14th
Valentine's DaySpring 2004
EDUC 222 and EDEL 516 , Web reviews in alphabetical order by student name:
Here, for your information, are the web site reviews from my educational computing students for the Spring 2004 semester.
After studying a number of sites, the students wrote reviews for Web Sites they judged to be well designed and useful to educators. Please feel free to forward these reviews to anyone who might be interested.
The reviews are organized by class and alphabetically by student name. To find what you want you can use your web browser to search all the reviews by keyword or character string.
The URLs are "hot linked."
EDUC 222-1
Teacher Planet
http://www.teacherplanet.com
Reviewed by Amy Haight
Email: anhaig01@morehead-st.edu
Teacher planet is a wonderful website for teachers around the country to use in their classroom. You can click on the navigation bars and you will be directed to various different pages, including information on lesson plans, grade books, job offerings, rubrics, and worksheets, not to mention lots of others helpful sources. Teacher Planet also contains a monthly calendar on their website with clickable events to help you plan for special events ahead of time for you students. You can also suggest topics to be discussed and learn how to manage your classroom better. Teacher Planet offers jokes for teachers, music for teachers, and insurance for teachers.
Teacher Planet is obviously a very informative and helpful website for teachers. It gives you ideas to do in the classroom and also provides insurance offers for you. What more could you want? It provides you with lesson plan units and gives worksheets that correspond to your lesson. Clipart is also available with your lessons, if needed. I feel this website will be very beneficial to teachers by helping them with their everyday teaching needs.
A to Z Teacher Stuff
http://atozteacherstuff.com/
Reviewed by Amy Haight
Email: anhaig01@morehead-st.edu
A to Z Teacher Stuff was created for teachers by teachers to help them in the classroom. It was designed to help them find lesson plans and resources quickly and easily and it has been one of the most popular teacher websites since 1997. A to Z contains store downloads, themes, tips, lesson plans, as well as printable worksheets, and much more. It also has teacher forums where one can post their questions about class curriculums and activities and have other teachers post their comments and ideas for you to try. A to Z has a newsletter that a teacher can sign up for to get the latest ideas, announcements, and featured websites each and every month.
A to Z Teacher Stuff is a good website for teachers to use for themselves, and not to mention their classroom and students. The information provided helps teachers get what they need and in a hurry. If one is having trouble getting lesson plans for a certain topic, this website has it. Teachers can use this website to their benefit and they will succeed in classroom activities, and everyone will be satisfied.
ABC Teach
http://www.abcteach.com
Reviewed by Amy Haight
Email: anhaig01@morehead-st.edu
ABC Teach is an excellent website for not only teachers, but for students and parents as well. It has more than 5000 free printable worksheets and lots more information. It has the basics, theme units, information of research and reports, and reviews reading comprehension. It also has teaching extras, fun activities, information of portfolios, and babysitter forms. It provides shape books for bulletin boards and calendars and it has a link to connect you with flashcards. There are endless worksheets over phonics, word wheels and slides, fractions, and fairy tales. ABC Teach also has highlighted links to different activities you can plan with your students each month.
ABC Teach is one of the best websites teachers should use in their classrooms. Not only will they get the information needed, but students and parents can also benefit from this website. I feel that the flashcards and reading comprehension links are the most important to have, because you are helping the students better themselves in the classroom and also helping them improve their test scores. ABC Teach is a wonderful website with lots of information to help
A to Z Kids Stuff School Age
http://www. AtoZ kidsstuff.com/schoolage.html
Reviewed by Jason Jones
Email: Jason@ycnx.net
Here is a website for young kids to look up information while learning to use the computer. It has plenty of information that kids love to do. Calendars, Pre-School, All About You All About Me, All Around The World, Butterfly, Clouds, Curious George, and Getting Aquatinted with Friends are just a few of the great programs that are available on this website for the kids. There are monthly themes like the Alphabet, Bugs, or even the Circus that they can research and enjoy on this website. There are different objectives for different ages of children on the home page of the website. You want to get the child started on the right age track and then let them go and see what they can discover on their own.
If you have a child who seems like he or she needs something to do on their own this is the website for them. I think they will be able to enjoy doing things on the computer and by themselves without much help from anyone else. The best thing is they will be learning something at the same time they are playing. I believe the computer is something every child is going to have to learn to use for their future, and this is a very good website to help get them started.
