Group items tagged

Overview: Preschool Activity Box has many good, different ideas, tips, and activities. The intended audience is teachers or parents who are teaching pre-k children. The website is well organized and easy to navigate. As soon as you click on the link to the website, you know where you are at and can see the index of activities and worksheets. The website is up to date although many of the links are dead ends. I like this webpage, it has good ideas but since most of the links are dead I probably would not use it. Content: At first look I was able to distinguish the purpose and audience for this site. There were no authors listed for this site but the sponsors are listed at the bottom, the only thing they don't have is contact info for the sponsors. The information was updated in 2011, so it is very current. There are very good ideas, activities and tips. Design: The website is concise and has good organization. The homepage loads well and at a first glance you know exactly what webpage you are on. The copyright and date are clearly seen and there is a link to their sister site. The first links are live and lead you to some tips and activity ideas, but when you go any further, for printouts, the links go dead. This is very detrimental to the site. There is a huge mix of live and dead links, so it makes it a guessing game as to which link will work.

Brienna Gregor 10/11/12 Overview: This website is very useful for students, teachers, and other educators that want to learn more about volcanoes. This website is meant to stimulate the mind through comic book graphics that simplifies the learning objectives as indicated in earth sciences. Available resources include: plate tectonics, volcanoes, volcanic database, games, comics, teach, top sites, and more. This website is great for students and teachers in that it is exciting and easy to go through while serving as a helpful tool concerning lesson plans. This site would work best for students from late elementary to high school levels (5-12). In my opinion, the content and design of this website is well done. Content: At first look, this website looks to be professionally done. The content of this website appears to be current and correct however, the designers are apart of a ThinkQuest team called, "Team 17457". These teenagers did a very good job however; it may not be the most reliable source due to their age, inexperience, and living situations (all three are from different continents). Despite this, this website's information quality is very well done. Design: The design of this website is very well done in that it is very fast, it is easy to navigate, has many different sources of media, and the presentation of the content contributes to the website's purpose. Its design draws you in and makes you want to explore and learn the information provided.

Kacy Jo Bailey October 8th, 2012 Content: The content of this website is for second grade students learning more about sharks. This website is a good way for kids to learn more about the diversity of animals we have in our environment, and how sharks are similar and different from other animals that we see everyday. The content of this website is clear, easy to understand, and easy for second grade children to work with. Some of the content is a little old, but for the most part this website still gives teachers the ideas they need to make a web quest similar to this one Design: The design of this website is relevant to it's topic. It is a website about sharks and it has sharks for animations, and a blue background to represent the ocean which sharks live in. This website is easy to navigate with it's layout. Things are clearly labeled and easy to find.  Overview: Overall this website is a great way to get kids involved with learning about sharks in groups and not just getting information from the teacher lecturing. The website has good information and links that are useful to further investigate the information that may not all be included on this website. 

Audience: Parents, but the information could also be useful for a teacher or counselor intending to provide advice or support for parents with anxious children. Overview: The purpose of this website was to explain how and why young children feel anxious, and ways in which parents or loved ones can help calm the anxious child's nerves, and the purpose is served very well. The webpage talking about specifically about school stress in young children provides multiple links and subpages that relate to management of and living with an anxiety disorder, how to recognize it is symptoms and what it looks like in both children and adults, support and resources that families could use to properly live with the disorder, and other related articles on various disorders and mental illnesses. This website is very impressive and I intended to use it for future use in the classroom. Content: This particular website provides multiple pages related to the topic of school anxiety rather than one half of one full page of information! The only thing that was not provided on this webpage was contact information. Revision and copyright dates are available, but the last revision date was in 2007… It was not very long ago, but I feel as though this information should have been looked at recently and updated with new studies that might have been found. The website states clearly that it is a medical related site with professional medical information. Overall, the given information is very well laid out and very professionally written. I am very, very impressed. Design: This website is very appealing to the eye given the amount of pictures and use of color coordination. The amount of pictures gives it just enough appeal without looking like it is too much or overbearing. Information is clearly given and easy to find, navigation is not hard to do, links seem to work properly, as the same format is followed throughout the website.

