LearningTip #48: Web Page Creation Supports Student Reading, Writing, and Learning in a Variety of Ways
By
Joyce Melton Pagés, Ed.D.
Mother of two children, President of KidBibs
Teachers, parents, and library media specialists are always looking for innovative ways to motivate and support student learning. Publishing on class/school web pages provides an inviting and meaningful way to promote student learning, provide relevance, and inspire creativity. Further, class/school web pages can inform parents of expectations, routines, rules, and events that can keep them more involved in the education of their children. Finally, Eagleton's (1999) research with 12- and 13-year-olds suggests that when students construct web pages, they are utilizing print-based literacies, engaging in oral literacy, applying problem-solving and critical thinking skills, and employing the multimedia-based language processes of interpreting and composing. It is clear that web pages can support children's language and literacy in a wide variety of ways.
Library Media Center Web Pages
Home School Web Pages of Families and Groups
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KidBibs' LearningTips For the convenience of our readers, KidBibs offers the following related resources through Amazon.com: Creating Web Pages for Kids and Parents (Dummies Guide to Family Computing) by Greg Holden Kid's Web Kit by Lisa Lopuck 300 Incredible Things for Kids on the Internet by Ken Leebow The Internet Kids and Family Yellow Pages by Jean Armour Polly |
Educators have long known of the powerful effects of parent involvement on the education of children. Many schools are now enlisting the power the school web page to strengthen school-home communication, keep parents informed of school events and involve parents in the education of their children. These pages often include:
information about the school and community
school calendar
school rules/student handbook
announcements
a list of administrators and faculty
a link to the school district web site
links to class web pages
projects the school is participating in
recommended web sites for parents
recommended web sites for students
school achievements and awards
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School web pages vary in size, appearance and content. Every school web page reflects the community, school, and school district that it represents. A few outstanding school web pages are:
The web page for Marshall Elementary School, a K-2 school in Lewisburg, Tennessee includes class pages, Internet projects, Teachers' Corner, Kids' Corner, and Parents' Place.
The web page for Geebung State School, a preschool to year 7 school in Queensland, Australia includes pages of children's art and writing at every grade level.
The web page for McGehee Elementary, a K-6 school in McGehee, Arkansas posts announcements, a "Word of the Week," good citizens, and top readers. It includes a Library Corner, the Student Handbook, a Student Art Gallery, a School Scrapbook, and much more.
The web page for the Lafayette Primary Center in Lafayette, Illinois includes the Mission Statement, a monthly newsletter and favorite sites for students and teachers. In addition, it includes an explanation of the 4-Blocks Literacy Approach which is implemented widely in the school
Meadowlark Elementary School in Edmonton, Alberta Canada has a strong academic emphasis throughout its regular K-6 program and its Chinese Bilingual Program. The web site includes information about the school, a newsletter, and the school calendar. Further, the school's renovation is documented. In addition, the web site includes student writing paying tribute to the school secretary. Finally, samples of student work and information on the school's Points of View Project are included.
University School of Nashville (Tennessee) web site includes information about the philosophy and history. In addition, summer reading lists and information on student services are included. Lower School and Middle School projects and activities are included as well.
The web page for Loogootee Elementary West, a K-3 school in Loogootee, Indiana includes the school's curriculum, faculty, links, student work, internet projects, professional publications of faculty, and much more. A great deal of excellent information exists on this web site for teachers planning to use the internet to support learning, implement key pals, or create a class web page.
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Library Media Center Web Pages
Library web pages exist on many levels in our society---school, community, state, and national. Since the library media center is at the heart of all learning, thinking, and information in educational institutions, these web pages typically include:
information about the library, resources, and procedures
special library and reading-related activities
links to internet resources
tools or strategies for locating information
bibliographies
features about favorite books, authors, or references
links to other libraries
These are some excellent examples of web pages for some school library media centers and instructional media centers:
The Barley Sheaf School Library Media Center web site of Flemington, New Jersey has features for kids, teachers, and parents. In addition to a tour of the library, this wonderful web site provides directions for connecting to the library from other locations. Further, it includes tips on reading aloud to children, character education book lists, internet safety information, web design for educators, and the Five Finger Test. Web sites for parents, children, and teachers are also included. Bernardine Bolitsky is the Library Media Specialist.The web page of the Edna M. Fielder Elementary School Library Media Center in Katy, Texas includes a program overview, parent guide, special activities, and links to many types of resources on the internet. Barbara Jinkins is the Library Media Specialist in this school.
