Right now I print out hard copies of my monthly newsletter to parents, but in the future I'd love for the families of my students to be able to access it online.
Here is what it may look like:
October 7th, 2009
Dear Room 9 Students and Families,
Things are finally settling down as we are already a month into this school year! Here is an update of the latest in our classroom and 5th grade.
Spelling
Spelling words are sent home each week and tested on Fridays. Your student has an individualized list to practice at home each night. Most students take home a list of 45 words, on which they have highlighted 15 words to learn that week.
Reading and Math
Reading and math groups are well underway. For questions regarding these subjects, please feel free to contact your student’s teacher directly. Please note that as we wrap up calculations and estimations units at the beginning of November, math groups will be changing and your student may have a new teacher for the next math unit.
Agendas and Progress Reports
Your student now has an agenda used for recording daily homework. It should be in your student’s binder and go back and forth to school and home each day. Please check this agenda for homework assignments and upcoming tests.
Progress Reports for homeroom subjects (social studies/science, spelling, grammar) will generally be sent home each Monday. Look for the first one Oct.12th. If your student has reading or math with me, these subjects will be included as well.
5th Grade Team Emails
Kristen.Goulding@dallas.k12.or.us
Julie.Graber@dallas.k12.or.us
John.Wagner@dallas.k12.or.us
Chris.Lund@dallas.k12.or.us
Carrie.Starks@dallas.k12.or.us
Brian.Williamson@dallas.k12.or.us
Julie.Reimer@dallas.k12.or.us
Lisa.Reamer@dallas.k12.or.us
Looking forward to seeing many of you tomorrow at 6pm for Open House!
-Miss Goulding
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Professional Development Plan
One goal I have for myself is to develop the space I have been given on my school's website. Each teacher can add a link to his or her own page. I have received a very brief, initial training on how to do this, but I'd like to pursue it further. A great resource I have to help meet this goal is my school's media specialist. I'd like to ask her if she'd sit down with me in the fall and walk me through the options I have for setting up my page. By the first day of school, I would like to have at least a welcome to my classroom blurb on my page, supply list, weekly schedule, as well as a little about me and my contact information.
My second goal is to begin a blog with my students where they can help me write about the books I read aloud to them during the year. This is something I could set up easily, so I'd like to have it set up by the second or third week of school. I'd also like to have my kids respond to our blog posts with their own personal feelings and opinions during our trips to the computer lab. We could even invite other classes to participate as well.
Finally, I'd like to find a website that has daily news for kids. I would like to spend a few minutes everyday, or maybe just once a week reading a current events story with my students. This is also something I could implement right from the first day of school, so I will need to find an appropriate website during my inservice week before the students come back to school.
I will know I have met these goals if by the beginning of the school year, I have my website and blog established, and have found a good kid's news website.
My second goal is to begin a blog with my students where they can help me write about the books I read aloud to them during the year. This is something I could set up easily, so I'd like to have it set up by the second or third week of school. I'd also like to have my kids respond to our blog posts with their own personal feelings and opinions during our trips to the computer lab. We could even invite other classes to participate as well.
Finally, I'd like to find a website that has daily news for kids. I would like to spend a few minutes everyday, or maybe just once a week reading a current events story with my students. This is also something I could implement right from the first day of school, so I will need to find an appropriate website during my inservice week before the students come back to school.
I will know I have met these goals if by the beginning of the school year, I have my website and blog established, and have found a good kid's news website.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
An Interesting Website...
