What is SecretBuilders?

SecretBuilders is a site that can be used to supplement the teaching of various topics, including literature, arts, sciences and humanities. The site gives children an opportunity to interact with famous historical and fictional figures from world civilization, making learning more enjoyable and effective. We can provide teachers with examples of how to incorporate SecretBuilders into their school curriculum. A few examples are provided in the Classroom Activities section below.

Why is SecretBuilders good for kids?

Several key features distinguish SecretBuilders from other children’s sites making it an ideal site to bring to your class.

• Contests! Contests! Contests! Children love to enter contests and SecretBuilders contests are great because even though we have grand prizes and age group winners, all entries get published – not only the winners – giving all children a sense of pride and accomplishment.
  
• An elementary school teacher on our staff can consult with you to help develop a concept in SecretBuilders that can be used in your class.
  
• While we have target audiences, children of all ages can participate in SecretBuilders at their individual ability levels. Yet they will see that no
  matter what their age, each one of them can contribute in a meaningful and tangible way to make this virtual world a better place for all. 
  
• Immediately the focus will be on western civilization, but as the site grows, so will the exposure to all cultures and civilizations – we will go as far as the children want to go.
  
• Although our site is completely safe – we do not solicit any personal information from children such as name, school, age, email and/or home address, and all our chats and written submissions are moderated – we can sandbox the site for either your classroom or school.
  
• We have many exciting concepts we are still developing for our site – activities that will focus on charity and environmental consciousness, comprehensive curriculum supplements, partnerships with publishers and makers of educational children’s products, to name a few – but we would love your creative input as well! Send us your ideas at the teacher portion of ‘Build It!’. 

Children will be the creators of this site, not just its consumers – SecretBuilders recognizes that if this site is for children then they are the ones who should be telling us what they want. Through the ‘Build It!’ portion of our site, we want them directly involved in creating this world with their ideas, critiques and contributions on games, lands, contests, activities, quests, etc. – many of which we will implement!

An example of how you can use this: while learning elements of a story – characters, setting, plot, conflict, resolution – your class can write quests that touch upon these concepts. A lesson on brainstorming can involve going through a portion of the site and making suggestions on improving it and/or adding something. The best part is seeing their suggestions materialize!

Children will be exposed to literature and other humanities through subtle, fun ways – SecretBuilders will introduce literary figures and authors, concepts in math and science, famous works of art and music in such a way that children will routinely absorb human history and culture. At SecretBuilders, we do not think any child is too young for such engagement and so “chatting” with Galileo, writing a small dialogue using our Shakespeare translator, meeting Robinson Crusoe on a quest, or going on a flying tour of an art gallery with Frankenstein are just part of everyday life at SecretBuilders.

An example of how you can use this: you can combine your classes’ study of the solar system with a writing exercise – they can write dialogues for a question and answer session with Galileo that would then be recorded in their voice for all kids to hear in the theater! This can be done with virtually any theme.

Children will exercise the creative spirit present in each child – SecretBuilders will provide plenty of opportunities for children to discover and develop the many facets of their creative spirits. Our online magazine, ‘The Crooked Pencil’, with its wide array of topics to write and comment upon, our writing- and art-based contests, our quests and games all involve children exploring beyond their “normal” world. 

An example of how you can use this: any class writing pieces – book reports, essays, creative writing – can be posted in the magazine so others can read and comment on them. Children will have more fun with their writing knowing it will be “published” and the ability to comment on works of others as well as see what they have to say about your work is very exciting to children (all postings are moderated to filter out bullying or inappropriate language or tone).

How can you use SecretBuilders?

Contests!
Our creative, appealing contests can supplement your lesson plan in fun, engaging ways. Contest entries will be voted upon by other Builders and winning entries directly implemented on the site. But the best part is that everyone “wins” because all entries are posted on the site to be viewed, and commented on, by others. Plus, we have great prizes for kids and schools!

Build It!
This feature is unique to our site – no other children’s site has it. Recognizing that they are the best at telling us what they want, ‘Build It!’ will allow children to submit their ideas for games, quests, contests, lands, etc…and then watch as those suggestions are incorporated into the site leaving them with a sense of pride and ownership as creators of this world. ‘Build It!’ can be tailored to address virtually any topic or theme you are studying in class.

Get Published!
Our online magazine, ‘The Crooked Pencil’, is full of writing topics ranging from stories, poems, plays and school essays. Incorporate one of our existing topics in your writing lesson plans or let us help you develop one specific to your needs. Seeing their writing or artworks get published for others to read, and comment upon, is very empowering for children of all ages. Use ‘The Crooked Pencil’ as a tool in encouraging your students to write.

