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Charlene Asay: 1/23/2010 Overview: One more story is a great site for beginning readers. This site will read a book to you in English, Spanish, or Chinese. You can either have the site read a book to you or if you are learning to read you can read the book yourself. This site is a great way to learn about different great children's books, and to get children excited about reading. Content: This site could be a great tool to either entertain children, or to have them practice on their reading. And they could find books that they enjoy, and as their parent of teacher you could purchase those books. This site is a learning and profited site for the maker. There aren't a lot of different links to click on to distract others from the purpose of the site. Design: This site is pretty well done for the purpose the maker wanted it to do. I think that this site is made for advertisement of different children's books. If a child can read the book, or hears the site read the book to them they could fall in love with it and want to buy the book. This site doesn't however have a copyright date or who published the site. This could be a scam of a site. But all the links seem to work fine.

* Jessica A. Wilhelmsen Reviewed August 31, 2010 o International Children's Digital Library Overview The purpose of this site is to provide accessibility to children's literature that spans multiple languages and cultures. Its audience is geared toward ages 3 to 13 as well as for librarians, educators, parents and researchers. The site is a collection of currently over 4400 children's books in 54 languages, with the goal of adding and translating even more. This site provides a plethora of resources for children and adults keeping with current technology as well as current research. Users are able to navigate easily through this site finding information as well as activities that makes it engaging and easy for ever user. Younger children will need some assistance when looking for specific books but will be able to turn the pages as well as make the print bigger or smaller. The overall feel from community postings and twitter, gives this site great reviews. Content The content of the Children's Library allows the user to quickly determine the point and use of the site. It provides a site map that is visible, allowing material on the site to be easily identified. Identification tabs with sub menus are located at the top for quick reference. Children accessing the site, interested just in reading would be able to identify the "read a book" button which is centrally located on the page. The content is free of biases and provides users with multiple opportunities to be interactive. This site is educationally based and updates are provided frequently. It is also, well organized providing information on its mission as well as its sponsors. Design The esthetics of the Children's Library is appealing. It uses mostly primary to pastel colors giving an ease to the feel of the website. The links are also helpful as well as appropriate. When navigators access the "read a book" button the format changes to a more interactive coloring b

Bailey Stanfield Reviewed 10/12/2014       This is a very informational source. The audience it is directed towards is very clear. There are specific tabs for each different audience including teachers, parents, kids, administrators and librarians. Pertinent information for each different audience is found easily under each of the tabs. Scholastics is a book company so they are obviously pushing for the literature aspect of education. The website is very appealing and works well for the target audiences.  The content is very easy to see and is very well provided. Scholastic is a very well-known company, and they are sure to keep the information on their website up to date with quality information. They had a new post on the new books for October so that their audience can always be aware of new, upcoming books that may be of interest to them. The content of the website is very solid and easy to find.  The design of the website is also very well done. On the home page they grab the audience's attention by having a video playing. The theme of the video is "open a world of possibilities". This plays into their company as whole seeing as they sell books, but also plays into the emotional aspects that captivate their audience. The design allows for easy navigation through the website and clearly presents the content. 

Overview: This a site that provides a variety of free kids books online. It is intended for all early grade school students. The site has books from a variety of genres to download in pdf form. The design and content are both exception and this site would be great in the classroom. Content: Users can tell that the site is for reading kid's books and it is appropriate for a grade school audience. No authors are identified on the site, but it site blog identifies contributors and authors. There is no link for contact on the site, but the blog has communication capabilities. Last updated information is available at the blog of the site. All links are functional. In addition, it is easy to navigate. Content is complete, organized, easy to understand, and free of bias. The site is interactive in that kids pick what to read and do so. I explored several free book sites and this one is the cleanest with the most variety. The site does have links to other books, and how to purchase them, which serve its purpose well. Design: The homepage is visually attractive and downloads quickly. Navigation is simple and content is well defined. The site sponsor information is not available except at the blog, which provides a great deal of information. The site is easy to navigate, but does not include an index. All links are active. Some multimedia is used to make the site appealing. The website is available on a variety of browsers, including Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Safari. The content of the site is extensive and fun for readers. The content is organized, easy to use, and design is consistent throughout the site. No books are outdated and new books are added regularly.