I have only briefly explored the links on this page "Top 10 Fifth Grade Web Sites," but a few seem worth a closer look. The Country Watch and Adopt an Author look like sites I might want to use in my classroom.
http://www.lovetoknow.com/top10/fifth-grade.html
http://www.lovetoknow.com/top10/fifth-grade.html
Resources for Creating a Classroom Website
I found a bunch of sites that help teachers to create their classroom websites:
www.sitesforteachers.com
www.teacherweb.com
www.schoolrack.com
www.schoolandteacher.com
This is one 5th grade teacher's website that I really like and would like to use as a resource:
http://www.misscantillon.com/
www.sitesforteachers.com
www.teacherweb.com
www.schoolrack.com
www.schoolandteacher.com
This is one 5th grade teacher's website that I really like and would like to use as a resource:
http://www.misscantillon.com/
Three Lesson Mini Unit
Part 1: Standards
Social Studies Standards
SS.05.CG.01 Identify essential ideas of our republican form of government as expressed in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.
SS.05.CG.03 Understand the roles and responsibilities of the three branches of government.
SS.05.CG.04 Identify the rights of U.S. citizens.
Technology Standards
ET.3. Research and Information Fluency: Plan strategies to guide inquiry, Locate, organize and use information ethically from a variety of sources and media, Evaluate and select information sources and digital tools based on the appropriateness to specific tasks, Analyze, evaluate, and summarize information or data and report results.
ET.5. Digital Citizenship: Advocate and practice safe, legal, and responsible use of information and digital technology, Model and practice a positive attitude toward using digital technology that supports collaboration, learning, and productivity, Demonstrate personal responsibility for lifelong learning.
Part 2: Lesson Plans
I planned all these lessons using the website Ben’s Guide to U.S. Government for Kids. In my classroom we study the American Revolution before government, so I’m planning these lessons with the assumption that my students have background knowledge on the Revolution and how it led to a formal government being established.
Lesson 1: Why Three Branches?
The instructor should inform students that today’s goal is to understand why the founding fathers decided our government should be made up of three branches. Working in partners have students go to the website http://bensguide.gpo.gov/3-5/government/branches.html. Have students read the short introduction on U.S. government. On a piece of paper students will complete the following: sketch the diagram of the three branches of government shown at the top of the page, find and write the definitions for “separation of powers” and “checks and balances.” Be prepared to discuss these when we return to class.
After returning to the classroom, on a large piece of butcher paper, have students assist in sketching a large version of the three branches of government. Draw it large enough so pictures, labels, and sticky notes can be attached during the unit. Also, discuss the two vocabulary phrases assigned. After discussing, have students come up with definitions the class can understand and agree on. Copy these on to pieces of construction paper and post them near the diagram for future reference.
Lesson 2: Responsibilities of the Three Branches
Students will be assigned to one of four groups (executive, judicial, House of Representatives, and Senate). Again, have students begin at http://bensguide.gpo.gov/3-5/government/branches.html. At the bottom of the page there are links to each branch. Use the diagram created yesterday to make it clear to students that the legislative branch is made up of the House and the Senate so there is no confusion. Each student will be given a graphic organizer to complete to help them answer the following questions about their assigned group: what powers or jobs does this branch have? How does someone get into this office? What are the term limits? In what building does this branch work?
When returning to the classroom, have students volunteer answers to these four questions as you write the answers on a large graphic organizer, answers any questions or making clarifications as needed.
Lesson 3: Rights and Responsibilities of U.S. Citizens
Explain to students that people who work for the government are not the only ones with responsibilities, but that we are citizens also have responsibilities and rights. Have students start at http://bensguide.gpo.gov/3-5/citizenship/index.html. Pass out instructions with the following steps: First read the page titled “Citizenship.” Write down the definitions of Aliens, Nationals, and Citizens. Then click on the link at the bottom of the page called “Becoming a U.S. Citizen.” Please read this page and write down the three steps someone who wants to become a U.S. citizen must follow. Then click on the link “Rights of U.S. Citizens.” Read this page and write down four of the six rights listed. Finally, click on the link “Responsibilities of Citizens.” Write down three important responsibilities U.S. citizens have.
After returning to the classroom, have students discuss the answers they found to all questions. Write important facts on construction paper and post them near the graphic organizer of the roles of the three branches.
