Group items tagged

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

http://play.lego.com/en-US/default.aspx Reviewed by Angela Eiden 8/31/2010 Overview This site was created by the famous Lego Company. This site is loaded with fun and interesting games, comics, movies and downloads. Furthermore, this site has tons of content to entertain for hours. However, the drawback is that most of this stuff is not set up into a traditional educational way. Therefore, this site may be entertaining and loaded with fun stuff, but it will not be the perfect educational experience. The games are all Lego related and are quite engaging. However, they do have games for all ages, including preschoolers. Content This site is filled with content, including a copyright listed at the bottom of every page. However, there are no additional sites listed, with the exception of other sites that were created by Lego itself. There is also a copyright for all of the logos listed on the site. Design This site is extremely engaging due to the colors and themes used throughout the site. However, adult supervision may be required for younger kids. The site can be a little misleading on the easiness of getting to where you want to be. You may have to click through several pages to get to the one you are looking for. This may be quite difficult for younger ones to handle.

Content: The first look at the content of this website really gives the user a lot of information. It is very easy to determine the basic content of the website and the intended audience. There is a paragraph stating exactly what the website is about, providing science related resources, and who it is intended for, K-12 educators. The information providers are easy to find by simply clicking on the "About SNL" link. It states the staff members who work on the website; although there is no information presented about any of them which makes it difficult to determine their qualifications. There is contact information through e-mail to contact the staff if the user has questions or to verify information. The sponsors are displayed at the bottom of the page. They are the AAAS and the Verizon Thinkfinity Program. The information seems to be relatively current. It appears that it was last updated 7/10 and none of the information is older than 1999. Some of the older information might be out of date, but there is plenty of information that has been contributed over the last two or three years. Also the links are all working and lead the user to sites that are up and running. I believe the information provided on the website is very high quality. There is a large amount of information that is very well organized and easy to work with. There appears to be no bias and the information is accurate. It also provides information that meets my exact purpose. There are tons of places for find further information. There are links to other resources as well as the science benchmarks for grades K-12.

Algebraic Equation

free online mindmapping software

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.

Katie Hurrell January 21, 2010 Overview: Apples4theteacher.com is a website that allows students and teachers to access interactive learning games in creative arts, foreign language, language arts, math, science, and articles. Teachers can also create quizzes and worksheet generator tools in the previously mentioned areas. Additionally a teacher may get articles and literacy coloring pages. Parents may also access the website. The intended audience in this website is teachers, parents, and students. My overall impression bases on my content and design reviews are the website is very easy to use and the content is very simple and easy to understand. Content: Based on the first look on this website the user is able to determine the basic content of the site, also the user is able to determine the audience of the website. The author is clearly identified and information about the author is available. Sponsor of the site is also clearly identified and there is a contact person and address on the bottom of the website. The information quality of the website is all generally easy to understand and locate on apples4theteacher.com. There are links to other sites that are related to both mine and the audience's needs. I would say that this website is very useful and definitely worth bookmarking. Design: The homepage is not very attractive, it is kind of plain but you can tell that you are on the homepage and near the bottom of the page there is a table of contents that describes what is in every section of the website. The copyright is established and very easy to find. The user is definitely easy to move around the website and links to other websites within the original website are very easy to use. There are not very many graphics on the website but it is still easy to use even without the use of graphics or animations. There is sufficient information to make the site worth visiting and it is very well organized. When I was on the website I

The content of this website is focused on teachers and students. It is for elementary classes. The website developer is Judy Miller. She has provided links for every subject. She has also provided lesson plans and activities you can print off and use. Most of the ones i veiwed would be fun and useful in an elementary class room. It was however had to detirmed what tabs were for teachers and which were for students. The design of the website was quite plain. Its does have a clear tilte, description, and image captions however. The boarders are filled with advertising and i did run into a lot of pop ups. These things were very destracting. The website was fast and easy to navigate. The list of links were well organized and easy to use. It was also very easy to contact the person that created the website if you have any questions. The website was up to dat. I couldn't find a date that it was last revised, but the copy right date was 2010. My over view for this website is good. I have saved it in my favorites and will refer back to it for future lesson plans. I found the design and content to be helpful and appropriate for elementary education.

-Overview: This website is a very good resource mainly for teachers that provides ideas for worksheets, activities etc… for them to use. It is not a very visually appealing website, but it holds some good information. It is a good informational source for parents and teachers to gather resources and information for their children. -Content: The content is well organized and fairly easy to access. It is mostly simple worksheets and activities for teachers and parents to print out and work with the students on. There are specific ideas that are featured on the side based on the time of the year and what holidays are coming up. It is good to have the students aware of the holidays and will help the students in the classroom to understand and learn the history of the holidays. Also, the teachers can use the print out coloring sheets as parts of projects or decorations for the classroom. -Design: The website is organized if you are able to look past the advertisements that are on the top and sides of the home page. If you know how to navigate the website, and you are able to focus on the content it way easier to use and the design improves. There are specific tabs that help teachers and parents to find exactly what they are looking for and browse easily around the website and find things that are useful for them.

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.

