Group items tagged

Overview: The Literary Center Education Network is a website created to help children with basic literacy needs in elementary school. There is tons of helpful information for parents and teachers as well as activities for students. This website has several categories of learning that focus on all aspects of elementary level literacy. Content: On this website, you will find a tab titled 'Play and Learn'. In this tab there are several categories that the student is able to choose from including uppercase and lowercase letters, shapes, writing, words, numbers, colors, and keyboard. Once the student enters each category, there is an activity that includes a woman's voice that narrates what the student is to be doing. There is also a 'Parents and Teachers' tab which includes things several additional activities that can be implemented to correspond with the activities the children have already done in the Play and Learn tab. Design: I believe that the design of this website is very user-friendly once the child has entered the Play and Learn tab. There may be some difficulty in getting to this tab, as it is not especially distinctive from the other sections of the website but once they are in the Play and Learn tab, there are several links accompanied by pictures that are easy to navigate even for a child.

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

Overview: This website is intended for students and teachers to practice their math skills. It offers free math games for students from grades kindergarten to seventh grade to help them learn and practice their math skills. This math site has tons of high quality interactive activities, ranging from basic skills like shapes, numbers, adding and subtracting to advanced skills like rounding, fractions, multiplying and dividing. I think that teachers would find this website useful for their students to use in or out of the classroom to form a better understanding of simple math. My overall impression of this site is that it is a fun and educational way for students and teachers to learn more about math. Content: The main purpose of this website is to provide a place for students to practice their math skills by playing games and activities. When first coming across this site, I found that it was difficult to see who the intended audience was, but after further observation I found that the site was full of math activities for students. The content of this website is well organized into different categories of math and provides directions on how to play each game. The site also offers an overview on the subject selected that one can view before or after the game they play. From going through this site I found that the external links that are provided are not for math but instead for other basic school subjects, which may be helpful. All in all, children would benefit the most from this website because of its fun and easy way to learn math. Design: The graphic design of this webpage was not as attractive as it could have been. I found that the way information was presented may not be the most appealing to young children and at times was hard to navigate. The graphics were appropriate for the site and the games were presented in a way that children could easily understand. This website is defiantly a fun way to teach math to younger children.

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: 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.

Overview: This is a learning website for young sutdents. When visiting this website they can play games and learn at the same time. Gudli has lots of puzzles that you can complete and other games. You have to sign in so that is a little bit of a hassle. Design: Gudli has lost of bright colors. The website makes it easy to access games for the young students. There are cool looking cartoons that will interest the students. Content: This website is lacking in content it only has material for students preschool-2nd grade. You have to creat an account so that is an extra hassle the student cannot just go learn and play games. there is no authors or creaters of this site and there is no created date. This means it is not a very credible source. The games are not very fun to play compared to the other websites.

Lyle Wiley September 10, 2011 Overview: Shakespeare Online is an informative site focusing on Shakespeare's work, life, plays, and scholarship. The site seems most geared towards students of Shakespeare of all ages and Shakespearian scholars but contains a good many resources for the educator as well. This frequently updated site has a girth of articles to fill the Shakespeare friendly palate, including play summaries, current Shakespeare headlines, study questions, quizzes, and tips for studying Shakespeare. Shakespeare Online is a useful informative website that could benefit from more interactive media influence and external links, but the site exists as a useful educational resource nonetheless. Content: The content of Shakespeare Online is outstanding. It is easy to determine the purpose and organization of the site and the authorship of the site and contact information are readily available. The author seems qualified to present the information and, by all accounts, produces an ambitious amount of Shakespearian material which is updated frequently. While there are few external links, the information on the website is well organized and grand in scope. Design: While the general design of the website appears rather plain and primarily text based, the fast downloading homepage is well organized and indexed with numerous links (if a little crowded with text). It is very easy to find the website content and the authorship information as well. The frequently updated information on the website is excellent, yet the design could certainly be improved. There are few external links or media resources, both of which would help the interactivity of the site and its general appearance as well.

