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WEBSITE REVIEWS
Math & Literacy Websites
PBSKids.org
Website: http://www.pbskids.org
Description: PBSKids.org is a great website for children full of games,
stories, music, and more. It features links to all of the great childrens
programs on the PBS television station. Every website that is connected
to the PBSKid's website is independent, in other words they are maintained
by the producers of the shows, not by PBSKids itself. The nice thing is,
they all cooperate together by keeping a visual link back to the PBSKids
website at the top of every page, and a textual link back on the bottom
of most pages. Thus, if your child is at the Arthur site and decide they
are tired of it, they can just click on the nearest PBSKids link, head
back to that page and take off on another link to another show. It's a
nice way to keep your child snugly encapsulated in the world of PBS children's
shows and nothing else. From what I've seen, the only links on each site
are part of that site only, so they would have little or no way of clicking
off to some journey to who-knows-where in cyberspace. (You know what I
mean…) That is, assuming they know nothing about the internet,
anyway.
StarFall.com
Website: http://www.starfall.com
Description: Starfall
offers an outstanding free learn-to-read method based on numerous studies
and educational research. Practice in letter sounds, word recognition,
and reading comprehension is presented in a fun interactive style. There
are four main sections plus many special occasion areas featuring holidays
and other themes. It is easy to navigate through the site as click boxes
and arrows animate and sparkle to encourage users to move onto the next
screen. Kids will love the opportunity to express their opinions after
each story and activity. They are asked, "Did you like this?"
They can then click on "Yes," "No," or "Kind
of" faces to vote on their favorites. There is also an active bulletin
board discussion for parents who are teaching their kids to read.
Download books/handouts from: http://www.starfall.com/n/N-info/onlinebooks.htm
ProfessorGarfield.com
Website: http://www.professorgarfield.com
Description: Created
by a partnership between the non-profit Professor Garfield Foundation
and Ball State University, this site features Garfield the cat at his
best. He's the resident "edu-cat-or" on a jazzy spaceship. Robots
help you decide which activities to try first. Smaller kids will like
a visit "Orson's Farm" to have some fun with rhyming words.
Each Garfield character must be matched with a similar-sounding item in
the barn. So Wade the Duck has the same ending as "truck." As
you mouse over each picture, you'll hear its name. It's not hard and the
pictures are nice. A favorite is "Word Wrestling" in the "Reading
Ring." Drag and drop comic strip panels into the correct order and
then answer questions about what's going on. It's a great way to learn
about sequencing ideas and practice reading comprehension.
CoolMath
Website: http://coolmath.com
Description: Whether you need to practice your math skills or just
have some fun, Coolmath.com is the place to go. The interactive games
are sure to have the younger set engaged for hours. For example, in Number
Monster, children can play against the computer to practice the four operations
of adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing. The player chooses
the operation and the level of difficulty, ranging from easy to hard to
killer to monster. The game displays a problem, and the player types in
the answer. Kids not only will improve their math skills but also will
have fun doing it.
Storyline
Online
Website: http://storylineonline.net
Description: A
hip combination of Reading Rainbow
and
Hollywood, the site features mini-movies of famous actors reading different,
high-quality children's books. In addition to reading the books, many
of the celebrities say something before the story begins such as how much
joy reading brings to them and their families in their off-screen lives.
Parents might favor reading books in person instead of staring at a computer
screen, but this site features excellent book-related questions and activity
guides that accompany each book to make the experience more interactive
and educational.
tls
Books
Website: http://www.tlsbooks.com
Description: Tlsbooks offers numerous worksheets to supplement early childhood
education programs, home day care, elementary school classroom or home-schooling.
Parents love using their free worksheets to help their child gain valuable
readiness skills or to reinforce material they may already be learning
in school.
APlusMath
Website: http://aplusmath.com
Description: Are you one of those caught up in that elusive web of numbers?
Here is something to solve your problems. Aplusmath.com the homework helper
helps find answers to those maths questions which seem beyond solution.
This is a website developed to help students improve their math skills
interactively. And there's more... a Games Room with a variety of games
that help sharpen math's skills like "Matho" and "Concentration".
An added incentive is that the winners name is put on the list of the
daily winners.
National
Geographic for Kids
Website: http://kids.nationalgeographic.com
Description: Parents
need to know that among its educational games, kid-friendly animal information,
and great footage, this online component to National
Geographic Kids magazine
does have some scary videos. One about the cane toad, for example, talked
about how the cute amphibian is very poisonous - so poisonous that if
a crocodile eats one, it can die. Another showed a brief moment where
a cheetah attacked its prey. Banner ads offer subscriptions to magazines
and also feature other organizations, but are clearly marked and unobtrusive.