WebQuest website

Monique Koller Jan. 24. 2010 Invention at Play is a website designed to get kids interested in being inventors. Content: This is a cute website that has good stories about people who have done some inventing. It also has informational videos and games that encourage parents to allow play as exploration. The games are educational and logic based. Design: This site is very easy to navigate. The links work well and guide you to places that you might find interesting later. The games are educational and encourage creativity. It is easy to find who you would need to get a hold of if you had any additional questions or concerns. I wouldn't be super surprised if this site added new stuff regularly. Overview: The big goal of this site is to encourage learning and imagination! It is built for children and parents. This site has a lot of great stories of people who have become inventors, it has learning games, and informational videos that encourage parents to keep their kids exploring! I really enjoyed Word Play and Tinker Ball, the videos were reassuring and the stories of inventors are inspirational.

Katie Hertel 1-24-2010 Overview: Funschool is a teaching tool that provides educational games ranging of content for pre-school through sixth grade students. It also has a resource section for teachers and parents to use that gives tips on how to educate children in an entertaining way. I found that it had many games relevant to learning but there are quite a few games that have no educational value at all which isn't necessarily a bad thing but not great either. I also probably wouldn't integrate this in with the teaching of future students but it wouldn't be harmful to a kids learning environment at home. Content: As I reviewed this website I found that it had a variety of games and activities that help teach but the content is so broad that it is easy to get sidetracked. It contains links that each have an educational topics such as Timewarp relating to historical events, Globerider as learning about different areas in the world, and Formula Fusion which helps enhance science and mathematical knowledge. All of these have relevant content related to learning for each grade Pre-K through sixth. The information that is being taught through the games is straightforward but not as entertaining as they appear to be. It would be easy to lose interest of the audience that it aims for as it is not very challenging. Design: Although many of the games were easy to navigate through, it may be hard for younger children to understand because of all the cluttered content. The ads were also overwhelming and distracting that have no relation to the site making it hard to concentrate on the content it is supposed to.

Posted by Amber Rittenhouse on 1/24/10 Overview: This site is intended for anyone who wants to get better at multiplication, primarily students in elementary school. The site offers many different strategies and a lot of help to learn the multiplication tables. The site offers many games to apply their knowledge of multiplication to win the games. This site accomplishes its purpose of teaching. There are many links available through this site to go further and learn more. Content: This site contains many games, as well as techniques, tips, and secrets, that deal with multiplication. There is a way to contact someone in the case of questions or a problem of some sort. The purpose of the site is to help kids with their multiplication problems. The site does this through games, so the kids are entertained. Through the entertainment they are learning. The content is well organized. All of the games you get to choose your level of difficulty, so kids of a variety of ages can use this site. There are further links provided for more practice. There are only a few ads spread around the outside of the web page, so they are not very distracting. Design: This site is well designed. The homepage downloads quickly, and all of the links do so as well. It is very easy to get to the lessons and the games. Strategies to help someone better learn their multiplication tables is also easily found. The whole site is very colorful, and it catches the eye very easily.

Bloom's Taxonomy and knowledge taxonomy verbs

Kara Mitchell 1 February 2011 This website is intended for a young audience. This is evident thru the colors, animations and links. The purpose of the site is to explore areas of science, math, spelling and history. Following each link is a list of options for what the student wants to study or look into. Further down the page is a list of games the student can choose from to apply the knowledge read prior. It is simple to navigate, however I feel there are too many options for students giving the students opportunities to get off task. Content and Design: Based on content there is a good deal of information for each section. It is essentially an online textbook with pictures on each page. The content is correct as is spelling and grammar. There is a copyright and year easily accessible at the end of each page as well, making documentation very simple. As for the design, the site has a clear title page and an index of options. The site loads efficiently, quickly and is easy to navigate, as it has the same format on each page. In my opinion there are too many ads directly on the content page. Out of four ads only one is about the subject the others have no relation, or a relation that should not be included in a child's website. Overview: Overall, this website could be more interactive and child friendly. It is a bit word intensive and contains ads that should not be made available to children. There is a good bit of information that can prove very useful and if guided, through a web quest could be led to find the right information and learn more about the subject in the process. I would like there to be more videos or maybe music from the time period to help history really come to life.

Lucas Sutton Feb. 1, 2010 Content: At the top of the website, the subtitle has the following to describe the site, "Created by the people. Can you help?." As a website reviewer this is a big red flag. All of the information on this site is user based and the site does not explain the information screening process. There is no contact information available on the site and there is no mention of anybody in charge of the web page. There are also no available content revision dates. The content is organized well in groups and subgroups. Overall, I would be tentative trusting any of the information on this website because of the unknown nature of the info, and if it is correct or not. Design: Upon arrival at the site algebra.com, you can tell it has been very undeveloped. It is covered in adds that are not related to the subject and many odd links at the bottom. To find the information the site makes available you must actively search through all of the links and other clutter on the site. The information although well labeled, is not very thorough and very hard to understand. Overview: Algebra.com is a user based site for help in pre-algebra through geometry and up to algebra II. The website includes many resources useful to a student having trouble with math. Overall, the home page, although very basic, gets its intended use out very well. But because of the clutter and ads on the home page, I would be very careful trusting any of the information on the page because of the unknown authors and lack of contacts on the site.

This has a sample of a start sheet to use for the detailed schedule of the trip. It also has good drop down menus for Questions to Students and Teacher Reflection.