Website Review #2

Website Review #2

Enchanted Learning (http://www.enchantedlearning.com/Home.html) is a child friendly website with resources for just about any topic. Teachers will love the amount of printable materials that are available on this site. From diagrams, charts, and maps, to worksheets and activities, Enchanted Learning claims to have over 20,000 web pages worth of material.
The look of this site leaves a lot to be desired. The home page is divided into many different categories that are represented in several different ways including images with links. They also have an alphabetical list of additional topics on the right side of the page and even more categories at the bottom of the page. I found the easiest way to navigate the page was to use the search box at the top of the page which brings back a list of results from their website.

While much of the material on Enchanted Learning is free, there is a subscription fee of $20.00. With this, teachers get access many printable classroom resources. They entice teachers by showing thumbnails of the work sheets but you must be a member to access the full size version. All of the student resources, from what I have seen, are free.

I have used this website many times with my Elementary School classes. I find that it is great for them to use for research. The language is geared towards children. The text is straight to the point so the students do not have to read through pages and pages of material to find the important fact. They have an easy time finding what they are looking for and they are able to find images and diagrams for most topics. There are links to other related materials as well. My students were using this website to study ecosystems. They were able to learn about rainforests from this site. They were also able to navigate from the rainforest page to a page about a specific animal that lived there by clicking on highlighted text under the Animals of the Rainforests section. For me, as a technology teacher, this is very important because I do not want my students spending an entire period searching for information when they can get it easily from one place. I also find that, for many of the topics that the students are studying, when they do a Google search, Enchanted Learning is one of the top websites that return.

If I were given the task of revamping the website, I would start with the design of the homepage. I haven’t quite figured out what warrants a link to have a picture, what links are on the side, and what links are on the bottom of the page. They need to consolidate the links in one place. I think there should be a drop down menu with all the topics along with a search box. I think the homepage is unnecessarily long. There should be a separate section for student resources and teacher resources. I would like to see all the material made available to teachers for free but I guess it costs money to maintain the site.

Adopting a Lesson Plan

The lesson I chose to adapt is called “Symbols and Legends” http://interactive2.usgs.gov/learningweb/teachers/mapadv_lesson4.htm. This lesson is geared towards K-3. What I would do is make this lesson for 4th grade students. I would use actual maps to teach the lesson as well as National Geographics Map Machine. First we would look at a world map and then move closer with a map of the United States followed by a map of New York. We would then zoom into the neighborhood of the school.

I would introduce the students to National Geographic’s map machine, http://plasma.nationalgeographic.com/mapmachine/. We would start out globally and then put in the address of the school zooming in all the way. We would focus on the road map. What would we use this type of map for? How is this different then the other maps we looked at? The goal would be to get the students to see that a road map has an everyday purpose when trying to find a specific location.

I would ask the students what features they see on this map that can help them read it properly. We would have already discussed map features like, compass rose and scale. I would have the students point out the legend and we would discuss the use of a legend and symbols.

The students would then break up into pairs and go on the website to search the neighborhood map for different locations from the legend that I will give them. They will get an understanding of how to use a neighborhood map as well as how to look at a legend.

The final project for this lesson will be to create a fictional neighborhood map with their partner. They will include a legend showing the points of interest. All streets and points of interest will be labeled. The students will make this into a game. They will make a list of items for other students to find. When all the maps are complete, the groups will switch maps and try to locate each of the items.

The lesson will last about 50 minute. The students will have time during the week to work on their maps and we will play the game at the end of the week.

NYS Social Studies Standards:

Standard 3: Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of the geography of the interdependent world in which we live—local, national, and global—including the distribution of people, places, and environments over the Earth’s surface.
• draw maps and diagrams that serve as representations of places, physical features, and objects
• locate places within the local community, State, and nation; locate the Earth’s continents in relation to each other and to principal parallels and meridians (Adapted from National Geography Standards, 1994).

Website Review

The website I chose to critique is called FirstGov for Kids (http://www.kids.gov/

). If a website is measured by its easy of use, reliability, and usefulness, this site covers all angles. The homepage is designed as a portal to Federal Government websites as well as other child friendly websites that are useful in all aspects of education. It is broken down into many, well organized, reliable sites for students of all ages.

The homepage is easy to navigate. All links are clearly labeled with both titles and cartoon images that correspond with the topic of the link. Each page consists of links to other child friendly websites. They are broken down into 4 categories; Government sites, Organization Sites, Commercial Sites, and Educational Sites. There is a well written introduction at the top of each page giving a brief description of what type of site the links below will go to. Every page is linked together at the top making it easy to navigate from one place to another. There is also a search feature which is helpful when looking for a specific topic.

The websites that FirstGov for Kids link to are well chosen. There are so many websites on the internet about every subject that it is important for students to understand how to find reliable sources when they are doing research. Teachers can feel confident that, by having students use this website as a resource, they will be receiving accurate information. It also allows them to use multiple resources without going through the time-consuming process of searching for reliable sources on the internet.

Another fun feature of this website is a Web Treasure Hunt. This link is on the homepage. It is a series of question that can be answered by searching the links associated to this website. The students have to decide which category they will need to look under to find the answers. This is an excellent tool for teaching students to navigate the site.

I have not used this website in my class as of yet but as I was going through it and looking at the sites it links to, I did notice several websites that my students do use for research. I intend to make this website readily available to my students and I will encourage them to take advantage of its many resources. I would like to use the Treasure Hunt with my younger students as a lesson on searching the internet as well as how to determine reliable websites for research.

What Students Need in the 21st Century

5 years into the 21st century and the needs of our students are ever changing. The ideals and practices that I learned when I was in elementary school, although generally similar, were less intense then they are now. Learning to use a computer was not even an option for me. Now, it is an essential skill for students of all ages. Living in a society where we can no longer live without technology we need to educate children not only how to use it but how to protect themselves while using it. Although computers can be infinitely helpful, they can also cause many problem. It is important for children to understand both ends of the spectrum.

Another skill that students receive that will be helpful in the 21st century are multiple language skills and knowledge of other cultures. Living in the melting pot that the United States is makes this an important skill for children to learn. Although learning English is very important living in this country, student should have exposure to other languages. They should learn to appreciate the cultural diversity as well as build an understanding of other people they will interact with on a daily basis.

I also feel it is important, unfortunately, that we need make children aware of the evils that are going on in the world. Although this is not a new issue, it has hit home moreso over the last few years. Children need to be aware of their surrounding and know how to protect themselves.

National Constitution Day

It's interestting to me that National Constitution Day falls out at the beginning of the school year. 5th grade curriculum covers the Constitution. If I were a fifth grade teacher, I would try and shape my first couple weeks discussing what the Constutition is and why it is necessary. I would use United Streaming video as a tool in doing for doing this. As a lesson to commemmorate National Constitution Day, the students could use Microsoft Word to create a Constitution spelling out the guidelines that they feel should be put in place for the classroom. We can then take their ideas and, using Inspiation, create a word webs with the Bill of Rights for the class. Doing this gives the student's ownership and guidelines, which they themselves decided on, to follow throughout the school year.