MrNussbaum.com was developed with the idea that crucial concepts, themes, ideas, and fact sets taught in the classroom can be enhanced over the internet through interactivity. This site provides teachers and parents interactive resources such as games and drills to allow students to practice, improve, and supplement their learning in and out of the classroom. The resources range in topics from math to language arts. Grade levels may very but targeted for elementary school children. These resources can also be accessed through mobile devices. Some apps are free.
Type of Material:
Collection of online curriculum games and activities
Recommended Uses:
Teachers might use this site for incentives or remediation. Parents might use this site for home schooling, practice, and fun. In both cases, the site can boost student confidence.
Technical Requirements:
Internet access. Many of the games require the latest version of Flash. Flash can be downloaded by visiting http://www.adobe.com and clicking on “downloads”. It is free.
Identify Major Learning Goals:
The vision of the site is to create an engaging learning atmosphere for students K-8 that blends fun with learning and supports elementary concepts that are interactive in all subjects.
The student will be able to practice and apply knowledge using drills and games on multiple subject matters.
The student is able to measure his/her learning progress by administering self-quizzes and playing games.
The student will be able to learn and practice doing basic research by using site resources.
Target Student Population:
Elementary and early middle school students
Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:
Basic computer skills
Content Quality
Rating:
Strengths:
This huge site is developed and overseen by a working elementary teacher. There are over 3500 content pages at this site that address elementary math, language arts, history, geography, and science. There are also sections for the USA, video clips, tablet use, and educational games. The content is systematically organized from PreK/K through grade 6. Core curriculum practice and skills development are supported at each grade level. When the user clicks on a particular grade level there are several sub themes or categories that can selected. Each of the sub themes or categories is clearly labeled indicating what it specifically addresses. The content on this site is rich, deep, and varied. Teachers, parents, and students will all find curriculum support and extensions for what is being taught in the elementary classroom.
Concerns:
Our reviewers were unable to review the Spanish games section.
Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool
Rating:
Strengths:
The rich and varied elementary curriculum content found on this site can be used in the computer lab, on any device with Internet access (including iPads), on the smartboard/whiteboard (with classroom projector), with students who have Autism, with home-schooled students, and to aid in remediation or enrichment. There are several free printable activities for teachers, classrooms, and home-schooled students. Many of them are aligned with the Common Core Standards. There is a tab at that top that also indicates all the new games and activities that have been added so that users do not have to go searching within each of the subjects or grade levels.
Concerns:
None.
Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty
Rating:
Strengths:
The site is systematically organized and tabs are colorful and clearly labeled. There are icons for each of the subject areas as well as text.Although there are advertisements or places for advertisements, they are on the side. Contact information and general licensing information of resources found within the site is clear and specific.
In addition, there is a new optional layer to this site called MrNussbaum XTEND. It is a powerful, exciting program designed to reinforce and motivate students and to provide teachers with informative and customizable programs to use in the classroom, computer lab, centers, as homework, or as data collection tools. They are specific to grade levels, no advertisements, and have advance deployment and record keeping. There are nine programs addressing math, reading, map work, timelines, geography, and spelling that collect data on student work. Users pay for these XTEND programs individually or as a total bundle.
The author can be reached by email. Mr. Nussbaum can be followed on Facebook, Twitter, and Edmodo. There is also MrNussbaum YouTube Channel.
Concerns:
• The “step-by-step” visual component of the video tutorials is helpful. However, the audio is not of the highest quality.
• There are some links that are not functional such as NASA video in the Aurora section. Also, “The search for the northwest video is not functional.”
Creative Commons:
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