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Megan Ridings ITEC 2360 Website Evaluations January 24, 2010 Overview: On the website, Teachers.Net, the main purpose is to help elementary school teachers with lesson plans for all different subjects and in addition to help in all areas of the classroom. It is clear that this website is designed for an audience of elementary school teachers, student teachers and parents who are homeschooling their children. Overall I feel that the site is well made, however not very clearly organized. The site is easy to semi-easy to navigate, and helpful in some aspects, but not necessarily with lesson plans like I was looking for. This site is a little bland, and is not one that really caught my interest. Content Summary: I have found the content of this site to be "poorly designed and difficult to use." The site is up to date and current, and it is easy to tell that the purpose of the site is to be informational. The content of this site is well organized, however it is not easy to navigate, and a little difficult to understand. The site appears to be complete, and offers a sufficient amount of information for elementary school teachers, however is not intended for those interested in elementary school lesson plans. The information provided appears to be accurate, if you are able to find what you are looking for. Design Summary: On this site the design lacks much of what I think a site needs to be efficient. This site downloads efficiently, however it lacks the "eye-appeal," that I would hope for within a site based on elementary schools. The homepage over all lacks appeal, however it is easy to see who the authors are and see that the authors are qualified and reliable. As for navigation, the design of this site is hard to understand, and contains too much on each page. This site is definitely not one that I would recommend for elementary lesson plans and is not clearly labeled, however it uses the same basic format consistently within the site, which i

Megan Ridings ITEC 2360 Website Evaluations January 24, 2010 Overview: On the website, Elementary Lesson Plans.Net, the main purpose is to help elementary school teachers with lesson plans for all different subjects. It is clear that this website is designed for an audience of elementary school teachers, student teachers and parents who are homeschooling their children. Overall I feel that the site is well made and organized, the site is easy to navigate, and extremely helpful with online video tutorials and printable versions of lesson plans. In addition, this site is creative because aside from the creators of the site, new lesson plans are added daily by teachers in order to keep the site full of useful lesson plans. Content Summary: I have found the content of this site to be "worth bookmarking for future needs." The site is continuously being revised, as each day teachers are adding more lesson plans, in addition it is easy to tell what the purpose of the site is to be informational. The content of this site is well organized and easy to navigate and understand. The site appears to be complete, and offers a sufficient amount of information for those interested in elementary school lesson plans. The only flaws I find within the site are related to the information providers. Since the lesson plans are added by teachers and parents daily it is hard to track the authors, also it is impossible to determine whether or not the authors of pages are qualified and reliable resources. Design Summary: On this site the design is much weaker than that of the content. This site downloads efficiently, however it lacks the "eye-appeal," that I would hope for within a site based on elementary lessons. The homepage over all is strong and contains information for contacting the sponsors, as well as appropriate copyright date and other clear indicators of the contents of the site. As for navigation, the design of this site is efficient. Within the mult

Overview: This website is a great way for an elementary teacher teaching math. Videos are the main point for this website. There are multiple videos that show elementary kids how to do the math that the teacher is presenting. This helps the kids because they get to see how to do the math in another way. But in addition it can help the teacher in finding new ways to teach the math in which they are trying to present.

Overview: This website is a great way for an elementary teacher teaching math. Videos are the main point for this website. There are multiple videos that show elementary kids how to do the math that the teacher is presenting. This helps the kids because they get to see how to do the math in another way. But in addition it can help the teacher in finding new ways to teach the math in which they are trying to present.

Ramon J. Sandoval September 1, 2010 Website Evaluation 1 Site Title: Enchanted Learning URL: www.enchantedlearning.com Authors of website: Jeananda Col and Mitchell Spector Subject: Elementary Education Content Summary This website is great for teachers looking for curriculum material for elementary school students. It is broken down into categories making it easy for the teacher to navigate the website and obtain subjects specific to their desired projects. The content appears to be complete and is regularly updated. If any problems with the site are experienced the site has a page dedicated to addressing these problems. Design summary The home page of the website downloads fast. The links within the site come up quickly. The information on the pages is easy to understand and navigate through. There is an appendix on the left hand side of the page to help guide you through the site and take you to your desired subject. This site has sufficient information for the teacher to browse through and select what will work best for them. The material is updated regularly and has a link directing you to the newest projects. If any problems occur with the site then a link is provided at the top of the page to deal with any concerns. Overview This is a site I will be put in my favorites. For an elementary school teacher it is a good resource. It has a variety of subjects and suggested projects for them. It has suggestions for early childhood activities to give children a jump start in their education. I would recommend this site to parents that are interested in enhancing their child's education. It is very user friendly.