Overview MyHistro is a multifaceted site. It's main purpose is to aid history teaching by providing interactive maps that display the locations of historical events. It also is trying to jump on the social networking bandwagon by allowing users to create their own timelines with maps of their own lives. It also does the same for businesses. For educational uses, this site can be used for middle school students and above. For middle school students, some discretion needs to be used when choosing which parts of the site to use. It might be a good idea for the teacher to operate the site on a projector. For networking uses, I would recommend that only adults use this site and even then with discretion as by doing so you put your personal information out there. My initial impressions were that this site is very professional and has a ton of content to explore. It is a site that is very engaging for both educational and other uses and could really be a good motivator for kids.

Emily Nielsen: April 15, 2015 This website is intended to educate viewers about rainforests. There is information available about where specific rainforests are, what animals and animals live in them, and how to persevere them. I think it would be a great resource to upper elementary school aged children. Overall, I really like this website because there is a lot of information presented in a format that is easy to navigate. The content of this site appears accurate and easily verifiable. The information is provided by MK and PK Productions and it is material that is copyrighted but can be used for educational purposes. There is contact information provided on the site. I cannot find a date about when the site was last updated but it seems current. The content is well organized into several different categories. The purpose of the page is clearly to be an educational resource about rainforests. Grammar and spelling are correct. The design of the website provides a format that is easy for viewers to use. The homepage catches the viewer's eye with lots of colorful pictures. There is information for contacting the maker of the site to find out more information. There is a wide variety of information on a variety of rainforest topics. The multitude of pictures adds to a viewer's understandings of the topics. The different topic pages on the site are easy to transfer from one to another and are all filled with information and pictures.

Kayla Rider January 23, 2010 Overview I found this site and thought it to be a great idea for art classes to incorporate technology into their classrooms. It is aimed at art teachers and students. It grabs the reader right away with its qwerky sayings and great design. Thought it would be a lot of fun to navigate through entirely. Content This website is aimed at the arts. A portion of our lives that is slowly dwindling downward. It creates a technology environment to enrich and learn more about art. It is geared towards teachers and students but anyone can benefit from this website. Design Of course, being an artsy website, it is colorful and fun to look at. However, the overall design of it is quite applicable as well. It is easy to navigate through and catches a readers attention quickly. Overall, I believe it has great potential for a classroom and/ or a fun afternoon of learning more about art and yourself.

Amanda Larsen 1/23/11 Overview: This is a site that provides current articles and tools for people (at least high school age) to be educated in nutrition. There are diet ideas as well as calculators for things like BMI (Body Mass Index). There are shopping and meal planning tools as well as information on the nutritional needs in the different stages of life. Content: The information is current and relevant to the many different ages. This site is sponsored by the government and the authors of the different articles are appropriately referenced. At first glance the site can seem to be a bit intimidating in terms of the vast amount of information, partly due to clutter. But, the different tools are labeled clearly. Design: There are appropriate tabs and navigational tools make use and access easy. There is a vast amount of information all focused on the subject of nutrition that makes the site worth while and interesting to learn from. Links are appropriately organized in to categories and are accessible. The site is also motivational to live a more healthy life style. 

Purpose: This website is a section of the Discovery website designed for children. It is used to help kids learn about the world they live in. In this section, it is a lab area and children can follow instructions to many science experiments. Content: The website is easy to use and looks fun. The labs are fun and educational and provide explanations at the end of each one describing why these phenomena occur in science. However, though all of the science experiments are interesting, not all of them would be useful in a science lesson.

Nicole Sutton 9/5/11 Overview: The e learning for kids website is a nonprofit foundation that provides free and fun learning activities on the Internet. The website is for ages 5-12 but can also be used by people in the education department, parents who want to connect and learn what their kids are learning, as well as game developers who want to contribute. e-learning for kid's hopes to be a better source for children 's learning through being available through the Internet so it can be accessed from anywhere. It's free and offers course content in math, science reading and keyboarding. The website helps children master these important basics so they can be successful in their future lives. e-learning has many partners and supporters; there are also helpful resources such as a media link that connects you to new, case studies and other important information. Content: The e learning for kids website is very easy to navigate, and is very high quality. There is a very nicely laid out home page where you can click on the grade level you need. Below the grade level there is a list of subjects you can choose from. There is also a choice of languages to choose from at the very top of the page. Once you click on a grade or subject it gives you a list of fun and helpful activities as well as what grade it would be best for. The content of the site is very helpful and well laid out. The website seems reliable as well because it gives you a list of board members, executive team and advisory board so you know exactly who is involved in the website and what they do for the site. Overall I got a very good impression from the content of this well laid out website. Design: The e-learning website is very easy to navigate and very pleasing to the eye. It is colorful and lays out all the links that you need on the home page. There is a clear area to contact the creators of the site and sponsors or partners were very easy to determine. The copy writes date is clear and the