There's also a link to the main National Geographic site and its store.
FunBrain
Website: http://www.funbrain.com
Description:
The name says it all -- this is a really fun site. Users will be
so entertained they won't realize they're learning. Parents
need to know that this site offers games designed to build on skills kids
are working on in school; in fact, some games are designed to be used
in the classroom. Viewers will find activities and games that teach
Art, Geography, History, Languages, Math, Music. Science, and Technology.
Educators will love the setup. Each activity includes instructions, explanations,
and illustrations. In addition to the classic games there is a section
for kids under six to play with their parents, Web Books, and Entertainment
Center and an arcade just for fun. This is a great site that is getting
better all the time. Teachers should bring their students by for some
online learning and fun.
Children's
Library
Website: http://www.childrenslibrary.org
Description: It would be fun to let children look at books and stories
from the many worldwide cultures that we study over the course of the
year. Yet developing that sort of library could get very expensive. Well
this is where http://www.childrenslibrary.org becomes very helpful. It
is a very broad collection of children's books from a wide range of cultures
and languages. The site is well designed and allows to browse based on
a variety of methods for example age based or topic based. It also has
powerful search capabilities. Admittedly it is not a substitute for a
quality collection of real books, but at the price of free it is a way
to introduce books language and culture to our classroom without paying
hundreds of dollars. Although it is free if you use it a lot, I recommend
making a donation. Be generous!
One
More Story
Website: http://onemorestory.com
Description: THIS IS A PAY SITE! This
site acts as an online library filled with classic and contemporary children's
books. The format encourages early readers to follow each word as it's
read -- just click on a title and follow along as the pages turn. While
kids may find the simple interface and slow pace to be perfect, parents
may get frustrated when they can't skip the host Bendy the Bookworm's
introductions. Also, the $40 annual subscription price is a bit steep
for the amount of content offered but its still a cool site to look at
with your kids.
Browser
Books
Website: http://staff.prairiesouth.ca/~cassidy.kathy/browserbooks/index.htm
Description: This website was created to allow beginning readers to read
books on their web browser. Readers can click on the triangle in the lower
right-hand corner of each page to turn the pages. If they are unsure of
a word, they can click on it to hear a child's voice read the word to
them. Really nice!
Time
For Kids
Website: http://www.timeforkids.com
Description: Parents need to know that this site, which supplements the
TIME for Kids magazine, is a safe and wonderfully eye-opening
place for kids to hang out online. There are no chat, message board, or
e-mail features offered, so no worries about your kids being contacted
by strangers. SCARY! Although there are versions of the TIME for Kids
magazine for grade-schoolers, the site is more for tweens and up since
articles give honest facts (while leaving out disturbing details) about
things like political assassinations and social injustices.
EduPlace
Website: http://www.eduplace.com
Description: This site is a learning and information resource that aims
to help parents, students and teachers in the classroom and at home. At
the same time, it provides teachers with online tools and resources that
save time and add fun to their classes such as lessons plans, bilingual
resources and quizzes. And for students it has some services such as educational
games, special projects and instant homework help. If you are a teacher
or a student, this site is an interesting choice to get ideas on how to
cope with your everyday activities.
Gamequarium
Website: http://www.gamequarium.com
Description: In Gamequarium.com you are going to find all kinds of useful
information about science, math, spelling, grammar, social studies, history,
US geography, and much more. For students Gamequarium.com offers a large
list of tools, like math tools, free videos for learning, interactive
science resources and web 2.0 tools. Gamequarium.com is not only for teachers
and students, there are many useful sections for parents as well.
Sample ELA Exams
Website: http://www.nysedregents.org/testing/elaei/07exams/home.htm
Description: Get a head start on the ELA by having your kids take these
practice exams. Files are in .pdf format so make sure you have adobe acrobat
installed on your computer. From what I hear, there are plans to remove
these files from the nyse website so get movin!
Educational
Theory Websites
Teachers
and Behaviorism
This site presents the user with an article on the topic of teachers
and behaviorism. According to the article, Behavior modification
is a form of learning and it should be the teacher's responsibility to
create an environment in which only appropriate behavior is being reinforced. There
is a right way to employ behaviorism in the classroom and this article
covers how it should be done. The article has hyperlinked words scattered
throughout the article which take you to other websites pertaining to
the word. There are links at the end of the article which take you to
sites dealing with other learning theories as well as references for the
article.
Constructivism
The beauty of this site is it presents many useful articles and links
on the topic of constructivism and its role in education. The basic premise
of constructivism is that an individual learner must actively build knowledge
and skills and that information exists within these built constructs rather
than in the external environment. This site has links to explain what
constructivism is, links to readings on the subject, as well as links
to sites which deal with other theories. For anyone studying constructivism,
this site provides more than enough information to gain a basic understanding
of the topic. The site is hosted on the University of Colorado server
which means many of the articles are written by staff or students of the
university.
