Kathleen Shumway
CSE 624
October 17, 2010
Unit 1 Annotated Web Resource List
It took me a rather long time to find an evaluation tool I liked. Some are very wordy and others just seem useless. The website evaluation tool I chose is linked here:
http://www.bloomington.k12.mn.us/indschool/WB/documents/WebEvalPrimary_001.pdf
I chose this tool because it is brief enough for young children to use frequently, yet asks questions that first graders would find relevant--- “is it easy to read?” and “is it helpful?”. Kids would easily be able to see how a website scored when they were done marking, thanks to the thumbs up/thumbs down at the end. It requires little writing, and although it would probably need to be read to them the first several times, after awhile the students would know what each question is asking---because it isn’t too long.
My web resource list is as follows:
http://webenglishteacher.com/childlit1.html
This site offers printable lesson plans and book study activities. I like that it includes picture books, but I wish it was easier to navigate. You have to know which author or book you are looking for, rather than being able to easily scroll through and see options of books with units available that you might not otherwise have chosen to use in class. I thought the colors may be a problem for some. I didn’t notice and flickering. There were no non-text options that I noticed.
http://www.mce.k12tn.net/units/units_with_books.htm
Unlike the previous site, this site is much easier to navigate. It does focus more on chapter books, but the user can easily scroll through and look at cover art from the books available to make choices. This site offers pictures of book covers as well as titles. But there are moving animations that won’t hold still.
http://www.hubbardscupboard.org/printable_booklets.html#WordFamilyBooklets I love this site and I currently use it weekly for word family activities and books. There are endless activities to choose from, but what I like best is the printable word family books. There are usually two different books for each family and when they print you don’t have to do any complicated folding or reprinting to make them into books. You just cut in half and staple---and then you have two!
http://www.eduplace.com/graphicorganizer/
Marcia Tate is a favorite of mine at workshops and conferences. She talks about brain compatible strategies, one of which is using graphic organizers. This site gives multiple graphic organizer options for different ages to use. This site would be more accessible if a picture of the graphic organizer appeared next to the link.
http://www.ictgames.com/save_the_whale_v4.html
This particular game is one that I find very beneficial for first graders to play, although the site itself has many great math games to choose from. This game is perfect for practicing number bonds and fact families---a grade 1 Singapore math standard in my district. This site is fairly accessible but it would benefit from audio directions.
http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/maths/numberskills.html
This site is a worksheet generator. Although I do make an effort to stay away from worksheets as much as possible, I believe using a pencil and paper is a skill in itself and must be taught in order for it to be learned. Written assessments are also often necessary. This site allows me to create worksheets for nearly all of the first grade math standards. Considering what I have learned, I think the colors on this page offer poor contrast. There are no audio or visual components aside from words.
http://www.themathpage.com/arith/elementary.htm#less This site is most useful as a whole class activity with a document camera and projector. Students can take a turn using the teacher’s mouse. I think an audio component would improve this site, but I like how easily the mouse can make the sum appear.
http://www.counton.org/magnet/minus3/sumtox/index.html
Practicing addition facts by counting on is a necessary strategy. This is a fun way to practice. I like that a number line is readily available if needed. This site makes good use of graphics. I wish it had and audio component.
http://www.createdbyteachers.com/sightfreemain.html I use the Dolch word lists for sight word practice with my first graders. All the Dolch lists are available to print as word cards (which I put on rings for each student) at this site. The font on this site is probably too small. It doesn’t have an flickering but is also doesn’t have an audio or visual. It would be nice to have the words read to the user.
http://www.kidsclick.org/This is a search engine created for kids by librarians. Searching on this site is similar to searching on a computer in my school’s library. I think the similarity would render the site easy to use by kids. I like the way the search is broken up into categories. I only wish the icon next to each category had more to do with the actual category. I still really like this search engine, but the graphics don’t necessarily have anything to do with the topics.
http://www.usmint.gov/kids/games/This site allows teachers to combine social studies, history and math. Kids can learn about the U.S. mint and increase money counting skills. I was expecting more from a government site. It is average in accessibility. No audio and no visual.
http://www.reading.org/General/Default.aspx
The IRA’s website not only has wonderful information available (especially to members), but links to other helpful sites. This site is on my favorites list. This site is busy with words. There is no flickering but there is also no audio or visual.
http://www.ode.state.or.us/teachlearn/real/standards/ I love the standards by design feature on the ODE website. Standards-based teaching is the basic building block for everything I do in my classroom. I like being able to pick just the things I need/want to see about the standards and print them. It is so much better than getting a whole newspaper full of things you don’t need and trying to sift through it. And unlike that newspaper, I never lose this site. This site actually allows you to select visual preferences! Woo hoo! The BEST site on my list.
http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/ Although this site takes a bit longer to load than most, it is well worth the wait. There are games and teacher resources as well as videos and web cams to watch. I visit this site often with my students during our habitats unit. This site is visually stimulating but that is its biggest down fall. The pictures move and they can’t be stopped. Further into the site there are really nice text to graphic groupings though.
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