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Emily E. KrabbenhoftJanuary 22, 2011Overview: This website, created by Discovery Communications, is an excellent resource for parents, students, and teachers. For parents it provides ways to help motivate their children and ways to help with homework. For students it all gives homework help and other ways for students to further their knowledge or to practice what they already know. For teachers there is interactive projects, lesson plans, and puzzle makers. Content: The content of this website, the information providers, and the quality is well presented to users. While the information is provided by a company to further their products, it offers a lot of free resources for everyone. It also does not push its products on the user, for example no pop-ups or constant nagging to purchase things.Design: This website has a great design. You do not get lost when you are navigating the website because it has great descriptions and titles of the pages. All of the links work properly and direct you to the appropriate websites or links. 

Hannah Clucas. October 10, 2012. Overview: This website is a giant database for schools. It has something for administrators, teachers, students, and even parents. There are a lot of available resources. The website is amazing and helpful for all facets of learning. Content: For administrators, there are curriculum options, helpful assessments of resources schools are currently using, and a host of other useful things. For teachers there are lesson plans, puzzle makers, additional resources, and even information on student travel. For parents there is a section on ways they can motivate their students and give them help in homework. The student section has a homework help section as well as links to contests they can join and clipart. There are also videos that parents, teachers, and administrators can use. The website is probably more helpful to teachers and administrators. Lesson plans are divided into two grade level groups, k-8 and 9-12, making it easy to find lesson plans for intended grade levels. Some of the links on the website are not useful, such as the link to downloading Google Chrome. But none of the links are inappropriate. Design: The design of the website is logical and flows well. There is a section for administrators, teachers, parents, and students at the top and bottom of the home page. It is colorful and fun to get your attention, but not to the point that it is overwhelming. Its use of media is appropriate and helpful.

Lorena Garcia Evaluation date: 10/13/14 The site I chose to evaluate was Discovery Education located at www.dicoveryeducation.com. The purpose of this site is to provide free education resources. The intended audience of this site is teachers, students, and Parents. This site provides some downloadable lessons. It offers lessons plans for the various school grades. I feel this site could be a great resource for new and veteran educators. I found that this page is quickly to determine the content because there are links about who they are, what they offer, also they have links for students, parents, and Teachers who are the intended audience. In fact there is contact information for anybody who has questions or verify information about it. Anybody can contact them by phone, (1 800 ), Twetter, and Face book, and e-mail. It is clear that this page is to provide Educational information with the different options of downloadable lesson plans. It is worth visiting this page, specially Educators. They can find a lot information and great ideas for lessons. The information is clearly labeled and organized school year. These links are very well organized and easy to find. I did have some trouble finding my way back to the original page. However, overall I would most definitely recommend and use this website.

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. 

John Pokallus 31 January 2011 Overview: The purpose of the site "Catch me if you can" seems to be a talent agency for aspiring individuals involved in the performing arts. The available resources of this site were literally non-existent and I had much difficulty navigating and finding any useful information whatsoever. This site was so poorly designed that I am still not entirely sure what content it actually provides. Content: Upon first look I was so inundated with visual stimulus that I was dumb-founded for a moment and had absolutely no idea what the purpose of the site was. After randomly searching the site I discovered that the intended audience was for individuals involved in the performing arts, and it seemed that this site was that of a talent agency. As far as information: providers, currency, and quality were all non-existent. The only actually readable text was the "about us" page that advertised their company named "Catch me if you can." There were links to other pages, but the links did not work so I could not tell if they were relevant to performing artists. The only positive thing about this site is that the grammar and spelling seemed to be correct. Design: The homepage took longer to download than it should have. Upon downloading, there were so many visually distracting animations and colors that I could not tell what the site was about. I did find an index to other pages within the site, but each page was equally confusing and distracting. There use of multimedia served no purpose other than to confuse, distract, and cause seizures to individuals susceptible to epilepsy. There were broken links, both internally and externally to the site. I could not find contact information on the site creators, and there was no indication of a discernible date or copyright notice.

