If you are citizen of an European Union member nation, you may not use this service unless you are at least 16 years old.
You already know Dokkio is an AI-powered assistant to organize & manage your digital files & messages. Very soon, Dokkio will support Outlook as well as One Drive. Check it out today!

Wonderopolis

Page history last edited by Sydney Camper 11 years ago

"Create. Laugh. Imagine. Explore. Learn. Smile. Grow."

Created By: Sydney Camper

What is Wonderopolis?

Created by the National Center for Family Literacy, Wonderopolos is exactly what it's slogan reads, "Where the Wonders of Learning never Cease." Wonderopolis is a place where wonder and learning come together and nurture each other though the power of discovery, creativity, and imagination. Everyday Wonderopolis poses a new curious question, called the "Wonder of the Day". What are "Wonders of the Day" you might ask? "Wonders of the Day" are questions or statements to get you thinking and wondering about something in which the answer can't always just be found right in front of you. Children has powerful minds and they often wonder things that even we as adults would never think about. One has to truly use their imagination to the fullest when thinking about the "Wonders of the Day". They help you find learning moments in everyday life, ones that fit with in school cirriculum and educational programs or even at dinner time or during a car ride somewhere. Wonderopolis is full of endless opportuntities...let your mind wonder!

Here is a video about Wonderopolis...

How to Use Wonderopolis...

1. Type www.wonderopolis.org into your search engine. The Wonderopolis home page should then come up. It's a very colorful and ful website so it that's what your search brings you to then you are in the right place!

2. On the home page, you will see the "Wonder of the Day". The newest wonder that is posed each day will always be found on the home page. If the "Wonder of the Day" is what you are looking for, you can access all the fun stuff about the wonder by clicking on it.

3. Once you have selected the "Wonder of the Day", what will appear will depend on what the wonder itself entails. Some of the wonders have videos and some just have pictures. However, no matter what the wonder is, you will find the following links on each wonder's page: 'Did you Know?', 'Try it Out!', 'Wonder Words', 'Still Wondering?', 'Wonder What's Next?', and 'Photos/Videos'. Each link provides additional information, ideas, and a few lesson ideas based around the wonder. Additionally, on each wonder's page there is a place to people to submit comments about that particular wonder (individuals or whole classes of children can do this).

Now that you know how to navigate the "Wonder of the Day" part of Wonderopolis, there are few other fun things you might want to know how to do....

4. Located at the top part of the webpage, there are links that say home, wonders, wonder, and nominate a wonder.

5. By clicking on the wonders link, it leads you to all the wonders that have been posted over a long period of time. If you are looking for a particular type of wonder you can choose the 'browse by category' icon. You can then click on any wonder you want and it will give you additional information about it.

6. By clicking on the nominate a wonder link, it will take you to a nomination form if you would like to nominate a wonder to be the "Wonder of the Day". The form is quite simple and self explanatory. Once you submit your nomination it will be then be reviewed and a decision will be made.

7. If you ever want to just get back to the Wonderoplis homepage, simple scroll to the top and click on the home link.

Wooohooo....you now know how to navigate the Wonderoplis.org website. It is very user friendly and if full of possibilities. Let the wondering begin!

Applications for Teaching...

There are a few different ways that Wonderopolis can be applied into the classroom in the content area of literacy. Here are some examples...

A Writing Prompt: Teachers can use "Wonders of the Day" as a writing prompt for their students. It would probably work best to use it as a prompt for journaling, open writing, or creative writing time so that students can truly take advantage of their thoughts and imaginations when thinking and writing about the wonder. The wonders on Wonderopolis are always very fun and exciting. Students would really enjoy writing about them, and the teacher would probably really enjoy reading what the students wrote.
Classroom Wonder of the Day: You can make Wonderopolis's "Wonder of the Day" a part of your daily classroom routine. Each day the wonder could be written on the white board and waiting for students to read and think about. Then, once students have had some time to think about it throughout the day, have an open discussion about the wonder. Ask the children what they think? How they feel? Get the children talking, wondering, and using those imaginations!
Build Background Knowledge: For any literacy unit/lesson that you are teaching, from Dr, Seuss to Insects, Wonderopolis most likely has a wonder that is focused on that topic. Children can locate those wonders and read the information provided about it to help them build background knowledge prior to the lesson beginning. This will also help children learn how to read informational text. Then, maybe sometime during the lesson, students could write about the wonder and how it connects to what other information they learned about the less/unit topic. (Specific Example: Wonder #893 from March 14, 2013, was "Where do ants live?")
Vocabulary: Each wonder of the day has a list of wonder words to go along with it. These can help students learn and acquire content rich words.
Create a Home-School Connection: Send a wonder home for children and their families to wonder about. Tell them to talk about the wonder and then each family write down (if possible) a sentence or two about thier thoughts about the wonder. Encourage families to creat a, ongoing 'Family Wonder Journal'.

Resources for Using Wonderopolis in the Classroom...

The following link is for the National Center for Family Literacy. This is the organization that created Wonderopolis and the website explains many ways of using literacy in the classroom in general or via wonderopolis. This website is very resourceful. http://www.famlit.org/free-resources/wonderopolis/
The following link is for Verizon Thinkfinity which provides the funding for Wonderopolis when needed. It is a huge supporter and their website has questions and answers about the use of Wonderopolis and different ways in which it can be used and supported in the classroom. It has the opinions of Wonderopolis creators as well as educators. http://www.thinkfinity.org/groups/wonderopolis-for-educators/content
This next link is to a blog called "Teq, It's all about Learnring". This blog is devoted to learning through technology. It talks about Wonderopolis, it's uses in the classroom, and then also provides additional links to other things about Wonderopolis. This is a great resource not only for Wonderopolis, but also for the use of technology in the classroom. http://www.teq.com/blog/2012/03/its-a-wonder/
This link is to a website called "21st Century Classrooms". It's a site about technology use in the 21st century classroom. They have a small section that gives a a few ideas of the use of Wonderopolis in the classroom. http://www.21stcenturyclassrooms.com/3/post/2011/10/wonderopolis.html
The last link is for technology for teachers. They also have a section about Wonderopolis, how it can be used in the classroom, and links to others things about or that support Wonderopolis. http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2013/02/spark-your-students-imaginations-with.html