OVERVIEW: The purpose of teachingbooks.net is to give teachers (as well as librarians) good book ideas. One helpful resource the website includes is a search area in which you can type in a book or an author. There is also an area where you can look up different author websites (you do, however, have to be a member of teachingbooks.net). My first impression of this website was fantastic! The book search engine alone would make me want to return to this site. CONTENT: I did not find any problems with the content of Teaching books. There were links to other sites and the content is well organized. It is clear to anyone that the website provides an informational purpose. Teachingbooks.net is also updated daily which can be seen at the bottom of the home page. DESIGN: Like the content of this website, I did not find any problems with the design . Navigation was extremely simple. When a link is clicked the page downloads quickly. The home page has good eye appeal. There is a neat table of contents at the top of the page and the author/title search engine is front and center and easy to see. The information is helpful to anyone aspiring to be an elementary school teacher or librarian which makes the site worth visiting. Overall, teachingbooks.net is a wonderful website that I would recommend to others.

OVERVIEW: The purpose of this website is to provide teachers and librarians with good book ideas. Some of the resources the Children's Literature Network's website provides include recommended authors and new book ideas. There are videos that discuss the general plots of books to help teachers and librarians decide if they should include that book in their class room or library collections. My first impression of this website was that it had a lot of useful information that I would use in my classroom. This was a fantastic and helpful website. CONNTENT: As I filled out the website content evaluation form for the Children's Literature Network, I saw that I hardly marked anything in the "No" or "N/A" columns. It was easy to see who the general audience was for the website and what its purpose was. The content was well organized and the author (Children's Literature Network) is given. The one area that I did not see on the checklist, however, was information on the author. Otherwise, the content of the website was great. DESIGN: The design for the website was wonderful as well. The home page (and all of the other pages) was attractive and there was a clear table of contents at the top of each page. It was simple to navigate between pages. When I clicked on a specific link, I was taken to where I expected i was going to end up (there were no dead ends). The Children's Literature Network also updates its website every day, so you know you are getting current information.

The intended audience appears to be parents of middle school children, and the intended purpose is to try to explain why self confidence in middle school takes a hit. The article was written in 2010, and there is no evidence to suggest that the website has been updated since then. There is no information on the author, but she has written a lot of articles for this website. Unsure what her credentials are. The website provided a lot of good helpful information, but I would be hesitant to use it as an educational site, because there is not enough information about the author, and her expertise on the subject. The content of the article is about why students self esteem takes a hit in middle school. The author explains one way is bullying. She elaborates on the topic of why students are cruel during these years. She gets her information from a book written by an author with a PhD. This author is quoted many times, and the article is entirely based on this book. The problem is explained, then possible solutions for the victim students to stand up against their peers and build self-esteem. The author of the book is well educated, but that is all that is provided, and no information of the author of the article is provided. The website has some eye appeal, using bright colors such as pink to emphasize. The cover of the book the article is based on is provided. There are a lot of ads for other articles written on this website, and links to these articles both in and around the story. There are videos at the bottom of the page, explaining different articles and how-to's. There is also a comment section for readers to rate the page and write comments.

Morgan Kuchta September 1, 2010 Sparknotes.com Overview This site is a great resource for students who struggle with reading in school. The website provides book and chapter summaries and plot overviews along with character analysis for all main characters in each book reviewed. The books that Spark Notes provides information on are those that have deep and complex plot lines and character development that are often found in classrooms of all grade levels. Perhaps one of the most useful tools on this website is called "No Fear Shakespeare", which translates the old English of Shakespeare into modern English so that students might have an easier time remembering information and comprehending it. Although the site organization is poor and it throws too much information onto one page, I believe this website could be an extremely valuable resource to teachers who assign reading to their classes. Content At first look it is easy to tell where you are and what is provided, in general, on the site. The audience is pretty clearly defined as students but it is difficult to tell exactly who will benefit most from this sitel There were no listed authors for the site although there were authors listed for each of the book summaries done on each separate page with an email address attached. The revision dates are included on every book review and the links to related sites are all functioning. The information quality was incredible. Although it was not well organized, it is by far the most comprehensive literacy site that I have used in the last few years. The other links posted were pretty good, although most of them were just for the interest of the users rather than usefulness for help with English homework. Design The homepage download was no problem, while it was attractive to the eye, it was a little information heavy and a it was kind of hard to tell exactly where I needed to navigate. There were a LOT of advertisements in the margins and even in other areas of th

