Group items tagged

Kayla Bowie 13 October 2014 Overview: Preschooleducation.com is a site for preschool teachers. It isn't very professional looking but all of the content on it is useful. There are links for theme days, calendar time, games (inside and outside), and holidays. If you're in need for a quick idea, this is a good site to use. Content: There is a lot to go through on this site. If you knew a topic of interest, it would be pretty easy to search for something. Because there is so much on here, it can be a little slow find things though. Design: It is pretty organized with about twenty tabs on the side to narrow down searches. However, there is an add that will pop up whenever you go to a new page which makes it a little irritating to look around on the site.

Emily E. KrabbenhoftJanuary 22, 2011Overview: This website, created by Discovery Communications, is an excellent resource for parents, students, and teachers. For parents it provides ways to help motivate their children and ways to help with homework. For students it all gives homework help and other ways for students to further their knowledge or to practice what they already know. For teachers there is interactive projects, lesson plans, and puzzle makers. Content: The content of this website, the information providers, and the quality is well presented to users. While the information is provided by a company to further their products, it offers a lot of free resources for everyone. It also does not push its products on the user, for example no pop-ups or constant nagging to purchase things.Design: This website has a great design. You do not get lost when you are navigating the website because it has great descriptions and titles of the pages. All of the links work properly and direct you to the appropriate websites or links. 

Hannah Clucas. October 10, 2012. Overview: This website is a giant database for schools. It has something for administrators, teachers, students, and even parents. There are a lot of available resources. The website is amazing and helpful for all facets of learning. Content: For administrators, there are curriculum options, helpful assessments of resources schools are currently using, and a host of other useful things. For teachers there are lesson plans, puzzle makers, additional resources, and even information on student travel. For parents there is a section on ways they can motivate their students and give them help in homework. The student section has a homework help section as well as links to contests they can join and clipart. There are also videos that parents, teachers, and administrators can use. The website is probably more helpful to teachers and administrators. Lesson plans are divided into two grade level groups, k-8 and 9-12, making it easy to find lesson plans for intended grade levels. Some of the links on the website are not useful, such as the link to downloading Google Chrome. But none of the links are inappropriate. Design: The design of the website is logical and flows well. There is a section for administrators, teachers, parents, and students at the top and bottom of the home page. It is colorful and fun to get your attention, but not to the point that it is overwhelming. Its use of media is appropriate and helpful.

Lorena Garcia Evaluation date: 10/13/14 The site I chose to evaluate was Discovery Education located at www.dicoveryeducation.com. The purpose of this site is to provide free education resources. The intended audience of this site is teachers, students, and Parents. This site provides some downloadable lessons. It offers lessons plans for the various school grades. I feel this site could be a great resource for new and veteran educators. I found that this page is quickly to determine the content because there are links about who they are, what they offer, also they have links for students, parents, and Teachers who are the intended audience. In fact there is contact information for anybody who has questions or verify information about it. Anybody can contact them by phone, (1 800 ), Twetter, and Face book, and e-mail. It is clear that this page is to provide Educational information with the different options of downloadable lesson plans. It is worth visiting this page, specially Educators. They can find a lot information and great ideas for lessons. The information is clearly labeled and organized school year. These links are very well organized and easy to find. I did have some trouble finding my way back to the original page. However, overall I would most definitely recommend and use this website.

Ericka Chorniak October 9, 2012 Overview: This website is available for students as well as teachers interested in any type of science. Students could use this site to review the scientific method, gathering ideas for science projects, and getting help with their questions. Teachers can easily use this site because it provides them with a 'teacher resources' link that is equipped with handouts and worksheets. With all of the possibilities this site provides, it is easy to say that my overall impression of this site is that it is very well designed, easy to use, and very useful for my needs and purposes as a student and as a pre-service teacher. Content: The user is able to determine the basic content of this site at first glance, as well as the intended audience. The author of the material on the site is identified, information about them is available, and they appear credible. In addition to the author, the sponsor is clearly identified and they provide contact information. This site is current as it provides a latest revision date and that date is appropriate for the material. The links to other sites are current and work properly. The purpose of this site is clearly identifiable (informational) and the content effectively achieves this purpose. The content appears to be complete, is well organized, is easy to understand, is free of bias, appears to be accurate based on previous knowledge, was proofread (spelling and grammar are correct), and is consistent with similar sources. The links that are provided are related to the needs of students, my needs and my purposes, as well as the purpose of high school physics teachers and they are worthwhile and appropriate for these needs and purposes. Design: The site downloads efficiently. The homepage is attractive and it is easy to tell where the user is. There is a table of contents to navigate through the site with ease, making there no need for direction, but there are short explanations as to what the purposes o