Shelley Limegrover January 22, 2011 OVERVIEW The second site I evaluated was phet.colorado.edu. This site contains interactive simulations of math and natural science concepts relevant to all grade levels including college. This site is intended primarily for Teachers. Besides science simulations, the site contains suggested classroom activities and lesson plans corresponding to the simulations. All content can be downloaded or run directly from the site. CONTENT The content and intended audience of the site is made immediately clear on the first page. More detailed information about the intent of the site as well as about the authors and sponsors is made available via a list of links at the bottom of the homepage. The information on the site is not immediately easy to understand. However, this is remedied by instructions and suggested uses of all the content on the page. The site also offers dates for teacher workshops so that they may learn how to apply the material. As I mentioned in the overview, this site is primarily for teachers. A student would not be able to navigate through the material effectively without guidance. DESIGN The homepage downloads quickly and is clear of distraction. A simple navigation bar is provided at the bottom of the page. No scrolling is necessary to see it. The copyright date is clearly identified though dates of last revision are not. There are no broken links and all material appears to be up-to-date. The format of all pages is consistent and a navigation bar is always present. The site was compatible with all three browsers that I had available to test. The simulations are neatly presented on a single page, searchable by subject matter or grade level. There are no unnecessary graphics or video files on other pages of the site.

Teachnology.com downloads quickly and efficiently with no problems even with so many graphics. Things are setup in a pleasing manner and links are clear and easy to navigate to but there may be a little too much distracting advertisement. There are a variety of different resources and ideas regarding teaching methods and lesson plans. An effective site map is provided as well as a help link making this site easier to navigate (disregarding the abundance of advertisements). Graphics downloaded quickly and add the purpose of the site. Information is clearly labeled and organized appropriately but the wealth of information (different links to similar information) makes this site a little overwhelming but very useful. If further information is needed, contact info is provided and can be found easily. The copyright date is clear and information is kept current on teachology.com.

Natasha Tuft Web Site Review September 20, 2009 http://ilovethatteachingidea.com/ The purpose of this site is to allow teachers to share and find creative classroom management and teaching ideas. "Get inspired with creative ready-to-use teaching ideas!" I was very impressed by all of the very useful links, organized information, and abundance of different kinds of ideas for different age groups. CONTENT This is a site with a very clear purpose. At the very top it says "We inspire teachers with practical, teacher-created ideas and resources that you can use in your classroom immediately." In an easy-to -find place you can contact the information providers. Not only is there a "About Us" link, the site encourages you to join their free e-mail newsletter in a few different ways as you navigate the site. If there is a regular newsletter that tells me that the site is regularly updated, current, and active. The quality of the information is very good, of course remembering that any teacher (or anyone for that matter) can post teaching ideas. The usefulness of each idea is in the eye of the beholder. There is much access to further information on any given subject as there are topics and many links. DESIGN The page loads quickly and the homepage is appealing. The sponsor can be contacted easily and the organization of the links makes it easy to navigate the page. In trying to find "use of multimedia" I actually found a couple of downloads that didn't work, which doesn't mean there aren't other useful downloads or clips. The site was compatible with my browser, had excellent content presentation which was organized and eye-appealing. Things seemed current as mentioned above and there was a lot of availability to further information. The site made me excited to start planning my teaching curriculum and methods!