Connect For Kids
http://www.connect for kids.org/newsletter-url1570/newsletter-url.htm
Reviewed by Jason Jones
Email: Jason@ycnx.net
This site is where kids and adults can merge together to answer question for each other. It has newsletters in it that are very interesting. Kids can learn what other kids are thinking about in school and on the streets. Parents can find interesting statistics on their kid’s opportunities in life these days. There are lots of issues that parents, educators, policymakers and advocates are thinking about that can be viewed in the newsletters. Kids write the feelings down in these letters which may not be able to be expressed any other way. So this is a very interesting way for parents and kids to communicate.
If you are having a hard time understanding what your child is going through in today’s times then this website is for you. I think it is very helpful in helping the bond between parent and child grow and blossom into the relationship they have always wanted to share together. For some parents this may be just what they have been looking for to help them get closer to their kids.
Let the kids’ imaginations run wild
www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/azhome/articles/0614martha14.html
Reviewed by Jason Jones
E-mail: Jason@ycnx.net
Crafts projects, which can be tailored to your children's interests, are perfect for those days when they cry "There's nothing to do." All that's needed is imagination and basic supplies to get them started with that wonderful imagination that every child explores. I think this website helps them get ideas of what they might be thinking out onto a piece of paper or even molded into a great macaroni sculpture. There are all kinds of ides on this website that will help stimulate any child’s mind. There are many different kinds of crafts on this website that will help the child to display their mind and feelings into an idea to create their own beautiful piece of artwork. Kids make these things not only for themselves but for the family to. This is a great way to help build the children’s self-esteem.
I have always been a big fan of art and especially the art that children make. It comes from those little hearts without any input from anyone else. That makes those crafts even that much more special when they look at you with a smile and say, “I made this one for you.” There is something about that moment that is pure and satisfying to the child and the one they gave it to. So visit this website and let those little fingers and minds run wild.
Discovery
Reviewed by Shannon Moubray
Email: snmoub01@morehead-st.edu
On the discovery website it gives you a lot of educational choices to view. I think Discovery is a good website because it lets kids explore many things. One of the popular sites of Discovery is Animal Planet. In Animal Planet kids get to explore many different kinds of animals, their habitats, and many fun facts about them. There are video clips to watch on these interesting animals, it is almost like your right there! There is a site on health, this lets kids explore all aspects on health issues. It can give them motivation to take care of their bodies and want to be healthy. There is a fitness site also that gives kids tips on what type of exercise their bodies need. Kids can learn about world issues through this site, and where there is a good place to travel to. One of the best things on this site is Discovery Kids. At this site you can go to different places and cultures and take certain things about yourself, like your name, and translate what it means in other cultures. Discovery has links on science and history, and even things to do around the home. This site is great for all kids with many different interests and it is very educational and fun!
This site is reviewed for accuracy. It is great for your students and children to use. It will give them factual information. This site is fun to learn by! Who doesn’t want to make learning fun? I picked this site because it was an interest to me. I found it fun and interesting and I thought many students would too.
The Learning Page
http://www.memory.loc.gov/learn
Reviewed by Shannon Moubray
Email: snmoub01@morehead-st.edu
I really liked the Learning Page. It is a very good site for the teacher. It helps teachers search for strategies to use in the classroom to make the material more interesting and exciting for the students. Students learn better when there is an exciting activity, and this site helps the teacher do that. It gives you activities to make the subject come alive! You can do this through interactive puzzles, learning games, and projects. This site gives teachers exciting lesson plans to go by. It gives teachers the ability to think in depth on fun activities to teach students by. It helps teachers learn to use resources in the library to teach themes. It helps the teacher to be able to teach the students critical thinking. This site also offers workshops for the teacher through video conferences.
I think this site is reviewed for quality. It is a good site to help the teachers have more fun activities to get the students motivated and excited about learning. I will use this website quit a bit when I become a teacher. I think it has good quality information on teaching your students to be critical thinkers.