Katie Hurrell January 21, 2010 Overview: The website transforming teaching through technology is a website that provides students with free plug- ins that allow them to play interactive games for learning on the internet. The intended audience is both teachers and students. The available resources are the programs that are needed in order for the students to use different websites. There is different websites and sections that students can visit to find a game that sounds interesting to them. This website seems like it could be hard to use but the design of the website makes it look not as intimidating as it could be. Content: This website makes it hard for the user to understand what the basic content of the site is. There is no information on the author but the website does talk about plug-ins which might be helpful to a student who does not know what a plug-in is. There is a contact person which is helpful if a user has questions about installing plug-ins. The content on this website appears to be complete and the content of the site is well organized and the site does offer a lot of information on the plug ins and the games that the website has on it. The content of linked sites is worthwhile and appropriate to the audiences needs/purposes. The site is very useful and worth bookmarking. Design: The homepage downloaded efficiently and the copyright date was easy to find. When installing a plug-in there is directions for the user to follow in order to insure that they have downloaded the plug in correctly. The links that are provided to other pages within the site are helpful and appropriate. The site is equally effective with a variety of browsers. There is sufficient information to make the site worth visiting and the information is clearly labeled and organized. The links are well organized and easy to use. A working link is provided to contact the website with any questions or comments. This website is complicated but the design

Olivia Mabie-January 24, 2010 Content: This website has multiple links used in the classroom for teaching with technology. There are many interactive activities for all the subjects aimed at elementary aged students. There were a few things I could not be found on the website such as when it was published and when it was last updated. Before using the links to the other websites you have to make sure the correct media players are installed on the computers, most of these are free. The website is organized in a way that would be easy for elementary students to find what they are looking for. With the topic titles at the top of the page it is easy to get to the place where they need to be in order to complete the assignment. Design: This website was very easy to navigate and it was made easy for the elementary students to navigate it too. There was not any distracting pictures or pop-ups that made it hard to find the links. There are topics/titles at the top of the page which will help find the different links for the subjects. Once the link is clicked on it takes you right to the homepage of the next site, it does not take multiple clicks to get to the website you want your students to go to. There was information I could not find on the website such as when it was published and if it had been updated recently. Once the other links are clicked on there are many multimedia uses in the new websites. Overview: This is a wonderful website for teachers to use because it gets students out of their seats and they get to do something on the computers instead of just listening to the teacher at the front of the classroom. Some students learn differently and teachers need to do more interactive things in the classrooms to get students to understand the subjects better. The site was very easy to navigate and to find the other links/websites found within the original one. This would be a site teachers need to keep in mind to let students learn in a different way.

Overview: Purpose- provides games and activities to help improve elementary students spelling, reading and math skills. Attended Audience- elementary educators and their students. Available Resources- none shown. Overall Impression: Not very eye-appealing; games are educational and content is clearly identified Content Overview: able to easily identify basic content of site; author and date last updated not given; no links to other sites Design Overview: Homepage not very attractive; site sponsor and copyright identified; not very clear directions on how to use site

Megan Ridings ITEC 2360 Website Evaluations January 24, 2010 Overview: On the website, edHelper.com, the main purpose is to help elementary school teachers with lesson plans for all different subjects. It is clear that this website is designed for an audience of elementary school teachers. Overall I feel that the site is well made and organized, the site is easy to navigate, and extremely helpful and easy on the eyes. In addition, this site contains puzzles and activities for teachers in addition to the lesson plans. Content Summary: I have found the content of this site to be "very well designed and easy to use." The content of this site is well organized and easy to navigate and understand. The site appears to be complete, and offers a sufficient amount of information for those interested in elementary school lesson plans. The sites homepage is attractive and contains a table of contexts and is clear and easy to follow. In addition to all of these great things the site has information regarding the intended purpose and sufficient information related to my needs and purposes. Design Summary: On this site the design is very efficient and well done. This site downloads efficiently, and contains a sufficient amount of eye appeal which makes the site enjoyable. The site over all is strong and contains information for contacting the sponsors, as well as appropriate copyright date and other clear indicators of the contents of the site. As for navigation, the design of this site is efficient. . This site is definitely worth visiting and the content is clearly labeled and uses the same basic format consistently within the site. In addition the site is full of excitement, and offers additional languages in order to further its audience. Based on my evaluation I would say that the design of this site could be considered "very well designed and easy to use."

