Tried it Tuesday -- Spring Cleaning & Researching with Fact Monster

I'm excited to link up with my sweet friend, Holly at Fourth Grade Flipper, for Tried It Tuesday.  It's been awhile since I was able to join in, but I'm happy to be here this week.

I actually have two "Tried Its" for this week, one teaching related and one that isn't.

First, the "isn't"...

So my two kids left Sunday morning for the band trip to Florida.  I was looking forward to spending the day relaxing and catching up on blogging.

Then I made the mistake of going into my daughter's room to find her fish food so I could feed her fish while she was gone.  BIG mistake on my part.  After I pushed my way through her door (she apparently told me she "cleaned" on Saturday before she left....), I was overcome by the need to do a little straightening.  (Anyone with teenagers will recognize the irony in referring to any teenage mess as "little".)  So....one day, six bags of garbage, two bags of clothes to donate, and 12 loads of laundry later, her room is "clean."  Needless to say, my relaxing day turned out to be not-so-relaxing after all...but at least she will come home to a clean room.

I consider this experience a "tried it" because we are NOT going back to the theory that as long as the door is closed, you can choose to keep your room any way you want to. We tried it her way, but it didn't work. Sorry, honey (if you are reading)!

Now for the teaching "Tried It"...

You may remember that my students have been working hard on researching and writing their biography projects.  I have received a few requests (thank you!) for more information about websites that I have used. The one website that my students enjoy using is www.factmonster.com.

There is TONS of information on this website, which makes it great for research.  Here's the page we used for researching our famous American heroes.  I love the search bar option too!

There is also a handy encyclopedia page.

Need help with homework?  There's a page for that too.

I think it would be fun to let the kids look around the "Cool Stuff" page.

(Even the "Dating and Marriage" section has some interesting facts about dating/marriage customs around the world.  Maybe a project for Valentine's Day???)

As with any website, you need to teach your students how to use it safely and responsibly.  Most of the links stay on-site, but there are banner ads that may distract some kids.

What have you tried lately?  Head on over to Fourth Grade Flipper to check out more ideas!