Exemplary Classroom & Teacher Websites (Week 5)

[Cyndi Danner-Kuhn]

Teachers from the Trenches: Could you please share your website URL and maybe one or two other classroom teacher websites that you feel are excellent and tell us why.

TECS 390 Students: Assignment Details are in Moodle-Week 5, but share three teacher website you found that you think have qualities you would like to use in your own website.

[Mathew Needleman]

My classroom web site is http://www.opencourtresources.com it doesn't look exactly like a classroom web site because it has contributions from teachers across the country. I started it as a way of sharing with another first grade teacher at my school and it's grown exponentially since then.

My favorite teacher web site (besides mine) is http://hill.troy.k12.mi.us/staff/bnewingham/myweb3/ there's just a lot of stuff going on and because there is lots of work by students I'm sure parents visit.

[Christine Southard]

I'm a teacher in a 5th grade inclusion class. My co-teacher and I combined our names to create the South Paris Collaborative. Here is our web site: http://herricks.org/webpages/spcollaborative/
This is our blog site http://classblogmeister.com/blog.php?blogger_id=88116

Some of my favorite websites: Great teacher resources for teachers
http://tappedin.org/
http://classroom20.ning.com/profile/Teeneelove
http://discoveryeducatornetwork.com/
http://www.brainpop.com/
http://www.unitedstreaming.com/

[samccoy]

Christine:
I am also a fan of TappedIN. Did you attend the TappedIN Festival 2007? I really enjoyed it, and I picked up more tips about trends in technology.
I have an office there also...Sheryl McCoy. Check it out if you like. My main focus at the moment is trying to complete a showcase of all the Caldecott winners. That may take awhile.

[ddeubel]

My EFL community is also a ning, http://eflclassroom.ning.com

I started my own site outside of my courseware, to reach more teachers who are plentiful in Korea. Many foreigners here teaching English but they have a tough time because of no training and no resources. It grew from a few things to many and many. www.ddd.batcave.net It has finally outgrown itself and I'll be changing it to something dynamic in a month. But a PERFECT example of what a teacher can do for FREE. No money at all.

I could send teachers to many sites (and also see my community site's links, lots of great ones there and worth a look just for a look at the best bookmarking site out there. Buzka. But I'd like to highlight two AMAZING women who have contributed to my EFL community. One in Mexico and one in Isreal. Alicia and Susan (and isn't it a small world, me here in Korea and them across the oceans???? think this way in your classrooms!). Both of these women use technology so well in their elementary classrooms. Wow, my hats off to them and email them thanks if you see anything you like.

Alicia,
http://english_studio.blogspot.com/

Susan,
http://www.protopage.com/maaganim

[Ann]

I have a professional blog I just started: NJ Tech Musings. For school there are three main links. I used to have web pages. I changed them to wikis over the summer because of the ease of updating.

My Computer Information Pages
My Math Class Wiki
My Computer Class Wiki

My favorite sites include Darren Kuropatwa's A Difference blog which has links to his class blogs. It's an amazing learning experience. I took a fair amount of time looking here over the summer. I've recently been reading Dan Meyer who is incredibly open in his sharing of his resources. The blog that got me started in this whole new world: Coolcatteacher.

I've been teaching computers to adult and kids all my life and what I learned through classroom20.ning.com and these fine teachers is just amazing. It's inspired a whole set of lessons for the year.

[Lori Faulkender]

Week 5 Websites---
Lori Faulkender

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/Home.html
Enchanted Learning is a great site for teachers and parents. The three main reasons why I like this site are because:
-- It provides great resources to use in the classroom
-- You can receive many ideas, lessons, and material for a cheap price per year
-- It is very easy to use and divided by grade, holiday, or subject

http://www.starfall.com/
This next website is great for young readers. I used it this past summer with Kindergartners and first graders and they really enjoyed it. Three reasons why:
-- Interactive learning for younger readers
-- Has leveled reading activities
-- Has many lessons, activities, and then also games for them to engage in
-- Great addition to a classroom reading lesson

http://www.preschooleducation.com/
This website is so much fun to look around on. I have found many great songs and finger plays to use in the classroom. Three reasons I like it:
-- Music and songs add a special touch to a lesson
-- It also provides songs about manners, hallway procedures, and subject lessons
-- Very organized, easy to use, and everything is free.


---- I love to find new and fresh ideas to use in the classroom. That is what I am always looking for on a website. Ideas and materials for me to use, but also for students to engage in also.

[samccoy]

One of the best websites for teachers, especially elementary teachers, is lovingly developed and shared by the author Jan Brett.

