Annotated Bibliography of Digital Resources

PBS Kids provides a huge variety of engineering games for young kids. I focused on the game Toy Maker, where you have to create a toy, either a car, a stuffie, or a toy house. When creating a car, there are certain criteria you have to follow, like requiring batteries, and you create your car using different tools and materials. This interactive game encourages creativity and problem-solving as children experiment with different components to create functioning toys. It provides a hands-on learning experience that introduces basic engineering concepts in a fun and engaging way. This resource aligns with SOL 2.1 a,b,d, and f as students are defining problems and carrying out investigations and experimenting, and can be used in the classroom to work on students' engineering skills. There are also closed captions and an option to have the games in Spanish, which can be accommodating for students.

The Glider Guide app is an interactive geography tool designed for 2nd-grade students to explore land and water features across five real-world terrains. Players control a glider that flies over mountains, lakes, oceans, plains, and other natural features. This platform also works on desktops via a browser. Teachers can use this app as part of an Earth science unit to introduce or allow students to visualize landforms and bodies of water. This app can serve as a virtual field trip where students can visually identify different geographical features. Glider Guide visually demonstrates how weather-related factors interact with natural landforms, laying the groundwork for understanding how weather patterns can affect the environment (2.6b).

This fun animated video presents a catchy song designed to teach kids the life cycles of animals and plants. There are multiple examples of life cycles of birds, plants, frogs, and butterflies. The examples show the stages of the living things in a circle, representing that it is a cycle of life. This video is an excellent resource for students to learn life cycles in an upbeat way, where they can learn a song and remember the content better. The upbeat music also makes it suitable for interactive lessons that incorporate movement and dance. This resource aligns with SOL 2.4 a and b as students are learning animal and plant life cycles. 

This animated video educates viewers on the basic concepts of matter, including what it is, the three states, and the weight of matter. The colorful animations and upbeat music, and tone create a fun and engaging environment. This video can be used to either introduce the topic of matter or as a recap and supports SOL 2.3 a and b, as it requires students to investigate and understand that matter is anything that has mass and takes up space, while also being in the form of liquid, solid, or gas.