Teachers: want to encourage the writers and storytellers in your class? Contact Paru Desai at pdesai@ren20.com to get them signed up with this unique writing experience.

Classroom Activities

Several key features distinguish SecretBuilders from other children’s sites making it an ideal site to bring to your class. Creativity at SecretBuilders takes many forms…

Submit writings for the online magazine, ‘The Crooked Pencil’. The online magazine is a great resource where kids can submit even small writings (poems, jokes, observations, etc.). Encourage kids to submit some writings especially school assignments they have already done, which can be typed in and submitted. From school essays and stories to jokes and poems, there are numerous writing options. All writings will be published so other Builders can read and comment on them. 

Comment on already published articles in the magazine. Sometimes it is easier, especially for the younger kids, to write their thoughts about an existing story than write something from scratch.

Suggest ideas for lands, games, quest, activities, etc. Kids have great ideas and we want to hear them! ‘Build It!’ in ‘Lab Brats’, in ‘Enchanted Woods’, will give them an opportunity to share their ideas and suggestions.  Ideas will be posted for other Builders to read and comment on and in many cases will be implemented on the site!

Participate in contests. Our writing and drawing contests, accessible through ‘Lab Brats’ in ‘Enchanted Woods’, are fun and creative. Winning entries will be made part of our site and all entries will be published. 

Complete a story. Inside ‘Writers Block’, in ‘Enchanted Woods’, is the ‘Story Completion’ activity with creative story starters to jump start writing activities. Kids will also be able to suggest story starters for others to finish.

Perform a play. Inside the ‘Theater’, they can click on the ‘Be a Thespian’ scroll icon where they will see the dialogue of a play based on Romeo and Juliet that they can perform. Perhaps they will also be inspired to write their own plays and submit them to ‘The Crooked Pencil’.

Go on a quest. Access quests through the ‘Magic Book’ icon in the top toolbar. The quests are intended to expose kids to the arts and humanities as well as learn how to solve puzzles.

Play art games. These are also accessible through the ‘Magic Book’ icon. ‘Picasso’ and ‘The Artist’s Salon’ are art and coloring-based activities where kids "uncover" famous works of art and learn some things about each or repaint famous paintings, which they can save and print.

Solve puzzles. From jigsaws to crosswords to memory challenges, these games are fun and will expose kids to art and language. The puzzle games are also intended to promote learning: ‘Pieces of Art’, ‘Tic-Tac-Dough’ and ‘Pirates Hangman’ test problem solving skills. Games are accessible through the ‘Magic Book’ icon.

Interact with friends and famous historical figures. Our advanced, filtered chat allows kids to have safe, fun conversations with their friends and figures from literature, arts and sciences.

New features coming to SecretBuilders

In addition to enhancements to the above-mentioned activities, here is a little sneak peek at what else kids will be able to do in the next few months (some super ideas we are keeping a secret for the time being!):

• Visit the virtual homes of famous characters such as Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, Plato and Sherlock Holmes, just to name a few. Through “conversations” with these characters they will learn about their lives and works, solve puzzles with them as well as go on mini-quests with them.
  
• Write imaginary conversations/dialogues between famous characters. For example, they will be able to use our Shakespeare translator to create “Shakespearean” styled scripts.
  
• Be exposed to the richness of literature, art and music through a new quest series which will initially focus on western civilization and then in months to follow, introduce other great world civilizations.
  
• Create their own puzzles using puzzle building tools.
  
• Design and host their own contests through various tools.
  
• Use our drawing tools to create their own works of art to save, share and publish.
  
• Take an art tour inside ‘Frank & Stein’s Gallery’ of famous art works. Each work will be interactive – jigsaw puzzles, picture jumble, short question and answer games.

We are setting up a whole math and English multiple choice questions activity. Kids answer questions and a donation is made to a charitable organization on their behalf through our ‘One For All’ program. We are continuously seeking to establish partnerships with non-profit organizations to provide children with opportunities to contribute to important causes such as tree planting, clean water, hunger, endangered species, book donations, health and the environment.

Feedback 

SecretBuilders would love to hear feedback from teachers about our site…further questions or concerns, things we are doing well, what we can improve, features you would like to see and unique stories about how you, as a teacher, have used SecretBuilders with your students.

Email: info@secretbuilders.com
Phone: 650.204.9098

For more information on Renaissance 2.0 Media Inc., our mission, products and team, visit www.ren20.com.