Group items tagged

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.

Khan Academy is an excellent resource for parents, students, and teachers. It is basically a free online classroom with video lessons and the opportunity to try and solve problems in short online quizzes. It has resources for math, science, economics, and more. The resources are intended for a diverse audience with resources that vary from kindergarten all the way to high school and beyond. Teachers and parents can use it to help their students or children to get extra instruction and practice. Students can use it to help them develop a better understanding and to help them practice or study for tests. The site is well made and the information is credible which makes it an excellent resource. The content is obvious as Khan Academy has a drop down tab that allows you to navigate to all the different subjects and the audience is also obvious as each subject is broken down by which grade you are in. The content specialists are all experienced experts in all sorts of different fields and so the information can be verifiably accurate. Everything is well organized and the information is explained mostly through videos which tend to thoroughly explain the information. The website downloads very quickly and is aesthetically appealing. You can tell that it was professionally made. All of the links work and directions for using the website are fairly straightforward. All the videos and graphics serve a clear purpose which is typically to explain and illustrate different subjects. For example in the Trigonometry section a video is shown which illustrates a right triangle and the different ratios that can be used to solve the sides or angles of the triangle. The website is also extremely current as the copyright date is 2015.

Trevor Montgomery Khan Academy is a resource that students, teachers and parents can all use to encourage and promote positive attitudes and confidence for students in math by using activities that seem like games that actually help students practice and hone their math skills in a seemingly fun learning vessel. Khan Academy is also an extremely great resource for parents and teachers because they can not only track their child or students' progress, but also create activities and lessons for students to do outside of class and have their own online tracking guide. As far as content goes, the activities are based on grade level and category for the students, so as teachers, you have a lot of control as to what the material is. Additionally, you can add students to the class at any point and when necessary, look at the lessons from a "student view", where essentially you are logged in as a student and can take a crack at the lesson yourself to see if there are any errors or misconceptions. This is actually a great tool as a way to, in a sort, "proofread" your lesson or online homework activity assigned. You can also track skill progress specific to each of the students and when a child is done mastering a certain activity, you can keep track of that and maybe quiz them in class as a way of ensuring mastery of the concepts. The intended audience is parents, students and teachers alike. As a personal user and someone who knows they will use this resource as a future teacher, I have to say I give this resource a big thumbs up. So as far as easiness and fluidity of the website goes, it couldn't be easier to navigate. Especially for students, you couldn't ask for a better layout of a resource like this that clearly identifies goals and activities for you. As a teacher, everything is neatly organized in one place for you to navigate back and forth through students and activities.

Overview: This website is about different subjects in math. The audience is for students of all ages. It is a little more difficult to navigate in, so you may need to assist your students. This website would be very useful for students to practice and challenge themselves. Design: Like I said before it is not the easiest site to navigate around on for students. And it is not the most attractive site. But it has very useful activities and has very clear directions to help students understand the specific math subject they need more help on. Content: This website has a lot of math content. The point of this website is to help students of all ages get extra practice on their math subject they are currently studying. The content is very useful and will help students in many ways. There are also some free ideas for teachers to use in their classrooms, such as worksheets and videos.

Jade Line April 14, 2015 This article is about different ways to have children finger paint. It provides ideas on how to stay away from the mess of painting and different projects students can do with painting. The attended audience for this article is early childhood/ elementary teachers. This website has all of the information needed for an easy set up and easy clean up. I enjoy this website because it is giving fast and effective ways to get the job done, which saves time. This website is credible and the author is known and is a credible education professor at a university in Pennsylvania. Although, the last time it was revised was in 2008. The content in this site is a little jumbled and it gets confusing to read at times. The purpose is clear and well stated. The author talks about how important setting up this messy project is for an easy take down and clean up. She also highlights in this article different "mess-free" activities you can do with painting. The design of this website is not very appealing. It isn't very colorful and doesn't attract the readers eye at first. There are no pictures to catch the attention of someone either. It is just a bunch of different paragraphs with a few bold headings. There are links provided to other areas on the website, but doesn't directly relate to finger painting. Overall I think the layout of this article isn't very neat and put together. There were no ads on this website to distract the reader.

