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Jessica Chandler January 24th, 2011 *Overview: This site is called Starfall. This website was designed to help students read. There are different categories to choose from such as ABCs, Learn to Read, It's Fun to Read, and I'm Reading. Each category has great contents once the recommended link is chosen. ABCs read the letter aloud that is chosen and shows word in which make the correct sound. Learn to Read contains different easy reads on line for the kids to read. It's fun to Read contains different types of reading such as tongue twisters, poetry, music, and etc. I'm Reading brings up a selection of books to read. This allows the students to choose what book sounds the best. If the child doesn't know a word, clicking on the word will read it out loud. There are many useful things to get out of this website for elementary and preschool kids, and for the teachers of that certain level. *Content: The content is very clear and prepared. It is easy for children to understand the concept of this website. It is easy to access everything to learn about reading. A child could participate in this designed website alone or with the parents. It has great content and is very beneficial for the younger students who cannot read. This website also makes reading fun! *Design: This website is fantastic! It helps the students love to read and demonstrates different patterns and the alphabet to the children. It is very colorful, but only the links are. Therefore, the content isn't hard to read. It is easy to find what you are looking for, and the site Is not overloaded with a bunch of information. It is quite eye catching and would be an excellent website for kids trying to learn how to read!

Whitney Reese Reviewed: 2/4/12 www.starfall.com Overview: The purpose of this website is to teach children to read with phonics. The intended audience for this website is children ranging from the prek grade levels to second grade. It includes many resources such as the letters of the alphabet and their sounds, tools to learn colors and numbers, short tales for beginner readers, several word and reading games, reading materials for more advanced readers including comics and plays, and many interactive educational games. It also has its own unique curriculum for teaching children to read. My overall impression of this site was very good. It was really easy to navigate and loaded quickly. It is very colorful and kid friendly. It also has great content for learning to read. Content: The content of this site is very clear and concise. It is organized in an orderly fashion, which makes finding where you want to go easy. The authors of this site are identified and are credible. The content of this site seems very up to date and serves as a great resource for teaching children phonics. The quality of information provided is very good and every aspect of the site seems to work properly.  Design: The design of this site is very attractive using bright colors and animated graphics. The homepage is set up easily so that kids are able to navigate but has links that adults can use to obtain site information as well. All multimedia aspects serve a clear purpose. Kids would love the design of this site. 

A free website to teach children to read with phonics. For preschool, kindergarten, and first grade. Exciting phonics games and online interactive books.

Jacqueline Twiford Web Site Review September 20, 2009 http://www.abcya.com/first_grade_computers.htm This first grade website allows you to incorporate technology with your students by allowing them to do activities for learning. This webpage has activities for grade levels K-8 which is helpful for bringing technology to all grade levels. On this site it allows students to navigate the web with voice instruction, and has large navigation buttons for easy understanding. CONTENT On the "ABCya" website it allows students in the first grade to play interactive computer games to learn concepts such as the alphabet, drawing, lowercase and uppercase letter matching as well as mouse exploitation. This site has a list of activities that students can use in helping them learn some of the essential concepts they will need to know. DESIGN The design of "ABCya" is a very colorful and organized webpage. Having a large display for navigation buttons and voice instructions makes introducing technology to your young student very easy. The design of this game site is very easy to use and explains in voice as you go. The webpage's load very quickly and easily. Also, if there is something you do not understand, all you have to do is click on the icon for a description of what the icons meaning is. "ABCya" has a design that will allow you to use it in a short class period without having to run from student to student helping. This design is like having an assistant with each student explaining how to operate it. Wonderful for the introduction to technology in the classroom, without the time frame fear (not having enough time) that most teachers have with using technology in the classroom.

Whitney Lindt Purpose: I think that the purpose of this website is to provide parents and teachers a safe website to send their children to. There is so much that one has to worry about on the internet these days it is nice to know that there are safe websites for the younger children out there that they can learn from. Overview: I think that this site would be great for teachers and parents of young students to use. It seems that more often than not students are learning with technology and they think it is fun and it keeps their attention and this website is great for that too because it is so visually attractive. The main focus of this sight is numbers and the alphabet which is perfect for 1st graders because that is the main focus in the classroom. And this website provides links which would help the students not only learn the material but practice what they are being taught. Content: The content of this site is perfect for what 1st graders will be learning in school. As a teacher I would even recommend this website to the parents of my students so that they knew their children were going to safe websites. There are storybooks on this website which would just be fun for the students to go to or for teachers to use in the different subjects they are teaching if they can apply it. Also there are links that can have the students work with spelling and the alphabet and also numbers. This website might also work for younger students than 1st graders because there are some really easy ways of learning numbers and letters on this site. Design: This website is wonderful because as soon as it opens it would have the attention of 1st graders in school and it would keep them attracted to the website. This website is really easy to read even though it has a lot of colors. It is also easy to navigate instead of just a table of contents the different areas and links of the websites are split into different boxes with pictures on them so it makes it easy for a little kid to

