Teacher Websites

Kindergarten Websites
by Janet Kelly - Wednesday, July 14, 2010, 11:29 PM

My favorite website for kindergarten teachers is: http://www.kinderkorner.com/themes_and_units.html. This site was developed Victoria Smith. She is a highly qualified kindergarten teacher in California. I really love her site because it is easy to use,has a list of big and little books to use with different themes, monthly themes, and a monthly quilt to make with your students. She also has songs and poems to go with all of her themes. My favorite part of her site is her list of resources for teachers. However, I was disappointed to find out that some of these links are no longer active.
The following two sites were listed on KinderKorner: http://www.connollyskinderkids.com/index.html. I liked that Ms. Connolly stated her philosophy on kindergarten in her website. This is something that I would like to do if I had a class website. I think it is important for parents to know what their child's teachers believe in. I like that she lists her expectations for her students. This is a great way to let your parents know what is expected from their child. They can always refer back to this page if they have any questions. She also has photos of all her classroom centers and an explaination of each site. I think this is really cool. I think the best thing on her site is her articles and hints for parents. I would definitely do this if I had a website.
http://polsellikindergarten.tripod.com/. I like that this teacher lists all the kindergarten curriculum standards. I like this idea. In my old school, we had the standards printed into little books and sent them home with the students. I just not sure how many of my parents read them or even got them. She also lists what school adopted programs they are using for each subject. One thing I would change on this site is adding a link to the top at the bottom of each page so you don't have to keep scrolling to the top to change pages. This is not my favorite website, but it is okay.


Re: Elementary Teacher Websites
by Janet Kelly - Wednesday, July 14, 2010, 11:51 PM

Boy, Mr. Blaydon must be a really fun teacher. At least he seems to have a good sense of humor. I agree that this is not a very pleasing site to look at, but it is definitely easy to use. I like that he has a page on the PTO on his site. I don't know if enough parents really know what this organization is about.
I am really impressed with the third grade site that you list. I like that they put their weekly newsletter and their class schedule on their website. I would like to do that on my website. This site was very user friendly.


Re: Kindergarten Websites
by Janet Kelly - Thursday, July 15, 2010, 12:17 AM

When I first looked at KinderTeacher, I was a little confused. I thought it was just advertising her educational materials that she was selling. When I played with the site a little more, I realized this was not the case. It is an okay site, but I think she does too much advertising on it. Mrs. Hebric has a cute site with lots of useful information on it. However, I was also put-off by her advertising. I really like the kinderthemes website. Especially her page on arts and crafts cooking.


Re: Educator Pages- Soc. Stud. & PE
by Janet Kelly - Thursday, July 15, 2010, 08:18 PM

In general I think that these are nice sites. However, I agree with you that a football video should not be the first thing you see on an educational website. I understand that he coaches football, but he still should be stressing education first. I definitely think that the red and yellow background is a little much. I am also concerned about the BMI link. I think too many children take it as a do or die measurement of their health. I think that is very dangerous.


Re: Kindergarten Websites
by Michelle Doring - Friday, July 16, 2010, 08:32 AM

I like the way Ms. Connoly (in the "Growing Pains" section, and probably others) provided honest information to parents about budget issues, decisions, problems, and proposed solutions. Her other resources are also amazing! I think the front page was very busy, and as a parent or a teacher it was hard to know where to click. Another thing that would bother me as a parent is that she included a few paragraphs about the classes this year. For 2009-2010 here is what she said, "We had several who were quite challenging in their behavior and others who were our "time consumers" - those who need a lot of reminders or extra help always." Those parents know whose kids are the challenging ones! I would be offended that she shared that information with the whole world.