Group items tagged

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.  

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.

government library, primary sources

Jaymes Talkington January 23, 2010 http://www.loc.gov/index.html Content This site is full of collections of books, newspapers, videos, and other documents on thousands of historical events and people that are kept in the Library of Congress. There are resources for kids, librarians, publishers, researchers, teachers, and visitors. All of the informational documents found on the site come with citations, and since the information is in the Library of Congress it is most likely creditable. There is also a link that allows you to ask some of the librarians specific question. Design The front page of the web site is pretty easy to use considering there are many specific areas to click on depending what your use of the site will be. Everything is clearly identified on the front page. It didn't take unusually long to load either, and all the other links I tried came up pretty fast as well. The "search" bar at the top of the front page makes it easy to find exactly what you are looking for. It may take some time to download copies of texts, but the videos don't take long at all. There is no advertising on any of the videos I observed so it gets right to the chosen subject. Overview This site's purpose is to make the Library of Congress's information available to anyone without leaving their home. Their audience can include kids, librarians, publishers, researchers, teachers, and visitors. The resources on this site include digital copies of books and journals, and also educational videos. Overall the cite seems like an accurate and easily accessible source of historical information.

This webstie allows students to research primary sources.

Basic website for the Color Wheel, the primary and secondary colors.

The purpose of this site is to educate young elementary students on the primary, secondary and tertiary colors. The webpage is fairly simple and straight forward and includes pictures for more visual learners. In addition, this website gives other fun activities linked to other topics: Seed Germination, Co2 reactions. Content The content of this webpage was 'worth bookmarking for future reference'. I found the sponsors of the page to be not labeled correctly, or given proper dues.. I couldn't find the contact information of the website author either. Overall this webpage is good for k-6 students in many different subjects. Design: This page was simple in design, and rather easy to understand. All the parts of each page were purposeful in contributing to the topic and making pages interesting. I found the homepage to be a bit bland with only a list for navigation to other pages, it lacked a personal touch. I did like, however, how it was broken up into grade level, then by topics. Quite useful for planning broad spectrum lessons plans. This page showed not date of revision but the 'about us' page says who the admin is. ~A.Rodriquez

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

* 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.

Sarah Skinner on January 22, 2010 Overview The purpose of this website is to allow teacher to find literacy web resources. There are a variety of different links available for primary grade teachers that are beneficial to their students and their learning. You can learn about some favorite books and authors and also retrieve lesson plans that use the tips provided on this page. My impression on this site sit that it's very useful. There are many links available that can be used as a teacher. Content It is very easy to determine the basic content of the site and the intended audience is clear. The author is not on this site and no information is available about the site so it is unclear if they are qualified to give out this information. The sponsor is not clear as well and there is no contact link to ask questions to the sponsor. The latest revision date is available. It is very out of date. The last time this site was revised was in 2007. Links all still work. The purpose of this site is clearly informational. The content seems to be complete and well organized. It offers information related to my needs. The content seems to be not bias. There is no interactivity that increases its value but does have a lot of useful information that is consistent with similar sources. The grammar and spelling are correct throughout the page as well. Design The homepage downloaded efficiently, but the homepage is very plain and not very attractive. The page tells you where you are. There is a clear index at the top of the page that leads you to many other links. There is no sponsor provided that is clear. There is not information for contacting the sponsor and there is no copyright date provided that is easy to determine. It is very easy to navigate around the website. There are directions to help you where to find information. The links to other pages are appropriate. The graphics fit well with the information that is being provided. I have only tried Internet Explorer a

Katie Hertel 1-22-09 Overview: This website provides various educational materials to its primary users of students, teachers and parents. The purpose of this website is to educate about numerous subjects and provide preparatory material for standardized testing. It is set up so you can click on links such as Weekly News, Info Central, Global Warming, Elections in the US and Games and more. It also has Student and Teacher Resources containing lesson plans and study guides and practice tests for the standardized testing. Overall I found it to be okay but definitely has room for improvement. Content: When navigating through the links I found that there was quite a range of information that you can click on to learn about your desired topic that was accurate, according to my viewpoint at least. Although it had that, I also found that the Weekly News and the Elections in the US did not work. It supports decent educational value and has stated authors for certain articles and even a link to read about the author giving it credit that is reliable. This website has a twice monthly publication so the web page has authority and accurate information is being placed on the site. Design: Its design was easy to understand and eye catching along with very few to no advertisements that distract from many other sites. It had various links to other pages that relate to the site and shows how to use the site. Because of its structure, it may be hard to access the information you want unless you know what you are doing.

