Matt's+Web+Evaluations

=Web Evaluations =

I also agree that this site is multi-faceted. There is a ton of information on the site that would be perfect for an elementary classroom. I agree with Matt and his opinion of site presentation. Although the site has great information, it is a tad boring to look at and students would not be drawn into the activities the site has to offer. However, I feel this is a small issue and does not necessarily take away from the useful information the site provides. (JC).
 * Title:** Social Studies for Kids
 * Site URL:** http://socialstudiesforkids.com
 * Comments:** Social Studies for Kids has a wide range of information. It is perfect for social studies teachers at the elementary level because it covers many aspects of the subject. It includes information about history, government, economics, religions, holidays and geography. The site could easily be used to accompany any lesson plan using any of these sub-areas of social studies. I could only point out one problem with the site that could use some tweaking. The website is great with content, but it is a little boring, it is very plain. Usually, when using a site with students the best sites to use are those with the fewest amount of distractions. But, it is also important to have enough visual appeal to keep the students interested. I believe this is a site that could be used openly with a whole classroom. The students could be told to go to the site and do research on it to find material for anything that is social studies based. Another way the site could be used it simply as a reference tool for a teacher. The teacher could pull this page up and guide a lesson based off of the website. Either way could work considering the site is very user friendly and easy to navigate through. This site offers a great deal of information on many topics. This could be used multiple times in a classroom. (KC).
 * Web Evaluation Rubric:[[file:Lamphere_web_rubric_1.doc]]**

I also agree that this website would be valuable in the classroom. Certain sections of the website seem more challenging than others. Because of this, this site could be used with a number of different aged and level students. Althought the site covers an immense amount of social studies material, the advertisements are very distracting. While I visited the site, there was a gian Lucky Charms add on the right-hand side. Also, there were movie quizzes on the left-hand side that could cause for an unnecessary distraction. Overall, I felt that the website was easy to navigate through and offered many opportunities for learning. (JC).
 * Title:**Fact Monster
 * Site URL:** @http://www.factmonster.com/
 * Comments:** The Fact Monster website is very kid focused, making it perfect to use with younger learners. The website contains a few different subject areas, including social studies, mathematics and science. However, most of the material does pertain to social studies. It covers a couple different sub-areas of the subject. These areas include world history, United States history and people of importance. This another great site that could accompany any lesson based on those three sub-areas. A teacher could use the website as a helping hand throughout a lesson, sharing it with the class through a projector. Or, the students could be introduced to the website and allowed to browse it themselves. Either way it could work because not only does the page load quickly, it also is easy to navigate through. Another great aspect of the site is that it is very appealing visually. The site does have a few limitations though. One limitation is the advertisements, sometimes they are too distracting. I went on once and there was a Disney advertisement. Almost every kid in the United States is going to be distracted by that, and will deter the learning that the site is supposed to be providing. The other limitation I noticed was the games section. Games will always overrule learning and school. Having a game section on a site designated for learning is a bad idea because it is going to lead to unfocused students. If a child is not directed, he or she will likely have a difficult time finding the information they need from the home page because of all the movement, advertisements, bright colors, and games on the site. Nonetheless, once the child is on the correct page, there is a lot of valuable information. (KC).


 * Web Evaluation Rubric:** [[file:Lamphere_web_rubric_2.doc]]