Tessa Kaufman Shakespeare Online Overview Shakespeare Online is a super useful website. Any teacher teaching Shakespeare should take the time to look at this site. It has useful everyday information such as the word of the week and quote of the week, which pertains to something from the Shakespearian age. There is also a proverb of the day which shows that the author updates the site daily. It has useful information for both students and teachers. I feel teachers can get ideas on how to teach the plays in a better way and also to teach students useful vocabulary. Students could utilize this site to get a better feel for Shakespeare. They can look over study guides and reading the plays online has explanatory notes at the bottom for better understanding. Content The amount of information within this site is amazing. The home page has many things that can be accessed that are useful. Every play and sonnet is in on this site with study guides available for some. There is a place for famous quotes. It explains the sources of the plays and where they originated. There is a biography, glossary, and even quizzes. Teachers could utilize the quizzes in class and maybe use them for a supplementary tool along with the in class paper quizzes. Design When the page first popped up I thought it was a little too cluttered with text. The text on the home page is organized and very easy to understand with the purple lines separating the text. The side clearly gives links to other pages that are useful. There is also a search bar for easy access of information. You can easily find the author and contact information. Besides the overload of text at first it is clearly easy to understand and navigate.

Overview: This article is written by Dr. Michael Morales. He goes over the themes of Shakespeare's "King Lear," and effectively summarizes the play. The blog is updated, and uses current language to describe an old piece of text. This article would be intended for students of High School age. Content: The article is very descriptive with the summary of the play. He is also descriptive with the themes, and cites examples of all of his claims. The information is accurate to the plotline, and the language is correct and meaningful. Design: The website is pleasing to the eye, and has many links to different articles. All of the links work, and it is very community-based. It is scholarly without ads and all information.

Overview: This article is written by Dr. Michael Morales. He goes over the themes of Shakespeare's "King Lear," and effectively summarizes the play. The blog is updated, and uses current language to describe an old piece of text. This article would be intended for students of High School age. Content: The article is very descriptive with the summary of the play. He is also descriptive with the themes, and cites examples of all of his claims. The information is accurate to the plotline, and the language is correct and meaningful. Design: The website is pleasing to the eye, and has many links to different articles. All of the links work, and it is very community-based. It is scholarly without ads and all information.

Overview: This website is directed toward preschool and childcare professionals. Its purpose is to teach these professionals more about play based learning and how to bring these elements into the classroom. Content: The content of this site is reliable and professional. The creator of the site posts her entire background of working in childcare facilities. Her seminars are posted for viewing and the information given has resources to back it. The site also provides different links to sites that use this play based learning approach, and you can browse their sites for more information on how they run their programs. Design: The design of this website is good. The pages load quickly and all the URLs are correctly linked and are available. The pictures used are relevant and tie to the material. Navigating this site is also very direct and easy to follow.

Aylin Márquez 13 September 2011 Overview: Math-Play.com provides a variety of games designed for mainly elementary and middle grades. The games are categorized based on the grade level, subject and type of games. The site has a list of games for teachers and students that is designed to improve students learning skills while they have fun. Content: Math-Play.com offers easy-to-play games. The site includes classroom games that teachers can add to their lesson plans to make learning interactive and fun. The site also shares links to other math games. Even though the date of the last revision is not clearly labeled, the copyright is 2010 dated, and the sponsor of the site is under Doina Popovici name. Design: The homepage downloads efficiently, and the games are readily available. However, elementary or middle grade students may not find this website appealing based on the design of the homepage. The top of the homepage has only one image and lots of text until the user scrolls down on the page. The games are labeled, organized, and ready to use with ease. The graphics, animations, sounds clips serve a clear purpose, and they are appropriate.

Meghan Frank The purpose of this website is to provide math games of different skill levels and different grades to students. The intended audience are students in almost any grade level. This website is intended for students to use to not only get more math practice but to also have fun learning math. My overall impression of this website is that it would be a good website to use to practice math. It meets almost all the criteria of the cyber guide ratings and would be a good resource for students to use in and out of the classroom. This website meets most of the content criteria of the cyber guide ratings. At first glance you are able to determine what the content and the intended audience is of this website. The author of the site is identified, we do not know any other information about the author or whether or not they are qualified to present information on this topic. The sponsor and revision date is also not provided. However, the website seems up to date and all the links work to the different games. The content of the website is clear and it achieves its intended purpose. It is also well organized and easy to understand. The website does better with the web design criteria. The homepage loads fast and is eye catching. You know where you are immediately and there is an index of all the games on the website and age groups. The site is easy to navigate and directions are provided and easy to follow. The links to other pages work and are appropriate to the webpage. Use of multimedia serves its correct purpose and relate to the math on the website. There is plenty of information and games that make this site worth visiting and using. All the information is clear and organized and consistent throughout the site. There is no revision date but all the information looks up to date. Over all it seems like a good website to use even though not all the criteria are met.