Part 3: Assessment
To assess the learning of my students at the end of this unit, I would ask them in table groups to recreate the charts and diagrams we built as a class. This allows students to share their knowledge with others, and fill in gaps where they might be missing information. I would then have students rate their own and their group members participation in this task on a 1-5 scale. I use this type of participation assessment often and my students are familiar with the scale.
Part 4: Overall Reflection
Teaching this unit in past years, I have used this website as a resource for myself in order to understand what I needed to teach my students. I either used these notes as lecture materials, or printed them and had my students read them independently or orally. I like these new lesson plans much better because it is more of a Webquest format. Nothing excites my students more than going to the computer lab. It also puts some of the responsibility for gathering the information on them. They can take pride of ownership by being the ones to find the material and teach ME about U.S. government.
I also like that much of the work in these lessons is collaborative. Students have the opportunity to work in partners, or have group members to turn to if they are stuck. Many of my students are low readers that might not be able to comprehend this level of information without assistance. Bringing the whole group back together at the end of each lesson ensures that I can check in with the class and gauge now much more teaching I need to do.
The website I chose to use for these lessons is well organized and easy for my students to navigate. The font size is larger and images are used to aid understanding. One issue I may need to address in the future is the needs of special populations. The website offers no accommodations for users with disabilities. While I have naturally built in some accommodations (working in partners), more assistance may be needed for some students.
As my students will be using this site solely for note-taking purposes, there are no issues with copyright or acceptable use. I do take the time to teach my students that copying information word for word from any resource is not acceptable, as well as teaching them how to summarize and paraphrase. Thanks to my district’s reprographics department, I have made it a habit to check that it is ok to use worksheets for my students’ educational use before I send it off to print.
Social Studies Standards
SS.05.CG.01 Identify essential ideas of our republican form of government as expressed in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.
SS.05.CG.03 Understand the roles and responsibilities of the three branches of government.
SS.05.CG.04 Identify the rights of U.S. citizens.
Technology Standards
ET.3. Research and Information Fluency: Plan strategies to guide inquiry, Locate, organize and use information ethically from a variety of sources and media, Evaluate and select information sources and digital tools based on the appropriateness to specific tasks, Analyze, evaluate, and summarize information or data and report results.
ET.5. Digital Citizenship: Advocate and practice safe, legal, and responsible use of information and digital technology, Model and practice a positive attitude toward using digital technology that supports collaboration, learning, and productivity, Demonstrate personal responsibility for lifelong learning.
Part 2: Lesson Plans
I planned all these lessons using the website Ben’s Guide to U.S. Government for Kids. In my classroom we study the American Revolution before government, so I’m planning these lessons with the assumption that my students have background knowledge on the Revolution and how it led to a formal government being established.
Lesson 1: Why Three Branches?
The instructor should inform students that today’s goal is to understand why the founding fathers decided our government should be made up of three branches. Working in partners have students go to the website http://bensguide.gpo.gov/3-5/government/branches.html. Have students read the short introduction on U.S. government. On a piece of paper students will complete the following: sketch the diagram of the three branches of government shown at the top of the page, find and write the definitions for “separation of powers” and “checks and balances.” Be prepared to discuss these when we return to class.
After returning to the classroom, on a large piece of butcher paper, have students assist in sketching a large version of the three branches of government. Draw it large enough so pictures, labels, and sticky notes can be attached during the unit. Also, discuss the two vocabulary phrases assigned. After discussing, have students come up with definitions the class can understand and agree on. Copy these on to pieces of construction paper and post them near the diagram for future reference.
Lesson 2: Responsibilities of the Three Branches
Students will be assigned to one of four groups (executive, judicial, House of Representatives, and Senate). Again, have students begin at http://bensguide.gpo.gov/3-5/government/branches.html. At the bottom of the page there are links to each branch. Use the diagram created yesterday to make it clear to students that the legislative branch is made up of the House and the Senate so there is no confusion. Each student will be given a graphic organizer to complete to help them answer the following questions about their assigned group: what powers or jobs does this branch have? How does someone get into this office? What are the term limits? In what building does this branch work?