Scholastic.com Learning Activities (Grades K-5) Sara Scribner 1/23/10 Overview: I found this website to be very helpful. It has numerous resources for student activities and links to other sites with information and resources for teachers. Ads are present throughout this site, but they do not overwhelm you. Also, on the primary page with learning activities for students there aren't any ads at all. Not only would I use this source in my classroom, but I would recommend it to others. Content: Scholastic, a website for teachers is very credible. Information found on this site is current (updated and links work) and information to contact or learn about the sponsor/author is available. There does not seem to be any hidden agendas on this site. This site is organized according to grade level, K-2 or 3-5, and has activities for both age groups. Its information is consistent/accurate, easy to understand, and organized making it easy to navigate. Another positive aspect of this site is that it has activities for subjects like math, science, language arts, social studies, and Spanish. Design: This site is definitely worth visiting. It's content and links to other useful websites makes it a valuable resource. Content layout is organized and everything is clearly labeled. Graphics provide a glimpse of what each game entails and add appeal to the page/game description. Animations and sounds make one's experience as he plays the games enjoyable and exciting.

Kara Mitchell 1 February 2011 This website is lacking in bright colors and animations, because it is intended for an older audience such as high school students. This site looks into world history as well as history of children, women, the French Revolution as well as a few other specific areas of history. The site provides a wide array of information that could potentially be overwhelming. When choosing one site from the title page the student is then faced with another title page breaking down what the specific section includes. The site is easy to navigate as each sub title page is identical. Content: In each sub section is a listing of the sponsor or professor responsible for the information as well as the copyright and date. However the site is dated for 2006. History will not change because it has already happened but the site should be updated to show it is being maintained and not subject to falsification. The site loads quickly and efficiently, with no grammatical or spelling errors. However, there are no ads or links to other sites that may be beneficial or provide more evidence. Design: The site is easily maneuvered and there are no loopholes to finding information. Every page is the same format and there are no distractions. However, this would not be a good site for younger children because it lacks colors and animations. At the same time, no distractions are available to hinder work. Overview: I would use this website in my high school class because so much information is available. Primary sources are easily accessed as are reviews if a student needs clarification. There is no music or videos that I would find helpful however pictures and images of primary sources are at the students fingertips.

Elise Verley September 9, 2011 http://artofsciencelearning.org/ Overview: The site is a resource for using art to help students understand science. Its intended audience is teachers and is developed by The Learning Worlds Institute. It is a great idea but they don't have any ideas available for how to combine science and art. There are several conferences listed to attend, this is their primary focus currently. This may be a young site and there will be more information available on the site soon. Content: They have articles of research available that proves that using hands-on artistic approaches to teach science attract and retain students in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. They have related websites and articles listed so there are more sources to find out more information on the topic. Design: It is a basic website, that is easy to navigate the information available on the site. There is not a search function but the information on the site is easy enough to find that it may not yet be necessary. There is an RSS feed that has their most recent postings as well as profiles on social networking sites. There is a forum for teachers to interact and share ideas.

Content: The content of this website is very straight forward. However, at the same time it's well organized and puts off the feeling of professionalism. The main purpose of this site is to express the overall goal for every child, which is to make them into life long readers. Yet, with that goal they need to have guided instruction and engaging materials to make them efficient ones. So with that, this site gives a list of areas teachers can focus on to make that goal achievable (literature, reading comprehension, vocabulary, writing, ECT...). Since the primary focus is dealing with 2nd graders, teachers need to be able to present this material in a way that actively engages the students. Once that's accomplished hopefully they will begin to develop a real joy of reading and to read a wide variety of materials. Some might think this site is only for those who are educators but active parents can help guide their children by reading to them and helping with their homework. Design: Personally I believe that this site is designed very well. The colors they use are very appealing to the eyes and it is also presented in a manner that is easily understandable. When accessing this site it downloaded efficiently while also allowing the user to move around the site with ease. The information that is provided is very helpful, if teachers don't already have the basic knowledge of what is expected this site will give a brief insight on what is to be anticipated from each student. Attribution: This site seems to be a very established and projects information that is not only useful to teachers but allows children's development levels to be ranged all over the map. Meaning, this site is designed to help children that are struggling as well as the ones who are already progressively succeeding in this area of learning.