Megan Ridings ITEC 2360 Website Evaluations January 24, 2010 Overview: On the website, Hotchalk Lessons Plans Teaching Page, is to have information and sources on all areas of teaching, including receiving a degree. It is clear that this website is designed for an audience of elementary school teachers, student teachers and parents who are homeschooling their children, and those hoping to obtain a teaching degree. Overall I feel that the site is well made, and clearly organized, and easy to understand. The site is easy to easy to navigate, and helpful in many aspects, but not necessarily made with the intention of helping with lesson plans like I was looking for. This site is a little bland, and is not one that really caught my interest. Content Summary: I have found the content of this site to be "worth bookmarking for future references." The site is up to date and current, and it is easy to tell that the purpose of the site is to be informational. The content of this site is well organized, easy to navigate and understand. In addition this site is full of information of all types. The site appears to be complete, and offers a sufficient amount of information for elementary school teachers, however is not solely intended for those interested in elementary school lesson plans, and therefore does not provide a large amount of lesson plans. The information provided appears to be accurate, and up to date. In addition it seems to have authors that are qualified and reliable. Design Summary: On this site the design doesn't lack much and is easy to appreciate. This site downloads efficiently, and is full of information that is colorful and designed to entice the audience. The site contains a large amount of multimedia, and graphics that serve a clear purpose. As for navigation, the design of this site is easy to follow and has a massive amount of information of all types that is well organized. Based on my evaluation I would say that the design of

Caroline Wittman (Virginia) January 31, 2011 Overview Ology is a fun website that allows children to collect virtual trading cards and use them to make online projects as they learn about different science topics. The list of topics is varied, including anthropology, archeology, astronomy, biodiversity, the brain, climate change, earth science, genetics, marine biology, paleontology, water, and zoology. Each area presents a plethora of interactive applications for children to explore: games, animations, quizzes, and suggestions and guidance for completing simple offline science investigations and experiments. There are also book lists and other helpful internet sources that can be consulted for further information. Content Ology is sponsored by the American Museum of Natural History. Accordingly, information was accurate and up-to-date. It was also well organized and communicated on a level that elementary school age children can understand and relate to. Information is also in line with what is covered in the typical elementary school science curriculum. Although specific authors of articles are not usually listed, it is easy to find contact information for the sponsoring organization. Links to other internet resources were relevant and informative. Overall, the content of the site serves to ignite children's curiosity about the natural world. Design The Ology homepage, as well as its interactive applications, downloaded quickly. The overall design is appealing to elementary school children, incorporating lots bright colors and bold shapes. Navigation is simple, even for young children. The major areas of the site are located in an obvious place on the homepage. Information is easy to locate within each of these areas. Directions for games and other interactive content are very straightforward and explained clearly. Close inspection reveals that each detail of the site's design works toward enhancing children's learning.

Caroline Wittman (Virginia) January 31, 2011 Overview Worksheets4teachers.com aims to provide educational resources for children in kindergarten through high school and their teachers. I focused on the sections of the site dedicated to elementary school science. It quickly became apparent that worksheets4teachers.com has a large number of links to other websites and ads. Unfortunately, the other websites rarely contained any useful information, and they were more often than not entirely unrelated to science. The website did appear to contain significantly better resources for other subject areas, such as math and reading. In addition, the science activities for the upper grades were of higher quality than the ones for elementary school. Content The activities available on the website itself seemed like they would be unchallenging and uninspiring for elementary school children. The word searches, coloring pages, and craft ideas are ill-suited to reinforcing important scientific knowledge or skills. In fact, they were so trite that it's hard to imagine them having a place in any decent science curriculum. Contact information was not readily available, but it was clear the website is updated frequently with new worksheets and lesson plans. Design The layout of this website is confusing, and the design is monotonous, bland, and unprofessional. Many of the links that ostensibly contain information about different science topics or lesson planning resources are really links to for-profit companies offering online degrees, tutoring, or shopping. A significant proportion of these links did not work, and the pop ups are very distracting. Information is difficult to locate, and the format of the site is somewhat inconsistent. The one positive characteristic of the site is that it loaded quickly!

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.

