] Shanna Martin: Weird but true I feel like is a such a fun way for kids to gather facts. And we have the books in our house and in my classroom. Just fun-filled random animal facts. But I figure like third grade through sixth, seventh grade. Like any kind of random piece of information. Yeah, they have a whole collection of 'em here.

[00:06:57] Shanna Martin: So weird but true. Also aligns with like, I think the show, so there's videos that go with it as well, along with cool, weird but true information and lots of weird facts to randomly share with people. Again, great at the start of class, bell ringers discussion. It's awesome.

[00:07:15] Fuzz Martin: Do you know what Alligators can live to be 80 years old.

[00:07:19] Shanna Martin: Oh, cool. What else is weird but true?

[00:07:21] Fuzz Martin: Uh, a shark can grow and lose up to 30,000 teeth in its lifetime.

[00:07:26] Shanna Martin: Nice ham. Don't eat braces. A ham never stop growing. That's why they chew on so many things.

[00:07:31] Fuzz Martin: Yeah. Uh, some, uh, uh, birds Don't sweat. All birds don't sweat. I was gonna say some, but that was from a, a different one.

[00:07:39] Shanna Martin: Okay.

[00:07:40] Fuzz Martin: Birds don't sweat. That's weird but true. Isn't it

[00:07:42] Shanna Martin: great?

[00:07:43] Fuzz Martin: Uh, yeah.

[00:07:43] Shanna Martin: So all kinds of fun

[00:07:45] Fuzz Martin: things. Yeah. 97% of Earth's water is salt water.

[00:07:49] Shanna Martin: So instead of, you know, reading them yourself, you could just listen to our podcast. You could gorillas

[00:07:53] Fuzz Martin: burp when they're happy. Keep going, keep, keep listening for more fun facts.

[00:07:58] Fuzz Martin: And Avalanche can travel 80 miles in an hour.

[00:08:01] Shanna Martin: So lots of weird but true

[00:08:02] Fuzz Martin: and that that's not referring to a Chevy Avalanche. Oh,

[00:08:06] Shanna Martin: oh, there's, but that can also do

[00:08:07] Fuzz Martin: that. Yeah.

[00:08:09] Shanna Martin: So again, engaging for all, not just students. They're fun. You could put this at your next dinner party. Everyone can have a random, weird but true fact and their, and at your next dinner party,

[00:08:19] Fuzz Martin: put out some chewing gum because chewing gum burns about 11 calories per hour.

[00:08:23] Fuzz Martin: Okay.

[00:08:24] Shanna Martin: So you can eat a meal and then chew some gum.

[00:08:26] Fuzz Martin: Yeah.

[00:08:26] Shanna Martin: Oh my goodness. Moving through under the animal section, they have it broken down, so you could do mammals, birds, prehistoric, reptiles, amphibians, and vertebrates and fish. You can click on your, like birds and then there will be. Like the American Crow, if you click on it, there's images and then there's also an article I always appreciate that they give like random little facts to begin with.

[00:08:51] Shanna Martin: So common name American Crow gives a scientific name, can't pronounce it. Type. It's a bird. It's about 17.5 inches. And then gives a little article and then where it's located in the world. Again, very easy to digest information. Quick way to have a sentence, starter, a quick article like start. Writing research or just sharing information, which is awesome.

[00:09:11] Shanna Martin: Our kids are interested in, they can pick like, what animal are you interested in? And then re research a little bit more.

[00:09:16] Fuzz Martin: Yeah,

[00:09:17] Shanna Martin: so plenty of information under animals explore more. This is where you get into, like they do have obviously the magazine, if you're unfamiliar with. The magazine you have to subscribe for and most classrooms pay for it, if they have it.

[00:09:33] Shanna Martin: But there are pieces of information from their magazine if you already get that in your classroom, which you probably would know that you have the resources available to you. They also have history, so it will give you specific articles of a history. So like remembering nine 11 National Parks, women's History Month.

