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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.

Scott Chanthongthip on January 23, 2010 Overview: National Library of Virtual Manipulatives is a free website offered online to help teachers us visual aids to teach mathematics. The content is from the Utah State University and is edited by the university. Content is easy to navigate and understand because it focuses on students from K-12. Content: The National Teachers Council of Mathematics five content standards are listed vertically in a grid, while the grades for each of the standards are listed across the top of the grid. Navigation based on the content standard and grade level appropriateness is accessible because of this organization. Teachers just need to find the content standard and line it up with the appropriate grade level. Although the site has a version that it offers to schools many of the virtual manipulatives are easy to use as long as one's computer has JAVA capabilities. There are four different language options for the different virtual manipulatives, so it makes it easy to use in bilingual settings (English, Spanish, French, and Chinese). The main reason for this website is to offer teachers with computer technology to teach manipulation of different math areas when the physical manipulatives are not available. Teachers can also use the site to help explain concept clarity of hard to understand math functions. Design: The initial web page offers a grid of math standards and grade levels from K-12. Teachers can click on the appropriate link and it will lead them to more options on different subjects in the content areas. None of the links are broken for the virtual manipulatives. Design of the website is updated often by the USU. NLVM also allows users to select from four different languages.

Kaci Philpot Overview: The purpose of this site is to provide teachers and students with fun, interactive Math manipulatives online, because manipulatives help students to see visual relationships in Math and help to actively engage students. The website has the following standards for math education; numbers and operations, algebra, geometry, measurement, and data analysis & probability. Each standard has four different age groups to choose from: pre-k through 2, 3 through 5, 6 through 8, and 9 through 12. This website is one of the very few educational websites I have found that is free and clear or useless information and clutter. Content Summary: This website content quality is very high; it has an index chart on the homepage with grade levels and math standards. Each box on the chart is linked to a page of full of various virtual Math manipulatives. If you navigate to the credits page you can see who is in charge of creating what, however it does not provide information about or credibility of those individuals. It also does not have revision dates. But the site is well organized and has very rich content. The manipulatives are an excellent way to get students excited about learning math. Total yeses: 19 Total no's: 2 Total N/A: 3 Design Summary: The homepage of this site is very easy to navigate and understand, but it does not have very strong eye appeal at all. But the manipulatives are very useful and all have clear directions if necessary and all internal and external links work properly. It does not appear to have any outdated content, if Mathematics can even be outdated. My favorite link on this website is the link to the Spanish page. This would be very useful for teachers with ESL students; it helps to ease the language barrier. Total yeses: 22 Total no's: 2 Total N/A: 0

Chelsey Lynch 1/31/11 * Overview: This website is for the National Library of Virtual Manipulatives. The intended audience of this site is teachers, and students of all ages. The available resources are a wide array of virtual math manipulatives. This website is extremely useful to teachers because it provides children with a firm grasp on concepts by letting them learn directly through physical objects that enable students to visualize relationships and applications. * Design: This website is attractive and very easy to navigate. The main page of the website contains a large grid system which serves as a menu for the math content area and grade level. All information to contact the sites provider is given, and all the information is current. The instructions for the manipulatives are very easy to follow and the site even provides examples when necessary. This site has adequate graphics, though the music and sounds in games is a little dated and sometimes annoying. * Content: The authors of this site appear to be highly education and experts in this field. The purpose of this site is very clear and the content achieves the intended purpose effectively. This site is extremely interactive, well organized, and easy to navigate. I have personally used this site numerous times and love it. The only things I wish this site contained more of are links to websites that are similar to this or had further information.

Michelle Hill February 24, 2012 Overview: The purpose of this website is to serve as a resource for furthering education and academics at the elementary school age. Therefore, the intended audience is teachers, students, and even parents. Available resources include games, pintables, apps, and videos for the subjects such as math, English, history and more. These resources are for ages Pre-K to 6th grade, and vary depending on the subject being learned. Overall, my impression of the website was that it was a great website that can aid me throughout my teaching career and will definitely be used in the future. Content: The content of the website was rated as very useful for my information needs based on the fact that the total number of "yes" answers outnumbered the "no" answers. Some strengths of the website included first look, the information providers, information quality, and further information. More strengths include that the site clearly stated the audience and basic contents of the site, information on the authors, the content was complete, information was consistent, and there were other links to other sites included. Some weaknesses of the site included that the information currency was either not provided or not applicable. The latest revision date was not provided, therefore I could not determine if the date was appropriate, so both of these were considered not applicable. Also, I had no way of telling if the content is updated frequently. Overall, the website provided a lot of content that will be useful. Design: The design of the website was rated as very well designed and easy to use based on the fact that the total number of "yes" answers outnumbered the "no" answers. Some strengths of the website design included the speed, home page, ease of navigation, use of multimedia, browser compatibility, content presentation, and availability of further information. It was all very well organized, the contents were clear, every

