Sunday, March 2, 2014

The 4th Grade Beta Testers For Wandoo Planet Are Having The Best Time!

               
Our 4th graders have been participating in something super special and fun. 
They are beta testers for Wandoo Planet created by Evanced Kids!   And it has been one of the best times we have had in the library this year. 
To learn all about how we got involved, please read You Just Have To Check Out "Wandoo Planet"....The World's First Kid-Powered Interest Genome Project
Our friend Lindsey from Wandoo Planet has been helping us learn and use the website.  
We have gathered both of our fourth grades into the library where they got signed up, identified a few interests they love or want to explore further, and watched as...
                           
Their own interest sapling starts to grown into an interest tree with individual branches representing each interest. The branches then start to bud with suggested kid-friendly content that directly relates to users’ interests. As kids read and explore, interest branches grow leaves. Future versions of Wandoo Planet will connect directly to some libraries’ children’s collection holdings.
                             
It was really exciting watching them as they created their own. 
As they had questions, Lindsey was there to help, give advice, and listen to feedback from the kids too. 
                             

They really appreciated all the help Lindsey gave them.
We also created a collaborative Google Document, added it to the fourth grade Symbaloo, and everyone added their feedback about Wandoo Planet to share with our friends at Evanced.   
 We heard from Lindsey, who was excited for the feedback too!
Last week Lindsey and her friends started on an adventure called the "Banish Boredom Tour".  

They are traveling all around the country to tell other young people about Wandoo Planet and to get them excited about reading and learning.  
On Friday they Skyped with the fourth graders from the road.  It was fun to see the back of their bus and how it said "Honk if you love to read!"
 Lindsey wanted to check in with the kids to see how it was going with Wandoo Planet.
And to get them excited about when the Banish Bordom Tour stops at Van Meter too!  

We will share more as the time gets closer....It will be quite the celebrate and day.  
To learn more about their tour, Indiana's FOX news did a story last week....You can watch here too. 

Thank you Lindsey and everyone at Evanced.  You are definitely making a difference with our little beta testers and so many other young people.  

No comments:

Post a Comment