The MOREnet (Missouri Research and Education Network) provides internet connection, references, training, and technical support for schools, colleges, and libraries in the state of Missouri. The Internet Resources for Missouri's K-12 Educators Page provides lists of topically organized internet resources which are updated on a weekly basis throughout the school year.
The School Libraries on the Web site includes links to school libraries in over 25 countries.
Elementary teachers are discovering many ways to use class web sites to support their students' learning. Class web sites can:
inform parents of class routines, special events, etc.
inform parents of the teacher's philosophy of learning and teaching
explain how the teacher organizes and implements instruction
list units to be taught throughout the school year
provide children with opportunities to publish their writing
provide opportunities to collaborate between grades, schools, states and countries
host internet projects
provide children with opportunities to publish a web page
include links to web sites that the teacher recommends for parents and children
provide a record of class projects, special events, etc.
provide links to the school and school district
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The following class web pages represent different grades, schools, and communities. Each page provides information about the teacher, students, and student projects. Some of these classrooms also engage in collaborative online projects. Looking at a wide variety of class web sites can help teachers plan their own class web sites. Here are some outstanding elementary web pages:
Addie Gaines, kindergarten teacher at Seneca Elementary School in Seneca, Missouri, maintains the Gaines Gang web page for her students. Her web page includes a class schedule, an introductory letter to parents, collaborative projects (Spider Project and Mouse Project) with other kindergarten classes, a list of units taught each month, and student projects. She has also created Inside Kindergarten; here she shares her teaching ideas and resources with other teachers.
Amy Griffin, kindergarten teacher at Crewe Primary in Crewe, Virginia publishes Mrs. Griffin's Kindergarten Page. This page includes a weekly newsletter, her discipline plan, information on how children develop as writers, classroom routines, assessment information, themes, projects, activities, strategies, and much more. Her class collaborated with Mrs. Gaines' class (above) on the Spider Project. Several other internet projects are also included on this web site.
Jack Fontanella's Kindergarten Page at Harborview Elementary School in Juneau, Alaska includes a class picture, "Everything You Need to Know about Kindergarten," a weekly newsletter, a Parent's Page, a photo album, and favorite links. Student work is displayed in their Online Alphabet Book and block projects. This web site also includes links to other kindergarten class home pages!
Carol Lambright features her kindergarten class from Hallie Randall Elementary School in Fruitvale, Texas on her Toadally Awesome Class page. This web site includes their School Yard Leaves collaborative project, 100th Day Celebration, May Flowers Project, and much more. For the students who want to do something at home, daily activities are posted.
Lexi Daly and Camille Sullivan, first grade teachers at Trinity Episcopal School in New Orleans, Louisiana share a First Grade Fun page. Their page includes weekly newsletters, units, student work, and projects.
"Come on into Mrs. Hall's first grade class where we always have a 'doggone' good time!" Sharon Hall teaches at South Lebanon Elementary School in South Lebanon, Ohio. This web page includes their daily schedule, monthly pages, and favorite links. Further, collaborative projects such as A Principal Adventure implemented with the classes of Mrs. Tonnessen and Mrs. Valenti (below) are included. This is also the host site for this fall's Alphabet Across America Internet Project.
The "Busy Bees" in Melissa Tonnessen's first grade class at Dickerson School in Chester, New Jersey say "Hi!" from the hive! This web site includes the curriculum, information about first grade, the daily schedule, upcoming events, a letter to parents, a letter to students, class celebrations, web projects, and much more. This class participated in a Distant Friends project with Carolyn Valenti's Pine Brook, New Jersey class (below). Mrs. Tonnessen has also included online units and literature themes on this web site.
Mrs. Valenti's First Grade Class from Woodmont Elementary School in Pine Brook, New Jersey includes daily routines, policies and procedures, student work, a virtual tour of their classroom, parent resources, and much more. The class participated in collaborative web projects such as Distant Friends with Melissa Tonnessen's class (above).
Mrs. Flanagan's First Grade page from Barrett Elementary Center in Cresco, Pennsylvania includes their daily schedule, spelling words, vocabulary words, special activities, and favorite links for students and teachers.
Susan Silverman's Second Grade Class web site from Clinton Avenue Elementary School in Long Island, New York displays pictures, information, and the work her classes have done for the last three years. Further, it is the host site for a number of wonderful internet projects including Owl Prowl, Frosty Readers, Pumpkin Patch, Stellaluna's Friends, Winter Wonderland, and An Apple a Day. This web site will host the Online Autumn collaborative web project this fall.
