Teacher Made Websites

Description – This is a site created by a first grade teacher for her students and their parents. It displays the student’s work along with much more information about the classroom.

Commendations

· There is an abundance of information for parents. A few of the topics found in this section are talking to your child about their day, volunteering, six and seven year olds, and healthy snacks. Parents can find so much useful information in this section.

· There is wonderful student work displayed by month. This allows parents who can’t make it to school to see what is going on.

· This site is updated at least monthly and when sections are updated a little update sign is shown.

· Book recommendations are given by month. This helps get students interested in them and gives parents some good books to choose from when shopping for their child.

Recommendations

· Under some of the topics such as Information for parents there are a lot of links. I think this can be a little overwhelming for parents. It would take hours to go through them all.

· It would be great to give suggestions for how parents can work with their children at home.

· There is personal information about each child posted on this site along with a picture the students drew of themselves. I think it would be better not to include this part. There are too many predators that might try to use this in the wrong way.

http://www.geocities.com/marykreul/2Kschool

Description- This website is created and maintained by Mrs. Kreul, a fourth grade teacher at Richards Elementary School. It has cute graphics, which makes it appealing to students and parents. It provides great information for parents and students. It is divided in to sections such as what’s new, newsletter, homework plan, and student work

Commendations

· A homework plan is always available fro parents. At anytime they can look at both what is expected of students and how they can best assist their child.

· The newsletter is posted online which not only saves paper but parents can look at it throughout the month whether they are at work or at home.

· Student links are wonderful. They provide a wealth of knowledge and resources to use when parents are working with their children. This gives parents a way to do even more at home with their children.

Recommendations

· The homework link on this site did not work. It was not kept up to date. If this link was kept updated students could access their homework assignments if they happened to forget what to do.

· The work displayed could also be updated. While the work is very cute it would be nice to see work the students did as the year progressed.

· There are also a lot of things to look at, at one time. It might be better to keep the site simple so that all parents could use it. There are many parents who do not know a lot about how to use a computer so this would help them.

http://www.expage.com/missluxtonshomepage

Description- This website would be most beneficial to teachers and possibly parents. It provides access to famous sites with the click of a button.

Commendations

· It is wonderful to have links to famous sites such as abcteach, and AtoZ all in one place. It makes accessing them easy and you can bookmark this site instead of each of them separately.

· It was wonderful to find sites that make awards, and rubrics, along with links to many useful sites that I had never seen before. I was so excited to find these new resources.

· Also there is a link to a Tool of the Week site where teachers can share ideas that they have used. It helps stop teachers from reinventing the wheel. Something we do all the time.

Recommendations

· The last time this site was updated was July 2, 2003. I would like to see this site updated more often to make sure links are working and that new websites are added to this wonderful resource.

· The tips for new teachers could be improved by making it personal and sharing tips from actual teachers that the creator knows. The site just links to a list of tips found on Education World.

· There are so many sites for lesson plans and activities that it would be nice to have them rated so that I could quickly choose which one to look at instead of going to each of them.

http://teacherweb.com/CT/middlegate/phillipsb/

Description- This site if for first grade students and their parents. It is divided into easy to use sections such as teacher, reading strategies, homework, lunch, lab schedule, calendar links, etc…

Commendations

· The reading strategies section is very useful for parents. It gives specific strategies parents can use with their children in an easy to understand format.

· The homework section does not provide specific assignments but it clearly explains the type of assignment students will have each night and ways parents can work with their child to make the assignment benefit their child the most.

· The FAQ section is also very useful. It explains the start and end times of school on regular days along with snow delays, and early dismissals.

Recommendations

· Keep the announcement section up to date. The announcement that is shown is from November. If the website never changes or rarely changes parents will stop looking at it.

· The link section does not contain any links. It would be great if links to some of the great educational sites were added. This would benefit students and their parents.

· Also the calendar section is empty. It would either be good to put something in it or to get rid of it.

http://www.minnetonka.k12.mn.us/exc/Teacher/jhansen/indexall.htm

Description – This site is for third grade students and their parents. It is divided into each to use sections. Each section can be accessed by clicking on the graphic. There is even a list where students can look up their spelling words.

Commendations

· It is nice to have the daily schedule displayed because that seems to be an item that is handed out in the first week of school or at open house but it is always lost. This way parents have it in a safe place and can consult it when scheduling appointments.

· Having the guidelines for a book report is wonderful for parents and students. It not only explains how to do the report but it also explains how to choose and read the books.

· The assignments section is updated daily. This will greatly benefit parents because they can check up on their child. It will also help the forgetful children that might have left their assignment book at school.

Recommendations

· In the learner outcomes section a slide show appeared but I was unable to view it. If this were fixed it would be a wonderful resource for parents especially those that missed open house.

· Putting the newsletter in larger print would benefit the reader. The font was very small and hard to see and read.

http://staff.norman.k12.ok.us/~erica/

Description – This site is designed by a third grade teacher. It is for his third grade students and their parents. It has a visually appealing design along with very useful information.

Commendations

· The ideas to help your child become a better reader were fantastic. It not only tells the activity but also gives directions, and lists the supplies you need to do it. These are high interest activities and some even involve TV.

· Under upcoming events the district calendar is displayed. This is fantastic because parents can use it to arrange vacations along with knowing school vacations. Important school activities are also listed.

· There are also book report requirements posted along with suggestions for books and ideas to use to complete the project.

Recommendations

· The Tips for doing homework section links to the no child left behind website. This site does not clearly list tips for doing homework. It would be better to just type out a list. I think more parents would be willing to look at it.

· Use a plain colored font because in some areas there was blue font on a blue background making it hard to read.

· The newsletter was hard to find. It would be good to put it under a title called Newsletter. It is actually under daily schedule.