Overview: This a site that provides a variety of free kids books online. It is intended for all early grade school students. The site has books from a variety of genres to download in pdf form. The design and content are both exception and this site would be great in the classroom. Content: Users can tell that the site is for reading kid's books and it is appropriate for a grade school audience. No authors are identified on the site, but it site blog identifies contributors and authors. There is no link for contact on the site, but the blog has communication capabilities. Last updated information is available at the blog of the site. All links are functional. In addition, it is easy to navigate. Content is complete, organized, easy to understand, and free of bias. The site is interactive in that kids pick what to read and do so. I explored several free book sites and this one is the cleanest with the most variety. The site does have links to other books, and how to purchase them, which serve its purpose well. Design: The homepage is visually attractive and downloads quickly. Navigation is simple and content is well defined. The site sponsor information is not available except at the blog, which provides a great deal of information. The site is easy to navigate, but does not include an index. All links are active. Some multimedia is used to make the site appealing. The website is available on a variety of browsers, including Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Safari. The content of the site is extensive and fun for readers. The content is organized, easy to use, and design is consistent throughout the site. No books are outdated and new books are added regularly.

Mandy Schumacher 1-24-10 Overview: goalsguy.com is a website devoted to goal setting. It is aimed at anyone who is interested in learning how to set and achieve goals. This site can be used by teachers to instruct their students on how to make reasonable, reachable goals but it is more focused on promoting their products. This site is both informational and commercialized. Content: This particular site is full of information about goal setting. On the homepage there are seven separate links: About, Knowledge, Events, Affiliates, Support, Books, and Contact Us. Under the Knowledge link the user will find a ton of information about goal setting. Here would be the best place for someone to go if they are hoping to gain knowledge about goals and how to set them. The rest of the links on the homepage are less informational and a lot more commercialized. This site is more based on commercialized material then it is on information. Design: goalsguy.com downloaded to the homepage quickly. However, the information on this site is not very organized and is kind of hard to navigate. The main purpose of this site is to promote their products (cds, videos, and handbooks) so it is hard to get to the informational portion of this website.

David May 1/23/11 This site is very educational. Great information with a reliable source. Too much advertising the museums. Overview: The website of the Smithsonian museum with a fun educational spin. The site has a few games with animations that are well put together. The games have good images and great animations that put complex things in simpler terms like comparing a planet size with a beach ball compared to a golf ball. The site overly advertised visiting the actual place too much. Everything that was clicked on encouraged visiting and it got very tiresome very quickly. Content: The site is very easy to navigate and find what one is looking for. There is a constant sidebar with information about where you are and what things are easiest to link to.. They list the curator of the museum who is in charge of the content on the website. The copyright of the website is 2010 which shows recent content on the website. There is an informational theme to the site, but the clear objective of this site is to get visitors to the museum. Design: The website is very well put together. It is impressive with the amount of graphics and page design that they put in effect on the site. The problem is that if users don't have the latest flash player they will have to download it and go through the download process. If this is for students the schools might restrict the ability to download the software. The website other than over advertisement is good for information and reliable for what one is looking for.

Laura Rice 2/5/12 Overview: The purpose of this website is to expand educational knowledge and resources for education. The intended audience ranges from educators, families, and students. This website provides many resources for public use. The educators are provided with resources for field trips, professional development organizations, lesson plans, resource library, and online events. For families the website provides information about what is available at the Smithsonian, time you can spend together as a family, and events families can do together. The students are also provided with information about the Smithsonian, topic they can explore, secrets of the Smithsonian, and events available for kids. This website is a great source to a variety of people. The links to each page provide a lot of information useful to educators, families, and students. Content: The website is extremely useful to all types of people from educator, families, and students. Teachers have access to lesson plans for all subject areas ranging from K-12th grade. Teachers are also provided information about taking a field trip to the Smithsonian and the programs it has to offer students. The tab for educators also has a link to online events that are taking place. For families the website contains different activities the Smithsonian has to offer as well as activity sheets for children. Students are provided with events at the Smithsonian that may interest them, as well as topic they may enjoy to see there. Overall the content is very educational and centered around what the Smithsonian can offer to others, and also provides lesson plans that could help educators in their future career. Design: The overall design is easy to understand and information is extremely easy to access. Tabs clearly identify the intended audience from educators, families, and students. Under each tab there are others that provide information useful to each age group. At the bottom of the page ther