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

Jennifer Durn January 24, 2010 Pioneer Drama Service, Inc. - http://www.pioneerdrama.com/ OVERVIEW While this site was more of a commercial nature than the others that I reviewed for this assignment, the Pioneer Drama Service website appears to be a valuable resource for the director of a children's theater program or a school drama advisor. The company provides a useful search feature to locate the appropriate play or musical and utilizes a shopping cart, as do many other e-commerce sites. I plan to bookmark this site and use it in my career when I have the opportunity to be a drama or theater advisor in a school setting. CONTENT The intended audience is readily apparent when one first navigates to the Pioneer Drama Service site - the "educational and amateur market." The site is well organized and information is logically presented. The site is updated regularly with the most recent update having occurred on the day I viewed the site. Given the abundance of copyrighted material on the website, playwrights and authors are cited consistently. DESIGN The "Ask the Playwright" feature and blogs are two tools that I had not expected to see on the site. The "Ask the Playwright" button allows the user to send a message through the Pioneer Drama Service to inquire about the particular work. The blog section provides postings from staff as well as news feeds from other relevant websites. Many of the plays and musicals featured on the site also contain production photos and production notes, a useful tool when deciding which theatrical works will be featured in the upcoming season. The site performed without incident using Mozilla Firefox and presented information in a simple and user friendly fashion - search features at the top of the site and a toolbar with drop down menus on the left.

This is a poor website about early childhood education

Kristin Gaines September 11, 2011 Overview- The purpose of the site is to inform users of children's play in early childhood education. The intended audience is parents and teachers. There are no available resources for this site and all the sources used are very outdated. This is not a credible website and should not be used. Content- The content of this website is outdated by over 13 years. It has not been updated since it was originally created and there is no way to contact the author of the article on the website. The purpose of this website is not reached, because the content can't be used since it is old data and research that the information was based on. Design- The design of this site is about as poor as its content. The site is lacking about everything a site needs to be considered a website. The only content on the whole webpage is a very outdated article about children's play. There is no table of contents, sponsor, contact person, multimedia, or links. Nor has the site ever been updated. Overall, the design of this site is lacking in every aspect possible.

This website reviews the effects of play in early childhood education.

Kristin Gaines September 11, 2011 Overview- The purpose of this site is to inform its audience about play based learning in early childhood. The intended audience is both parents and teachers of young children. This site does not contain a list of available resources, but contains valuable information. In my opinion, this site is very useful if you want to learn about the teaching methods used in early childhood today. Content- Upon rating the content of this site, I found that it met the almost all the criteria for content. The site was only lacking in interactivity and links to other relevant sites. One problem I did find, was that the site was a bit biased, so that makes it not as relevant. Design- This site is not fancy in any way, nor does it catch your attention, but it contains the vital pieces that make up a working website. It is organized and clear, although there is not much content in the site. Either way, this site met most of the criteria for design and is a good and easy to use site.

One resource I chose to evaluate is No Fear Shakespeare. The URL for this website is http://nfs.sparknotes.com/. The purpose of this website is for students to understand Shakespearian plays. Understanding older English can be very difficult, and the purpose of this website is to use language that is more relatable to today. The author of the plays is obviously Shakespeare, and the site shows other information about the contributors at the bottom of the page. Copyright information and contact information is provided for those who need it. This website is current, and seems reliable. The website effectively fulfills its purpose. I used this as a source while studying Shakespeare, and I would use it for teaching it as well. The design of this website is very functional. This was easy to use as well as aesthetically pleasing. The website is easily navigated and presents information well. The design is very modern, so it is fun to be on this website.

Stephanie Mecca 2/5/12 Overview: The purpose of this site it to provide art students from the ages of 4 to 12 years of age with a fun, interactive game site to both play and learn through art. There are a variety of games ranging from drawing different types of pictures to game shows to help students determine different types of sculptures and what they are made of. As students play games they are able to learn some art history and are quizzed and art basics which are helpful resources to the viewer. Overall this is a very interactive site where students can learn as they play. Content: After clicking on the little figure to enter the site the viewer is able to read about the site, what its purpose is and who created the site. If the viewer has all ready read this information they have the option to "skip the intro". Although there aren't any links that allow the viewer to read about the sites authors there is a basic link on the main page so that the viewer can redirect the main Abright-Know Gallery website which provides information about the Gallery, copyright information, and contact information. The quality of the Artgames site is great; the site is well organized and understandable for young viewers to follow. Design: On the main page of the Artgames site the viewer can see that the developer of the site is the Normal Force which used Macromedia flash technology to create the website. Once the viewer enters the interactive site they are greeted by a page that has numerous pictures that are links to different games. These links are easy to follow and are usually pictures of the different games. There are helpful directions to read through before playing the games and the same format is used throughout the site. Although there isn't any place in the site that the viewer can find out when the site was last updated and there are no outside links.