I was amazed the first time I saw Jan Brett's website. She constantly improves and adds technological tools as time passes. Jan Brett continues to add content, e-cards, contests, and materials to her site every month. You can sign up for a monthly HedgieGram. There are podcasts, called Hedge A Grams, videos and audio books on her site as well.

Every time she writes a new book, there is an opportunity for kids to win a copy for their school or public library. Right now there is a contest called "Lunch on the Bus with Jan Brett". It is an opportunity for you and two of your friends to have lunch with Jan Brett.

She will be in Wichita, at WaterMark Books, in a few weeks, so many of you can have the opportunity to meet her. My daughter and I first met her in 2002, and she was very interested in what my daughter was reading, etc. Other colleagues and I have found that she is very accessible. If you email her, she will answer your email, personally.

I have seen a multitude of good websites, but this website is Jan Brett's mission, her personal effort to help teachers and parents encourage children to love reading. It is the most helpful and useful site for anyone who loves books and technology.

BTW: Each link is different, so you will have lots to access. ENJOY!

[Leigh Grass]

I have the think different website that you mentioned in the Ezedia post. I post daily assignments on my moodle page.

I also created a forum for science teachers on ning: http://technologyintegration4science.ning.com/.

My porta portal site:
guest.portaportal.com/lagrass

If you scroll down through the many sites on my portaportal page....you will find many many great sites that I use in my science classes.

I like the following sites:
Internet public library
AMSER
Windows into Wonderland
PBS Teachers

Leigh

[Denise Siemens]

After looking at class websites, I found myself most attracted to the sites that had a lot of information in them but yet they were arranged so that the viewer could get the information they needed quickly.

I initially was attracted to the following website because of the colorful details, background patterns, etc. that it used. I did feel that extra time it takes to load for some people could be a deterrent to it’s use however. I think this teacher has covered everything necessary for both students and parents (calendar and homework)—which helps keep everyone involved in what’s happening in the classroom. I particularly liked the idea that this teacher included a blogging section:

Mrs. McDavid - Muscogee County School District
http://www.ourclassweb.com/



On this website, I was attracted to the colorful patterns and layout. But really liked the idea that this site included a honors section which showed photos of smiling students along with the some nice descriptive copy of what is happening. I think many times this is where some of the sites fall short is that there are photos included (a good idea!) but there isn’t enough or any copy to give the viewer a feeling as to what’s happening. Thirdly, this site also uses a lot of moving graphics which keeps it from feeling stagnant. But it also doesn’t over use the moving graphics so that they are distraction instead:

Mrs. Reed – Richardson Elementary School
http://www.richardsonelementary.org/reedbkschool.html



This website has the information for both parents and students nicely categorized for easy retrieval. What I thought was unique about this site, however is that there are slide shows so that there aren’t stagnant photos. There’s something about showing an automated slide show that makes the pictures (and therefore, the classroom) come to life for the viewer. Another thing I liked about this site is that it identified both teacher and school. Many of the other sites don’t repeat this information. Also this teacher included handy tips for parents (wow—talk about actually helping parents get involved). She also included a place for homework and word lists that also help parents work with their children:

Mrs. Hayes – Christian Center School
http://www.cceschool.org/hayes/

[Cyndi Danner-Kuhn]

My goodness, we are sure getting some great websites to look through. I think this is going to give everyone in class lots of great ideas for what to include in your own portfolio classroom websites. You website is the capstone project for this class, so it is a biggy!!!

[Mathew Needleman]

Here are some other films with first and second graders: http://www.videointheclassroom.com

[sharon stockton]

http://www.sms.sevier.org/%7Ebriansmith/
This is Brian Smith’s home page. He is a sixth grade Science teacher at Sevierville Middle School. The things that I like about his page are the wonderful, interesting background, the bright bold lettering, and especially the links to other important sights on the internet. The Terra Nova link at the top of his page takes you to a very useful sight that has games and reviews and lessons tied to every standard and every grade.

http://www.powayusd.com/teachers/cweidetz/

This is a combined website that two kindergarten teachers have together. The sight has very catchy background music, bright colors, and big push buttons for the kids to interact. Some of the buttons tell a story when pushed; others help the student email another classmate. There is a link to a newsletter and parent’s guide here along with a monthly calendar. There are also links to other fun, safe sights for the children to visit.

http://mrsstahlheber.com/
Mrs. Stahlheber is a third grade teacher. Her background music is kind of distracting but her page is nicely decorated in a fall theme. It is up to date with today’s date on it. There are class pictures of the kids doing fun things and a scrolling list of all of their names. She has a photo show on there that shows all kinds of pictures with captions on them. This is a great added touch. She has the student’s homework assignment on the page and links in every subject among many other things. Check this one out!