Lauren John 1/31/2011 http://www.learn4good.com/kids/learning_spanish_online/free_lessons_for_children.htm Overview: Although the web design is not as well put together and eye catching as the first site I reviewed, it fared much better on the checklist than the first. The site is much more organized and user friendly to navigate, with working links and activities that don't require membership. They also are available for contact and do not require any downloads/installation of products to participate. It is fairly obvious what the site covers and the content available for free versus the products you can buy. This page is effective, efficient, and conducive to several learning styles. I would use this site in my classroom someday in the future. Content Summary The content of this page is clear and indexed well so that the user can very quickly navigate to their desired lesson and know exactly what they will be learning about. I was impressed that not only the information providers were clearly identified, but the currency and the quality of the site very obvious. They also had a variety of categories to learn about, which in a language site is very desirable. All the links worked correctly and were worthwhile to the learning taking place. It covered all the areas of the content checklist with ease. Design Summary: I was happier with this site than the first for several design reasons. First of all, the homepage that downloads is not only fast, but the only place you need to go. The first site had a homepage that then took you to another menu that asked for a download before taking you into the learning space. Although it doesn't have the same eye appeal, I knew what the content was and who the sponsors were with ease. They were also available for contact! The menus had clear pictures and labels to help the user navigate efficiently, and the directions to the learning games were clear and easy to follow. Everything seemed to be in its appropriate plac

This site provides math worksheets that are designed to help students learn mathematics.

Aylin Márquez 14 September 2011 Overview: Superteacherworksheets.com provides a variety of mathematics; science and social studies; and reading and writing worksheets designed for teachers. The intended audience for the probability sheets is students from third to sixth grade. The site also provides teaching tools, fun activities, games, and downloadable electronic books. Content: The purpose of the site is informational. The content of this site is well organized and promotes interactivity between students. The intended audience for each internal links varies from pre-kindergarten to twelfth grade students. The internal and external links work properly and are related to the students' needs. The site offers sufficient information that is designed to improve teachers' teaching techniques. Even though the information seems current, the site does not provide the latest revision date. Design: The homepage downloads efficiently, is attractive and has strong eye appeal. The user can navigate around the site easily. The worksheets are downloadable PDF files. Some include instructions; some do not. Each graphic on the worksheets serves a clear purpose. Lists of links are well organized and easy to use.

Natasha Tuft Web Site Review September 20, 2009 www.teachertools.org The purpose of this site seems to be to provide teachers with resources for the classroom. But because the site has not been updated for a long time I only could assume this after looking at the site's name and clicking through links for a while. There are links to areas of interest from decorating bulletin boards to language arts lesson plans to classroom discipline. I liked the creative classroom ideas on this site but it was difficult to navigate and did not seem like the most professional site that I've seen put together. CONTENT Especially at "first look", the purpose of the web site is unclear. I assumed that the audience is teachers because of the very obvious URL "teacher tools.org". The home page simply has a notice that the site is undergoing revision. That post was made in 2002! I could not find the information providers on the homepage or on other pages I navigated. I was able to find, however, many interesting and useful links to other more organized web pages. Even these, though, had confusing and sometimes unorganized labels. I should mention that a few of the first links I clicked on were incomplete links and got me nowhere. The strength in content for this site is simply its links and not its own content. Had I not been doing this assignment for class, however, I would probably have gone back to my search engine to find a more useful site. DESIGN The web site downloads efficiently but when it loaded I was really unsure if I was at the homepage or if I landed on something else. The homepage is not appealing. The only eye-catching thing is the teachertools.org icon and there is no way of contacting sponsor easily. Links on the side of the page were useful for looking in specific categories but a few of the links that I tried were incomplete or "under construction". I don't see it having any difficulties with browser compatibility but the content presentation co