When returning to the classroom, have students volunteer answers to these four questions as you write the answers on a large graphic organizer, answers any questions or making clarifications as needed.
Lesson 3: Rights and Responsibilities of U.S. Citizens
Explain to students that people who work for the government are not the only ones with responsibilities, but that we are citizens also have responsibilities and rights. Have students start at http://bensguide.gpo.gov/3-5/citizenship/index.html. Pass out instructions with the following steps: First read the page titled “Citizenship.” Write down the definitions of Aliens, Nationals, and Citizens. Then click on the link at the bottom of the page called “Becoming a U.S. Citizen.” Please read this page and write down the three steps someone who wants to become a U.S. citizen must follow. Then click on the link “Rights of U.S. Citizens.” Read this page and write down four of the six rights listed. Finally, click on the link “Responsibilities of Citizens.” Write down three important responsibilities U.S. citizens have.
After returning to the classroom, have students discuss the answers they found to all questions. Write important facts on construction paper and post them near the graphic organizer of the roles of the three branches.
Part 3: Assessment
To assess the learning of my students at the end of this unit, I would ask them in table groups to recreate the charts and diagrams we built as a class. This allows students to share their knowledge with others, and fill in gaps where they might be missing information. I would then have students rate their own and their group members participation in this task on a 1-5 scale. I use this type of participation assessment often and my students are familiar with the scale.
Part 4: Overall Reflection
Teaching this unit in past years, I have used this website as a resource for myself in order to understand what I needed to teach my students. I either used these notes as lecture materials, or printed them and had my students read them independently or orally. I like these new lesson plans much better because it is more of a Webquest format. Nothing excites my students more than going to the computer lab. It also puts some of the responsibility for gathering the information on them. They can take pride of ownership by being the ones to find the material and teach ME about U.S. government.
I also like that much of the work in these lessons is collaborative. Students have the opportunity to work in partners, or have group members to turn to if they are stuck. Many of my students are low readers that might not be able to comprehend this level of information without assistance. Bringing the whole group back together at the end of each lesson ensures that I can check in with the class and gauge now much more teaching I need to do.
The website I chose to use for these lessons is well organized and easy for my students to navigate. The font size is larger and images are used to aid understanding. One issue I may need to address in the future is the needs of special populations. The website offers no accommodations for users with disabilities. While I have naturally built in some accommodations (working in partners), more assistance may be needed for some students.
As my students will be using this site solely for note-taking purposes, there are no issues with copyright or acceptable use. I do take the time to teach my students that copying information word for word from any resource is not acceptable, as well as teaching them how to summarize and paraphrase. Thanks to my district’s reprographics department, I have made it a habit to check that it is ok to use worksheets for my students’ educational use before I send it off to print.
Annotated Web Resource List
The evaluation tool I chose to use for this assignment is the 5 W’s of website evaluation. It came up as a result a number of times I searched for ways to evaluate websites (including on Kathy Schrock’s page), and also seemed simple enough for elementary aged students to use it successfully. When evaluating websites, students/educators should ask themselves the following questions:
Who wrote the page and are they an expert?
What does the author say is the purpose of the site?
When was the site created and last updated?
Where does the information come from?
Why is this information useful for my purpose?
Websites
www.factmonster.com This is a kid-friendly site that includes a dictionary, encyclopedia, thesaurus, and almanac which would be helpful for the purpose of student research. I like the features section and could see myself using the daily analogy, word of the day, and spelling bee. This site is authored by Pearson Education and last updated in 2009. I believe the purpose of the site is to inform and educate students. The information comes from informationplease.com. While the ads make the homepage a little overstimulating, otherwise it is pleasant to look at. There is nice contrast between background and text colors. I was able to find information about accommodations for people with disabilities, but had to go to the parent company’s homepage in order to do so.