Randi McInerney September 15, 2011 Overview: The website "Sparknotes" is an educational and entertainment website with various study resources available. The information is most relevant to high school aged students, but late middle school and college students, as well as teachers, could also benefit from this site. College video tours, book summaries, analysis, and quizzes, and ACT/SAT/AP/GRE test preparation material, and news articles are also available. The content and design are effective and organized, but the advertisements can be distracting and seem overwhelming. This site can be abused by students wishing to plagiarize or to avoid reading a book, but has so many great things to offer if it is used appropriately. Content: There is a lot of educational material available on this site. Video clips, interactive tours, blogs, cartoons, and more can all be found on this site. There are various links in order to contact them, but no direct contact information like an address is provided. Besides educational material, there is lifestyle, entertainment, and dating information. I think that this may be distracting from the educational aspects of the site, but it makes sense because of the audience the website is intended for. Design: The site downloads efficiently and is visually interesting, especially for the intended audience of young adults. The site is easy to navigate, especially if you know what you are looking for from the start. In this case, the search bar will help you easily locate what you are looking for if it is indeed on the site.

Sparknotes is a resource aimed at high school and college students. It offers summaries of literary works as well as test prep. The main purpose of the site is to simplify in-depth texts down to a modern English level. Unfortunately, these summaries are not all that is available. The site largely consist of entertainment news. This aspect dominates the site, making it hard to find the reviews and study resources. Because of this my overall impression is that the site includes a good about of information for those looking for it, but is also a place where one can very easily get side tracked, rendering its information useless. It is worth a bookmark, but is not the most useful thing. The content of this site is very diverse. As for the literary summaries, there are over 100 on some of the best known works in many different subject areas. The site is up to date and loads easily. Most of the summaries are based off of the most recent publications of texts. The site is confused about its purpose. The summaries and text prep sections are hard to find while entertainment news is profusely advertised and easy to find. The educational sections are labeled in small black index style links, while the entertainment section has large magazine like spreads. Although the site has relevant information that is consistent and helpful, it is congested with much needless gossip that has potential for abuse. The websites speed is quite good. It loads very fast comparatively. The homepage is attractive, but is attractive for the wrong reasons. It is hard to find relevant information on the site (although there is a lot of it). This makes navigation of the site difficult and can easily suck the user into a "twilight zone." The site is strong on most platforms, even having apps available. Content presentation is mores streamlined on the app, but is congested on a web version. An administrator is available to answer any questions and provide further information.

Overview: This is a fun and entertaining website that suggests ideas for books you should read based on whatever you read last. It is a hit-and-miss. Its intended audience is for anyone who likes reading and would like suggestions. Content: This website contains over 65,000 and growing book suggestions and also allows you to register and build your own favorite list. When you access the site is easy to determine the content and intended audience. The information is always constantly being updated and revised so nothing is out of date. The links also are easy to use and work properly. Design: This website has a very simple design. It has a search bar in the middle of the page where you enter a title and author of the latest book you read. The search results come up with an easy and organized list of recommendations. It is easy to read and very understandable and accessible. The website downloads efficiently and the site is appealing and grabs tor attention.

