Name of the Resource: First-School Preschool Activities and Crafts
URL Address: http://www.first-school.ws/
Summary: This site has a wealth of resources for crafts, activities, coloring pages, and printables to use within my classroom. It breaks down the different activities into themes to better suit the organized preschool teacher!
Commentary: I have often used this website in my teaching. Although it is not as "kid-friendly" as I would like, it has many different ideas for me to pull from. Sometimes the links on the site seemed to be based more towards the kindergarten and first grade level, but I often adapted things to fit my lesson.
Name of the Resource: Scholastic
URL Address: http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/home.jsp
Summary: This website offers many different teaching resources such as lesson plans and printables as well as children's book recommendations, and student activities all supported by the Scholastic Incorporated Company.
Commentary: Within this website the possiblities are endless! I have used this website so many times in my classroom as well as throughout all of my other placements. I mainly use Scholastic to order books for my classroom.
Name of the Resource: BookFlix
URL Address: http://auth.grolier.com/login/bookflix/login.php
Summary: This site offers books for every theme you may be teaching, both fictional and nonfictional for many different topics. There are games to play following each story. The computer "reads" the book to you if you choose, or else you can read the book to your class.
Commentary: I was very unfamiliar with this website until a colleague mentioned it to me. Then I found myself discussing it with my classmates that had used it before. I absolutely love this program! I had my students go to the reading room and listen to a book a few times. I told the reading specialist what theme we were working on and she found something to fit perfectly! I would recommend this program to EVERY classroom!
Name of the Resource: Starfall
URL Address: http://www.starfall.com/
Summary: This website focuses on phonics for students at the Preschool through Second grade level. There are reading activities, games, projects, and many other educational based exercies for them to do all within the compound of the computer programs given to them. Starfall is said to be an alternative to other entertainment choices for children.
Commentary: Although I have not used Starfall in my classroom, I have seen many other students use it, especially at the kindergarten level. It is a very "safe" website where teachers can trust what the students are viewing. It is a very kid-friendly site and encourages students to try new things! I have a student who will be coming to me next year already knowing how to read, I assume I will be using Starfall very often with her!
Name of the Resource: PBS Kids
URL Address: http://pbskids.org/
Summary: The PBS Kids site is designed mainly for younger children. The site includes games, videos, printables, and many other educational resources. It is also a site that may be used outside of the classroom, in an at home setting.
Commentary: We have always been told to "engage" our students! I don't think there is a better way to engage them at the early childhood level than through Elmo, Clifford, and Arthur! I have often used this site with my little cousins and niece. I would be hard pressed to find another site on the internet that would engage students at the younger level that they would be able to navigate on their own as they would on this site!
Name of the Resource: DLTK's Sites Growing Together
URL Address: http://www.dltk-kids.com/
Summary: This site features many different crafts for kids in a variety of fun ways! The site includes printable crafts, coloring pages, and many other projects for holidays, educational themes, and cartoon characters!
Commentary: This is certainly one of the sites that I have used the most throughout my first year of teaching. In order to engage my students with what we are learning, we make crafts! They all love hands-on projects that they are able to take home. The DLTK site is very easy to navigate through and is very organized for the teacher who always loves organization!
Name of the Resource: The Perpetual Preschool
URL Address: http://perpetualpreschool.com/
Summary: This site gives many different resources to use in the preschool classroom. Songs, crafts, science ideas, snacks, and games are among the different categories a theme is divided into. Everything is divided alphabetically or by month depending on if you want the daily themes or holiday themes.
Commentary: This was certainly the one resource that I used every day during my first year of teaching! If I was lacking in ideas for anything, I often found it on this website. Everything was very easy to find, yet there will always be one thing I do not like about this website! There are no pictures! I am a very visual person, so when it gives craft ideas I need to see what it looks like, and on this page I can't! Besides that, the ideas are great...I just wish I could see a picture of the completed project!
Name of the Resource: Pre-K Pages
URL Address: http://www.pre-kpages.com/
Summary: The website is designed as a resource for parents and educators of young children. The site is divided up into fifteen different sections such as, assessment, centers, classroom management, literacy, math, miscellaneous, music, our classroom, parent communication, photos, printables, teaching tips, technology, themes, and workshops. What else could you need?!
Commentary: Since the social bookmarking project I have actually referred to this site more and more! I didn't really know why I had it saved on my computer initially, but now I know why! It breaks down practically every topic you would need to know about as a preschool teacher. It gives wonderful pictures, helpful ideas, and ideal printables to use! I'm so excited to have this site for next year in hopes of making my classroom even more enjoyable for my students!
Name of the Resource: Artists Helping Children
URL Address: http://www.artistshelpingchildren.org/
Summary: This site includes thousands of different ideas for crafts to do with your students or children. The site is divided up into categories such as holidays, seasons, alphabet, animals, etc.
Commentary: Although this site is somewhat difficult to navigate around, I have often found it to be very beneficial. These are often craft ideas that I have found on other sites, such as the DLTK site that I mentioned before, but if you can navigate your way through and search for a while I often found activity ideas that my students would love. This is certainly one of the largest banks of craft ideas that I have found on the internet.
Name of the Resource: Lakeshore Learning - Products Designed with Learning in Mind
URL Address: http://www.lakeshorelearning.com/home/home.jsp
Summary: Lakeshore Learning is mainly a school supply and teacher store. The products they sell are found in many of the elementary school districts throughout our area. Their website also has many teacher resources such as printables, projects, and games!
Commentary: I first used Lakeshore Learning materials in my student teaching placement at Lake Street Elementary School in the Chittenango Central School District. Since then I have loved their products, and their website as well! Their site has usually supplied me with the clipart I use throughout the year, as well as my calendar templates. It is a very easy page to navigate through and I use it constantly!
