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EdTechLens Rainforest Journey Science Curriculum for Summer or School Year

Experience a Vibrant New Life Science Program for K-5 Homeschoolers – Great for the School Year or Summer Enrichment!

Brenda Shares Her Experiences with Rainforest Journey

I was recently given the opportunity to use and review Rainforest Journey by EdTechLens. It is an online secular science program for grades K-5. All of the opinions in this article are my own, and I hope you find this information helpful as you plan your child’s summer studies or as you prepare for your next school year.

EdTechLensRainforestJourney

EdTechLens Rainforest Journey Review

 

We had a lot of fun trying out the Rainforest Journey from EdTechLens! My little science lover had a blast learning about the rainforest using this program.

Teacher Interface

The teacher interface was fairly easy to use once I got into it, but at first it seemed a little confusing. I had to ask for help with the initial set-up, but with a little coaching, I was able to find out how to assign lessons, select the specific lessons I wanted to teach (or not teach), and track student progress. The interface reminded me a bit of an online class, with most of the navigation on the left of the screen contained in dropdown menus.

I liked that I was able to instantly see the grades for each student and export those grades (if I chose to do so) to another tracking program.

Subject Material

Our 4th grade class had five separate units covering everything to do with the rainforest, including:

  • Big picture
  • Adapt or die
  • Animals
  • Plants and Fungi
  • Ecosystem

There was also a section to see the sources used for each unit. Each unit contained between 1-5 chapters with several lessons per chapter for a total of 34 lessons. Each unit also had vocabulary and content quizzes for the students to complete after going over the material. Monkey was able to move through the lessons completely on her own, which I loved, but younger students might need a bit more guidance. Teachers also have the option to add hands-on activities to each lesson, which are fun and engaging and help bring the scientific concepts to life.

All lessons are NGSS (Next Generation Science Standards) aligned.

EdTechLens is an online secular science program. Currently, they offer a Rainforest Life Science program tailored for each grade level.

Interest Level

My daughter, Monkey, tried out the 4th grade rainforest journey program. The first day, I told her she had to complete one of the lessons, but she ended up going through several lessons because she loved it so much! She loves science anyway, but she absolutely loved the bright colors, simple text, and real-life pictures in EdTechLens.

As long as EdTechLens Rainforest Journey was on the schedule for school that day, I heard no complaints. Monkey constantly dragged me over to look at a new image or hear a new fact she had learned about the rainforest when she was going through the lessons.

Overall Thoughts

 

EdTechLens is an amazing life science program. I love that it can be used with different grade levels, advanced students, or special needs students, and that it is self-paced and requires little to no teacher interaction. For an intro to science, I was incredibly pleased with the program!

More Information from EdTechLens

EdTechLens created Rainforest Journey, a theme-based online learning program, for K-5 home users and classrooms. The program covers all content students need for the life science curriculum.

Encouraging student engagement was a high priority in creating this program. Engagement strategies used include media-rich content and theme-based learning. Our program uses a high-interest theme, the rainforest, to teach the life sciences content. Several of the program creators took a real trip to the rainforest, and their journal is a primary source that students can read sequentially or through links from the lessons.

Rainforest Journey can be used as part of your school year or as a great enrichment option to help prevent summer slide. Keep your students interested in science and learning with fascinating rainforest facts, photos, videos, and primary sources.

If you were one of our Rainforest Journey summer enrichment users last year, you might like to know that we released a new easy-to-use interface with updated content and features in November, 2015.

Program Highlights

— The heart of the program consists of 34 lessons. Each lesson’s reading passages and rich media provide a high quality source of interesting nonfiction reading that is aligned with national science standards (NGSS). Students have options to hear the lessons read aloud and to reveal enrichment text passages.

— Activities give students concrete, hands-on opportunities.

— Primary sources comprised of scientist interviews, a trip journal, and primary source videos reinforce lesson concepts. A blog for students is packed with additional information, more vibrant photos, and short videos.

— Chapter reviews provide opportunities for reinforcement. Unit assessments and a grade book are available. Student progress may be viewed on a teacher dashboard.

— The user interface is flexible, allowing parents to learn alongside students or to let them work independently. The program is browser-based and can be used on any device that connects to the Internet.

We have made modifications based on the feedback from our pilot testers and last year’s summer enrichment users. We created modified hands-on activities that have been adapted to suit the needs of homeschoolers, a big request from users. We also got the message that a shorter subscription time is a better fit for homeschoolers so we reduced the time period from one year to 3 months; this allowed us to lower the price to $20. We are currently running a half-price discount, which makes the program a very appealing option for homeschooling families.

It’s not too early to start thinking about summer enrichment!

Learn more about Rainforest Journey at www.edtechlens.com.
EdTechLens Rainforest Journey

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4 Comments

  1. My children are 11 and 12. They are both avid science lovers and I think they would really enjoy this program.

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