Materials and Preparation

• Copy the Rate My Site Student Handout, one for each student.

• Preview the websites listed in Teach 1 and prepare to show one of them to the class.

Essential Question

What makes a website the right site for me?

Lesson Overview

Students explore and evaluate an informational website for children. They discover that people’s opinions about the quality and usefulness of a site will vary. As a class, students view a website and identify features that they like and those they do not like. Using the Rate My Site Student Handout, they then explore and rate another site on their own. Students compare responses and discuss their similarities and differences.

Learning Objectives

Students will be able to ...

• identify and explore different features of an informational website.

• understand that not everyone will rate a website the same way.

• evaluate whether they like or dislike features of a site.

Key Vocabulary

subject: the topic that something (a website) is about

link (noun): something you can click on to go to another part of the site

rate: to judge how good or valuable something is

Warm-up (5 minutes)

INVITE

Ask students to think about something they have all seen – for example, the color of the walls in

your classroom.

ASK

Do you like the color of the walls?

POINT OUT

Point out to students that different people can have different ideas about what colors, books, videos, and

places they like. They can also have different ideas about what they like when it comes to books, movies, or even

websites.

Explore Likes and Dislikes of a Website (15 minutes)

CHOOSE

Select one of the following sites to explore as a class. Have students go to the site, or project the site onto a screen for students to view together.

Census in Schools: www.census.gov/schools/census_for_kids

Clifford the Big Red Dog: www.pbskids.org/clifford

Color with Leo: www.colorwithleo.com

Curious George: www.pbskids.org/curiousgeorge

Molecularium: www.molecularium.com/kidsite.html

Starfall: www.starfall.com

Seussville: www.seussville.com

U.S. Mint for Kids: www.usmint.gov/kids

DEFINE

Vocabulary term subject.

ASK

Ask students to describe the subject of the website they are looking at.

INVITE

Have volunteers to name things they like or do not like about the site. Be sure that students visit many links on the site, not just the games sections. You may use the following questions to encourage student responses.

ASK

• Do you like the subject of the site?

• Do you like the way the site looks? What about the colors and the pictures?

• Do you understand the site? How does your answer make you feel about the site?

ENCOURAGE

Allow students to observe that not everyone likes the same things about the website.

DEFINE

Vocabulary term link, and click on some links on the website.

EXPLAIN

Explain to students that once in a while the links on a website don’t work. Ask students how this might make them feel about the site. Would it change how much they like it? Links can also take them to another website. Would this change how they feel about the site?

Rate a Website (20 minutes)

ARRANGE

Put students in pairs. If your classroom has a limited number of computers, students may work in larger groups.

ASSIGN

Assign each pair or group one of the websites listed in Teach 1.

DISTRIBUTE

Handout copies of the Rate My Site Student Handout, one for every student.

DEFINE

Vocabulary term rate.

TELL

Tell students they will be using the handout to rate another website by recording what they like and what they do not like about the site.

EXPLAIN

Explain that for each question on their handouts, students should color the happy face if their answer is “yes” and color the sad face if their answer is “no.”

INVITE

Invite students to explore their sites and complete their handouts. While pairs or groups can explore websites together, each student should fill in his or her own handout, expressing his or her own personal likes and dislikes.

ASK

Do you like the subject?

Do you like the pictures?

Are there fun things to do?

Do the links work?

Will you visit again?

INSTRUCT

Instruct students to add up the number of happy and sad faces they gave their site. Have group members compare their totals.

DISCUSS

Discuss with the class why different people may have come up with different totals. Students should understand that different people are interested in different subjects, and they might like different kinds of pictures and different activities. They should also recognize that most people like to be able to read the words and use all of the links on a website.

Wrap-up (5 minutes)

You can use these questions to assess your students’ understanding of the lesson objectives.

ASK

How can you tell whether a website is a good site for you?

What are some things that make a site good for you?

Will everyone answer the questions the same way? Why or why not?