This article is aimed at educators (mostly math educators) and others who may have an interest in how important it is that students in the United States understand English, because it's very difficult to understand other content areas without understanding English. The article summarizes the idea that it is very important, across all content areas, for teachers to be able to incorporate learning English into their classrooms for students who use English as a second language. They give advice, mostly to math teachers, about ways in which to add more English into the curriculum, and some methods to help those who may not understand English as well as they need to in order to do the given assignments. The content of the site is definitely aimed mostly at teachers. It provides many articles (such as the one on this specific web page) that will better teachers and their students. It contains the name of the author and sponsors of the site, as well as contact information. The authors of the site seem like credible people to write about topics of education. The date last revised is given, and it is 2015. The revisions are up-to-date and all links work properly. The content of the site was very clear on its intended purpose. The content seems accurate, free of bias, and would definitely offer good assistance to anyone searching for how to help their English Language Learning students. The EdWeek homepage downloads efficiently. It is very appealing, and the tabs at the top allow you to find what you are looking for based off of who you are. Author and sponsors, as well as their contact information, are very easy to find. The site is extremely easy to navigate and all links seem to work well. The site seems one worth visiting, not only for teachers, but for anyone interested in aspects regarding education. The date in which the homepage was last revised is noted, and it was last revised in 2015. The site is very well designed.

The purpose of this website is to inform the reader about primary colors.  The intended audience of this website is probably middle school students and up.  It provides a summary of what the standard primary colors are and why.  It talks about the different standards and when they apply.  It seems like a good website because it is informative and easy to navigate with no advertisements. The user is able to quickly determine the basic content and intended audience of the site.  The names of the authors of this site are not provided.  It is open to editing to basically anyone.  The usernames of the authors can be found, along with the date that they updated the site.  The site does not provide a good way to contact the authors, either.  The last date that this site was edited was 4/10/15.  This is appropriate to the material, and the site is updated frequently.  There are links to many other sites related to the topic, and they work properly.  The quality of the information is very good.  There is no detectable bias, and the information makes sense.  It provides information that is different than what I learned in elementary school, but I believe it is still accurate.  There are many other sources that provide consistent information.  The grammar and spelling are correct.  

Lauren John 1/30/2011 Jumpstart.com Overview: This site was created to help children learn to read through online games set in a fantasy land. It is focusing on making reading enjoyable and imaginative for those students who may have shorter attention spans or read at lower levels than other students. It offers incentives for completing lessons and practice of more school skills than just reading. The audience not only includes those with attention deficits, but also very young children who would be drawn in by the cartoon images and colorful designs. Although cute, the web design was not the easiest to get around. They offered directions verbally on what each place had in store for the child and how to maneuver in each game, but I had to figure out for myself how to move the person and what the buttons meant. Overall it was well designed though and the content was related. The biggest difficulty I ran into was that the player must be a member to take part in almost every one of the games. Content: The content of this website was fairly desirable. It was clearly stated in an upfront manner who and what they site were intended for. Although there is no author information or way to reach them, the sponsors are clearly identified and they are jointed with several other reputable sites. There is no revision date, but the materials are copyrighted through 2010, and I have actually seen the children I babysit play this game, so I know it is trusted by teachers in my school system. This site has many ways to get around it, but I could see how students would have a difficult time at the beginning because there are not clear labels. The site claims to have many ways to learn math, science, and reading, but in the time I spent there, it seemed like only the members were able to access the games that involved those. That made it so I was stonewalled enough times that I got bored with the site and gave up. I would consider using it in my classroom if there weren't