Lyle Wiley September 10, 2011 Overview: Shakespeare Help is clearly a for-profit site focused on attracting educators which attempts to sell Shakespeare teaching resources on a front page. But this site contains many linked educational resources from other sites for 10 Shakespeare plays which include current links with lesson plans, texts, power points, and current research articles. The linked resources are the gem of this website. These appear to be frequently updated, relevant, and helpful resources for the teacher approaching a Shakespeare play. With that being said, Shakespeare Help itself has very little free original content to contribute on this site. Content: The bulk of the useful content on Shakespeare Help is found in the linked material to external resources. In many ways, the site works as a nicely organized list of helpful links for the educator approaching Shakespeare. This is helpful to notice, as the authorship information for the original content on the site (which is being marketed to sell) is not readily available to the reader. This puts into doubt the reliability of content, but as the mass of the free useful content is external, this does not make the website unusable for educators. The site is updated frequently and many of the links would definitely be helpful for Shakespeare educators. Design: The relatively simple design of the site is easily navigated even if it is not extremely eye catching. The website loads speedily and follows simple indexed lists for informative links to be found. The frequently updated links all appear to be live and are extremely useful for teaching purposes. There is very little original site content available for free, but the available information is well organized and easy to locate. There is little media content on the site, but there are some nice external links to some quality media content. Essentially, Shakespeare Help works well as an external links site for teaching resources.

Elise Verley September 9, 2011 http://www.ecoliteracy.org/ Overview: This site is dedicated to schooling for sustainability, which they have branded "Smart by Nature". They offer resources to teachers to learn how to teach their students how to live sustainably. The site houses a series of essays, books, activities, lessons and resource listings to use as a basis for teaching students to live sustainably. They also offer seminars and workshops that educators may attend. This site is an excellent resource for a "Green" education Content: It was great to see a place where it was easy to find sources for Ecoliteracy. They offered resources in many different topics including: Climate change, health and nutrition, pollution, population and may others. It impressed me that they were interested in creating a relationship with educators to continue to offer them ongoing support. Design: The web design of this site is user friendly and easy to navigate. The top navigational menu made it easy to find the topic you were looking for. Then the sub-navigational menus allowed me to zoom in on essays and events on particular topics. The contact information was listed many places on the site, encouraging educators to interact with this growing community.

Mitch Sexton January 20th 2009 The page provided by BBC about German culture and language seems to be a very interesting and educational tool to be used by anyone looking to learn about Germany. With so many different links and fun games it is impossible to search this site without learning at least a little bit about Germany and its culture. I feel that this would be a useful tool as a teacher because not only does it provide the site in German but it also gives you news updates, live television feeds, weather and even quizzes about cultural events. The intended audience is obviously any person that is looking to learn about Germany. But it also provides a more in-depth look with the television feeds and translation into German. I think that this is a wonderful site for anyone but a particularly great site for students that will be in my classroom.

Natasha Tuft Web Site Review September 20, 2009 http://www.mustcreate.org/index.shtml "Music in Schools Today" is a resource for students and educators but my eye was drawn to the largest icon which says "donate now" and another that says "how to help". MuST is a non-profit organization focused on keeping music integrated into students lives in the San Francisco Bay area. CONTENT The site's purpose is discovered after a few minutes of reading. The information providers have a convenient "About Us" link that explains very clearly their purpose and the purpose of the site. The "press" section shows us that there are regular updates to the site as I saw a press release from April of this year. But, as it turns out, "Various resources" actually means "a few". Each area on the site only has a few resources for students and teachers. But perhaps more information is available as you follow the links. DESIGN MuST loads quickly and efficiently, has an attractive homepage, and has a convenient link to contact the sponsors easily. I didn't observe any additional use of multimedia, though that might be very useful for this kind of a site. It was compatible with my browser. The content presentation was well done. A student hoping to become an artist may find several resources through the site. In addition it was current and has plenty of links to provide you with further information.