Overview: This website is intended for teachers or parents to find activities and worksheets for Pre K to 8th grade students. The webpage offers free materials on the core subjects in school along with seasonal activities and themes. I believe that teachers would find this website very useful in finding activities for their classroom or papers that children can take home for extra practice. My overall impression of this site is that it includes useful, updated material that is easy to find and use. Content: Looking at the content of information in this website, I have found that users would be able to quickly determine what information can be found on this site. At the very top of the page it specifically states that the website is an "educator's online resource". I also found that the website was created in 2001 but was recently updated in 2012, so it contains up to date information. The quality of this website is very well organized and is simple to understand. Almost all of the worksheets were easy to download as a PDF document, which would be great for printing. The only setback I found with this site is that information on the authors and sponsors were not readily available. Other than that small detail, I would strongly recommend this website to any elementary school teacher or home school parent; I know I will definitely use this site in the future. Design: I have found that the design of this website is very organized and appealing to the eye. Users should not have any problems moving around the site as the information is easy to find from the home page. From the home page you are able to click on the tab of any subject or grade of information you would like to find. One of the draw backs of this site is that there are no instructions on how to maneuver around the site if someone is lost. The best thing about this website is that there is a sufficient amount of information that is available to the public and organized in an easy to underst

Overview: This website is intended for teachers and provides lesson plans and videos from grades Pre-K to Post Secondary. It offers free information in the subjects of Art, English, Math, Science, Social Studies and Health/Physical Education. This website would be wonderful for teachers who are looking for a new lesson plan on any subject or for any grade. If the teacher creates a free account, they have the chance to find and share any information and also have the privilege of seeing the standards that are required for the school they are teaching in. Overall, this website would be a very useful tool for teachers to plan and share lesson plans, video, other websites and interactive games. Content: After reviewing the content of this website, I have found that most people would not have any trouble navigating and finding information on this page. The homepage is a great place to start because it allows users to login to their account, search the webpage or click on the subject that they would like to further explore. One problem I encountered with this website is that it is hard to tell who the intended audience is. By the websites name one would think that the site was just for teachers, but when creating a free account you are able to select from students, parents, teachers, school administrators and librarians even though teachers would probably benefit the most from this site. All of the lesson plans seem to be up to date, but some of the videos are out of date. The links on the site are active and running and provide great information and resources. Design: While exploring this website, I was very disappointed to find that the graphic design did not have strong eye appeal, but the layout of the site was easy to move around. One of the best attributes of this site is the external links, which are helpful in finding more information in that topic and they were all working properly. There is also a lot of information available to anyone and after

Dillon Karajanis 10/22/13 The Great Body Shop Review Overview: As soon as I accessed this site I knew what it was for. The purpose of this website is to provide teachers with certain materials, advice and other resources to improve or assist with educational instruction. The audiences intended for this website are Pre-K through middle school teachers and there are multiple resources that are included in the site; such as lesson plan ideas, trainings and tools or materials for multiple grade levels. Over all I thought this website to be the most beneficial to me as a teacher because I can use it to assist me in my teachings and refer to it for help or additional ideas. Content: At first look I am quickly able to determine the basic content of the site and its intended audience. I was able find the author of the site quickly as well and there is contact information provided easily as well. Even though the latest revision date wasn't clearly provided, I thought this site to be very useful information based on my needs and purposes. The site was accurate, the punctuation was correct and in general even though some basic information was unclear this is the most useful website I evaluated. Design: As far as speed goes, I was able to access the home page quickly and easily. The design of the home page is attractive and has the entire site's content listed on the side making it easy to navigate as well. The copyright information is easily spotted at the bottom the page as well. The site has useful links about them and who they are associated with making them appear as a credible source. The site format is consistent and easy to follow and the content involved makes the site worthwhile to visit. The website's overall impact had a positive effect on me and I thought it was well designed and an awesome educational resource.

Ivey Barnes 10/13/2014 OVERVIEW This website is an interactive math help website. It provides sample problems for many different topics from Pre-K skills all the way up to High School level materials. If a student enters in an incorrect answer, then the site provides a brief explanation on why the answer is wrong and how to fix it. Overall, I think that the website is a good resource to help students master math concepts either in the classroom or at home.   CONTENT The copy right is up to date by the current year and it is even stated that new topics are constantly being added. The source of all the information on the site is from a technology company whose goal is to create products to solve problems in education. This site is actually one of the products to help teachers and students. The only disadvantage to this website it that to get unlimited practice you have to pay and register to the site. The good part about registering is that they have different payment options for both parents and teachers.  DESIGN The IXL site is easy to navigate; it is broken up by tabs for each grade level and then the links are organized by subject from there. Each of the tabs are color coded and a preview of the content in each of the links is given before you click on the link. 