Roberta Gray's second grade class at Spencer Elementary School in Geneva, Ohio participated in a number of internet projects including the A-Peeling Apples Evaporation Project, the Dr. Seuss Online Project, Project Groundhog, 100 Postcard Exchange and 100 E-mail Project, and Welcome to My World. The results of their experiments and collaborative projects are included on this web site. Her internet projects for the 1999-2000 school year are posted.
Mrs. Jones, Mrs. Bolay, Mrs. Young, Mrs. Gottschalk and Mrs. Wornom, second grade teachers at Perry Elementary School in Perry, Oklahoma share a web page. This Calvin and Hobbes-themed page includes unit content, photographs, internet projects, and favorite links for kids, parents and teachers.
Angelita Ethelbah's Second Grade web page from Whiteriver Elementary School in Whiteriver, Arizona includes student autobiographies with pictures, links to favorite kids' web sites, and links to her favorite teaching web sites.
A collaborative project between Peter Reynolds, author of The North Star, and Sue Pandiani, third grade teacher at Ella F. Hoxie School in Bourne, Massachusetts provides the theme for the North Star Navigators' class page. Ms. Pandiani's current students and former students have contributed to this theme through the Beacon Literary Magazine, Lantern News, star maps, class activities, and projects, and much more. They invite others to write poems and stories about Peter Reynolds art and submit them to the Story STARters Project.
Harriet Stolzenberg's students at Herman Schreiber School P.S. 279 in Brooklyn, New York use writing, art, and photos to tell us about third grade. This site spotlights their involvement in web projects such as The Friendship Club, Outside My Window, the Newsletter Email Project, and the Encyclopedia of Animals Project. They were also involved in Poetry Pals Partners, the Read In, and the Monster Project. In addition, they documented their field trip, shared their dreams for peace, and paid tribute to Shel Silverstein. Finally, they participated in Project KAVE's (Kids Against Violence Everywhere) Random Act of Kindness Project which honors children "for going the extra distance by being kind to one another." Mrs. Stolzenberg invites other classes to participate in this Random Act of Kindness Project which continues through June, 2000.
Mrs. Bogucki's Third Grade Class from Anne E. Moncure Elementary School in Stafford, Virginia has many different kinds of information on their web site. It includes their class motto, Mrs. Boguchi's teaching philosophy, instructional activities, links, homework help, student stories, their online newspaper, and much more.
The web site of Mrs. Simeon's Third Grade Class at St. Michael's Elementary School in Canton, Ohio includes a calendar of school and classroom activities, information on the class pets, favorite books, and favorite web sites.
Robert Owens' Room 14-A fourth grade web site from Marie D. Durand Elementary School in Vineland, New Jersey includes descriptions of how the subjects are taught and numerous projects that the students participated in.
Heidi Buchwald's Fifth Grade Class web site from Lake Youngs Elementary School in Kent, Washington includes the curriculum, descriptions of projects, research tools for students, parenting links, and student projects.
Wanda Day's 5th and 6th grade academically gifted and talented CLUE students from Grahamwood Elementary School in Memphis, Tennessee participate in projects, explore Cyberspace, and maintain Poetry Post. Students are invited to create and submit poems to the Poetry Post that describe "their little corner of the world." In addition, Tracking Creativity, their 1998 ThinkQuest entry, earned first place in the Arts and Literature category.
Susan Seagraves has created a web site for her QUEST students at Dannelly School in Montgomery, Alabama. It includes online activities, pictures of field trips, links for kids, links for teachers, and much more. In addition, the technology projects page provides a place for Mrs. Seagraves' students to link their web pages to the class web site. Further, the class has devoted a section to marketing Quest Graphics, their computer printing and design business. Finally, in the "How Did We Do That?" section Mrs. Seagraves explains how they built the web site. They include numerous links to online resources for building web sites.
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Home School Web Pages of Families and Groups
Homeschooling families often form community-based groups to share ideas and materials, provide experiences and support learning. Sometimes these groups publish web pages to:
support communication within the group
inform others in the community of their activities
share activities and resources
publish children's writing and projects
include links to useful web sites
include links to homeschooling organizations
The following family and community homeschooling web pages provide examples of how they can support homeschoolers' learning:
The Homeschool Melting Pot of Altoona, Pennsylvania
The Teel Family Web Site of Chugiak, Alaska
Home Pages of the Home Schoolers-Families on Jon's Homeschool Resource Page
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Creating their own web page can be very motivating for children. This activity:
provides a forum for them to spotlight an interest, hobby, or area of expertise
inspires them to read, write, and research content for their web site
provides the child with an opportunity to engage in meaningful, purposeful writing for an audience
involves the child in the creative use of technology
provides the child with an opportunity to plan, organize, and complete a project that s/he can be very proud of
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Kids' Town is an online magazine for homeschoolers by homeschoolers. It is published by the Highgate Homeschool of Hamilton, Ontario Canada. Anna Kulczyk is the10-year-old publisher and editor-in-chief of this online magazine which is published four times a year. She invites children (especially homeschooled children) to submit stories, poems, informational articles, jokes, recipes, and art for publication in this magazine.