Busy Teacher’s Website K-12
Reviewed by Shannon Moubray
Email: snmoub01@morehead-st.edu
I really liked the Busy Teacher’s website. This was my favorite website I reviewed. It has a list of any possible subject you can think of for any grade level, even college. You then simply click on the subject and it shows you many different ways to teach that subject and fun ideas to use. It has a certain section for elementary teachers. This has simple games for kids to learn by, rather than hard games. The recess section has many good outdoor and indoor games and ideas for recess. It has many different things to pick from including games played with hands on, or games played on the computer. Since a lot of schools have a lot of technology today, most of the games were computer games, or website’s to explore, www.coloring.com was one of the website’s given. Here you download it to word and the kids can color any type of picture they wish. The kids can create their own newspapers; learn to do different types of origami, flash card games, and many different arcade style games. This website is fun and also educational. It is great for teacher’s to get kid games from and other educational activities.
If you’re a busy teacher, which what teacher isn’t? This website is for you. You’ll have fun exploring this site and creating new activities for your students. It is full of examples of how learning can be made fun. Children will enjoy learning a lot better with the help of this website!
Bill Nye Labs
Reviewed by Stephanie Parker
Email: crawlspace_007@yahoo.com
Bill Nye’s site gives tons of useful and interesting information about science for children. It contains a question of the week, for example: “Why are we going to Mars?” is this week’s question. It is answered with “We are going to test our current theory of astrobiology. We want to look for signs of water and life…” It explains things such as leap years, gravity, etcetera.
The site would be a good way to enhance a science class. It makes science, which is many times seen as an incomprehensible or boring class, interesting and fun. It helps kids to see that the world around them is a captivating place.
Cybrary
Reviewed by Stephanie Parker
Email: crawlspace_007@yahoo.com
Cybrary was designed by a librarian for children ages three to eight. It offers help with homework assignments, projects, research, and also information of current events. Included in the site are links to information about animals, art, math, music, museums, etcetera.
Cybrary is a wonderful site because it is easy for kids to manipulate and work with. It is very clear with its links as to which ones are more for fun and which are for doing homework and schoolwork. The good part is that it contains both. It also includes polls the students can participate in.
Fact Monster
Reviewed by Stephanie Parker
Email: crawlspace_007@yahoo.com
Fact Monster is quite an interesting site that can be used by students of many ages. It includes a search engine, daily features (in the news, today in history…), an almanac, an atlas, and much more. It was created to help students quickly discover information to help them with homework, but also seems to be a fun way to spend leisure time as well.
I chose this site because it appears to be an interesting and helpful site that includes a myriad of information for kids. It could really enhance learning, not to mention helping kids with their homework a great deal.
http://www.k-6educators.about.com
Reviewed by LeAnne Webb
Email: lnwebb@morehead-st.edu
Here is a site where teachers can find just about anything they could possibly need to help improve their classroom. It provides articles on the important issues in education. They also have a place where teachers can post a question and then receive a response from other qualified people. This site contains lesson plans for every subject and provides some worksheets for the teachers to use in the classroom. A very interesting aspect of this site is that it provides information on becoming a teacher, classroom management, and how to find a job.
I chose this site because I found it very informative and useful to every teacher. The vast lesson plans were amazing and the availability of worksheets was a major plus. The most helpful part to me was how they provided information on how and where to find a teaching job. The articles on the issues in education were also very helpful because it keeps the teachers up to date on the ever-changing aspects of their field. When I start to teach I will be sure to use this wonderful site to help may classroom become a productive and positive place to learn.
Reviewed by LeAnne Webb
Email: lnwebb@morehead-st.edu
This site is a wonderful place for beginning educators and those seeking professional development. It has a plethora of information on lesson plans, issues, technology integration, professional development, and administrators. What makes this site different from all others is that it is not just for teachers, but also administrators, which makes it great for collaboration. It also contains a message board for teachers to post questions that they may have. It also has employment listings and reviews of other education sites.
I chose this site because of its abundance of information and opportunities that it contains. It is a trustworthy site that is devoted to providing information to educators. It is great for the recent graduate looking for employment or the seasoned veteran looking to stay up to date on all the current issues in his or her field.
http://www.educationplanet.com
Reviewed by LeAnne Webb
Email: lnwebb@morehead-st.edu
This is a very helpful site for every kind of educator. However, it does require a membership to access much of the site. It has a variety of lesson plans, listed by subject. It also contains a section on featured books, videos, software, and maps; just what every teacher will eventually need. Another neat thing about this site is that it gives the opportunity to search for employment all over. It also has a section set up for teacher discussion where you can get on and talk to other teachers.
I chose this site because of its clear cooperation and support of the field of education. It is a very professional site where teachers can chat together and discuss issues that they face even though they have never met and may live many miles away from each other. It is a great resource for those in the field of education.