Wonderful website for first grade learning games. There are games for letters and numbers

Overview: This site contains very useful information. This site allows you to go to the links of education websites that promote math, reading, science, english, and lesson plans and activities. The links lead to very useful information that assists teachers in their classroom to whatever grade or subject they are teaching. Content: This site had had twenty-six pages with a little over one hundred links on each page. I clicked on many different links and found so much information. There were some that had interactive games played on the computer, while others had printable worksheets and activity books. There were sites dedicated to assisting students with learning disabilities and sites for networking teachers around the world. Design: This site did have a boring home page. However, as I entered the different sites linked, they were full of color and organization. On the home page, there was no type of organization. Under the site listed, there would be a couple sentences of description so I was not too confused on what I was looking at. I wish there would have been an organization process for the various subjects this site provided.

Overview After looking over this site, it is definitely easy to see that it has a lot of information, links to further information, and search options to help you navigate the site if you need further assistance. There are a lot of resources on this website alone so it looks very professional and well put together. I like the site because it gives you tools and methods on every subject in education and even has an alphabet index so that you can find the exact information that you are looking for. Content I am able to distinguish the basic content of this site at first glance and can clearly see that the audience is intended to be students, teachers, and anyone having anything to do with education. I am able to easily find the authors, author information, title, sponsor, and last publication date on the homepage of this website. The site shows that it was last updated today, 01/24/2010, so I believe they update their information on a daily basis which makes the quality of information recent and reliable. The site is bias free and allows you to access other sites and its links quickly and easily. Design I was able to get to the website and its links quickly. The homepage is attractive and has a variety of graphics including pictures, font styles, colors, and decoration. I am able to find the author, sponsor, and last update easily on the homepage. The information is organized and consistent and gives valuable information that sticks with the purpose of the site. The material is current and I came up with no dead ends when trying to access the links that are provided on the homepage.

Overview: The purpose of this website is for teachers to join the community of teachers that teach Spanish or Portuguese. There are a number of important links for all people to see that are not members of the AATSP. The overall layout and design of this site is Professional and has a sense of prestige. Content: The content of this site is up to date. The contact information and date of copyright is listed at the bottom of the page. Content is organized, helpful, and accurate. The calendar shows upcoming events and there is a link to the monthly Journal. Design: The layout is professional and makes it seem that if a teacher joins, they will be part of an important group of people that will provide great resources. The table of contents is in alphabetical order and the scrolling photos make the website seem relevant to the information it provides. All links work properly and provide very useful information. Due to the amount of links, there seems to be a great resource of information available to people with the AATSP.

Hannah Streeter 2/1/2011 Overview- This website is colorful and fun. It has lots of games based on literary skills driven toward elementary school students. Its a little silly, and easy to use. There is also a really great teacher/parent link on the home page. Content- The content of this website is literary games with fun characters like monsters, animals, dwarfs, and other fun characters. The content is based on auditory explanations, uses simple words to explain the games, and then expounds into more complex concepts to help teach things like Poetry and the alphabet, depending on which category you pick from. The games are super fun, even for a big kid like me. Design- The design is bright and colorful. The games load quickly and the sound is clear. There are many different games and animations for all elementary grades. there are links to the home page, and other games to play and learn from. All in all, a really great site!

Literary Learning

Interactive site for math, vocab, memory, and geography and puzzles.

Ryan Pinkston January 22, 2011 1) Overview- This is a web site that parents and kids can use to learn basic skills while having fun. This goal is to provide a safe place to learn computer skills, math skills, reading skills and problem solving skills in a context that is fun to use. 2) Content Credibility- It is easy to determine the basic content and intended audience. The author was not clearly identified however, the contact information was readily available and easy to locate. The latest revision date was not given and it's not stated how frequently the page is updated. The purpose of the site is effective for the intended use and is well organized with information that is easy to understand. 3) Design Evaluation- The page downloads efficiently and it is somewhat attractive and appears to have strong eye appeal to children. There is an index, the information for contacting the provider is available, and the copyright date is at the bottom of the page. The same basic format is used throughout the whole site, the information is easy to find, and everything is clearly labeled. 4) This is a site that I would use. It has a variety of games for children to use to learn about math and English or science.