[00:09:52] Shanna Martin: Women Codebreakers of World War ii, like there's some cool resources in history that will be great. Discussion starters or research for students?

[00:09:59] Fuzz Martin: Yeah,

[00:10:00] Shanna Martin: science. Tons of science resources space. They have a whole cool thing on space. Talking about Mars and different missions and all kinds of things with the different planets, US states.

[00:10:12] Shanna Martin: Very helpful when it comes to not just memorizing them in alphabetical order. But actually learning more. Yeah. Having photographs of the state, like

[00:10:20] Fuzz Martin: understanding that while Minnesota is called the land of 10,000 Lakes, Wisconsin has 15,000 lakes. Take that Vikings fans.

[00:10:30] Shanna Martin: Uh, yes. And then there's like state fastbacks, like Connecticut, so its nickname is the Constitution state, state hold hood.

[00:10:41] Shanna Martin: In 1780 eight's the fifth state. Capital Hartford. So again, it gives you all those quick pieces of information. Great for a classroom activity, if they've got the facts and if you do like quiz, quiz pass with your students where they each have a note card of information, they share it and then they trade, and then they move around the room.

[00:11:00] Shanna Martin: It's a great way to practice your states. And then again, there's more weird but true, gather all that information and clearly that. Is entertaining for all. Weird but true animals. Weird but true fish. Weird, but true birds. Weird but true insects. I mean, it goes on. Yeah, weird but true. Mammals. All the things.

[00:11:21] Shanna Martin: All of all the things. Weird but true countries. Weird but true earth. So you can just scroll through and have all the facts of all the weird but true information and be highly entertained for hours or your kids will be anyway.

[00:11:35] Fuzz Martin: And. Since it's na, national Geographic, it has beautiful imagery. Yes. Uh, it's really well designed.

[00:11:41] Fuzz Martin: Easy to follow.

[00:11:42] Shanna Martin: Yes, very easy for kids to find information. Like you can put younger students on the site and you can just, you know, pin 'em to that tab or this site, and they will. Just fine exploring on their own and finding information and researching very few

[00:11:58] Fuzz Martin: ads. Yes, the ads that I do see are for National Geographic, so yes.

[00:12:02] Shanna Martin: And the videos are cool then too because like the ads, some of them have like little animals bebopping around and they're so cute.

[00:12:07] Fuzz Martin: Mm-hmm.

[00:12:07] Shanna Martin: So lots of great resources. National Geographic kids definitely upgraded from. Forever ago when we talked about it. Yeah. Yeah. And lots of very relevant information coming up that will be helpful for your students.

[00:12:21] Shanna Martin: Um, again, if you talk about the Olympics or if you talk about, fun animals and fun moment of the days, there's just all kinds of cool stuff to share and talk about

[00:12:32] Fuzz Martin: indeed,

[00:12:33] Shanna Martin: with your kids. So on that note, if you're around here, stay warm. If you're someplace warm, enjoy it. Stay there. Thanks for tuning in.

[00:12:44] Shanna Martin: This has been the Tech Tools for Teachers Podcast. If you ever have any questions, you can find me on Blue Sky Threads, Facebook, Instagram at smartinwi. And if you wanna get more information on the links to the technology discuss in this episode, you can visit Spartan wi.com. If you liked Sports Show, please consider buying me a coffee or two.

[00:13:02] Shanna Martin: Visit. Buy me a coffee.com/s smartinwi or visit spartan wi.com and click on that cute little purple coffee cup. Your donations help keep the show going. New episode. Each week or almost each week. Thanks for listening. Go educate and innovate

[00:13:17] Fuzz Martin: The ideas and opinions expressed on this podcast and the SMART NWI website are Those are the author Shannon Martin, if not a her employer.

[00:13:23] Fuzz Martin: Prior to using any of the technologies discussed in this podcast, please consult with your employer regulations. This podcast offers no guarantee that these tools will work for you as described, but we sure hope they do.