2-5-12 Overview This website is an interactive learning website for everyone. The goal was to make learning fun as well as memorable and to provide an opportunity to learn and improve for everyone. This website has sections designed by subject as well as age. There are sections for preschool/kindergarten, elementary, middle/ high school, college, test prep and adults. There is something for everyone in this site with varied levels of difficulty. The site provides games, interactive reading pages, facts, quizzes and brain teasers. Overall I feel that this site is wonderful and I would use it in my classroom and suggest it to others. Content There is an unbelievable amount of information on this website. It is mainly based for elementary and is separated into subjects; USA, world, vocabulary, health, science, math, history and animals. The site also can be organized by age level. This makes it easy to find an activity based on interest. There really is something for everyone, from preschool games to chemistry quizzes to games for adults. There are also facts of the day in each subject. The hidden animals is great for learning about adaptations and the way animals camouflage themselves and survive in a fun, interactive way. The site can be considered a business since you can purchase software and materials from an online store. However, mostly it is a free interactive website that provides something for everyone. Design I am slightly disappointed in the design of the website. It does not give a revision date even though the information all seems accurate. I am also disappointed in the links. If you open the site from Diigo, the links to pages other than Hidden Animal Games do not work. However, if you open a web browser and put in Sheppard Software, the whole site works perfectly. Even though I am disappointed in these flaws, I really like the way the site is organized. It is colorful and appealing but more importantly it is extre

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.

Molly Nations The first website that I found is www.carlisle.k12.ma.us, a website that contains many student resource links focuses on engaging and exciting games that aim to teach elementary students beginning Spanish. There are many different categories, such as animals, numbers, colors, greetings, classroom and school vocab, and much more. Each category then contains several different games and activities for learning that particular subject. It is very easy to pinpoint the content and purpose of this site right away as there is a clear title at the top of the page, you can also tell immediately that the site is intended for elementary students. It seems as though it would be a very useful website for students to learn Spanish and something I would consider using in my classroom. The page loaded immediately on two different web browsers, and upon clicking on many different links under each category I found that these loaded immediately as well. Although this seems to be a very useful website for students, information about the author(s) is non-existent. There is no contact information for questions and no accreditation to any company or author to verify credibility. The site has no copyright information, as well as no information for a sponsor or provider. There is also no information as to when the site was created or revised. There is virtually no information about this site, it only provides the categories of learning and the activities for each, nothing more. Even though the site does not contain an index or table of contents, the content is organized into categories nicely on the page, looks well put together, and the website is very easy to maneuver and understand, even for an elementary student. The color scheme is mostly black and white with simple font and is very easy to read. The information appears to be accurate to the best of my knowledge, and does not cont

Overview: The website PrimaryGames.com is an all purpose website for elementary and middle school aged children. The purpose of this website is to help children understand math, science, social studies, and language arts in a fun way. The website offers many different types of games and puzzles, along with games to further the education of elementary and middle school aged children. Content: The content of the website PrimaryGames.com is very clear. This website is fully completed and is used effectively with a well organized home screen that is easy to understand and helps the child or the teacher find different types of games or subject areas without any problems. The website FunBrain.com would be a great tool for teachers or parents to use in the classroom or in the home setting. The website PrimaryGames.com can further the math, science, social studies, and language arts skills of the grades K-8 and the children can have a great time in using this website as well. Design: The website PrimaryGames.com is a well designed website with many different colors that grab your attention. This website also has a tool that can be used to find the desired subject areas that the teacher or parent can use with their children. The website does have a few ads that can distract the eye to look at the ads instead of looking at what the website has to offer and at times can be a little too busy for children and they might get distracted. This website also offers a teachers section that offers many different tools like print zone of different activities and worksheets. Overall this website can be a great tool to use in the future.

Overview This is another good site to send home with parents. It is simplistic and easy to use without too many hassles. It also has many games that children can enjoy playing. It is appropriate for many grade levels so it will transfer well to different classrooms and students. The variety of games give students many options. Content The content is nicely organized and easy to see as well as to decide what to do. The content is appropriate for all most elementary student and have a way to review. There is a variety of different games for students to play that use math in different creative ways. Design The design of this site is wonderful. They use colors to highlight sections and show different ideas. All of the colors are bright and stand out very nicely. The site is well organized offering many different categories for games. The games are not sorted by grade level of idea but they are easy to find because there isn't tons of games to sort through. The level of the games vary and most seem appropriate for students to play. The bright colors continue throughout the site.

