Dane Xavier Servantez
10/11/12
Overview:
This website is very useful for students, teachers and parents who want to learn about the basics of health and safety. Some of the topics include chemical safety around the house, to drug abuse and nutritional value. This website is great because it comes with worksheets and advice for teachers and parents. Teaching health and safety isn't the funnest thing to learn in the first place, this website makes that fun for the students happen. The overall site is easy to navigate and deals with kids from K-5 and teens from grade 6-8.
Content:
The content of the page is exceptional, it is powered by USA.gov and has services from the Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technologies which is part of the U.S. General Services Administration. There is a contact information link followed by the policies and privacy of the website. I assure you the information given is professional and current.
Design:
The design of the page is not the most appealing page, but it gets the job done. The organization is not the best, its kind of random and everywhere. The links are all labeled in correct subjects, as are the pictures that are presented and the overall color is somewhat appealing. This website wont catch your attention right away, but it also wont drive you away either.
This website is to be read by parents/guardians. It is full of nutritional information ranging from food safety to dealing with fussy eaters. The information found on this site should be put into place in the home and should be information parents/guardians take seriously.
Danie Thiel1-23-11The layout of this site is very organized and well thought out. The site gives you a detailed list of steps to making a pinch pot. With in the steps there are highlighted words that lead to links to help the reader better understanding the world. At the end of the nine steps to making a pinch pot there is a warning advisory that provides safety precautions. After that the viewer will find a list of materials to help make the pot more successful. This site correctly tells how to make a pinch pot and would best be used in a high school classroom. This site lacks pictures, which would make the site more successful. The site also offers links to other sites that might be found helpful.
Billie Slyman, 9/11/11
Purpose
The Kidstorm site is actually a section of a larger site dedicated to storm chasing. The rest of the site is fine, but the kids section has, in my opinion, the best resources and information. However, the information, while good, is pretty basic and could easily be found on other sites. So my overall impression is that while this site is okay for information about severe weather, its real value is in the photographs and resources that can be found there. There are tons of links to other sites, some on the main kids' page for general weather, and then more on each page about a specific weather. These links lead to good sites and would be a valuable resource for a teacher or student looking for information.
Content
The content on this site is appropriate for students in 4-6 grades and for adults as well. It is set out clearly, but the vocabulary would be difficult for younger students. Again, the information is basic, although the extensive safety tips are nice, but the pictures are great. There are high quality photos of every type of weather covered and more. These can be viewed online, and it is stated on the website that students can use them for paper reports in class as long as credit is given. The external links given are useful and would also be a good resource for student research.
Design
The site is easy to navigate and nice to look at, interesting while not being overwhelming. There is a lot of text on each page, but there are also a lot of relevant photos, so it is interesting to read. It is easy to go from one section to the other without having to go back to the homepage, and the external links are always at the bottom of the page. It's a well put together site.
Overview:
This site is clearly for students K-8 as well as teachers and parents. It is a site about the weather that is benefical to students, teachers, and parents. Students can explore the weather, teachers can find lessons and experiments, and parents can help teach their kids at home.
Content:
It provides alot of information about the weather such as hurricanes, tornadoes, winter storms, clouds, rain and floods, thunderstorms, lightening, wind, etc. There are lesson plans, experiments, and science fair projects ideas for students and teachers. It provides a lot of useful and helpful information by the author. She is a meterologist. She also provides games, flashcards, and facts about weather safety for students to help them learn.
Design:
This web site looks like it was designed mainly for students. It's got lots of graphics and I think it would be appealing to them. Since it's for kids, it's easy to use and navigate through. It seems like a fun site that I think kids would enjoy.
Jennifer Durn
January 24, 2010
ReadWriteThink - http://www.readwritethink.org/
OVERVIEW
The ReadWriteThink site is a partnership between the International Reading Association, National Council for Teachers of English, and the Verizon Foundation. The site contains several sections such as classroom resources, professional development, and parent/afterschool resources. The purpose of the site is to provide a collaborative tool to share free resources in reading and language arts instruction. This site would be a great resource for both the prospective and experienced educator.
CONTENT
Information on the site is up-to-date and clearly attributed to each author. Each of the sections is organized logically and contains links to various educational and reading websites. Cutting edge teaching methods are featured on the site and include teaching with podcasts and online safety for students. I was impressed with the relevance of the information on the site to today's student and current issues in education.
DESIGN
The ReadWriteThink site is of high quality with many pictures and multimedia graphics. The site also contains interactive exercises for students from K-12, lesson plans available for download, projects, and games. These various tools present information in ways which are useful for a variety of learning styles. This site is also well organized with logical placement of links and toolbars.