Content: This website contains lots and lots of stuff. It is set up like a classroom and has a reading link, a math link, a playground link, and an arcade link. I think this is more of a game site than an educational one. There are also lots of links to other help sites, but the majority of the links are for advertiser's webpage's, distracting visitors. Design: After looking at it for awhile, I started to feel lost and uninterested because of all the advertisements and the lack of visuals. There are thousands of links for kids to go to, and the actual site doesn't really support a good learning environment. As said above, it's mostly games with reading sections that really looks fun, but if you have to look through the games to get to that section, students will probably never get there on their own. The visual part of this website is interesting. The homepage is pretty boring and filled with links, but the reading and games tabs are designed for younger students. Attribution: The purpose of this site is probably intended to promote learning is fun, but becomes easily more of a distraction with all of the advertisements. I don't think I would promote this site in my classroom without adult supervision because students could so easily be distracted by toys and games.

Overview The purpose of this website is to help kids interact with math and reading. The intended audience is K-8. My overall impression of the website is that is very beneficial and a good free website for students to practice math and reading, whereas with other websites you have to pay to use the website. Content The only thing that I would critique on this website is having other links that would be appropriate and have to do with reading and math. But other than that, I would highly recommend this website. Design I think that everything is up to date but there is no for sure way to tell on the website, there is the copy right that does say 2013 but there is no one hundred percent way to tell if it has all been updated. So this is one thing that I would change on the design for the website.

Trevor Montgomery For this resource, we see another website that in a way, tricks students into thinking they are just playing games by giving them subject related activities. With the subjects of math and reading, students having interactive games, books and comics and even more fun links, without thinking they are doing much work. Through the "Funbrain" arcade, students can also complete activities and must pass obstacles to get through an interactive game board. If they do not successfully complete an activity, they will not be able to get past their current location, but will feel challenged to get through each activity and will most likely attempt multiple times until mastery of the activity. The great thing about this website is that students can also use codes to pick up where they left off on the game board so that they do not have to start over each time they log on (with their parents' permission of course). From grades 1st through 8th, there is a great variability from subjects, and students who are feeling extra brave might even try a level of difficulty higher than their current grade level. As someone who used this website in school when he was in elementary school, I can say that this resource is extremely effective and I think that students will come back to it time and time again. Navigating the website is easy enough. If you type in www.funbrain.com in the url box, you will be directed to the site. From here, you can choose to use the math arcade, reading, fun arcade, playground, and all games tabs, as well as books & comics and more fun activities. This website is specifically directed towards the audience of students in grades 1st through 8th, so as a teacher you can trust it to be safe and student-friendly.

Jonathan Krajnak 9/14/11 Overview: Scholastic's site covers a seemingly incredible amount of useful information for educators. It's pretty clear and straightforward, none of the information buried or misrepresented. There are a few sections that require a subscription, but most of the information is readily available. Content: The site includes several things that can be valuable to teachers. Among them you can find lesson plans, tools, tips. There's even a section for new teachers. There's an area dedicated to parents which helps educators because it gives parents a general knowledge of what kids need socially, cognitively, and physically. It also promotes and helps parents understand how to get involved in this aspect of their child's life. For the kids, there's a large interactive section. However, it's mainly geared towards ages 8-12. Design: The site easy very easy to navigate and professionally presented and designed. The presentation itself is appropriately tailored to whatever section you're viewing. (Namely between adults and children.) Couldn't find anything wrong with it.

OVERVIEW: The purpose of the Scholastic website is to help children to learn to read and also to provide teachers with lesson and book ideas. Librarians and administrators can also take advantage of this website to learn to teach certain students and learning of the newest authors. Some of the resources this website provides are tips on how parents can teach their children to read, as well as games that kids can play. The Scholastic website gave me a wonderful first impression. I would definitely use it in my classroom or library and recommend it for others to explore. CONTENT: The content of scholastic.com was amazing. The general audiences are easily seen in the table of contents on the top of the home page. Grammar and spelling all seem to be correct and the information on the site is simple to understand. Like the last website I reviewed, it was difficult to find a sponsor. This was the only flaw that I was able to see. DESIGN: Scholastic has provided the public with a beautifully designed website. The home page is neatly organized with easy to read font and not too much going on. It is nice and simple. It is easy to navigate between pages and there are no incorrect links. There is plenty of information that makes the site worth visiting. The same format is used consistently throughout the website which makes it even more professional and organized.