Creativity
and Education
This website has an article by educator David Peat and it talks about
his views on creativity and its role in the field of education. To Peat,
creativity is fresh and exciting and students should be allowed to express
themselves whenever possible. Creativity is supposed to be spontaneous
and radical and this article goes on to give examples as to why children
must express themselves. The site talks about the child, the possible
blocks to creativity, and the challenges facing both the child and the
teacher. The site has links to other essays, reviews, interviews, ideas
and biographies and allows the user to explore further into other topics.
Differentiated
Instruction
This website talks about the importance of differentiating instruction
and really pushes the belief that no two children are alike in their learning.
The researchers say that lessons must be differentiated to suit the needs
of each individual student because students learn at their own pace and
in their own way. The site explains four ways to differentiate instruction
and goes into great detail for each method. Links to Strategies on how
to differentiate are also given at the end of the page to give you more
information on the topic. Important words are hyperlinked to take you
to sites which give you more information on the word.
Educational
Portals and Starting Points
An educational portal is any site which organizes and distributes websites
and information to educators. There are many web portals online devoted
to the field of education and they allow educators to quickly find information
relevant to them. Educational portals can be customized and personalized
to fit the needs of the users. On this website for example, the webmaster
has created a portal to take educators to good informational and instructional
materials. Teachers are always looking for great resources online and
this portal consolidates and organizes almost every educational website
in a clean streamlined way. Links to starting points, subject directories,
thematic starters for educators and subject specific resources are listed
all for your review.
Multicultural
Education
This site is titled Multicultural Education and it has many great
links on the topic. I would even consider this site to be a portal because
of all the great links that are listed which take you to sites to help
you better understand what multicultural education is all about. At the
top of the page are three links which take you to named anchors on the
site. There is so much content on the page, the links take you to certain
parts of the site without having you to scroll through everything. Multicultural
education is really relevant in today's world and this site provides great
resources for teachers or students who want to learn more on the topic.
Schools need to reflect the culture of the community they serve and this
site is great place to begin research.
Increasing
Awareness on Using Multimedia in Education
This site basically deals with the ideas of Barbara Watson and her goal
to increase awareness on the use of multimedia in education. The information
on the site does not come directly from Barbara but from an audience member
who attended her presentation. The article talks about Barbara's views
on the challenges faced by schools and what needs to be done to get faculty
and staff interested in using multimedia in their instruction. There aren't
any resources or links to articles on the topic but it gives the user
a general idea of what one faces when they want to incorporate multimedia
applications in their instruction. On the top of the site is a panel of
links taking you to other areas of the site. These links provide information
on training, reports, workshops and links pertaining to the topic of multimedia
education as well as virtual environments and graphics.
Howard
Gardner, Multiple Intelligences and Education
This website talks about Howard Gardner and his theories regarding multiple
intelligences. Howard Gardner is considered the authority on the subject
and the site goes into great detail on his thoughts about the human mind
and how to capitalize on children's individual strengths. Gardner's life
story is mentioned and his theory is broken down to help you understand
his theory. The multiple intelligences are broken down and explains how
they appeal to educators. A question many people ask is if there are additional
intelligences than what Gardner mentions and that question is also addressed.
Further reading and references are listed at the bottom as well as links
for anyone interested in studying multiple intelligences further.
Portfolio
Assessment
This site is contains an article on the subject of portfolio assessment
and it breaks the topic down into categories to help the user understand
the ideas better. The categories under portfolio assessment include: Instructional
Outcomes, Multiple Products Collected over Time, Variety of Materials,
Student Involvement, Effective Means of Evaluating Reading and Writing,
Assessment in Line with Instruction and Valid Measures of Literacy. For
a beginner trying to understand what portfolio assessment is all about,
this site provides more than adequate information on the topic. At the
very bottom of the site is a link to Portfolios and Self-Assessment which
gives you insight into students and how they react and grow as they review
their own work.
Project-Based
Learning
This article from edutopia.org talks about how project-based learning
can help motivate students to learn by giving them hands on real world
projects to work on. According to Bruce Alberts, "Everybody is motivated
by challenge and solving problems, and we don't make use of that in schools
enough," Examples of projects are given as well as cool pictures
showing the kids in action and links to the schools who have implemented
the projects are also available to the user. One very nice feature of
the site is the sample video clip which shows one of the schools involved
in an actual project. The steps involved in starting a project are discussed
and three good reasons are given to push educators to teach in this style.
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