Gil Lowrey- 10/7/12 Overview: Proteacher.net is another resource site teachers can use to get ideas for lesson plans. You can search individual subjects or specific grades. There is also a chat section to chat with other teachers and a group's section to keep fellow teachers in the loop of your findings. Content: The content is extensive; it covers several subjects and grades K-8. You can also find specific standards and activities relating to those standards. Design: The design is poor. It is a little complex to navigate at first, but once you figure it out it becomes easier. This can be tricky and obviously everyone has his or her own learning curve. There is also a large portion of the site given to advertising which seems to take away from the sites validity at first, but when you remember this is simply a site to help find more resources it seems to not matter.

Gil Lowrey- 10/7/12 Overview: Mathwire is a site made by a teacher for teachers. A teacher named Terry put it together to help other teachers, and potentially students, with ideas that can be used in the classroom for several different grades and several different aspects of math. Content: The content is great, but can be overly specific at times. What I mean is, if you are looking for an addition activity, you can find those, but you will also find addition activities in other areas, like how to add variables. Design: The design is good, but it is clearly made by an amateur. That is not to take anything away from this site, it is excellent looking and easy to find information, but there are times it is a little hard to navigate. Also, in the Blog section, the main tool bar is changed which causes confusion on how to get back to the home page.

Overview: The site focused primarily on science information that focused on an elementary school audience. The site contained a lot of information on a large amount of different topics that would make it easy for a student to find information on just about any topic related to science. Different tabs included for the student are experiments, games, facts, quizzes, projects, videos and images. Students can use much of this information on their studies regarding science. Since there is a .nz at the end of the web address, the teacher can see the website was created in New Zealand. The site can also take you to other subjects like English and math although they seem to be done by same creator of this site. Content: There are a large amount of different topics that would make it easy for a student to find information. Topics include earth science, animals, chemistry, scientists, water, and weather. Each includes information on the topic and also in the site they can do activities and games. A lot of the information appears to be correct but the only problem is it is hard to tell where a lot of the information was retrieved from. It also shows that last updated date being January 9th, 2013 so all the information is fairly recent. Design: The main thing I noticed about the website's design was the color that popped out. The different sections of the site were listed with red, blue, orange, brown and other colors for the different topics. Many pictures were included on the site that makes it more interesting and entertaining for the students to look at while they are learning.

Content- This site covers just about every topic a child could think of from animals, to weather, volcanoes, to teeth. This site has everything. The home page of this site gives the different pages that information and activities can be found based on what sort of information is being looked for. There are pages for facts, science topics, experiments, lessons, videos, quizzes, pictures, and then other sorts of fun random science things. This site can be used for all age levels because there are so many different things to learn about and use on here. All the information is up to date and recent as well and the author is highly qualified to do so and updates the page frequently. The content is written in simplistic terms so that all ages can find and understand it. The site doesn't have any links to different websites but much of the information needed is all in one place. Design- When you come to the homepage of this site it is very well put together and students will know that this site will give them information about all sorts of science topics. The site is not too overwhelming because it does not have large words written across the screen, but words that students can easily read and know exactly what is being taught. The site is appealing to the eye and all pages are set up in the same manner. Pictures and videos are all relevant to the topics as are the games. The games and videos also add an interactive aspect which is important for small children to have because it helps them retain the information better Overview: Overall I really enjoyed this site. It is really easy to read and understand and students don't need a very high level of reading to do so. It is colorful which makes it appealing, especially for younger students. It also has a lot of interactive aspects such as the games, the quizzes, and the videos to help the students learn more about the topic. It is easy to get around and that will make it more enjoyable for the students as well. Also, I

Enjoy learning about science with a wide range of fun experiments, facts, games, activities, quizzes, videos and projects that are perfect for kids.

Courtney Lovell February 2, 2012 Overview: The purpose of this site is to provide free lesson plans to teacher in elementary education. It covers subjects such as art, reading, writing, spelling, P.E., math, and health. This is a good tool to use when needing lesson plans for those areas. It is something I am fond of and will use in the future. Content: This site is lacking information on the author and revision dates, but other than those two qualities everything else looked really good. At the first glimpse I could easily determine the basic content and the intended audience. The information quality is great. The site is well organized and the purpose is clear. This site provides sufficient information for me because I will be an elementary educator in the future. Design: The design of this site is very eye appealing. There is a table of contents directly on the homepage which organizes the site efficiently. This site is easy to get around and the speed is adequate. This site is lacking directions for those that may need them. Over all the information given in this site will be very helpful to every elementary educator needing ideas on lesson plans.

