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OurTimeLines.com is a useful website for social studies classrooms who wish to connect history to their students lives. It is a free site (and there is a whole page on the site dedicated to explaining how and why it is free) that allows users to create timelines from 1000 A.D. to current times in history, then add their own events relating to their lives or to those of their ancestors. I believe that it could appeal to users, specifically students because it involves them in creating history and relating it to their lives, their ancestors' lives, or their interests. It is not the most aesthetically appealing website; it is not created or managed by a large corporation, so the platform is not what one would expect from a professional website, but because I discovered this site through one of our class textbooks, I believe this to still be a good site. Its information says it is up-to-date, and it has a great page for feedback with other user comments. I believe this could likely be used for any age, though teachers would need to help younger users more. I think this would be appealing to students because it involves them in a history lesson and gives them a chance to use an easy technology in class.

This site is free to all users. I feel that with a brief introduction to the site, it should be very easy to navigate for all students and other users. Considering the content, this site would be useful to students grades 8-12. Much of the site is also dedicated to teachers of these grade levels. It does not look like the most exciting website one will ever visit, but it seems like it could be a nice break from a history textbook. What might be difficult for some users is trying to find historical information that is not featured in the main exhibit at the time. While it seems like if you dig deep enough, you can find what you want to about American History, it is much easier to simply explore the featured exhibit, which currently (as of 6/8/11) is the Reconstruction era. The information is very credible and up-to-date. Aesthetically, it may be more appealing to students who like an online platform than a textbook. It has a look of being very organized, though personally I feel like it could look slightly more "professional." In terms of user-help, the site notes that its "Ask a Historian" and "Contact Us" features were disabled due to SPAM. Therefore, users can no longer contact the site managers. I believe this to be a huge drawback of the site.

Online math games for students in 4-6th grade to practice math concepts. This is a free website for students to practice various math skills. Students will enjoy this website because students who are weaker in math can review math concepts. I think students would enjoy having the freedom to choose the games to play to review the concept. All the games are listed on the left side, but to find which concepts to review the student would need to go through each game. The directions for each game are listed and students can also play games in pairs. The website was updated in 2010, but there is no link to ask for any assistance to use a game or to leave any comments. The games itself are fun to play, great graphics and background music and best of all students are having fun with math!

This site is free and is a great study guide for basically anything. You can make your own test, quizzes, or flashcards, or make your own if you chose to do so.

This site claims to be the largest independent study site in the U.S. Extremely easy to use this is a great site to test yourself on the knowledge you have on almost any subject. This free tool uses a flash card system to educate you and multiple tests are available to test your knowledge. Students would love this aesthetically pleasing tool and it is very educational. I love the simple concept and the depth of information on this site. The amount and accuracy of the information is outstanding, and the great thing about it is that any age individual could enjoy this site.

This site claims to be the largest independent study site in the U.S. Extremely easy to use this is a great site to test yourself on the knowledge you have on almost any subject. This free tool uses a flash card system to educate you and multiple tests are available to test your knowledge. Students would love this aesthetically pleasing tool and it is very educational. I love the simple concept and the depth of information on this site. The amount and accuracy of the information is outstanding, and the great thing about it is that any age individual could enjoy this site.

This is a free website and is very easy to use. To use this website, you create a video (or your students) using a movie maker software or something similar, and you record audio to go along with your video. This is appealing to students because it allows them to post videos and also allows them to watch videos posted by other students. It is a great learning tool because it gives students a vareity of explanations for different concepts. It appears up-to-date. I would say that it is approporiate for middles grades and older since making videos would be the hardest part. In terms of support, you would need to call or email.

Free website to use to cite various sources. Easy to follow steps to cite a variety of sources. I feel this would appeal to students because many students struggle with putting the correct punctuation marks and to cite sources correctly. The aesthetics is very general there are no creative graphics. I feel the website is up to date since 2010. I loved the fact I could just put in the ISBN number and the book information would pop up and I just click submit. This information can be used from 4th grade and up. The only negative is there is no contact support available.

Zunal allows for a free registration to create one free webquest This site is up-to-date since 2010. This site offers step by step directions to create a webquest and also provides answer to common questions about using Zunal. Students from grades 4 and up would be able use this web site. The information on the site is informative to help create a webquest and even few examples of webquests. Students get more involved and use higher-level thinking when using the tools to create a webquest. This site itself is well organized and colorful. Students would enjoy creating a webquest because he/she are able to work together in groups and use creativity.

It appears that sparknotes was originally designed to be used as a footnote - intended to summarize books required for reading. This site is well organized and easy to use and students would be crazy not to use this site. It is organized intoseveral tabs - Spark notes guides (provides summaries and analysis - 500 guides for Literature and a number for History, Math, and Biology), No Fear Shakespear, SparkCollege (info on colleges including intro videos0, Test prep (for standardized tests), Flashcards, Miss Marm (writing help), Spark Test (self-evaluation), and Spark Life which is all about school life. It appears to be free with up to date valid information and all your support questions can be answered under the help tab.