Audience: Anyone/no specified group Overview: The purpose of this website was to provide any viewer (parents, friends, teachers, administrators, etc.) information on how schools and individuals can help anxious students succeed in school. Multiple links are provided on the sidebar of the page, along with some links on each page itself. Overall, I was not impressed with this website at all. Content: The intended purpose of the website was clear, but I thought the overall information provided for this website was poor. It seemed as though each page/link related to the main topic (anxiety) didn't provide any in depth information, but rather links upon links of articles to read that don't even get to the main point or provide the wanted information. You'd have to click on multiple links and put in effort to find the information that you're searching for--- the website doesn't provide immediate or clear information right off the bat. The whole website doesn't provide solely information on children with anxiety, but it also includes information on how to deal with anxious college students, women, elders and military personnel, which could be useful to other viewers. The revision date wasn't provided, and even though there were multiple links to try and further expand knowledge, nothing was really learned. I was disappointed in what was provided from this website, especially since the company, or creators, are supposed to be experts on the subject of anxiety. I would have hoped for more direct answers rather than a maze. Design: The color coordination wasn't exciting, but it was definitely more appealing than the About.com website! No pictures or videos were provided, which didn't help the layout appeal at all, o revision dates were provided, and there were page loading errors when certain links were clicked on. This website did however provide contact information at the bottom of the page, which the other two websites did not; that definitely ad

Content: The content of this website focuses on earth sciences, particularly that of geography and is highly informational. The information given about the author of this site shows that he is highly qualified as well as the many awards given to this site shows that the site is one that is accurate and well kept. The information given requires some previous knowledge, but also most of the topics are well written and students can easily understand what the page is telling them. The site also goes in a predetermined order if you continue to click the "continue along site track" button. Some of the pages seem irrelevant, but as you continue, you understand why those topics were covered. There are some links to other pages but they take time to load but add information to what is being taught. Design: The design of this site is appealing on the first page, but it does not continue throughout the site. The home page catches your attention and so do some of the other pages, but not all of the pages have something for the students to look at and there are a lot of ads in the middle of the pages so students could get confused about what is part of the page and what is not. However, all of the pages have at least one reference photo for students to look at and be able to somewhat understand what the page will be about before they read the text. There are links to live cameras as well which adds to the appeal of the site. This site is also very easy to navigate as explained in the content evaluation and even if you want to deter off the provided course it is easy to find what you are searching for. Overview: This site was average to me. The information was really good and I could definitely use this site in the classroom to help explain certain processes that the earth goes through, but I feel that students would get distracted because this site doesn't have very many interactive aspects. There are also ads in this site that look like they belong with the site, but re

Laura Rice 2/5/12 Overview: The purpose of this site is to provide knowledge and promote international art programs. The websites intended audience is for adults hoping to encourage people to seek the arts. I would also have to say this website is more beneficial to those that live in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island. They provide information about dance, festivals, film, galleries, gardens, history, libraries, media, museums, music, parks, and theaters. It also provides maps of the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island. These maps provide access to arts all around the cities. There are also a number of art lesson plans for all ages of students. This website is a great resource for information about different art programs. It is well organized making it useful for anyone that accesses it. Content: This website provides information about different organizations throughout cites. A list of things to do provides information about activities taking place in the cities such as dance, festivals, film, galleries, gardens, history, libraries, media, museums, music, parks, and theaters. The next set of links shows maps of the cities with arrows to the art locations. A calendar outlines all art activities taking place in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island. It also provides great resources for parents, teachers, and seniors. For the parents the website has many links that their kids would love to attend such as children museums, music programs, and plays. Teachers are provided with activities their kids may enjoy as well. In the organization section there are links to different types of art organizations. There is also an area that allows people to get involved whether to donate money or volunteer their help. At the bottom of the page there's information about the programs, ways to reach some one for more knowledge, and the legal rights of the website. Design: The website is well organized and h

Good apps for IPhone for texting.