Overview
This is a catchall site for educators accumulating classroom resources, professional development guides, and parent and afterschool resources and learning objective resources.
Content
The content is up to date and informative. I enjoy how resources are broken down by grade specific needs and how all inclusive the information is. It is a great site to start at when stuck or encountering an educational problem. The authors are clear and legit. This site is very useful for my information needs and worth bookmarking for future reference.
Design
The design is attractive and easy to use. All the links appear to work in multiple browsers. The graphics are professionally and effectively employed. Overall: It is very well designed and easy to use.
Overview: Read Write Think is a website designed for teachers to assist them with lesson plans, classroom resources and overall classroom ideas. The website is unique in that you can search a subject, and it will give you several different lesson plan ideas for grades K-12. Beyond that, the lesson plan ideas tell you the required materials such as internet or textbook resources, and they also tell you the state standards the lesson will meet. This website is great for generating ideas about different subjects, and creating lessons you might never have thought of on your own.
Content: The overall content of the site is very reliable; it was created by the International Reading Association and the National Council for Teachers of English. The ideas, standards, and recommended resources are also highly reliable. All the links on the site also bring you to highly relevant information to the topic you have searched.
Design: The design of the site is very professional and easy to navigate. The content is all easy to access, and displayed in a way where you automatically know the intended, professional purpose of the site. All the links to other websites are relevant and fully functioning. There aren't many advertisements to distract you; however, there is hardly any use of multimedia. There are occasional pictures, but in general it is a strictly traditional, informational site.
Meghan Frank
The purpose of this website is to help teachers not only be able to teach how to read, write, and think but to also provide resources and help to be able to teach these subjects effectively to their students. This is definitely a website that is more centered on teachers and maybe even parents. This website provides lesson plans, different student interactions and activities, professional development, and videos to help teachers in their classroom.
When looking over the content evaluation this website proves to be very useful. It is easy to identify the content of these site as well the intended audience, which is teachers. You can easily locate who the author is, their information, that they are creditable, and they provide information to contact them if you need too. It lists that the latest date that it was revised was in 2014, and that it is updated frequently. All links are also working properly. This website also has high quality information. It achieves its intended purpose for the audience, and it is very well organized and easy to understand. The information appears to be accurate and up to date, and the information is consistent around the site and with the other links.
This website also has an efficient design, according to cyberguide ratings. The homepage opens fast and you immediately know where you are and what information this website will give you. There is a table of contents, and you can identify the sponsor of the website and how to contact them. The copyright date is also listed. This site is easy to navigate and has pretty straight forward directions on how to navigate through it. All the links are working and relevant to the content of the site. All the multimedia aspects of the website have a purpose and contribute to the site. The information on this website is very relevant to teachers and would make it worth visiting. It is easy to navigate and is formatted the same throughout the site. Over all this would be a resourceful
Jessica Chandler
January 24th, 2011
*Overview: This site is called Starfall. This website was designed to help students read. There are different categories to choose from such as ABCs, Learn to Read, It's Fun to Read, and I'm Reading. Each category has great contents once the recommended link is chosen. ABCs read the letter aloud that is chosen and shows word in which make the correct sound. Learn to Read contains different easy reads on line for the kids to read. It's fun to Read contains different types of reading such as tongue twisters, poetry, music, and etc. I'm Reading brings up a selection of books to read. This allows the students to choose what book sounds the best. If the child doesn't know a word, clicking on the word will read it out loud. There are many useful things to get out of this website for elementary and preschool kids, and for the teachers of that certain level.
*Content: The content is very clear and prepared. It is easy for children to understand the concept of this website. It is easy to access everything to learn about reading. A child could participate in this designed website alone or with the parents. It has great content and is very beneficial for the younger students who cannot read. This website also makes reading fun!
*Design: This website is fantastic! It helps the students love to read and demonstrates different patterns and the alphabet to the children. It is very colorful, but only the links are. Therefore, the content isn't hard to read. It is easy to find what you are looking for, and the site Is not overloaded with a bunch of information. It is quite eye catching and would be an excellent website for kids trying to learn how to read!
Chris Reidl
1/23/11
Overview
The purpose of starfall.com is to provide a fun and entertaining way to teach younger children how to read using phonics.
Content
This site is a great learning tool for younger children. Simply moving your cursor over a letter in the ABC's section gives you the sound of the letter and several words that begin with each sound.
Design
The site is very visually stimulating and the interactive learning tools are used very effectively. The audio and visual combinations used by starfall.com are very helpful in letter and word association and are very safe for small children.