www.kidsclick.org A search engine owned and run by the School of Library and Information Science at Kent University, updated 2010. Organizes search choices by Dewey Decimal Classification topics, but students can also search by typing a specific topic in the search box. I especially like that it has no ads to distract students from their purpose of researching. This site is very easy to view and navigate, however, I couldn’t find any links to accommodations for people with disabilities.
www.kids.nationalgeographic.com The kids site by National Geographic. It was updated in 2010. This site would be especially useful for the animal reports my students do every year. The homepage has a lot going on and can be a bit overwhelming unless you are familiar with the site and know what you are looking for. There are ads, and also lots of graphics.
www.loc.gov/families/ The Library of Congress maintains this website for kids and families for the purpose of making its resources available and useful to the Congress and the American people. This site would be useful for researching units for social studies and science. This site had an accessibility link at the bottom of the homepage, which led me to a page where users were able to email any problems they were having using the site, download necessary programs needed to view pages, and also download a program called BrowseAloud, which will read sections or entire pages to a user with a disability.
http://elementary.oslis.org/ There is a section of this site by the Oregon School Library Information System specifically for elementary aged students. The three links on learning to do research, finding information, and citing sources would be useful for my students. The site was updated in 2010. This site has the accessibility link right at the top of the homepage where it can be found easily. It also allows users to change font size right on the page instead of having to go into their internet options menu.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/ The Federal Government maintains this website that would be useful for my own personal research while preparing my unit on our national government. Most of the content on the site would be too advanced for my students to read on their own, but it includes videos, live streaming, and podcasts that might be interesting to them and will help us stay current on important events. Elementary aged students would need adult help in navigating this site because of the vast amount of information listed. The accessibility page says something called “alt tags” are provided so users can listen to content.
http://www.maps4kids.com/ This site is owned and maintained by a parent and his children for the purpose of helping children gain a greater understanding of the world through maps, geographic information and games. The outline maps of the world and continents would be useful during my geography unit. It had wonderful current even information but I’m not sure the site is updated often enough to use it for this purpose. This “homemade” page has no links to accessibility and therefore would not be able to be used by persons with certain disabilities.
http://www.geography4kids.com/index.html This site was produced by Andrew Rader Studios. Andrew Rader has a degree in Physiology and Cell Biology and created this site as a side project as a resource for students and teachers. It is updated as of 2010. This site is useful because it includes images and is written in a language my students can understand. While this website is well organized and easily navigable by elementary students, I don’t see where it has any links for accessibility for users with disabilities.
http://www.physics4kids.com/ This site was produced by Andrew Rader Studios. Andrew Rader has a degree in Physiology and Cell Biology and created this site as a side project as a resource for students and teachers. It is updated as of 2010. This site is useful because it includes images and is written in a language my students can understand. While this website is well organized and easily navigable by elementary students, I don’t see where it has any links for accessibility for users with disabilities.
http://www.chem4kids.com/index.html This site was produced by Andrew Rader Studios. Andrew Rader has a degree in Physiology and Cell Biology and created this site as a side project as a resource for students and teachers. It is updated as of 2010. This site is useful because it includes images and is written in a language my students can understand. While this website is well organized and easily navigable by elementary students, I don’t see where it has any links for accessibility for users with disabilities.
http://www.ode.state.or.us/teachlearn/real/standards/ The Oregon Department of Education’s website provides access to the constantly changing standards for teaching all subjects. I use this site often when designing my units of study. This site has a great accessibility link on the homepage that allows users to customize a number of features including color preferences, page layout options, text-only format, and font size.
http://www.ode.state.or.us/search/page/?=32 The Oregon Department of Education provides scoring guides which I use when scoring writing, speaking, math problem solving, and science inquiry samples. This site has a great accessibility link on the homepage that allows users to customize a number of features including color preferences, page layout options, text-only format, and font size.