Jared Mohr-Leiva October 13, 2014 Grammar is an area of Language Arts that is almost unanimously hated. We are taught grammar in primary school, and the rules become greater in number and difficulty as we progress. Thankfully, websites such as "www.grammarbook.com" exist only to help. From basics (nouns and verbs, where to use a comma) to more complex areas (who vs. whom, prepositions, semicolons), this website has rules galore. Additionally, all the information is taken directly from Jane Straus's "The Blue Book of Grammar and Pronunciation," a published and legitimate work. On the website's home page is a list of twenty-five subjects, each linking to a page which details what each of the words mean, what they are, how to find them, et cetera. Sections are clearly labeled, examples are given, and rules are clearly outlined. Overall, the website is very user-friendly; It is very easy to find what is needed, and quickly. Aesthetically, I have seen much worse. Grammarbook.com is very blue, to say the least. However, many of the text boxes are a light orange color, blue's compliment, which is rather easy on the eyes. Labels are large and bold, making everything easy to locate. All in all, a very helpful and convenient resource.

Overview: The purpose of this website is to give teachers tools to help engage student learning about U.S. history. The audience of this website is history teachers all the way from elementary school to high school. The available resources of this website are teaching materials for teachers, content about numerous historical topics, and a section about the best practices for teaching history. I like this website because not only does it offer history content to teach, it gives teachers tools to help engage students in the material. The quality of this material is high and is well organized and it is eye appealing to visitors. Content: At first look, visitors to the website are able to know where they are and it is made clear who the audience of the website is. The authors and sponsors of the website are made available and contact information is provided. The only negative point about this website is its information currency. There is no last revision date, only a copyright year. The quality of information is great. There are numerous links to sources about various historical events and there are links for each grade level as well. There are also quizzes on the website to help enhance student learning. Design: The speed of this website is high; the homepage downloads immediately. The main page is very appealing and the content is accessible from three different tabs on top of the page. The information regarding authors/sponsors is also accessible at the bottom of the page. The navigation of the site is good; however, there are no directions available to visitors for navigating the site. . The site is compatible with various browsers and the content of the website is well organized and is plentiful.

Teachers and Parents' Resources This website is basically for parents and teachers trying to help their kids study English. You will find a guide to the materials you need in the TEACHERS and PARENTS section of the site. Sine these resources have been prepared by ESL professionals with at least 5 years teaching experience, you will find this site a great help.

Samantha Snethen- Feb. 5, 2012 Overview: OER Commons is website designed to allow educators from all over the worlds to share educational resources for primary, secondary, and post-secondary school. The website is free to view and has tens of thousands of lesson plans, classroom activities, assessments, video and audio lectures, games and much, much more. The site also has a bookmarking feature, in which users can bookmark new online educational resources to share. This website is a great tool for educators of any grade level to find and share wonderful classroom and teaching resources. Content: At first glance the site doesn't seem to give a clear idea of what it contains. However after reading some of the smaller print and doing some navigating it becomes clear. It provides a clear link to the creator and sponsor of the website, ISKME, so finding information about the organization is easy. One downfall about it is there is no last revision date provided, so it is hard to determine how old some of the resources available are. There is also little interactivity with the site. The majority of the content however, is easy to navigate, well organized and achieves the purpose it was created for. Design: The site is not designed to be very eye-catching and seems confusing at first glance. There were no directions for users available and again there was not last revision date provided. However, there was more than enough information and resources for almost any subject for almost every grade level. The information was also presented in well organized manner, which makes it easy for the user to narrow down the types of resources they are searching for.

Locate open education and creative commons resources for teachers and students of all grade levels