Overview: Starfall is intended for young children ages 4-8 to teach reading through a variety of games and activities. The website is highly interactive, with pictures, videos, and several games, yet it is also highly educational. The focus is on teaching the basics to young children such as the alphabet, basic letter sounds, and early simple reading and reading comprehension. It also focuses on helping young English Language Learners with English and reading.
Content: The purpose of the site is easily identifiable, it is a children's website, and it wants to make learning fun. The links to outside websites work, and all the activities and games on the site worked well and loaded somewhat quickly. The site is easy to navigate, and it is easy to find games appropriate for different ages or skill sets. The educational value of each game was also easy to identify. It would be a very helpful resource in the classroom due to the overall safety and educational value of the site.
Design: The design of the site is very bright and fun, because it is tailored to young children. Each picture, video and game serves a clear purpose, and the site is easy to navigate. Each page maintains the strong eye appeal, and each link to outside websites is relevant. It is free of advertisements, so it is completely safe for the classroom because there is no fear of students unknowingly navigating away from the site. Overall, the site is very interesting and well organized.
Whitney Reese
Reviewed: 2/4/12
www.starfall.com
Overview: The purpose of this website is to teach children to read with phonics. The intended audience for this website is children ranging from the prek grade levels to second grade. It includes many resources such as the letters of the alphabet and their sounds, tools to learn colors and numbers, short tales for beginner readers, several word and reading games, reading materials for more advanced readers including comics and plays, and many interactive educational games. It also has its own unique curriculum for teaching children to read. My overall impression of this site was very good. It was really easy to navigate and loaded quickly. It is very colorful and kid friendly. It also has great content for learning to read.
Content: The content of this site is very clear and concise. It is organized in an orderly fashion, which makes finding where you want to go easy. The authors of this site are identified and are credible. The content of this site seems very up to date and serves as a great resource for teaching children phonics. The quality of information provided is very good and every aspect of the site seems to work properly.
Design: The design of this site is very attractive using bright colors and animated graphics. The homepage is set up easily so that kids are able to navigate but has links that adults can use to obtain site information as well. All multimedia aspects serve a clear purpose. Kids would love the design of this site.
A free website to teach children to read with phonics. For preschool, kindergarten, and first grade. Exciting phonics games and online interactive books.
Overview
This site is designed to give the latest news on Hazardous chemicals and recycling.
Content
The content is detailed, offering teachers some of the latest information on classroom chemicals for lab work and general chemical safety information regarding care and disposal of chemicals. It also, offers educational material for professionals as well as some classroom lab options and suggestions. The site is worth bookmarking for future reference.
Design
The design looks professional. It is comfortable and clear to use and it's easy to read. The information is up-to-date. There are multiple resources for a visitor such as video clips. It works the same in multiple browsers. The information content is worthy of visit. Overall: It is very well designed and easy to use.
Overview:
I did consider this website to be very significant, because it discusses the major problems with cyber-bulling, what it is, why it's a problem, where does it occur, etc.m along with information on other problems teachers encounter such as texting, cheating, and cyber-bashing.
Content:
Overall, I would consider this site to be very sufficient. At first glance you are able to quickly determine the content of the site, who the intended audience was, as well as the sponsor is. It also provides the latest information, and is well organized. It also appears to have consistent information with similar information I have found about the topic in the past.
Website Design:
Overall the homepage downloads efficiently, and is easy to navigate through, partially because of of the index that is located on this site, and a search bar. It also is very current and has various links for further information.
Whitney Lindt
Purpose: I think that the purpose of this website is to make a website available that teachers could send their younger students to. This website makes it a fun way for students to learn and it also gives them time on the computer which they need to move up in school.
Overview: This site has great links that teachers can use in their classroom and with some direction could actually send their students to and students could probably easily navigate this sight. There are many activities for the children that would make learning fun and keep the younger students' interest while the teacher is teaching them how to navigate a computer or just about any subject because this website goes over almost every subject in some way.
Content: The content of this site is very useful especially with the younger students in grade school because it is easy to navigate through and teachers would be able to tell their students where to go and the students would be able to do it themselves. The other thing that I really like about this website is it has links to sites that could help students learn and then it has sites that students could just go for fun such as coloring pages. All of the links off of the homepage of the website would serve great use in the classroom and just for parents to send their kids to without having to worry about the safety of the internet.
Design: This site is easy to navigate because the table of contents is in alphabetical order. All of the links from the home page work extremely well and one can navigate through this site quickly.