Samantha Snethen- Feb. 5, 2012 Overview: OER Commons is website designed to allow educators from all over the worlds to share educational resources for primary, secondary, and post-secondary school. The website is free to view and has tens of thousands of lesson plans, classroom activities, assessments, video and audio lectures, games and much, much more. The site also has a bookmarking feature, in which users can bookmark new online educational resources to share. This website is a great tool for educators of any grade level to find and share wonderful classroom and teaching resources. Content: At first glance the site doesn't seem to give a clear idea of what it contains. However after reading some of the smaller print and doing some navigating it becomes clear. It provides a clear link to the creator and sponsor of the website, ISKME, so finding information about the organization is easy. One downfall about it is there is no last revision date provided, so it is hard to determine how old some of the resources available are. There is also little interactivity with the site. The majority of the content however, is easy to navigate, well organized and achieves the purpose it was created for. Design: The site is not designed to be very eye-catching and seems confusing at first glance. There were no directions for users available and again there was not last revision date provided. However, there was more than enough information and resources for almost any subject for almost every grade level. The information was also presented in well organized manner, which makes it easy for the user to narrow down the types of resources they are searching for.

Locate open education and creative commons resources for teachers and students of all grade levels

David D Castle 2/7/12 Overview: The site provides access to worksheets for K-12 teachers but requires a subscription to access the majority of the content. There are links to other sites for free worksheets, but access is limited without a subscription. Though at a cost, the site appears to be worthwhile. You can generate your own worksheets within the site, as well as upload pictures, submit artwork, and play brain-training games. Content: The site covers almost every subject and provides worksheets for all of them. The purpose is clear, and a subscription can be purchased directly from the homepage. The site looks professional but isn't clearly organized. It has copyright information and a 'contact us' button, but doesn't say exactly who the site creator is. Design: Without subscribing, the site doesn't provide sufficient information to make it worth visiting. It does provide links to free sites and gives you a pretty clear idea about what the site contains, but it overly organized. The directions to subscribing are clear, it appears professional, and it offers multiple resources.

Overview: This site is clearly for students K-8 as well as teachers and parents. It is a site about the weather that is benefical to students, teachers, and parents. Students can explore the weather, teachers can find lessons and experiments, and parents can help teach their kids at home. Content: It provides alot of information about the weather such as hurricanes, tornadoes, winter storms, clouds, rain and floods, thunderstorms, lightening, wind, etc. There are lesson plans, experiments, and science fair projects ideas for students and teachers. It provides a lot of useful and helpful information by the author. She is a meterologist. She also provides games, flashcards, and facts about weather safety for students to help them learn. Design: This web site looks like it was designed mainly for students. It's got lots of graphics and I think it would be appealing to them. Since it's for kids, it's easy to use and navigate through. It seems like a fun site that I think kids would enjoy.

Overview: This website is about different subjects in math. The audience is for students of all ages. It is a little more difficult to navigate in, so you may need to assist your students. This website would be very useful for students to practice and challenge themselves. Design: Like I said before it is not the easiest site to navigate around on for students. And it is not the most attractive site. But it has very useful activities and has very clear directions to help students understand the specific math subject they need more help on. Content: This website has a lot of math content. The point of this website is to help students of all ages get extra practice on their math subject they are currently studying. The content is very useful and will help students in many ways. There are also some free ideas for teachers to use in their classrooms, such as worksheets and videos.

Jade Line April 14, 2015 This article is about different ways to have children finger paint. It provides ideas on how to stay away from the mess of painting and different projects students can do with painting. The attended audience for this article is early childhood/ elementary teachers. This website has all of the information needed for an easy set up and easy clean up. I enjoy this website because it is giving fast and effective ways to get the job done, which saves time. This website is credible and the author is known and is a credible education professor at a university in Pennsylvania. Although, the last time it was revised was in 2008. The content in this site is a little jumbled and it gets confusing to read at times. The purpose is clear and well stated. The author talks about how important setting up this messy project is for an easy take down and clean up. She also highlights in this article different "mess-free" activities you can do with painting. The design of this website is not very appealing. It isn't very colorful and doesn't attract the readers eye at first. There are no pictures to catch the attention of someone either. It is just a bunch of different paragraphs with a few bold headings. There are links provided to other areas on the website, but doesn't directly relate to finger painting. Overall I think the layout of this article isn't very neat and put together. There were no ads on this website to distract the reader.