Haylee Bolinger Website evaluation 1 9-2-10 Overview The website stickworks.net is a promotional tool for Patrick Dougherty. As an artist that is in demand worldwide he must keep a portfolio as accessible as possible. Fans and potential clients are welcome to look through Dougherty's work and his biography. On this website clients can make requests for his large scale installations, while fans are directed to admiring his work though books, videos, calendars, and even full length feature film. Content From the introductory page one has the option of continuing into the main site or purchasing a book about Dougherty. Once navigated into the main site you can view every location and date of Dougherty's work and you have the many options to choose from in the main menu. Stick Works contains a thorough biography and video resources that help the viewer better understand how and why Dougherty makes his artwork. This website is being updated on a monthly bases due to the demand for Dougherty's artwork. Present exhibitions are continually photographed and uploaded upon completion or linked to the collector's website while future exhibitions are scheduled and published. A few of the links in this website are incomplete which makes viewing some works difficult. The viewer is also welcome to preview clips from a full-length feature about Dougherty's life and artwork. Design The web site Stick Works is visually appealing with a slate background and white font. This sleek background draws attention to the striking pictures of Dougherty's artwork. Navigating is made easy with a menu bar at the top of every page. On this menu one can find out all there is to know about Dougherty: news, biography, installations (past and present), Curriculum vitally, resources, shop, and contact info.

Alicia Blanchard ITEC2360 Fall 2010, World Almanac for Kids-Science-DNA Overview I reviewed the Website World Almanac for Kids- Science-DNA. The content was poorly put together. I knew it was about DNA because the title is " What is DNA?". The audience seemed to be kids in the higher division of Elementary Education: so 4th or 5th graders; however, it also looked like they could get bored because it didn't have any way to draw the kids in. The authors of the site were hard to locate. I thing it's by the world almanac book authors who wrote the books but I'm not sure which author wrote which article because there were a lot of articles without clear authors and it was poorly organized. A few authors were either teachers themselves or parents but the website did not have a way to contact the people to find out if the information was not valid, nor did it have many citations. The website was up to date: it was revised on Aug 3, 2010. The website wasn't very useful though, because some links in the site wouldn't open. Content The content of the website was informational, and pretty accurate. It describes in a very general sense what DNA is and what it does. There are a few definitions of what a gene is or a chromosome and other valued information. The content on the page is pretty clear, however the ending of the page and paragraph is quite abrupt and feels like there could be more information or another page. Reading the information given was easy and rather quick, I felt like the website gave a good foundation to continue learning about DNA. I believe I would use this website as a beginning format the kids could read. Design The homepage is a little slow at loading and I don't think kids will like waiting that long to read about something if they aren't that interested in. However the homepage was pleasing to the eye. It used a lot of color and used a lot of graphics to point out the important parts of the site. At the bottom half of the s

Overview Professional Development in Literacy and Technology Integration is to help teachers strengthen and learn more about teaching of reading and writing. This website is to help grade levels K-12. The lesson plans for teachers are very informative and this site tells you which books would be great to read for reading and writing for different grade levels. Some of the lessons plans are little outdated, but overall this website is very informative for teachers to learn what they need to for reading and writing. Content This website has a tab at the top of the page that says "What's New" It updates teachers about what is new on the website page, and each month it tells you what the site has been awarded for, updates on technology in certain subjects, and also important articles that teachers should read to get updated in reading and writing. The contents of the website are well displayed for teachers to easily find their lesson plans . Design The web pages are very eye appealing. They show pictures and animations for each reading and writing topic.This site has a search button for teachers to help them find what they are looking for.The books that teachers are able to find for reading are updated. I had trouble getting into some of the other different areas, but other than that this website is helpful for teachers to find materials they need for inside their classroom, great lesson plans for them to teach to their students, and a better understanding of reading and writing.