Emily Lewis 4/15/15 This website is the teacher's website on PBS.org. It is called PBS Learning Media and provides lessons and resources for grades pre K-12. The website is intended to be a resource for teachers to use when looking for lessons, videos, games, or activities. Overall the website looks helpful and well put together. The content of the website ranges from a variety of lessons and videos from different providers. The name of the provider is clearly posted under the link to the resource. There is a list of media types you can select from such as images, documents, webpages, videos, lesson plans, and more. There are various subjects and grades available to use. The website is current and presents quality information that achieves its intended purpose effectively. The content is consistent with the standards and free of bias because it is merely a way for teachers to find resources. The design of the website is very pleasing to the eye and easy to navigate. The homepage is attractive and there is a column on the side to easily narrow down your search. This column includes grade level, subject area, language, accessibility features, permitted use, and media type. The websites that appear on the page include a picture, a title, the media type and the name of the provider, which makes it very easy to navigate. The option to find resources in Spanish or English can help teachers cater to the students with English as a second language.  Overall the website is very well designed. 

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.

Overview: This website is a good website for teachers who need fun and creative ideas for many different activities and lesson for Preschoolers and Kindergarteners. The last time this webpage was updated was in 2010, this is fairly recent, since that is within the last year. There are a variety of activities, games, quizzes, and many printouts. The intended audience is teachers who are looking for ideas. I love this website. It was easy to navigate and gave me a ton of great ideas and printouts I can use. Content: This website is full of links, all of which work, that lead to many different types of content from letters and numbers to animals to coloring pages. Within each of these sub-headings there are many activities and ideas to use for the children in your class. Each section and sub-sections are clearly defined and have pictures that correspond. The last update was last year, this seems to be a while ago, but since material for pre-k does not change drastically in a year, it is still up to date. There is not any information on the author, so that is lacking, but overall the content on this website is up to date and easy to access. Design: The design of this website has all links well defined and organized. There are pictures that also correspond to all of the links and headings. There is easy navigation throughout the whole website and everything is easy to access. Everything is up to date. There are a few varieties of media, mostly in the form of words and images. There is a copyright, also with a description as to how the website can be used for educational purposes.

Murphy Muirhead9-8-2011 OVERVIEW: The Learning Planet website is a site that provides learning games for children of young ages. Learning Planet games are educational and the games are all safe and free. This website is designed specifically for children ages pre-k all the way through seventh grade. Although, it does have very helpful links for teachers to use as well which include games and activities to use in their classroom. The resources that are provided with this site include daily worksheets, sudoku's and many more to help further children's knowledge that they gain through this website.  CONTENT: The overall content of this site is very good and provides many educational games that are great for kids to play. The games are valuable to their learning and I would recommend this site to parents and other educators.  DESIGN: This website has a very well thought out design. Each graphic is used effectively and do make a good contribution to the site. Also, the index is very easy to follow and brings the viewer directly where they wish to go on the site. The overall layout is very eye-catching and appealing to viewers. 

Posted by Kirsten McAlexander on 9/20/2009 Scholastic is an excellent website for teachers, students, parents and administrators. Scholastic provides something for everyone. It includes grades pre k-12th. Content: Scholastic provides different activities for students, parents, and teachers. It is an excellent website for everyone. The only disadvantage is that it cost $39.99 a year. But that is relatively cheap for all that it provides. For teachers it provides lesson plans, activities, books to buy, games, and printables. It includes every subject and every grade. It provides information from real teachers throughout the states including strategies, how to integrate technology, time management and much more. Scholastic provides many very useful tips for new teachers. It provides printables for those who finish quickly and for those that need more help along with homework worksheets. Scholastic brings everything that a teacher will need and puts it all on one website for quick and easy results. Design: Scholastic is very easy to navigate. It clearly labels all topics, and has a search bar for a those who need things fast. Scholastic is very colorful and appealing to the eye. It allows you to search by both subject and grade so you can easily marrow down what you are looking for. Attribution: Since you must pay for the site, everything is downloadable and easy to use. It does not require any extra work to remove all unnecessary information from the page before you print.