Reviewed by: Jenny Wiley
Email: jlwile01@morehead-st.edu
I chose this website because it offers resources, lesson plans and activities for all the core subjects and for various age groups. This website offers television listings so that teachers could also add video into their lesson plans to further demonstrate the topic. Teachers wanting to present subjects in a creative manner and still remain relevant can find those ideas on this site.
Reviewed by: Jenny Wiley
Email: jlwile01@morehead-st.edu
I chose this website because not only does it have lesson plans but it also has a lot of useful information about grants and No Child Left Behind. It also has links for other websites, and information about fundraising. The site has a DVD library for teachers to find educational material to use in the classroom. This site has areas devoted to different stages of teaching careers, such as state certification information and retirement planning.
Reviewed by: Jenny Wiley
Email: jlwile01@morehead-st.edu
I chose this website because if offers a lot of help for new teachers and even substitute teachers. With sections about behavior management with ideas sent in from teachers, books, themes, ideas for plays. It is a cute site, easy to navigate, and definitely appeals to the typical elementary school teacher.
The National Science Foundation
Reviewed by Seth T Whitaker
The NSF site is a great site to use if you are interested in, or are just teaching science. NFS stands for, “National Science Foundation”. In this site you can search for anything from astronomical studies to plain biology, to anatomy. Not only does it help you with your studies, but it also can serve as a career finder. This site allows you to brows and search at your own leisure, showing and guiding you along the way. IF there is anything you need help with, having to do with science then I highly recommend this site for students and educators of all kinds.
The reason that I choose this site is because it really shows people everything there is to know about science, in all different areas alike. All of the other sites I went to were not even close to being a good.
Weather Channel
Reviewed by Seth T Whitaker
This site is very useful to me, not only weekly, but on a day to day basis as well. I need to know what the weather is going to be like not only today but for the rest of the week as well, and this site allows you to type in your area code, and it shows you exactly what the weather is and is going to be in you precise area. This site can also help you plan your vacation according to the weather in the area in witch you are traveling to. Not only does it show you the weather for anywhere in the US but the entire world as well
I picked this site because it was helpful to me in School when I was learning about meteorology. It is also helpful to anyone anywhere, because everyone needs to know what the weather is like where they are. I like how this site gives you 24 hour Doppler Radar readings. I like hour it personalizes weather for you, to show you what it will be like for the next 5 days in your precise region of the world not so far in depth as the NSF site. This site really takes you by the hand and shows you what to look for when browsing with in the study of Science.
The New York Stock Exchange
Reviewed by Seth T Whitaker
NYSE stands for the “New York Stock Exchange”. On this site you can create stock folders, and profiles and monitor different stocks day by day, hour by hour, or if you choose minute by minute. This site provides everything you need to know about stocks and exchanging and trading stocks. The NYSE provides all the access you need to run and manage your own stock folder. Even if you have no interest in buying into the stock market, this can show you how stocks work and how they are bought and sold.
I choose this site because in High School we used it in Economics class to help us learn about stocks, and the buying, selling and trading process. For me and the rest of my peers it was very helpful to see how everything works on this site. It served as a very useful educational tool.
EDUC 222-2 and EDEL 516 Web Reviews
Planet Orange
Reviewed by Brian Breeding
Email: bmbree01@morehead-st.edu
Planet Orange is a web site that educates children about money. Here children are able to learn about spending, saving, and investing. Children learn while at the same time playing fun adventure games. Here at Planet Orange there are also links for parents as well as teachers: The site gives parents and also teachers, advice and activities to help educate children about money. The educators may also very well learn something from this web site as well; so it is a beneficiary situation to everyone involved. After the lessons are finished, the site offers quizzes so the children can review what they have learned.
It is important for children to learn how to be wise with money. If hey do not learn how to handle their money while they are young, they will have to learn when they are older; a situation which could have devastating repercussions. Also, teaching your children to be frugal with their money will give them the opportunity to net a maximum amount of dollars when they become older, ensuring a comfortable living.
The Library in the Sky
Reviewed by Brian Breeding
Email: bmbree01@morehead-s.edu
The library in the sky is a web site database. This database is for everyone involved in education; teachers, students, parents, and librarians. The database has web sites pertinent to just about any department of education. Here, useful information can be found for anyone involved in education. A teacher may find a site that articulates the best way to teach a certain subject, or a parent may find information on how they can help their child learn a difficult subject. The database currently contains 1561 web sites. A person is free to browse the entire database or they can search for specific topics.