Bryana Wilson September 21, 2009 Website Review http://www.shakespeares-sonnets.com/ "Shakespeare's Sonnets" is a site dedicated to 154 of Shakespeare's sonnets. This site gives a lot of input about the sonnets and their essential meaning. It's a great means of obtaining a look at the already acquired material as well as gain insight into each sonnet. It is a nice collection, put together relatively well, and contains a great collection of pictures in the gallery relating to his sonnets. CONTENT Shakespeare's sonnets are the core subjects of this website. It is made up of a collection of 154 sonnets written by Shakespeare and includes a commentary for each one. These sonnets are written in the Elizabethan period- so the site includes a variety of Elizabethan paintings as well. There are links to all of the sections in the site on the homepage. You can view the sonnets in groups of about 50, as well as groups separated by categories- such as Valentine poems. The site is aimed toward people, probably students, wishing to read and gain insight into Shakespeare's sonnets. I found the information very valuable. If there are any questions or comments about the site, there is a link to the Oxquarry Books Ltd website. Oxquarry Books is a trustworthy organization and I trust the information given is authentic. It was last modified in 2009, and given the subject, I believe they are ahead of the game. However, it is true that information can always be refined and edited. DESIGN "Shakespeare's Sonnets" is put together in a rather spasmodic way. The information is fairly easy to find but is set up in a jumbled sort of manner, including a table of contents on the main page. I thought it could have definitely been organized in a more efficient manner. When entering a new section of the site the table of content remains at the top, making it fairly easy to maneuver about. There are also semi-clear titles below the table of content

Basic content of this site is easily accessible. The intended audience of this site is for students reading the material. The author for this site is clearly listed on the bottom of the page, he is a professor at the university of San Jose state. The website has contact information in order to reach the author. The last update on this website was late September of 2014. This site seems really consistent with all other sites as well as the book. This site is aesthetically pleasing and easy to work around. There isn't any other links on this page, but everything else seems frequent. The content achieves intended purpose of giving an overview of the main characters of the book. The content on this page is accurate consistent and free of bias remarks. Previous knowledge of the subject is apparent. There is no spelling or grammar mistakes and everything on site is working. This site offers sufficient information related to my topic. This page is easily accessible, when the url is clicked on the website pops up. The pages are aesthetically pleasing to the eye. Images, title, and description make it easy to tell exactly where you are. There is a table of contents in order to know exactly what you are going to look at. This site is easy to navigate around, and fun to use. There is limited external links on this page and there is no where you can get lost in the site. One basic format is used throughout the site, the information is labeled and organized. This site is up to date and any other information that is not to date has been removed. There is much useful information on this site, which makes it worth while for me to visit in class.

Web 2.0 site that allows users to write book reviews and summaries

books, videos, apps for education

Page about Mo Willems books (Pigeon, Knuffle Bunny, pig and elephant, etc.)

This site provides several examples of universally designed ebooks for students ages 10 and up. ebooks provide scaffolding techniques to understand passeges (editable by teachers), read content back to students, provide Spanish translations, and allow markup and note taking

Scott Chanthongthip on January 25, 2010 Overview: Although the website has seven books students can read from, it offers a helpful tool in learning to read while listening to the computerized voice. The computerized voice can be distracting to young readers though that cannot put aside the monotonous tone and lack of colorful personality a real teacher can provide. Manipulation of the tool bar for the story can help students highlight text, translates highlighted words from English to Spanish, and allows students to stop the reading to answer critical comprehension questions. The design of the website looks simple at first but I think if this a website to help students read it should be in simpler terms. Use of the computerized reading voice can read the whole page to students, so this can be helpful to navigate the pages. Content: Most of the content is laid out simply but it takes a while to get used to navigation of the different tools. Students that would use this site would probably have some background in reading already, as stated ages 10 and up by the UDL. It takes previous knowledge of reading ability to understand some of the more complex stories the site offers. Using the "Stop to Think" option asks listeners to pick multiple-choice answers that show the student comprehends the story they just heard. If readers miss the questions, clues to the right answer help the reader find the correct answer. As a teacher, I would use this site sparingly because I believe the computerized voice reading to students can bore them quickly. The website also takes away the ability for students to learn from their peers. The books used in this selection from the UDL provide just small glimpse at the plethora of reading material out there. The project team for the website consists of people with Education Doctorates , Master's of Education, and translators. As far as the content update, I could not find when its updates or when the site came into ex