Jessica Chandler January 24th, 2011 *Overview: This website is to help kids with their math skills. The ages are from preschool- eighth grade. There are very many links to click once you choose the appropriate age group. It seems to be quite simple if you know what you want to expand your learning on. It may be difficult for the younger kids to read the different types of things to learn, but the requirements for each are quite simple. *Content: There are several skills to choose from among each age group. This is just a math website, so it deals with different sorts of categories such as the Pythagorean theorem, shapes, fractions, exponents, and etc. The games are very educational and help the students to learn the content. I especially liked this website because it gives explanations to the problem you missed by going through step by step. It also gives the score and how much time was spent doing that certain exercise. You can complete the different skills in however much time you prefer. It will give you feedback once you hit submit and finish. Otherwise, you just keep practicing! *Design: The design of this website is very clear. It opens by stating, "Where your math journey begins." It is very eye appealing and colorful. There isn't too much content to overwhelm the users. It is very easy to use. The grade levels appear right on the home page, making it clear for students to use on their own. Once the level is chosen, different skills appear-all categorized, and then the only thing left to do is select what you would like more practice on. The site looks very professional and up to date. Overall, the design is catchy and great for students to use!

Overview: This website is designed for K-8 aged children, and it includes several different games primarily focused in math. The website is highly interactive and clearly represents the idea of integrating education and fun. Each game has a clear purpose, and they are actually very entertaining. Content: The purpose of the site is easily identifiable in the homepage, where bright colors and very childlike design catches your eye. The content is organized primarily by grade level, so it is easy to find appropriate games for whatever grade you are teaching. Although it is unclear when the website was last updated, the information appears to be up to date and relevant for elementary education standards today. There are not outside links to similar or relevant websites to enhance what is being presented on the site, but the content on the site is very thorough, so other resources aren't really necessary. Design: The design of the site is obviously very child-centered; however, it is well done, not cheesy or obnoxious. The homepage catches your attention, and the information is easy to access. Each game is unique, has its own fun, vibrant design, and is highly educational. Since the website is primarily organized by grade level, the design enhances the user-friendliness of the website. I believe this website would be good for use in the classroom because there are minimal advertisements, and children could easily find a fun and educational game that suits their needs.

I really like this website; I will be using it in my WebQuest design!

Kandase Quinn 9/5/11 Overview: Made for teachers teaching K-12. This website gives lesson plans for all different grade levels and all different subjects. It is clear and easy to use and I found it useful when thinking of new ways to present different material to students. Design: Lay out is easy to navigate throughout the different links. They have a contact link and the copyright is clearly stated. Texts are all readable and all links and pictures worked. Content: This site has printable, assessments, special needs resources and lesson plans by subject and theme. There are also many other links on this site to get more information that this site may not have.

Katrina Swanson February 26, 2013 The intended purpose of this website is to provide teachers from many different grade levels access to creative and fun lesson plans, printables and other fun activities to include in their classrooms. Content: This website contains a lot of material that is very informational and helpful to teachers. There are links to almost any subject and more to incorporate into a classroom. Design: The design of this website is attractive but pretty basic. It is for teachers to use not students, and this is very clear just from looking at the different pages. Everything runs smoothly and the links seem to be working properly!

This Web site is great because it allows you to create custom worksheets for several different subjects including math, science, social studies, foreign languages, and handwriting. You can also choose the grade level you wish to customize for--everything from pre-K through middle school.

Softschools.com provides free math worksheets and games and phonics worksheets and phonics games which includes counting, addition, subtraction, multiplication, division algebra, science, social studies, phonics, grammar for 1st grade, second grade, 3rd grade, 4th grade, 5th grade and 6th grade.

Virtual manipulatives for mathematics

Oct. 7th 2012 Overview: The purpose of this site is to engage young children, while teaching them about opposites. This site achieves this through use of educational games. Based on content and design it is obvious this site is intended for children. Although the site is designed for children, there are many different resources available for parents as well. This site includes games, videos, and pictures appealing to children. Content: As mentioned earlier this site is intended to entertain children while having them learn opposites. Although through further exploration of the site there are many other topics discussed. All of the material provided on this site is educational but also entertaining. Design: The website is very appealing at first glance. A fun graphic spans the top, but upon further exploring it is evident that that is the only picture on the home page, leaving a blank white screen with words. The categories are all written in the same bland font and color. Each category is geared towards Pre-K students, and is very age appropriate.

This website will help students understand geography and the layout of the world. There are many interactive games available to help students get the material.

Courtney Lovell February 2, 2012 Overview: The purpose of this site is to provide lesson plans to elementary educators. It covers all of the basic subjects in elementary school and could be useful to future elementary teachers. Content: This site is lacking some important qualities, such as there is no information about the author on the site. Also the site does not have revision dates. The information quality of this site is superb. The site is well organized and easy to get around. The information appears to be accurate on this site and similar to information on other sites. This could be good tool to use as a future elementary educator. Design: The homepage of this site has a strong eye appeal. As the audience you can easily tell where you are and there is a table of contents available on the homepage. The homepage is lacking information about the provider and the copyright date. This site is easy to navigate and downloads efficiently. It also has useful information that can help elementary educators.