Sister Maureen Fallon's chemistry students at Notre Dame High School for Girls in Chicago, Illinois produced How to Create Web Pages (for Adobe PageMill) to use with the fifth and sixth grade students of Queen of All Saints School in Chicago. They did one-on-one tutoring with the younger students, importing backgrounds, images and links. The high school students searched for images appropriate for each younger student's topic during the week and took them to the younger students on a floppy as a gift. They also showed some of the younger students how to create their own images. The younger students created web pages which have not been uploaded to the internet yet. In addition, the school paid the high school students to do one-on-one tutoring with faculty interested in creating their own web pages. The first web project of Sister Maureen's students was the Periodic Table of Elements; this involved researching and writing about the elements and scientists. She created the home page and her students created the other 175 pages!
Individual children who publish web pages on the internet often focus on their interests and hobbies. On these pages, children often include links to their favorite web sites, pictures of pets, artwork, stories, and poems. Some children publish web pages about themselves. Others publish web pages about content that they've learned. The following web sites host or include links to the individual web pages of children:
Home Pages of the Home Schoolers-Students on Jon's Homeschool Resource Page
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The thought of setting up a web site can be overwhelming. Where do you begin? How do you put it together? How do you even find the space in Cyberspace? Etc. Fortunately, there are many excellent resources on the internet. But, before you begin, examine your school district's policy on creating web pages. If your school district does not yet have a policy, consider the following example for guidelines: The Policy Statement for the Publishing of Documents on the Internet/World Wide Web by the Montgomery County Public Schools, Montgomery County, Virginia. Suggest that your school district write a policy which reflects community expectations in relation to the internet publication of school district information, student work, etc.
Tammy Payton, first grade teacher and web editor for the Loogootee (Indiana) Elementary West School web site, has published some excellent resources for teachers planning to create web pages. Some of her features include: Surfing Safely on the Internet, Tips for Developing School Web Pages, and Empowering Student Learning with Web Publishing. In addition, she has written a FrontPage Tutorial for those who are planning to use Microsoft FrontPage software to create their web page.
Donna McMullin, Media Specialist at Copper Hill School in Ringoes, New Jersey, has created Web Site Planning. This is an extremely comprehensive resource for teachers just starting to design web pages. It includes valuable information on using the internet in the classroom, designing web pages, and legal aspects of web page development. She has also created Introduction to Microsoft FrontPage 1.0 for Educators that Macintosh users will find extremely useful.
Susan Seagraves provides a "How Did We Do That?" section on her class web site at Dannelly School in Montgomery, Alabama. She identifies floating images, messages that pop up, special cursors, etc. that she used on the web site. She includes numerous web sites where she created the images for their web site.
Other web resources which could assist a teacher in creating a web page include:
Tammy's Technology Tips for Teachers
StudyWeb Professional Development Page on Web Page Design
Wigglebits: Building a School Web Site
There are also many resources available to teach children about creating web pages.
Lissa's HTML Help for Kids was written by a 12-year-old girl to help other children learn how to put together a web page.
How to Create Web Pages (for Adobe PageMill) by Sister Maureen Fallon's students at Notre Dame High School for Girls, Chicago
Webmonkey for Kids provides lessons, projects, web-play opportunities, and tools to help children create their own web page.
Web sites such as Geocities, FreeHomePage, Angelfire, FortuneCity, Tripod, SchoolNotes, MySchoolOnline, Crosswinds, and Gradeworks provide free space for web pages. Utilization procedures for these companies vary.
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Books will always be the essential tool for supporting the language and literacy development of young readers and writers. But web site creation provides teachers, parents, library media specialists, and children with many valuable ways to support the reading, writing, and learning of children. Enhanced communication between teacher and parent through the web site supports learning. In fact, web site projects and children's web sites can stimulate thinking, spark creativity, strengthen reading and writing, and promote inquiry across the curriculum and around the world!
References
Eagleton, Maya B. "The Benefits and Challenges of a Student-Designed School Website." (Online) Available http://www.readingonline.org/articles/eagleton/index.html (August 1999).
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