This article is aimed at educators (mostly math educators) and others who may have an interest in how important it is that students in the United States understand English, because it's very difficult to understand other content areas without understanding English. The article summarizes the idea that it is very important, across all content areas, for teachers to be able to incorporate learning English into their classrooms for students who use English as a second language. They give advice, mostly to math teachers, about ways in which to add more English into the curriculum, and some methods to help those who may not understand English as well as they need to in order to do the given assignments. The content of the site is definitely aimed mostly at teachers. It provides many articles (such as the one on this specific web page) that will better teachers and their students. It contains the name of the author and sponsors of the site, as well as contact information. The authors of the site seem like credible people to write about topics of education. The date last revised is given, and it is 2015. The revisions are up-to-date and all links work properly. The content of the site was very clear on its intended purpose. The content seems accurate, free of bias, and would definitely offer good assistance to anyone searching for how to help their English Language Learning students. The EdWeek homepage downloads efficiently. It is very appealing, and the tabs at the top allow you to find what you are looking for based off of who you are. Author and sponsors, as well as their contact information, are very easy to find. The site is extremely easy to navigate and all links seem to work well. The site seems one worth visiting, not only for teachers, but for anyone interested in aspects regarding education. The date in which the homepage was last revised is noted, and it was last revised in 2015. The site is very well designed.

kidopo.com Reviewed by Kristie Neises on 8/30/2010 Overview The purpose of this site is to provide free online resources for classroom activities for younger age level students in elementary school. It provides coloring pages, games, printable goodies, and craft ideas. The website is very good in both content and design. It has a theme that fits for its intended audience with bright colors and pictures. Everything within the site works very well and has a purpose. This site is worth bookmarking for anyone teaching preschool to first grade. Content Everything about this site is well done. It posts all of its legal information and contacts as links at the bottom of the page. Things that are to be given credit from another site are done so clearly. The purpose of the site is clear, to provide entertainment to teachers to use in their classroom. The content is bias free or hard to detect. All information appears to be accurate and up to date and is supplied when necessary. Overall the content is complete and cleanly done in a way that does not take away from the visual aspects of the site. Design The design of this site is extremely well done as well. The main navigation bar at the top is easy to use and clearly states each category that the site offers and makes using the site very easy. The graphics are perfect for the intended audience as elementary teachers with pictures like school buses and flowers and are not overdone. The site has sufficient information and organizes it well into categories that can be easily browsed. Links are not broken and lead to sites that are relevant and helpful as well. The site is also fantastic in keeping up to date even changing content to go with the seasons so that there are activities for every major part of the school year.

Reviewed by Kelsey Bancroft 8/31/10 Overview This website targets educators. It is filled with lesson plans, technology integration, activity ideas, etc. for the classroom. Many teachers would benefit from this site, but especially teachers who are just starting out. There are many different links on this site to navigate to, but there are almost too many links. There is so much on this website, it's a little bit hectic for a person to find what they are looking for. The site is nice because of all the amounts of information that can be found, but it is a little busy. Content The content on this site for the most part is all very good. There is a lot of everything on this site to be found. The only downfall is the process of finding it. If a teacher or anyone has time to sit down and look for what they want, then it's a great site, but if they are crunched for time it may not be the right site for them. There is all sorts of lesson plans, technology integration, proffessional development, and so forth. There is a lot of information here on this site that is worth looking through and bookmarking. Design The design of this site is a little crazy. It is well organized by all the different categories being grouped together, but there is so much on the page that it may be hard to find exactly what one is looking for. The look of the page may turn someone away simply because of how much is going on, but if someone sat and looked through the information it gives, they might find it useful. The design could lose a little cluster.

Shea Mangold September 1, 2010 This website is fantatsitc. The content it well organized it has a tool bar at the top to access exaclty what you need from articles, to tips, to discussions, to lesson plans (!) even a search engine. The targeted audience is hard to tell, many lesson plans can be used for a lot of different grades, but with the photos and extra's it could be more targeted at elementary ed but could also work for secondary. This website supports a bunch of other teaching websites and it is listed on the page. I cannot find where the author is listed but at the bottom of the page it has (© 1997- 2010 A to Z Teacher Stuff, L.L.C. All Rights Reserved.Use of this site signifies your agreement to the terms of use.Send questions, comments, and suggestions to webmaster@atozteacherstuff.com) So there is a place to talk to one of the authors. It doesn't have where the whole website has last been updated but the copywrite shows it's been updated in 2010. The teacher discussion forum is uploaded with new discussions every hour. And the lesson plans are updated frequently. All of the content is complete, the conection works very fast, and most importantly all of the super helpful stuff is free, no gymics saying it is the first time then you have to pay. The design meets up the the content perfectly. It is 100% professional. It makes you feel comfortable that you are on a trusted website. The graphics are appropriate for any grade of teachers, The store is appropriate and all of the sponsors look great on the page. All of the information is useful, clearly presented, and is easy on the eyes. I would give the content and design both an A.