Teachers, parents, and students do not always have the answers that they may need. This web site is geared towards helping people find the answers they need. More than just finding answers, the library in the sky also helps enforce knowledge with helpful hints. Everyone needs a little help, and this site is here to make sure people get that help.
Spartacus Educational
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/
Reviewed by Brian Breeding
Email: bmbree01@morehead-st.edu
Spartacus Educational is a web site devoted mostly to History and Social Studies. The web site contains tons of information about many different subjects of history. Also, the site has lesson plans for teachers, specifically for teachers who teach online courses. The site also offers online courses for anyone. The web site is obviously a big advocate for virtual schooling. There are also links on the site where you can debate online with others about virtual schooling. This site offers a way for teachers to educate and students to learn without ever leaving their house. This site gives a glimpse of what school may be like in the future.
The site is geared towards education. As a future social studies educator, this site shows great interest to me. I am not a big proponent of computers being in the classroom, but I think it is a great idea to offer courses online. This gives people a chance to be educated and to educate at their own convenience.
www.http//peopleclarityconnect.com Terri Husted’ s Homepage ( A Page for new and not so new teachers)
This site is a great site for new or experienced math teachers. It has been visited by 645,368 people. It shows examples of fun, yet demanding math problems for use in the classroom. It also tell how to successfully manage your classroom and students by being firm yet kind at the same time. I really liked this site and how experienced teachers reach out to help new teachers, by leading them by the experience they have achieved.
www.http://t4.syr.edu/solution.htm Technology for today and tomorrows Teachers
This site is an awesome tool for teachers looking for help in the technology department of education. It illustrates ways to use technology successfully in the classroom. It shows that using fun games like Sim town can be fun but also teach environmental issues. It also shows the importance of communication through written, oral, and visual approaches through technology. It also gives some great useful tips for teaching technology in the classroom.
www.tekonsha.k12.mi.us/teacherswebsites.htm Website for administrators and teachers
This site covers a broad scope for about any level of education. It gives helpful puzzles and problems that can be used in the classroom setting. One aspect of this site I really liked was how it teaches sign language to teachers. I think this is a very important part of education, because you never know when you might be encountered with someone that is hearing impaired. It also has examples of lesson plans that may be helpful to teachers. This is a great site for teacher and administrator alike it reaches to all levels of education.
University of Calgary Basic Elements of English
www.ucalgary.ca/uofc/eduweb/grammar/index.htm
Reviewed by: Keaton Sadler
Email: keatonsadler@hotmail.com
The University of Calgary has put together a website which enables students or teachers to look up different parts of speech and how to use them. The site is broken down into four different sections which help the user to learn correct rules of punctuation, sentence elements, the parts of speech, and sentence elements. There is another section accessible from the same menu (found on the left side of the main page) which gives the user a chance to see common writing errors. The site is set up so that from the main age you receive a brief introduction of what the site is about, and the main menu on the left side of the page allows you to skip the introductory notes and go straight to a specific section if you so choose.
I chose to review this site because I actually had to look at it for my Writing 100 class. Since that day in class, I have added the site to my PC and used it several times. I find it to be very helpful and informative. If you or anyone you know ever needs help while writing a paper-and let’s face it who doesn’t?- you should definitely give this site consideration.
Magic Lark Learning
www.magiclarklearning.com/EducationalWebsites.html
Reviewed by: Keaton Sadler
Email: keatonsadler@hotmail.com
Magic Lark Learning has set up this website to allow both educators and students information. The website offers information on such things as: art, science, daylight savings time, China, Chemistry, and links to other sites for math for students. For educators it offers some lesson plans on areas like African-Americans in Antebellum Mississippi and PE, along with many more. This website is helpful because it is all free. The site offers stories and poems that are appropriate for children to view.
I chose to review this site because when I first looked at the site I realized that there was a lot of information available to both educators and students. The students and educators have everything roughly at their fingertips because there are links to other sites on that first page, so you don’t have to search for anything. As a future educator, I would use this site.