http://www.ode.state.or.us/search/page/?=219 The Oregon Department of Education also provides samples of real student work in the areas of writing and math problem. These are very useful to show students as models, and also as a resource for myself as examples when scoring. This site has a great accessibility link on the homepage that allows users to customize a number of features including color preferences, page layout options, text-only format, and font size.
http://www.pppst.com/ Pete’s Power Point Station offers many instructional PowerPoint presentations on a wide variety of topics. The site is a partnership between two other educational sites, mrdonn.org and phillipmartin.info. The presentations are easy to understand, especially because of the visual input. I could not find any information on when the site had last been updated. This site is fairly easy to navigate and the contrast in colors makes text easy to read. I was not able to find any links to accessibility.
http://www.lexile.com/ This site is authored by MetaMetrics, an educational organization that measures of student achievement and links assessment with targeted instruction to improve learning. It was updated in 2010. I use this site as one way to find books at my students’ reading levels. The site is very professional looking and easy to navigate, however, I found no links to an accessibility page.
http://www.arbookfind.com/UserType.aspx This site is authored by Renaissance Learning and was updated in 2010. It is one way for parents, students, teachers, and librarians to search for books at a certain reading level and also to level books already in a collection. I use the AR level of a book, and also the Lexile level to assign books to my students. This website is very organized and easy to navigate. The text size is fairly small and I couldn’t find any options for changing it.
http://www.nctm.org/resources/elementary.aspx This is the section of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics website that is for elementary teachers. While you have to be a member to access much of the information, I really like the weekly math problem and can see using this in my classroom. The site is up to date and its purpose is supporting teachers of mathematics. This site has a great layout, but no options for users with disabilities.
Who wrote the page and are they an expert?
What does the author say is the purpose of the site?
When was the site created and last updated?
Where does the information come from?
Why is this information useful for my purpose?
Websites
www.factmonster.com This is a kid-friendly site that includes a dictionary, encyclopedia, thesaurus, and almanac which would be helpful for the purpose of student research. I like the features section and could see myself using the daily analogy, word of the day, and spelling bee. This site is authored by Pearson Education and last updated in 2009. I believe the purpose of the site is to inform and educate students. The information comes from informationplease.com. While the ads make the homepage a little overstimulating, otherwise it is pleasant to look at. There is nice contrast between background and text colors. I was able to find information about accommodations for people with disabilities, but had to go to the parent company’s homepage in order to do so.
www.kidsclick.org A search engine owned and run by the School of Library and Information Science at Kent University, updated 2010. Organizes search choices by Dewey Decimal Classification topics, but students can also search by typing a specific topic in the search box. I especially like that it has no ads to distract students from their purpose of researching. This site is very easy to view and navigate, however, I couldn’t find any links to accommodations for people with disabilities.
www.kids.nationalgeographic.com The kids site by National Geographic. It was updated in 2010. This site would be especially useful for the animal reports my students do every year. The homepage has a lot going on and can be a bit overwhelming unless you are familiar with the site and know what you are looking for. There are ads, and also lots of graphics.
www.loc.gov/families/ The Library of Congress maintains this website for kids and families for the purpose of making its resources available and useful to the Congress and the American people. This site would be useful for researching units for social studies and science. This site had an accessibility link at the bottom of the homepage, which led me to a page where users were able to email any problems they were having using the site, download necessary programs needed to view pages, and also download a program called BrowseAloud, which will read sections or entire pages to a user with a disability.
http://elementary.oslis.org/ There is a section of this site by the Oregon School Library Information System specifically for elementary aged students. The three links on learning to do research, finding information, and citing sources would be useful for my students. The site was updated in 2010. This site has the accessibility link right at the top of the homepage where it can be found easily. It also allows users to change font size right on the page instead of having to go into their internet options menu.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/ The Federal Government maintains this website that would be useful for my own personal research while preparing my unit on our national government. Most of the content on the site would be too advanced for my students to read on their own, but it includes videos, live streaming, and podcasts that might be interesting to them and will help us stay current on important events. Elementary aged students would need adult help in navigating this site because of the vast amount of information listed. The accessibility page says something called “alt tags” are provided so users can listen to content.