Lacey Boyles April 15, 2015 This website is for parents and children, there is a section for each. There is also a section for teachers. The website is easy to navigate. It focuses on children from ages birth to elementary grades. It seems that you can access this website on computers and also smart phones, iOS and androids for example. From what I looked through this would be a good site to not only visit again but also show to my children. Again this was a very well set up web site. It was easy to get around and they have the parent, children, and teacher sections separate. There are a few things I do not like about this site. There is a lot of adds for games that could draw attention to students if they were to get on here. When clicking on games you have to sign up and possibly pay to play. There is an index which gives you an idea of where you are going. The purpose of this site I would say is not 100% clear as there is information for parents, teachers, and children. The content on this page is really good. It has lots of ideas on activities, which it separates in to categories such as topic subject, age, and grade. There is a contact us page that you could go to if you needed help. I didn't need help so I am not sure how well or quick it works. Over all I did like this site and would go back again for ideas.

* Jessica A. Wilhelmsen Reviewed September 1, 2010 * Apples4theteacher.com - A Primary Website Overview The overall purpose of this site seems to be an interactive learning environment for both teachers and kids. However, neither teachers nor students would enjoy this site as it seems currently incomplete. While the site is labeled it is cluttered with categories and listings. It is also cluttered with advertisements and gives off a feeling of chaos. While the site does give tons of resources an individual would need time to weed through them all to see if it was something they could use. Content The content of the website has the latest revision date and author. The site is currently under construction, which may be supplying some of the confusion and lack of graphics. The organization of this site does provide categories and various links associated with it each subject. However, the design and over abundance of activities makes looking at it overwhelming. I think individual and students will utilize other sites over this one due to its lack of structure and ease. Design The esthetics of the Apples4teacher.com is very unattractive. The site uses small icons and titles that make it hard to look at. The index for each subject is located just below an advertisement and text boxes border the entire web page. Once you click onto a subject area there is a lack of design, a list of resources to click and more advertisements. There is no flow to the website and the graphics don't add anything to its appeal. I wouldn't bookmark this page unless its updated or I find something in that would work well.

Gary Schmitt September 1, 2010 en.wikipedia.org Content: While Wikipedia provides tons of information, most of it is out of order and irrelevant. When I searched the word fine art I found that a lot of the information seems confusing and even a little bias. This web page draws information from lots of different sources so it's hard to tell what is true and what is just hear say. However it could be used to help somebody get a quick overview of a topic. Design: So just as the content of Wikipedia is unsatisfactory, so is the main design of the page. It's plain white background makes it seem as though little effort was put into it. Also when searching general topics you will be shown random pictures that aren't always explained very well. Overview: Wikipedia is a loosely constructed web page that is changed many times every day. Knowing this I would have to say that it is not going to be the most reliable place to find good information. If you're looking to get a quick overview of a person, place or event it might provide a starting point but if you need credible information it's not a good place to find it.

Jaymie Sheehan ITEC 2360-04 9/2/2010 OVERVIEW For my this review I visited Vocabulary Games, http://www.vocabulary.co.il . The site's intended audience is students from Kindergarten to 12th grade who want to improve their vocabulary. The intended purpose of the site is to provide these students with a fun and exciting way to improve vocabulary. The site has various resources depending on grade level. High school students can practice SAT words while Kindergarten kids can begin to understand reading and phonics. I felt that this site is valuable to students, teachers and parents. Often the hardest part of getting a child to be proficient in reading and writing is generating interest and this site does just that! The simple layout makes navigation quick and easy. This is a site I would use in the classroom and at home with children of all levels.

Rebekah Asay January 23, 2011 Overview: This website offers a lot of free information on English vocabulary. There are games for each age level, vocabulary reading resources, and links to vocabulary around the world. Content: There is a lot of information on vocabulary, analogies, compound words, parts of speech, spelling, contractions, foreign languages, synonyms, and prefixes to name a few. There are a lot of additional resources for viewers who want to expand their search. Design: The design is a little weak. It is hard to navigate the website and it a little disorganized. There are a lot of adds surrounding the content that distract the eye.