Lauren McDaniel, 9/4/11 Overview:  This website would be useful for people with a sturdy knowledge base wanting to know anything having to do with the field of philosophy.  Teachers and future teachers would find the website especially useful because it provides biographies of philosophers that have contributed to educational philosophies, and explores detailed concepts, arguments and analysis of the many different educational philosophies. Content:  Information on the editor, supporters of the site, and copyright date are clearly present and can easily be found when navigating the site.  The content is updated regularly, which can be seen by clicking on the different tables of contents listed by the year they were published.  The formality of the page shows its purpose is very informational.  By clicking on the table of contents and finding the subject interested in, which is listed in alphabetical order, one can easily find whatever they're looking for.  Information is presented in a factual way, lacking bias or prejudice, and certainly seems to be accurate because of the supporters backing it.  Information is easily accessible by locating the table of contents, which presents a page looking similar to a dictionary.  Words, people, places, and other things can be clicked on, and a plethora of information is presented in an organized and clear way. Design:  The design of this website is very formal, and the pictures fit the formality.  When first arriving on the website, it is incredibly appealing because of it's organization and neatness.  The table of contents is only one click away, and is incredibly easy to navigate.  The links associated with the information presented are useful and all working properly.  This site is very well designed and definitely worth visiting.

Brianna Gillespie 9/14/11 OVERVIEW: This website's sole purpose is to teach vocabulary words. It uses illustrations and sounds to teach each word. Learning Chocolate can be used by children of any age; you can choose to use English to learn Spanish or vice versa. Chinese and Japanese are also choices. This website is a good tool for teaching pronunciation. CONTENT: The content of this website includes numerous pictures and cliparts to describe the different words. The words are categorized into sixteen different categories. A few examples are body, school, house, and clothing. After clicking on a picture, more pictures appear with sound buttons next to them. Once you click a sound button, you hear a recording of the word. DESIGN: Learning Chocolate uses a variety of colors and pictures to illustrate each vocabulary word. This website is extremely easy for children to use; all they have to do is click on a picture and then the sound button. It is also in alphabetical order which is very convenient.

Bryana Wilson September 20, 2009 Website Review http://www.sonnets.org/early.htm "Sonnet Central" is a site dedicated to all different types of sonnets in many different time periods. The author of this site, Eric Blomquist, has done an excellent job of putting the site together in an interesting and organized way. The site serves as an archive of sonnets and does a good job in defining the histories and form of them as well. It is evident that he is passionate about this style of poetry, and in essence, catches the evolution of it quite nicely. CONTENT The content of this website is evident in the title. "Sonnet Central" is full of many different types of sonnets. It covers all different kinds of sonnets from differences in location, time, and style. It includes sonnets from all over the world and has sonnets set apart in different periods- from the 12th century to the early 20th century- most of which are English- but includes quite a few Petrarchan as well. There are also links to sections that you can use to search, view an alphabetical list of authors, listen to sonnets being read, and even read criticisms. It also includes a forum for modern poets to post their own poetry and discuss the information presented on the page. It is clear that Mr. Blomquist's site is aimed toward poets and those wanting to get acquainted with the sonnet- and the material on his site is easy to interpret and understand. There is an email link for contacting Mr. Blomquist if there are any questions or comments regarding his site and it is located on the site's homepage in the opening paragraph. It was last modified in 2007, but given the subject- the sonnet- I would trust the material is far from outdated. It loads quickly and works on several different browsers. DESIGN "Sonnet Central" is put together in an interesting way. The information is fairly easy to find and is set up in a rather organized manner, including a table of contents on the main page.

Posted by Allie Parrott 09/17/09\nEducation World as it says on the site is "an educator's best friend". On this site there are ideas for lesson plans, education games, and even ways to incorporate technology into the classroom. Content: This site has a ton of information. Although there is information for all ages, it seems more geared toward elementary school teachers. There are links for every subject. Math practice, punctuation of the day, and writing instructions are all in one spot. However there are five main categories to make a teacher's research quicker. These include: Lesson Planning, Professional Development, Technology Integration, Administrator's Desk, and School issues. There is even a convenient search bar located at the top of the page if the previous options do not fit that teacher's needs. The site is updated daily. This is extremely beneficial for a returning user. There are a lot of links and buttons to push before the user reaches their destination, but once there the information is clear. Most lesson plans are completely done for the user. There are also educational game instructions ready to be printed out. It's very easy for teachers to use. Everything is copyrighted by Education World and they can easily be contacted by selecting the link at the bottom. I would consider this site very credible and useful tool. Design: The design is fantastic. The most important links are at the top of the page in bright colors. Almost every link is in alphabetical order, making it easy to come back to a particular one. It is very colorful and flashy. There are a lot of advertisements down the right side of the page, but surprisingly they do not draw attention away from the information. The links work flawlessly and quickly. The feature that lets one searcher on the world wide web, or strictly in Ed World is also a helpful element of the design. Attributions: I would feel save using this site to get ideas for my class. There is contact information.