-Overview: This website is very visually appealing and child friendly. There are lots of colors and graphics on the homepage and lots of different things that children would be excited to click on and see. The website is mainly made for children to play educational computer games and learn new things. It is centered on primary grade levels and their educational experiences. There are different resources for children to learn new things and the backgrounds are based on the seasons and holidays. -Content: On this website there is a ton of different games under each subcategory and has various types of games under each subject. They are all tailored to primary level children and are easy for them to play and learn. There are things for the students to print out and various puzzles and other games that the students can access on this website. I am not sure of the content of all the games if they are all educational, but just having the matching and certain aspects of not academic games is still important for a child's development. -Design: This website has a lot of colors, large print, and pictures. It is tailored for young children so they are able to navigate the page on their own and can learn to recognize the colors and words. The website divides the games up by subject and then lists them after you click on the subject which is good so that parents and teachers can help the students focus on things that they need to work on even if it is through a game like this. It also makes it easy for teachers and parents to see the different things that are offered to the child to play and it is good for the child to learn to recognize and read these words. They all have pictures or clip art with them so that even if the child cannot read the word they can tell what it is by looking at the pictures.

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.

Sara Scribner 1/22/10 Overview: This website is intended for students and teachers in Elementary Education. It includes interactive games ranging in difficulty from grades kindergarten through 5th. Although some games are less educational than others, this site offers some helpful, fun tools in teaching most subjects. Overall, this website is very credible and well suited for Elementary Education. Content: At first glance, the audience and basic content for this site are easily determined. Located at the bottom of the homepage are links to find information about the author, the site sponsor, contact information, and a note to parents and teachers with more information about the site. A copyright date was available, but a revision date was not provided. However, the site seems to be current. As I navigated through this website, all links were working. ABCya! is well organized, easy to understand when learning a new game, and provides accurate (content-wise and spelling/grammar-wise) information. Although this site offers games for all subjects, it seems primarily focused on student math skills, for majority of its games are math related. Also, it is clear this site is commercial because of the many ads that litter the pages. Despite the multitude of ads, I believe the content is accurate and useful in the classroom. Design: This quickly downloaded website is visually appealing to me and to young children. Although the rainbow of colors makes the page seem busy, it is very organized and the content is easy to locate and use. Links to other websites are not given, but there is so much information provided one could most likely find what he is looking for. Fun sounds accompany most games one plays adding excitement. For Kindergarteners, all games have sounds and the instructions are read aloud. I would however caution students using this site unsupervised because of the many advertisements.

Sara Scribner 1/23/10 Overview: This website called Beeswax is meant for elementary students to inform them of current events in a fun, interactive way. It is a new website so the creators are still looking for feedback to improve the site, but it is a great tool for students to learn about current happenings in the world. Currently it is only updated twice a week, but for elementary students I believe this to be sufficient. Content: Information presented on this website is high quality. Its purpose, to present news, is clear, complete, easily understood, and is interactive. Contact and sponsor information are current and available. There might be potential bias on this site however because of its sponsor, Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The amount of information offered on this site is sufficient, but the teacher would need some background knowledge about the event. An advantage to this site is that it is free of advertisements. Design: Beeswax communicates the news in a fun, interactive way and is aided by graphics that you click on to see the related story. It has a unique organization that is effective yet appealing. Sounds also accompany your actions as you navigate the site.

Sara Scribner 1/24/10 Overview: This website is kid-friendly and offers a wealth of information about the weather. Included are weather games/activities, encyclopedias, teacher resources, environment conservation ideas, and the daily forecast. Content is applicable in a classroom and is fit for its audience of elementary school students. Content: Audience and content for this site are easily determined. The sponsor of this site is The Weather Channel and a contact is given for the site, but other than that I was unable to find an author, a revision date, or a copyright date. To my knowledge, the information provided on this website is accurate, but I do not think one would be able to find in-depth information on a certain topic. Overall, the content on this site is well organized and easy to understand. It also offers a variety of learning tools from activities to videos to glossaries to encyclopedias which is helpful in a classroom. Design: The Weather Channel for kids has a lot of useful information for students desiring to know more about the weather. This visually appealing site downloads efficiently and one can easily move within the website because of superb organization. It incorporates graphics as well as informational videos with elementary students in mind. Although contact information is available there is not a date with the site's last revision or a copyright date. Also, there are a few advertisements on the sides of the page.

Hannah Streeter 2/1/2011 Overview- This website is colorful and fun. It has lots of games based on literary skills driven toward elementary school students. Its a little silly, and easy to use. There is also a really great teacher/parent link on the home page. Content- The content of this website is literary games with fun characters like monsters, animals, dwarfs, and other fun characters. The content is based on auditory explanations, uses simple words to explain the games, and then expounds into more complex concepts to help teach things like Poetry and the alphabet, depending on which category you pick from. The games are super fun, even for a big kid like me. Design- The design is bright and colorful. The games load quickly and the sound is clear. There are many different games and animations for all elementary grades. there are links to the home page, and other games to play and learn from. All in all, a really great site!

Literary Learning