At our preK-4 school, we have these (see below for a guide I made for teachers with features of each one).  I agree that PebbleGo is very good and probably most popular.  This year I bought PebbleGo Create but haven't used it yet, so can't comment on that feature.  The district pays for World Book, and we pushed for the Gale databases, but pay for those from our own budgets.  We have 1 elementary, 1 middle, and 1 high school.  What attracted me to Gale is the option to read the same article at different reading levels.  However,  the simplest versions don't always make sense.

I like having 3 research options because I had the idea a few years ago to have students try to answer the same question using several sources, as an intro to teaching fact checking.  I have not perfected that lesson yet.

* World Book online 

Choose “Kids” (Students is for grades 5+).

- keyword search

- audio option (choice of accents)

- Some links to outside websites with additional information

- Includes learning games

- embedded dictionary: highlight the word and double click

- Citation guidelines.

* Pebble Go 

Topics:  Animals, Social Studies, Science, Health, Biographies

- visual or keyword search

- Short easy to read articles.

- audio option

- embedded dictionary for certain hyperlinked words

- Read More feature:  links to online books for further information

- activities

- citation guidance

 

 

* Pebble Go Next    Choose PebbleGo Next

Topics:  States, Social Studies, Science, American Indian History, Biographies

- visual or keyword search

- Longer articles.

- audio option

- activity suggestions

- embedded dictionary: click on any word.

- citation guidance

* Gale in context Elementary  

- visual or keyword search

- audio option

- encyclopedia, magazine, news, and biography articles

- articles rated with dots to denote reading level.  One dot is easiest. Five is hardest.

- translation (both written and audio) is available for many articles/languages.

- embedded dictionary: highlight a word and choose Define

- citation guidance




On Wed, Feb 1, 2023 at 10:04 PM Rachel Khan <rbuck19@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi everyone, I am at a pre-k-5th grade school looking to add research databases for the first time. I have very little experience using a few, but am looking for any feedback or recommendations on what other schools use for elementary. Thanks! 

--
Rachel Khan
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