Overview: The purpose of this site is focused on entertainment, although some educational games (especially early education) are available. Based on the content and design, it is quite clear that this site is for children. There are many different recourses that are also available for children. At the end of some games, additional links to games of the same genre are given for further entertainment. The site also includes videos, pictures, blogs, as well as a news section designed with information that would be appealing to children Content: This site is designed to entertain kids with many different options in each category provided. Each category contains many subcategories to narrow the search of entertainment. I also find that throughout the material provided, preschool category provides a majority of the educational entertainment. The remaining categories may include educational material but focuses on humor or "top news" of young celebraties. Design: This website has an appropriate amount of eye appeal. Although the background of the site is white, the many different categories and links are abundant in color and graphics. The blue "goop" encompassing the title immediately attracts the imagination of children and encourages creative thinking. Also, each category is age appropriate. I found nothing that would be unsuitable or baleful for young minds.

Overview: This website had a large choice of topics to choose from where a student could get quick facts or information on a subject. On the homepage all the different subjects ranging in alphabetical order from Art to Social studies could be researched by students. The site led to other sites that contained the information and all the secondary sites appeared to work fine. This would be a good starter website for teachers to send students to check out because they know for sure information will be correct because the site is operated by the US Government specifically for kids to use. The site was very navigator friendly which works for the benefit for both the student and teacher. No update was listed on the page was the only problem again. The website says on the bottom that it is a service from the Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technologies, part of the U.S. General Services Administration Content: The content provided informational resources for students to use to do their research on a variety of topics. The website made it easy to find the different topics and the next link would take the student to another page that listed more specific content regarding the larger field of study. I focused on the kids part of the site but there was also more information for adults and teenagers. For the kids, they had three choices to pick from starting with learning stuff like information, playing games or watching information videos. Design: The design of the website was easy to follow. A bright background with slightly darker tabs made the page aesthetically pleasing to the eye. Three different tabs were listed for the kids section with learning stuff, playing games and watching information videos. The design of the site was easy to navigate and easy enough with navigation that kids in elementary school would not have a problem with it.

Katrina Swanson - February 25, 2013  Overview: The purpose of this website is to engage young children in elementary school but specifically focusing on a kindergarten aged level. It allows students to explore different games and activities regarding letters and numbers as well as incorporating the use of technology. There are numerous resources for children available to use from this website such as learning their numbers and letters while using a computer.  Content: The content of this website is pretty decent. From the first look of the site, the user is able to determine what audience the site is intended for and also to tell the basics of the site. There is no clear author or creator provided due to the fact that it is a student oriented site and not a site with "specific information." The site works properly and all the links provided are available and easy to access for students. The purpose of this site is very clearly indicated that it is for entertainment and learning at the same time. It is very well organized and easy for young children to maneuver around and interact with. Grammar and spelling are correct and this site has great content for students to learn about letters and numbers.  Design: This website is very intriguing by first look. A student would be enthused to use this site and eager to do the activities. The pages are attractive, and easy to access the different links to games as well as other things on the site. The site is very user friendly for young children due to the fact that they can easily go around the site. Lots of pictures, colors, and sounds are used all throughout the site to engage the children as well. It is also a great site because although it looks fun and intriguing it is also very informational to young kids.  Great website!! 

David D Castle 2/7/12 Overview: The site consists of a huge list of links to other sites that provide lesson plans, activities, resources, museums and exhibits. The intended audience is teachers, and most of the links are for Spanish and French classes. The site doesn't seem very professional, and is takes time to navigate. There are only three main categories of links, but every entry is just listed in alphabetical order. Content: Most of the links don't work, and there's no information concerning copyright, dates of revision, how to contact the creator, or if the site is commercial or solely informational. The categories are very broad, and it's hard to find a refined or precise link for what a teacher might need. Because most of the links are broadly named and described, it's difficult to find anything precise. This site is not worthwhile. Design: The site loads properly, but nearly all of the links are dead ends. There aren't any graphic or audio files, and because the homepage has so many links it's unappealing and difficult to use. Because the links don't work, there isn't sufficient information to make the site worth visiting. There's no date of revision or copyright information, and there's no way of knowing where the information came from. I'm no expert on web design, but this seems pretty terrible.