Overview: This site can be used by junior high and high school English students to help understand many texts that they will be required to read at some point in their academic career. It contains many games for various novels; the games are appropriate for older students, which is hard to come by. The appearance of the site is a little confusing because it appears to be geared for younger students but the content is that of older students. The games are helpful and applicable to class. Content: This website is mostly useful for junior high and early high school students. It offers interactive help for texts that are commonly read at those ages. Each book that is represented on the site has several games the user can try relating to different topics, such as vocabulary, content, and setting. The website also has information that is beneficial for upper high school students. It offers a variety of different interactive games to help with studying vocabulary for the SAT, or any other standardized test they will need to take. The information on the site is accurate and helpful for the audience. Design: The design of this website does not match well with its' intended audience. The content of this website is for junior high and high school students, but the design seems oriented for a much younger audience. The graphics are not beneficial to the site and may make the site lose some users because they think it is too young for them. However, the site is very easy to maneuver. Each different topic has a headline with a brief description of what the user can expect if they choose that link.

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Sarah Skinner on January 22, 2010 Overview The purpose of this website is to give educators some new material for their classroom. There are suggestions on ways to use new tools to get your students more involved and more excited for learning. There are math activity instructions, blogs for people to read about different age groups as well. There are instructions to help a student learn to read music. My overall impression on this site was that it's very informative. Content This site is very easy to determine the basic content of the site. The intended audience is stated in the introduction paragraph that gives a little information on what the website is about. The author is clearly stated at the top of the page. There isn't a lot of information on the author. The sponsor is identified and contact information is available. The latest revision date is stated clearly on this page. The date is a little old but it has been updated in the past year. All links are working properly. The purpose of this site is mostly informational. There are no under construction signs on this page. The content of the site is well organized and is easy to understand. There is a sufficient amount of information related to my purposes. The content may be bias. Articles are written by different people saying what their opinions are. There is some interactivity and the information appears to be accurate based on my own knowledge. The information is consistent with similar informational sites and grammar and spelling are correct. Design The homepage downloaded efficiently but it kind of has a bland look to it. You can tell where you are immediately when you come to this page. There is an index to lead you to different links. The site sponsor is provided and there is a contact link available. A copyright date is at the bottom of the website. I am able t move around within the site with ease. There are no distinct directions for using the site, but it is pretty straight forward. The

Peggy Hall August 31, 2010 Website Evaluation Overview: I reviewed the website, Reach Every Child which is a website that helps teachers establish lesson plans. I believe the point of this website is to link the viewer to other websites that have information (i.e. lesson plans, facts, and data) about certain subjects. It is mostly a resource for teachers and students looking for information in whatever subject they need to discover more information in. I feel like this website could use some more content in explaining its overall use, but it does have a lot of great links for the viewer. This website needs to be enhanced, but the meaning behind it is good. It took me a little while to completely understand how this website works and the author's credibility and contact information is lacking. Content: As I previously mentioned it was not easy for me to decipher the overall objective of this site, I knew it dealt with lesson plans, but how those lessons plans were presented and used on the site was a little confusing at first. It is known on the webpage that Horace Mann developed it and that it is founded by educators for educators, but it does not have a bibliography page or link describing who Horace Mann Company is. It addresses in its disclaimer that if there are any questions to email them, but there is not an email address. This website does have over 5,000 resources and different links which I do find beneficial. However, it does also mention that you could hit a dead end and to not be discouraged. It is not apparent how current the information is that is being displayed on the webpage. This site does have some organization, but lacks a clear homepage. There are a lot of links which do not clearly explain where they will be taking you next. Design: The design is lacking. It did not catch my eye appeal when I first looked at it. It is all one color and has a simple font. Nothing really stands out to me or makes me want to visit this site. In fact the desig

Overview: Education world is a web site for educators to find up-to-date resources such as lesson plans. It's really easy to use. It provides users with valuable information or material that teachers can use for their benefit. It's free for all to use and provides other helpful links. Content: This site provides lesson plans, web resources, tools and templates, technology information, infomation for new teachers, professional development, etc. It provides tips for teachers to meet the common core standards. Teachers can look up site reviews and see which sites education world thinks are good sites for them to look at to get more information. Design: The design of this web site is fairly easy to use. It is well organized. It can be a little intimidating because there are a lot of links with information, but it's easy to navigate through if you're looking for specific content. It's got good graphics and easy to view.