Natasha Tuft Web Site Review September 20, 2009 www.teachertools.org The purpose of this site seems to be to provide teachers with resources for the classroom. But because the site has not been updated for a long time I only could assume this after looking at the site's name and clicking through links for a while. There are links to areas of interest from decorating bulletin boards to language arts lesson plans to classroom discipline. I liked the creative classroom ideas on this site but it was difficult to navigate and did not seem like the most professional site that I've seen put together. CONTENT Especially at "first look", the purpose of the web site is unclear. I assumed that the audience is teachers because of the very obvious URL "teacher tools.org". The home page simply has a notice that the site is undergoing revision. That post was made in 2002! I could not find the information providers on the homepage or on other pages I navigated. I was able to find, however, many interesting and useful links to other more organized web pages. Even these, though, had confusing and sometimes unorganized labels. I should mention that a few of the first links I clicked on were incomplete links and got me nowhere. The strength in content for this site is simply its links and not its own content. Had I not been doing this assignment for class, however, I would probably have gone back to my search engine to find a more useful site. DESIGN The web site downloads efficiently but when it loaded I was really unsure if I was at the homepage or if I landed on something else. The homepage is not appealing. The only eye-catching thing is the teachertools.org icon and there is no way of contacting sponsor easily. Links on the side of the page were useful for looking in specific categories but a few of the links that I tried were incomplete or "under construction". I don't see it having any difficulties with browser compatibility but the content presentation co

This web site is a place to find a bunch of different tools for learning. The audience is for both teachers and students I would say, but since it is just tools I feel like teachers would find it more useful. Upon first look it is bright and appealing and it is very easy to navigate and links to the different tools are easily accessible. It is easy to tell what the web site's purpose is and it has received an award in 2011. The author's information is available and so is the information on how often it is updated and by whom. All of the links work properly, it is easily navigable, well organized, and easy to understand. It is very informational and there aren't any spelling or grammar errors that I have noticed. All parts of the homepage downloaded and it is a very bright design. The color scheme isn't ideal, but it is clear to see where you are and what the site is. The content of the site is easy to locate and navigate and all of the links are functioning. The provider of the site is noted along with their information as well as copyright date. The graphics are helpful and used appropriately and the information is organized and explained efficiently making it a good site to use for teaching tools. There is a way to contact the site listed.

This web site is a place to find a bunch of different tools for learning. The audience is for both teachers and students I would say, but since it is just tools I feel like teachers would find it more useful. Upon first look it is bright and appealing and it is very easy to navigate and links to the different tools are easily accessible. It is easy to tell what the web site's purpose is and it has received an award in 2011. The author's information is available and so is the information on how often it is updated and by whom. All of the links work properly, it is easily navigable, well organized, and easy to understand. It is very informational and there aren't any spelling or grammar errors that I have noticed. All parts of the homepage downloaded and it is a very bright design. The color scheme isn't ideal, but it is clear to see where you are and what the site is. The content of the site is easy to locate and navigate and all of the links are functioning. The provider of the site is noted along with their information as well as copyright date. The graphics are helpful and used appropriately and the information is organized and explained efficiently making it a good site to use for teaching tools. There is a way to contact the site listed.

10-11-12 Step up to Writing is a website designed to show students how to write a well-structured paragraph using the step up method.  The Step up method is simple and compares writing to an everyday concept. The intended audience is for all students but would be best used for students between 3rd and 5th grade. Other than the links to the different paragraph sections no other resources are presented. If you want a good website to teach writing methods this is one to use.  The content on this site is very well organized that you can maneuver is very easily. At first look it provides basic information, the method is simply put until further clicking on each link to further diverge in to the each section. The information is written in a way that children can understand the information.  The website design was good but not perfect. Everything downloads effectively. When looking for the developer you need to go to the link at the bottom; it isn't very easy to find but is still accessible. No other links are on this section of the webpage but on the main homepage many helpful links are presented.  Overall this website need to improve the design a little but presents good information worth investigating. 