Teaching Website
Reviewed by: Keaton Sadler
Email: keatonsadler@hotmail.com
This website helps teachers to set up their own websites so that they can keep in contact with the students, and also the parents can log on and keep informed about what their child is doing in the classroom. The site works in conjunction with another site, www.ClassHomework.com this way, the students and parents both have something that keeps them really into the curriculum the child is receiving. There are links to other sites that help teachers plan for things like anti-drug lessons, and also basic classes too like English and History. This site is organized so that the educators can be walked through the process of beginning a web page of their own.
I chose to review this website because I think that teacher and parent communication is vital to helping students in their educational journey. The educator can, through this site, set up their own web page, but also find out more in certain areas like history or math, or look up a lesson plan that another teacher has posted and is willing to share. For the educators of the world, maybe this would make their lives just a little bit easier.
Education World: The Educator's Best Friend
http://www.education-world.com/
Reviewed by Sarah Sharp
Email: seshar01@moreheadstate.edu
This is a wonderful web site full of helpful hints and ideas for teachers. The site is basically divided into six parts: Lesson Planning, Administrator's Desk, School Issues, Professional Development, Technology Integration, and Other Resources. Each category covers a variety of issues that deal with being an educator. Included are diaries and suggestions by teachers and administrators from across the nation. There are also plenty of links to other helpful sites, including ones for specific subject areas and references.
This site is very helpful for teachers, especially first year ones. It is full of useful suggestions on activities and decorations for every classroom. Also, the comments from current teachers are very helpful as well. So, whether you are a first year teacher or on your twenty-fifth year, this web site will be very beneficial.
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Reviewed by Sarah Sharp
Email: seshar01@moreheadstate.edu
This is a web site that is full of useful information to educators. It focuses mainly on high school teachers and college professors. The site is divided into a variety of sections, including one that even does a job search. A major portion of the site is full of current events, editorials, and discussion forums. Educators can be kept up to date on all issues pertaining to their field, and may also discuss these issues with others in the forums. Teachers may also subscribe to the site for additional information.
This web site is a wonderful way for teachers to stay current on all the major issues. It is also helpful to have related links and job searches all in one stop. It is great especially for those college professors who are on the go and do not have much time to stop and catch up on all the latest news.
Education Planet: The Education Web Guide
http://www.educationplanet.com/
Reviewed by Sarah Sharp
Email: seshar01@moreheadstate.edu
This web site is designed for teachers, parents, and students as well. It has many areas to search for each viewer, including subject areas to help students with their homework. It includes daily features on people, books, videos, software, and subjects. Teachers may subscribe to the site for around ten dollars and receive help on their lesson plans. Students are given a variety of study tools to help them with homework assignments and projects. Parents are given ideas on how to help further their child's education.
This web site is a wonderful tool for teachers, parents, and students. All of the sites seem to be very helpful and informative. Having a site that not only helps teachers, but parents and students as well is a wonderful idea.
Homeroom Teacher
Reviewed by Katie Stacy
Email: kjstac01@morehead-st.edu
This website contains multiple resources for teachers. On this website a teacher can find fun stuff such as educational clip art, teacher merchandise and a teacher will also find informational topics as well. For example, there is a link to find jobs, teachers can find out about state education departments, and information about a teacher continuing their own education by getting there masters. There is also a teacher message board where teachers can discuss different issues and links to other websites that teachers can use in the classroom.
I picked this website because it would be very helpful to teachers. With this website teachers can communicate with other teachers across the country, they can look and see where jobs are available, and they have multiple other resources right here on this one website. The site is also very easy to access and easy to find your way around once inside the site.
Educational Resources and Lesson Plans
www.cloudnet.com/~edrbsass.edrs.html
Reviewed by Katie Stacy
Email: kjstac01@morehead-st.edu
This website contains multiple links to other educational websites but also on this site you can find many different lesson plans. These lesson plans are over a variety of subjects including current events, History, Math, Geography, English, etc. When you click on a certain subject there are then multiple topics that you can choose from depending on what type of lesson plan that you are looking for. There are also lesson plans for gifted and special education, there are also problem solving lesson plans, and also internet lesson plans.
I picked this website because it has multiple lesson plans for teachers to refer to or to use and they are also very informational. The site was easily accessible and you could find multiple lesson plans with one click of the mouse. They were very informational lesson plans and while you were on the site you could also find other links that would help you when teaching different subjects.
