Software Review

Title: Kidport

Grade: 3rd

Subject Area: Math

Platform: Both mac and pc it looks like

Purpose:  The purpose of this site seems to be to give kids a place to go to practice their math skills, telling them if their answers are correct or incorrect, as well as giving them some lessons to work on.  It is awesome!

This website is cool.  It is actually set up in a way that parents or teachers can use the website for any content are for grades K-8.  On the site it has information about how they try to use the most popular learning styles, a think-and-learn-module, a work book module, and project modules.  

I believe that for 3 grade and up it could be used independently one they children have been taught were to go or the page was bookmarked and the expectations of the students were set out clearly as well as the actions that will be taken if the students don't use the site appropriately.

The website does not require personal information nor does it need you to register.  However, there are adds, although not distracting, that the kids could click on.  That could cause a problem, but like I said, I think that this is a problem that could be limited.

The website is not a download and can be used on any computer and does not need special equipment.  

I enjoyed looking at this website and am excited to try it with my kindergartner as well as my preschool children.  

Title: Starfall

Grade: K

Subject area: Reading

Purpose:  The purpose of this site is to teach children how to read.  There are four levels to choose from:  Lets get ready to read, Learn to read, It is fun to read, and I am reading.

I saw this site to be very appropriate for kindergarten.  It can be used independently once the children get the hang of maneuvering to where they need to go or once the teacher takes them to where they are going.  

This website does not require registration nor does it need any personal info. You can use it on your own computer and doesn't have any distracting adds.  

This website was so cool.  I played it for a while and even had my daughter check it out.  We both got excited because it teaches the calendar, alphabet, and how to make words out of "an", such as C "an", F "an", M "an", etc.  Tis an extremely good resource for the classroom.

Title: FOSSweb

Grade:K

Area: Science

Purpose:  The purpose of this website is to get kids connected with different facts of science and the ways things around them work or why they happen.  It talks about weather, animals, balance, insects, plants, etc.

This website seems to be appropriate although I am not sure that it could be used independently.  You could use it on a projector and use it for the entire class at once or you could have an aid work with the kids on the computers.  

This website does not require registration or personal information.  It doesn't have distracting adds and can be used on any computer.  

This website has interesting games and fun visuals for the kids to learn about science.  It is very good for the kindergarten classroom as for any other grade level it says it supports.  

One-to-One Video..Interesting

I watched the one-to-one video.  The idea of giving each student their own laptop is awesome.  For one, they don't have to print off their assignment several times before they get it right.  It cannot really get lost because when they give it to the teacher it automatically goes into assignments.  It makes the grading easier for the teacher and minimizes the paper the teacher has to go through.  

The video didn't really show any training for the teacher to use the one-to-one method in the classroom.  Maybe this is because it hasn't been perfected so "each teacher to their own." 

When I become a teacher I will definitely want a laptop for each student.  However, I would still ask that they do some things long hand to keep them up to par on their handwriting.

Who am I, really??

Hi!

My name is Jessica R. McCormick.  I grew up in Whale Pass, Alaska until I was 14 years old and then moved to the other end of Prince of Wales island to a town named Thorne Bay.  My husband, I, and our two girls (2 and 5 years old), moved to Mill City, Oregon in September of 07.  Alaska is our home still, however!!!

I am going to school to be an elementary educator, preferably 3rd and 4th grade.  This is my 3rd year of college and I hope to be done by the time my two year old is in kindergarten.

We also have two foster boys for now.  They are one and three.  We just got them about 2 and half weeks ago so I am in training still.  I have never raised boys before so this is all new to me.  Any suggestion you can feel free to share them.

I truly enjoy reading Nick Sparks and Kim Vogel Sawyer novels.  I like to drink tea, sit on my porch swing and read until my grow tired, or my kids need me so bad they are about to tear my legs off.  

I don't watch the news, read the news paper, and don't care to talk about politics.  I live in a fantasy land where there is peace and happiness blooming on every tree.  I cannot stand suffering of any sort for anybody.  It keeps me up at night and sticks to my thoughts during the day so I stay as far away from it as possible.  Some say I am ignorant and I call it extreme sensitivity.  :)  

I am very open with my life experiences and event hough I don't have time to share them you can ask me anything you would like.