Kerensa Aris 10/10/12 Shotgun's Home of the American Civil War: The purpose of this site is to gain information on the Civil War, most information pertains to the Confederacy. The intended audience is both students and teachers, both can collect useful information from the site and it is appropriate for all audiences. The site contains links to many other sites for available resources. My overall impression is that this is a quality site containing pertinent information. There is some bias since the site is run by a southern college, but upon first looking at the site this fact is very clear.  I assessed the content of this site as worth marking for future reference. The site is run by qualified individuals from LSU, and information is useful and trustworthy. The site is revised frequently but new information is not routinely added because it is a Civil War site. The site is well organized and all external links are in working order.  The design of the website is well done and easy to use. All pages download quickly and site indexes are available. The home page could have more detail to make it more eye catching. There are several different kinds of media such as audio and visual files, and likes to further information and useful sites are available. The site is compatible with other browsers, and the content is presented neatly and is organized. 

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.

Michelle Hill February 24, 2012 Overview: The purpose of this website is to serve as a resource for instruction for 1st grade internet activities. Therefore, the intended audience is teachers 1st graders and 1st grade teachers. Available on this website are English activities online involving skills such as story listening, letter recognition, literacy activities sight words, and sentence structure and grammar. Also included are Math activities such as number recognition, patterns/shapes, counting, adding/subtracting and much more! There is also unit themes available for teachers of all kinds. Content: The content of the website was rated as very useful for my information needs based on the fact that the total number of "yes" answers outnumbered the "no" answers. Some strengths of this website include the first look, how it was easy to determine the basic content of the site, the information quality, and the further information. The content of the site was well organized and easy to understand. Some weaknesses of this website are that information of the authors is not available, therefore I do not know if the authors are qualified to present information on the topic. Other weaknesses include that the content was not updated frequently, the last time being August 2007 and the fact that one link to another site was not working properly. Overall, there was an abundance of good content that will prove to be useful in 1st grade classrooms. Design: The design of the website was rated as very well designed and easy to use based on the fact that the total number of "yes" answers outnumbered the "no" answers. First, the homepage downloaded efficiently and the website was speedy, which was a good start to the design. Some strengths of the website include that it was well organized, the copyright date was easy to determine, the site is easy to move around, and the content was presented clearly. Some weaknesses include that there were no directions

Michelle Hill February 24, 2012 Overview: The purpose of this website is to serve as a resource for instruction for teachers. Therefore, the intended audience is teachers of elementary aged students. Avaliable on this website are kindergarten through 1st grade lesson plans involving all subjects, such as math, science, language arts, and more. Also included on this website are lesson plan fillers, integrated projects, graphic organizers, and classroom management tools. My overall impression of the website was that the content was very useful and the site itself was well organized. Content: The content of the website was rated as very useful for my information needs based on the fact that the total number of "yes" answers outnumbered the "no" answers. The first look at the website was good; I was able to determine the intended audience as well as the basic content on the site right away. The strengths of the website include the information providers, information quality, and further resources. Everything in these sections were included and to my belief of great quality. However, the weaknesses of this website were that the latest revision date was not provided and that the latest revision date is appropriate to the material. Another weakness was that the site did not probice interactivity that would increase its value. Overall, the content was good. Design: The design of the website was rated as very well designed and easy to use based on the fact that the total number of "yes" answers outnumbered the "no" answers. First, the homepage of the website downloaded in a speedy manner and efficiently. Strengths of the home page included the clearness of the page, the contents in the site, and more. However a weakness was that the site did not have a very strong eye appeal. The navigation was also a strength of the website, it was easy and clear as to how to move around the site and directions were not needed. Other strengths of the design were

Download Skip Counting By 2s 3s 4s and 5s Easy pdf documents from http://ebookbrowse.com/ at EbookBrowse.com.

Dr. Arlys has put together a bunch of sites that are great activities for children to do in math, literacy, and science

K-3 SmartBoard Sites created by SmartBoard 1. Click on an Activity 2. Click on Download this Lesson Activity **It will download it to your computer and it will open the lesson on the SmartBoard