This website is a great for student that are learning how to read. It has sections like ABCs- Let's get ready to read where student learn letters and sounds, and section like I'm Reading " where students can read easy books and practice their fluency.It is a great tool for differentiating activities.It is a free website.

This is a free resource, which teaches children to read with phonics. The website has 4 levels of reading: ABC's, Learn to read, It's fun to read, and I am reading. It could be used by teachers and parents to help the student acquire different level of skills in reading. Is perfect for preschool, kindergarten, first grade, second grade, special education, homeschool, and English language development (ELD, ELL, ESL).

Everything DI offers resources to help differentiate instruction using technology. Everything DI was created to help equip educators so that they are more self-confident in their effort to teach children of diverse social, ethnic, and academic backgrounds. It's also important to prepare students for the challenges of the 21st century. More than ever before, our students must learn to become self-sufficient, lifelong learners who are resourceful and marketable in a "smaller," global economy."

This free website allows teachers to create custom rubrics. It is a great tool to use if you have trouble creating rubrics and setting different criteria. You can create a rubric based on a template with the following subjects: oral projects, multimedia, math, writing, products, reading, art, work skills, science, music, and reading. You can also save your rubrics online, and export them to a word processor. This site is mostly for teachers to create a rubric. Its usability is acceptable, although the navigation takes some time to get used to. This website does not seem to be undated frequently and that copyright date says 2007-2008. Overall, this website is extremely helpful to teachers when it comes to making a rubric, and differentiating criteria. There is a tutorial available on how to use rubistar, and a contact us page for support.

I LOVE this website. You can make rubrics in Spanish, too!

A great differentiation resource, this wiki has all of the information contained in our book and more. With templates for many of the related strategies discussed and everything you need to know and how to do it. A free web resource this really is a great, easy to navigate wiki for all to use for free - but no support is available - but none needed. Aesthetically the wiki has a very nice design and i believe students in High School and above might take some interest in this site. Published two years ago the content is right up to date and of good quality.

This is a free website that allows you to use different media sources to help you supplement learning in your classroom. It's free and can be used from grades PreK to 12. Its very easy to use and can also help you align lessons to standards.

This is a free tool to help children learn about bones. It would be appealing for students to use, but could use more color and graphics. It is easy to use and would be an effective tool for students between 3rd and 5th grade. In addition, the content is accurate and simplified. There is a "Contact Us" page that can be accessed by going to the www.e-learningforkid.org homepage for users to submit comments or questions.

Free website used to develop lesson plans in art. Lesson plans contain the objectives, materials, planning, assessments and examples. This website is better used for teachers, but students who are interested in art projects would enjoy this website. This is very effective learning tool because the website uses various forms of art from clay, abstract, collage, sculptures and etc. The information is up-to-date and contains unique art projects. The website is organized by grade level to help find appropriate art for each grade. There is an email available to contact the creator by email. The art lesson were submitted by teachers and allows users to add comments about each lesson.

Wordle is a toy for generating "word clouds" from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. The images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like. You can print them out, or save them to the Wordle gallery to share with your friends. This free site generates word clouds. It can be used for any grade level when coming up with words to describe a concept or topic. Usability, aesthetic appeal, and quality of content is excellent. I feel that it would be very appealing to the students of all ages when coming up with words to summarize something, rather than just listing words. It can be effective learning tool when trying to establish hierarchy among a summary. There is a section available with FAQ that appears to be very helpful.

This website would be great to use for web quests. It is a website created for kids to obtain knowledge about historical figures and events. It is also categorized for primary to middle school. This site lists governmental sites that are kid friendly and and also allows students to upload reports as well. I find this site particularly useful because each age group as well as the educator have separate links that can be accessed and used for educational purposes. This site also provides visitors to make suggestions on how this site can be improved. I think this is extremely helpful because you get the opinions of the students as well. This site is essential when learning about laws and constitutional vocabulary that may sometimes not be fully explained in the textbook.

This is an interactive set of web pages which can be used by teachers to teach children about the Internet and how to navigate it. With the fast moving technology, such website will provide students with basic skills that they can apply for Internet searches, selecting information and knowing where to find information. The website is free and easy to navigate through.

This is a free website that comes from a televised math program from Loyola University. It allows viewers to call in to answer questions posted by the host. It could appeal to students. Aesthetically, its a little bit boring but the information given is very informative so it could be an effective learning tool. This would be appropriate for middle school grades and up. If a video doesn't upload, there is a link to click for help.

This resource is great for the students to practice their math skills and it is free. However, I must point out that although Math Open Reference is not as attractive to the eye, is user-friendly and the students would not be overwhelmed with information when they get to the page. The information on the website is separated by math concept and there are links for each. Furthermore, the website features animated and interactive drawings to demonstrate mathematical terms and concepts.