Overview: The intended purpose and audience isn't very obvious when first looking at the page. Once the user hits play he/she can clearly see that it's a punnett square simulator in determining genotypes and phenotypes of the rabbit offspring. The audience is for students in biology learning about punnett squares - it's a kid friendly site with the use of animated rabbits.  Content: The content and audience is easily determined once hitting play - a set of instructions pops up. The author/info provider isn't clear on the website of the simulation. There's no information on date published. The quality of the site is good - it accurately helps students with punnett squares. There were no links to additional sites.  Design: The page downloads quickly. The homepage is appealing to the eye - a children or student would be attracted to this site with the use of animated rabbits and high use of color. There isn't anywhere else to navigate - it's simply a simulation for practicing with punnett squares. The multimedia is key for this site - a perfect use of it. The site is compatible with multiple browsers. The content is presented well - it's obvious that it's a simulation. 

Posted by Kendra Jones on 09/06/2011 This website has several math games of children and gives the children the option of creating their own game. Design: The home page of the website is kind of boring but once you click into a game the appearance is much better. Content: This website offers a variety of math games. There are several subjects with in math that they can choose from. They have the option of creating their own game also. Overview: The first appearance of the website seems kind of boring but once you click into things it looks like it could be really fun for a child. The front page could use more color. But overall I think this would be a great website for learning math.

2-5-12 Overview This website was put together by the Oswego City School District in NY. It is an interactive game site for kids. The games that are already on the site are math games for elementary students. However there is also an application to build your own game with matching or terms. This makes the website fun for kids, but also useful for others a resource to build your own game. Overall, I think this is a good website for many audiences to help build and practice skills. Content The content of this website is much less varied. The games on the site already are all focused on elementary math. This is nice if these are the kinds of games you are looking for because you don't have to navigate through the site or sort through other subjects. There are also many levels of the games to improve skills and build on previous information. You also have the option of making your own game including directions to do this. The directions are very full and this application would be very useful to others. I think that this is a very good math website for students and teachers. Design The design of this website is less impressive. It is easy to use the games that are available. The descriptions are very helpful in choosing a game and the directions for playing are very accurate. They are also organized well in an order that makes sense. However, I was not able to make my own game. The directions were very descriptive, but I got confused and was not able to pull the game I created up to play it. I feel like if someone spent a lot of time experimenting, it might have been possible however I did not feel like it was very accessible. The website was organized and useable but could definitely be improved.

Lyle Wiley September 10, 2011 Overview: Shakespeare Help is clearly a for-profit site focused on attracting educators which attempts to sell Shakespeare teaching resources on a front page. But this site contains many linked educational resources from other sites for 10 Shakespeare plays which include current links with lesson plans, texts, power points, and current research articles. The linked resources are the gem of this website. These appear to be frequently updated, relevant, and helpful resources for the teacher approaching a Shakespeare play. With that being said, Shakespeare Help itself has very little free original content to contribute on this site. Content: The bulk of the useful content on Shakespeare Help is found in the linked material to external resources. In many ways, the site works as a nicely organized list of helpful links for the educator approaching Shakespeare. This is helpful to notice, as the authorship information for the original content on the site (which is being marketed to sell) is not readily available to the reader. This puts into doubt the reliability of content, but as the mass of the free useful content is external, this does not make the website unusable for educators. The site is updated frequently and many of the links would definitely be helpful for Shakespeare educators. Design: The relatively simple design of the site is easily navigated even if it is not extremely eye catching. The website loads speedily and follows simple indexed lists for informative links to be found. The frequently updated links all appear to be live and are extremely useful for teaching purposes. There is very little original site content available for free, but the available information is well organized and easy to locate. There is little media content on the site, but there are some nice external links to some quality media content. Essentially, Shakespeare Help works well as an external links site for teaching resources.

The content of this site is has Spanish, grammar, math and science. You are able to choose which section that you would like to work on and learn by playing games. The games are based for elementary students but the Spanish versions could help high school students learn as well as have fun playing games.The design is very user friendly. They have toolbars on the top and left had side of the page so that you can easily navigate to where you want to go. There are also pictures that go with the game and a description of what the game entails underneath. There are also bright colors to make the website very aesthetically pleasing. I think that this is a good site because it could easily be utilized by a variety of teacher of different age groups not just elementary as it is intended. If I wanted high school students to use this site they could work on cleaning up their Spanish grammar by picking that certain picture. If one game wasn't working out for one student they could always pick from the others that are available.