The New York Times on the Web Learning Network
Reviewed by Katie Stacy
Email: kjstac01@morehead-st.edu
This website provides current event information for both students and teachers. There are articles of different current events and lesson plans to go with the teaching of these articles. For the students there are daily quizzes, word of the day, news summaries, and then test questions preparation. For the teachers there are the lesson plans, issues in depth, today in history, and many other resources that would be helpful to the teachers. There is also a part of this website called parent connection. Here the parents can also be involved by seeing what the kids are learning in school and then having the kids talk about it when they are at home.
I picked this website because it is very important for students to stay up to date on current events and by using this website teachers can bring current events into the classroom on a daily basis. The website provided multiple resources for the teachers and everything they needed in order to teach the students about current events was right there for the teachers. The website also incorporated the parents into a child’s learning and I think that is very important.
Fun for Kids by Jen
Http://www.goecities.com/Athens/1850
Reviewed by Lindsey Woodruff
email: Lynzie4510@aol.com
This website is designed to help kids find the best on the Internet. Fun sites such as Mr. Spud Head and Create-a-saurus (in Draw & Color) are just a few of the interactive sites you can find throughout Fun for Kids. If you need a science project, then you can look through the list of science links. If you want to make fun arts and a variety of crafts or color a picture on-line then you can find such sites and a lot more on this site. Be sure to bookmark this page to be able to find all the fun links! You can have lots of fun.
This website not only has crafts of games but it also has questions about space and the world around us. It gives you facts about the earth and different projects and experiments that you and your students can do together or as a class.
A to Z kids stuff
www.atozkidsstuff.com/presch.html
Reviewed by Lindsey Woodruff
email: Lynzie4510@aol.com
This website gives a lot of good ideas for different projects for your classroom. For all the different monthly themes it gives a variety of songs, then a special art project you can do with you class, then a learning center idea and then even a bulletin board idea. Not only does it help out the child but it could also help the child. If a child is struggling in a area then the parents could sit down at night and help them with the different subjects they need and this website would be beneficial because it would boost there energy level with all of the fun little games and everything for them to practice with.
Here is a little example: (Suppose it was the month of Feb. )
14th
Valentine's Day
Songs
When You Send A Valentine
When you send a valentine,
That's the time for fun,
Slip it underneath the door,
Ring the bell and run, run, run,
Ring the bell and run,
Have a bell and a letter with a valentine in it for a prop. While outside a child can act out the sneaking up to the door and pretending to push button. All the children must run to safety.
Bulletin Board
Valentine Telegrams
Need: butcher paper the size of your bulletin board, glue in shallow containers,
small red, pink, and white tissue paper squares, pencils with erasers,
special telegram paper
(printable Valentine telegram).
Lay the paper on the floor. Depending on the size of your bulletin board, draw one huge heart or several very large ones on the paper. Have the glue, tissue paper squares, and pencils on the floor. Have a child take a piece of tissue paper, lay it in front of him, put the pencil eraser in the middle of the paper, and form the tissue around the pencil. Dip the tissue in the glue and stick it on the edge of the heart. Let all of the children continue this process until the heart has a frame. When dry hang it up. For several days let the children dictate (or write) Valentine messages on the special telegram paper. When each message is finished hang it inside the giant heart.
One of the main reasons why I like this website is because teachers are always putting up new bulletin boards or trying to come up with little games to play at indoor playtime. But now this website gives awesome varieties and options for each month for us to choose from
If you enjoy hands on activities to do with your elementary class, then this is the website for you.
Kate.net
Reviewed by Angela Dyer
email:adyer@montgomery.k12.ky.us
This web site is a location for many holiday screen savers, wallpaper, information, and activities. The main page is categorized into four main sections: holidays, the toybox, the virtual newspaper, and how-to’s. The first section is self-explanatory. It provides various lesson activities, crafts and games for the different holidays of the year. The toybox section among many things a WeatherNet Software Library where you can create radar maps, get new weather services, or even track hurricanes. In the virtual newspaper section it provides access to several state, local, and world newspapers. In the how-to’s section of this web site is similar to a help menu. It gives support to anyone who needs help installing wallpapers, or screen savers.
I love this site! I use it every month to change my computer wallpaper in my classroom to fit the season or holiday. I can also find cute activities to go with whatever holiday comes throughout the year.