http://www.maps4kids.com/ This site is owned and maintained by a parent and his children for the purpose of helping children gain a greater understanding of the world through maps, geographic information and games. The outline maps of the world and continents would be useful during my geography unit. It had wonderful current even information but I’m not sure the site is updated often enough to use it for this purpose. This “homemade” page has no links to accessibility and therefore would not be able to be used by persons with certain disabilities.
http://www.geography4kids.com/index.html This site was produced by Andrew Rader Studios. Andrew Rader has a degree in Physiology and Cell Biology and created this site as a side project as a resource for students and teachers. It is updated as of 2010. This site is useful because it includes images and is written in a language my students can understand. While this website is well organized and easily navigable by elementary students, I don’t see where it has any links for accessibility for users with disabilities.
http://www.physics4kids.com/ This site was produced by Andrew Rader Studios. Andrew Rader has a degree in Physiology and Cell Biology and created this site as a side project as a resource for students and teachers. It is updated as of 2010. This site is useful because it includes images and is written in a language my students can understand. While this website is well organized and easily navigable by elementary students, I don’t see where it has any links for accessibility for users with disabilities.
http://www.chem4kids.com/index.html This site was produced by Andrew Rader Studios. Andrew Rader has a degree in Physiology and Cell Biology and created this site as a side project as a resource for students and teachers. It is updated as of 2010. This site is useful because it includes images and is written in a language my students can understand. While this website is well organized and easily navigable by elementary students, I don’t see where it has any links for accessibility for users with disabilities.
http://www.ode.state.or.us/teachlearn/real/standards/ The Oregon Department of Education’s website provides access to the constantly changing standards for teaching all subjects. I use this site often when designing my units of study. This site has a great accessibility link on the homepage that allows users to customize a number of features including color preferences, page layout options, text-only format, and font size.
http://www.ode.state.or.us/search/page/?=32 The Oregon Department of Education provides scoring guides which I use when scoring writing, speaking, math problem solving, and science inquiry samples. This site has a great accessibility link on the homepage that allows users to customize a number of features including color preferences, page layout options, text-only format, and font size.
http://www.ode.state.or.us/search/page/?=219 The Oregon Department of Education also provides samples of real student work in the areas of writing and math problem. These are very useful to show students as models, and also as a resource for myself as examples when scoring. This site has a great accessibility link on the homepage that allows users to customize a number of features including color preferences, page layout options, text-only format, and font size.
http://www.pppst.com/ Pete’s Power Point Station offers many instructional PowerPoint presentations on a wide variety of topics. The site is a partnership between two other educational sites, mrdonn.org and phillipmartin.info. The presentations are easy to understand, especially because of the visual input. I could not find any information on when the site had last been updated. This site is fairly easy to navigate and the contrast in colors makes text easy to read. I was not able to find any links to accessibility.
http://www.lexile.com/ This site is authored by MetaMetrics, an educational organization that measures of student achievement and links assessment with targeted instruction to improve learning. It was updated in 2010. I use this site as one way to find books at my students’ reading levels. The site is very professional looking and easy to navigate, however, I found no links to an accessibility page.
http://www.arbookfind.com/UserType.aspx This site is authored by Renaissance Learning and was updated in 2010. It is one way for parents, students, teachers, and librarians to search for books at a certain reading level and also to level books already in a collection. I use the AR level of a book, and also the Lexile level to assign books to my students. This website is very organized and easy to navigate. The text size is fairly small and I couldn’t find any options for changing it.
http://www.nctm.org/resources/elementary.aspx This is the section of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics website that is for elementary teachers. While you have to be a member to access much of the information, I really like the weekly math problem and can see using this in my classroom. The site is up to date and its purpose is supporting teachers of mathematics. This site has a great layout, but no options for users with disabilities.
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