A-Z Teacher Stuff - Review on 10/4/12 Diigo i.d= Jessle33 A-Z Teacher stuff's purpose is to provide a way to help teachers find online resources more quickly and easily. It helps to find lesson plans, teaching materials, worksheets, books etc. for the everyday teacher to help them out in the classroom. The site is designed for teachers of pretty much any grade level k-12 and any subject they teach. There are various resources available to them such as: themes, lessons, tips, articles, discussion, printables, and ages. All of these tabs at the top of the site take you to where you want to go and help to narrow your search in the area of your necessities. My overall impression of this site is that it is very helpful to teachers and can really help them find the things they are looking for in their classrooms. There was so much to choose from and so many categories that are available. Teachers need help to and this site does just that.

This site provides several virtual manipulatives, lesson plans, and other resources for mathematics teachers. It also documents the NCTM standards

Kathryn Slothower September 11, 2011 Overview: This website has a very clear purpose to help and inform students and teachers about math. There is a very nice website as it very easy to navigate through the website. This website is for all age groups in math. The website is broken down nicely into different sections to find what you are looking for very fast and easy. Although students could use this I feel like the main purpose and audience is for teachers to make math fun and interesting for students. My overall impression of this website is very good.  Content: There is a lot of information available within this website. Between the information that the author placed in this website and the links that are found on the website it provides lots of useful information. The last revision date was not found, although the information seems to be up to date from my prior knowledge. The content meets the purpose of the website and is very organized to find.  Design: The design of this website is very appealing. There is not too much white spaces to make the website look plain but there also isn't too much color or activity to make the website too busy. When you are on the website it is very easy to determine where you are and what you are able to accomplish through this website. There is a very nice presentation of this information through this website. 

Sarah Skinner on January 21, 2010 Overview The purpose of this site is to provide educational equipment to school aged children that will help them be more open to the idea of learning. There are educational games. A child could learn to speak Spanish or English if English is not the student's first language. They can also translate words into English, Spanish, or Portuguese. There are educational coloring worksheets and painting activities that can be printed out. A student can learn how to play and read music as well. Math and Science games are also available as well as books that are recommended for children. There are recommendations for special need students as well. There are arcade games and sports game that can be fun for children. This site also has a link for tips for buying children's footwear and clothing. Content The basic content of the site is clearly laid out. There are accessible links that are clearly marked to what they lead to. The intended audience is a little confusing. The site has games that are for elementary school aged children and they advertise for children. But, there are other links that are more for parents are teachers that are selling their products and advertising for hotels and teaching jobs. There is no author that is visible but the website name is clearly marked. Since there was no author visible, there was not information on the author available. There is a link to learn more about the company which shows that they are qualified to give out this information. There is contact information to ask questions. The latest revision year is provided at the bottom. It was last updated in 2010 so the information is up to date. All links are working appropriately at this time. The purpose of the site is hard to determine. There are many links for a variety of purposes. The content appears to be complete as well. The site is well organized. The information is easy to interpret. There is a lot of information that is useful. The

Katie Hurrell January 21, 2010 Overview: The purpose of learn4good.com is to allow students to access this website in order to play games to help them learn in different areas of school. The intended audience is elementary school children. The available resources are games, worksheets, coloring pages, and any other internet game that students might find entertaining in order to help them learn. My overall impression is that the content is clearly divided into different sections and the design makes the website easy to use. Content: At a first look the website is very user friendly and shows the user the sections of learning that the website offers. Also each sections talks about what type of activity is offered so student s can see what is appealing to them. The content is well organized and the website is free of bias. The information seems to be accurate based on the team that created the website. The links to other sites are related to the students learning needs, as well as the teacher's needs. Design: The homepage is attractive and each section has its own little graphic with it. The colors that are used on the website make it look attractive to little kids. The website is easy enough that students can easily find their way around the website. There is sufficient information that makes the website worth visiting. At the bottom of the website the user is able to find the revision date on the website. There is a working link that is provided to contact the website. I would say that the website is well designed and easy to use.