Teacher Created Materials
Reviewed by Angela Dyer
email:adyer@montgomery.k12.ky.us
Teachers have created this website for the benefit of other teachers and parents. At this site you can search through the products provided by the Teacher Created Materials company, and you can order online also. You will find lesson plans organized by subject and grade level, free monthly activities, and free brain teasers. Some of the free activities provided are ‘daily items of interest’, the month’s teaching tip, and some clip art. You can register for a professional development training from this company at this site.
As if the superb materials that they create are not enough, they also provide teachers with free materials and information to supplement those wonderful purchases. Almost everything in my classroom has been purchased from this wonderful company!
Discovery Channel School
http://www.discoveryschool.com
Reviewed by Angela Dyer
email:adyer@montgomery.k12.ky.us
This website has materials for parents, teachers, and students. It has hundreds of clip art pieces. It has great lesson plans that are organized by subject and grade level. There is a puzzlemaker feature that allows you to create crossword puzzles, word searches, mazes, and more just by putting in your personalized information. It has a science fair section that gives ideas for creating science fair projects. In the study starters section you can find interesting tidbits about different subjects that are added weekly. The brain boosters section gives critical thinking tasks to expand the mind. This is only some of the many wonderful things offered on this web site.
Looking for a fast, easy reference to boost your lesson plans, and challenge your students? This is just the place to find it! In a matter of minutes I can have puzzles, problem solving tasks, and much more right at my finger tips. Check it out, you’ll find that a few minutes spent at this site is indeed a discovery!
Enchanted Learning
Reviewed by Karen Marcum
Email: kfmarcum@morehead-st.edu
The Enchanted Learning web site provides an introduction to the Internet for viewers as young as preschool and has pages of information and activities for a variety of subjects. Several Earth Day and spring activity themes are included this month. The “Zoom” sections bring particular topics closer for inspection. Users can zoom into everyday life in a different country or zoom in for more information such as marine life, birds, and dinosaurs. Some of the most popular children’s rhymes are located here also. The “Little Explorers” dictionary is available in several languages. This is a great resource for preschool and kindergarten teachers and students. Parents can certainly use the site for safe Internet surfing with their children. The Enchanted Learning web site is educational and is designed to capture the imagination while maximizing creativity, learning, and enjoyment.
I picked this site because it is a fun and educational site for audiences as young as preschool. The site uses large fonts and colorful graphics with tables and image maps. It is very easy to navigate with menus lined up on the left with links to other sections. Users will find diverse topics such as geography, science, language arts, space, weather and even craft pages. For each subject the user can find activity guides, worksheets, printouts, games, etc. Also, if you are looking for something not listed on the home page, they also provide a place to search further on the Internet.
Curriculum Connections
http://itech.fcps.net/trt11/libtechserv/Curricconb.htm
Reviewed by Karen Marcum
Email: kfmarcum@morehead-st.edu
Curriculum Connections is designed to provide Kentucky library media specialists the curriculum connections that merge literacy and content. The site incorporates national and state standards, benchmarks, and goals for student learning. The Curriculum Connections database contains student-centered lessons and activities submitted by pre-service, practicing and retired school media specialists. All searches and submissions will provide activities for student achievement aligned to the Kentucky Benchmarks for the Information Literacy Standards. Numerous worthwhile web links are provided that will assist teachers in locating materials to fulfill the information technology standards required of Kentucky teachers.
I chose this web site because I have used it several times and appreciated the timely and well-organized information. All searches will provide activities for student achievement aligned to the benchmarks. Some results may be existing websites for student-centered activities and other search results may include original activity submissions by Kentucky library media specialists. Results include hyperlinks to exciting websites in addition to original activity submissions by Kentucky LMS's. Research has shown that school library media programs have a positive impact on student achievement. Hence, the reason this web site is so beneficial.
The Gateway To Educational Materials
Reviewed by: Karen Marcum
Email: kfmarcum@morehead-st.edu
The Gateway to Educational Materials web site is an effort to provide educational professionals quick and easy access to thousands of educational resources found on various state, university, non-profit, and commercial Internet sites. GEM is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education. Users can search or browse the Gateway and find high quality educational materials, including lesson plans, activities and projects from several hundred members. Subject, keyword, and grade level organize the site. A few of the diverse topics include art, educational technology, foreign language, philosophy, and vocational education.
I discovered this web site when I was looking for a lesson plan. This site is really handy for easy access to many lesson plans and content areas are easily found. It is user-friendly and searchable by grade level area. Users have the option of searching only for free materials. I highly recommend this resource.