Lauren Peterson 10-21-13 http://www.abcya.com/kindergarten_computers.htm Overview: This website provides games and apps that can be used as educational activities to further a kindergarteners understanding of letters, numbers, and more in an enjoyable and interactive way. Content: As mentioned previously, this website contains various links to games and apps that make use of incorporating letters, numbers, and more; introducing these areas of content to the young kindergartener students. Examples of a few of these games are "Alphabet Bingo" and "Birthday Candle Counting". Design: When considering the design of the website, it can be said that it is fitting for its audience. The website is full of bright color and graphics of fun activities do! The links and activities work successfully with the exception of Adobe Software being needed. If the computers or internet source did not have access to Adobe Software, this website would be of little use to the teacher and students.

Overview: www.abcya.com is a website for educational gaming. It includes games intended to improve skills in several academic skills including math and language arts. Content: This site is somewhat confusing when you fist open up the home page. It takes a little reading to understand what the site is for, and who its target audience is. There are links that give information on the authors and supply contact information. Recent updates are posted, and links seem to work well, but the games do not seem like they would keep the attention of grade school children. Design: The design is where this site really lacks. There is nothing to catch the intention of the intended audience. They seem to simply rely on bright colors as opposed to animations and pictures. After navigating off the main page, this lack of animation and pictures is even greater. Instead of having links to the games with a picture, they only have text buttons.

I rated this website as very well designed and easy to use as well as very useful for my information needs because it is an excellent site for educational games for elementary aged students. The website breaks up content and games by grade, kindergarten through fifth grade and the audience is mainly students. The website does provide a page dedicated to teachers and parents explaining who the authors of the website are (teachers) and suggesting different ways that you can incorporate the games into lesson planning. The website doesn't provide a lot of outside links to other websites, but there is so much contained in this one site that I didn't feel like the content was lacking because of external links. As far as content does go, I was extremely impressed with this website. There was a page describing terms and uses as well as an entire page discussing student privacy. The content is also updated on a daily basis and each grade level had tons of games in all different content areas that students can play around with. They even have "holiday" and "seasonal" games that change periodically showing that the website owners really do update the content frequently. One thing that could have been a setback about this site is that it is sponsered and paid for by advertisements so there are ads on the tops and sides of all of the pages. This might not be so fantastic for younger students who don't understand they aren't supposed to click on every page that pops up. As far as design goes, this website is great for kids. It is fast and you hardly have to wait for the games to load at all which makes navigation really easy. Each game is separated by grade level and subject so students are able to choose their grade level on the home page and then search for a game that will interest them. The colors are bright and the graphics are great which really draws kids in. I would expect kindergartners to need help, but the website is so easy it would provide a grea

Free kids educational computer games and activities

Overview: Russian language interactive site with audio.

Whitney Lindt Purpose: I think that the purpose of this website is to make a website available that teachers could send their younger students to. This website makes it a fun way for students to learn and it also gives them time on the computer which they need to move up in school. Overview: This site has great links that teachers can use in their classroom and with some direction could actually send their students to and students could probably easily navigate this sight. There are many activities for the children that would make learning fun and keep the younger students' interest while the teacher is teaching them how to navigate a computer or just about any subject because this website goes over almost every subject in some way. Content: The content of this site is very useful especially with the younger students in grade school because it is easy to navigate through and teachers would be able to tell their students where to go and the students would be able to do it themselves. The other thing that I really like about this website is it has links to sites that could help students learn and then it has sites that students could just go for fun such as coloring pages. All of the links off of the homepage of the website would serve great use in the classroom and just for parents to send their kids to without having to worry about the safety of the internet. Design: This site is easy to navigate because the table of contents is in alphabetical order. All of the links from the home page work extremely well and one can navigate through this site quickly.

Overview This site was well organized and visually appealing. It was an educational website with games for children. On the homepage there are two options, one is a number game and the other is an alphabet game. Both of the games are very simple and would only be good for preK and Kindergarten students. Overall this site is not an effective one. It has very little worthwhile content and while it may have exceptional graphics there are many other sites that offer more games and variety. Content The overall content of this site is very limited and not appropriate for a large number of age groups and would not work well in a classroom setting. There are only two games which may bore children after a while no matter how interesting the color scheme is. Design The design is phenomenal it is childish yet simplistic. The cartoon characters are cute and introduced by name allowing the children to have something to relate to. It pastel color scheme is age appropriate and very pleasing to the eye. The site is well organized