Educaiton World has so many resources. A teacher could look for hours for find lesson plans, subjects, and worksheets that could fit in with their lessons. The content is excellent, but it is a little it overwhelming when you look at it. Just take your time. The design is okay. It may take you longer to go through to find what you are looking for.

Overview: This website is compiled of worksheets for all subjects at an elementary level. This is organized to assist teachers from preschool through fifth grade. Content: The authors and sponsors are clearly identified. Also, the copyright date and updated dates are clearly visible on each link. The content is organized so you can follow the link for the grade you need. Within the grade, there are links for the subjects taught in that grade and worksheets that correspond with the concept being taught. There are some single page worksheets and also packet worksheets. There are also worksheets with themes and for holidays. Design: This website is made up very simply, but it is still appealing to the audience. It is not filled with too many graphics to make it distracting. This site is very navigable because it is organized so that the user can quickly find what they need without having to go through many steps. There are also other sites that are linked so the user may find more information for the subject they need.

Overview: This website is designed to assist teachers in making lesson plans for their classroom. This website is usedful because it is intended for a large range of audience from Pre-Kindergarten through 12 grade. Content: This website is organized so that users can quickly and efficiently find their needed subject lesson plans. This is also dependable because the sponsor and the authors are listed, along with contact information. The links that are posted are current and work properly. There is a lot of information, the only argument could be that there is too much and it may distract the user. Design: This website has much color and many designs. It is appealing to the user because it is navigable because of the graphics. It is also very organized so that the user can quickly find the section they are in need of and click on the link that leads directly to the needed information.

Courtney Lovell February 2, 2012 Overview: The purpose of this is to give teachers materials and lesson plans. The intended audience is educators in grades kindergarten through eighth grade. This site allows teachers to past lesson plans they have used so that others can have them for their resources. I think this website is great the only drawback is you have to sign up to use it. This is a free website and I will use it for my future references. Content: This site is very useful. At the first glimpse it is very clear what the website contains. The author of the site I available and so is a way to contact the author. The site is very organized and easy to use. The information on this site is very reliable and easy to understand. The only quality this site is lacking is the revision dates. Design: The design of this website is fantastic. It has great speed and the homepage is eye appealing. The links on this site work properly and are useful. Multimedia works well and the browser compatibility is effective for multiple browsers. Information is easy to find on this site and is easy to use. The site is lacking directions for using it properly but is a good tool for teachers.

Bradley Sharpski 2/6/12 Overview: This site is very helpful to any teacher. I have used this site before and it comes in hand when looking for any type of lesson plan. From what I have found, this site contains just about everything a new teacher could want. It has lesson plans on all subjects, helps you even create lesson plans, gives you links to other educational sites and just a community base when you need help with anything. Content: This site is easy to locate and uploads very fast. The information providers are not really easy to locate and this site shows it hasn't been updated in the past few months. The quality of this site is very good. The content is correct and offers sufficient information to the subject at hand. This site seems very organized and seems to have no grammar errors. There are links to other sites which have helpful lesson plans related to what you're looking for and provide them to all. Design: The homepage is very easy to navigate through and allows the user to find almost any lesson plan on any subject. The homepage contains the sponsorship and when it was first created as well. The navigation of this site is great. There are links to everything which is very helpful. The multimedia of the site is hard to find. I had trouble with this but looking through some lesson plans, the site provides links to multimedia sites which you can use from there. After looking through this site, the content seems to be in working order and presented very well. This site seems to be up to date and has tons of links to follow which could be very helpful.