1. Specialization Purpose: The purpose of our group was to look at classroom web pages and research factors, which made these pages effective. Our goal is to gather information concerning what is necessary to create an effective web page. We have looked at how to evaluate web pages and what information is necessary to include in the web page. Our research will provide methods of evaluating a web page and information to consider when creating a web page.
2. Group’s tasks

(1). Task 1:

1. Purpose: The purpose of task #1 was to find good examples of web pages created by teachers that integrate literacy and technology. Once the group members identified the web pages a survey was sent to the teachers who created the web pages to collect data.
2. Method: Surf the web, find good examples, mail surveys and collect data.
3. Our finding: We sent email to teachers who has their own classroom web pages in order to get some data and to understand how they integrate their classroom literacy with technology. One thing that we had difficulty in gathering data was that the teachers to whom we sent emails did not always reply back to our survey. We got answers below 50 percent of emails we had originally sent. The result demonstrates that most of the students participate in their classroom web pages except kindergartners even though their parents take part in the classroom web pages just for monitoring or newsletter. Teachers expressed their enthusiasm toward their web pages mentioning the pleasure of getting feedback from all around the world and replying that their sites really help children's literacy activities and skills. And teachers update their web pages regularly and the update time depends on the quality and quantity.
4. All data for task 1: See appendix 1 and appendix 2.

(2). Task 2:

a. Purpose: The purpose of task #2 was to pick out the best examples of web pages that teachers had created for their classes that integrated literacy and technology. These web pages were then discussed within the group.

b. Method: Choose five examples and discuss

c. Our finding: While looking up web pages we began to notice items which were distracting and other items which we felt were beneficial. Each member of our group chose one site, which was discussed as a group. This task took a great deal of time but was important because it allowed each member of our group to see what types of web pages were on the web.

d. All data for task 2: See appendix 3

(3). Task 3:

a. Purpose: The purpose of task #3 was to evaluate the web pages we would be presenting to the class. The evaluations were made using the Valmont textbook Chapter 8.

b. Method: Make rubrics for evaluation and evaluate.

c. Our finding: After looking at the classroom pages with guidelines, we knew that we need visual and verbal elements for creating attractive and informative web pages. As we have searched sites some things seem pertinent to the effectiveness of the site including how often is it updated, is the site easy to navigate, is it too busy, font size and links. Some sites have also contained examples of student' works, homework assignments and school information from lunch menus to discipline policies. Publishing classroom web pages can be an effective strategy for teachers to use in teaching and communication with others.

d. All data for task 3: See appendix 4.

3. Conclusion: We stepped three stages for our project. We sent emails to the teachers who have operated their own classroom web pages, selected classroom web page and evaluated them. Teachers reported that the web page support students' literacy learning. We found insufficient part, however, by applying evaluation format to the classroom web pages. We hope this tasks help you not only to choose classroom web pages but also to plan your own classroom web page.

Appendix 1: All data for Task 1

Lists of questions

1. When did you create this site?
2. Do all of your children have access to this site?
3. Why did you create this site?
4. How has this site changed your classroom?
5. Are parents involved in your site?
6. Do you receive feedback from parents or students?
7. How often do you update your site and how long does it take?
8. Do you think you use your website for literacy?

List of email back:

1.   Fahrenheit 451
2.  Mrs. Fiorini-2nd grade
3.  Miss Garress-Kindergarten
4.  Abraham Lincoln web site-6th grade
5.  Mrs. Serafini-2nd grade
6.  E-MINTS-3rd grade
7.  Mrs. Smith- 3^rd grade      
8.  Ms. Fullmor
9.  Ms. Tunkel-Kindergarten
10. Ms. Polmeyer-Kindergarten
11. Ms. Levin-pre-kindergarten
12. Ms. Taylor-Kindergarten

Our finding for email survey

	Open date	Students participating	Reason of creating	Classroom change	Parent involvement	Receiving feedback	Update frequency	Helping literacy
1	95-96	All	Love for F451	Students love	No	Yes	Long ago	Yes Better discussion Motivate reading
2	03	most of them	Keep parents informed	Use site as an informing place	Monitoring	Yes	1/month takes 1 hour	Yes Help reading
3	02	Parents only	For personal portfolio	Keep families informed	No	Not in any way critical of it	1/1,2weeks takes few hours	Yes Offering free printable materials
4	97	All	To integrate tech with social studies	Change our school	No	Yes	1/year	Yes Help reading
5	00	All	Keep parents informed Providing an interactive place	X	no	Yes	Homework-1/week	No proof
6	01	All	Requirement for an eMINTS teacher	More place to go, information to get	X	Yes	Homework-1/day Others-1/month	Yes Practice skills
7	95	All	Show parents children’s work	No	Monitoring	Question complimentary	1/day takes 1hour	X
8	00-01	All	Director’s demand	No	No	No	2-4/year takes 3,4hours	X
9	98-99	All	Job searching Parents informed	No	No	Yes	Summers only	X
10	02	All	Show students & parents children’s work	Become a major part of classroom	Looking at children Reading the newsletter	Yes	2,3/week takes 15min-2hours	X
11	01-02	No	Help parents & teachers	Exchange ideas from the world-influence teaching	Yes but not with technical	Yes	As much as possible Takes 2-6hours/week	X
12	02	all	Connect with families Celebrate our learning	Getting ideas from the world-sharing thoughts	Just surfing	Yes	Every other week Takes half hour-all day	X

Appendix2: Lists of surfing classroom web pages

Lists of surfing WebPages
#	Web page	Analysis	E-mailed page	E-mailed back page	Eval-uation page
1.	Cliff Bishop's Pre-Algebra Homepage	This page provided assignment updates, honors, and the ability to look up your grade!!
2.	Ms. Waistell's First Web Page	This page is a music teacher' page which provides music, assignments and shows a picture of her class.
3.	Welcome to Mrs. Attaway’s Class Kindergarten	This page provides important upcoming dates and the things which are expected to be learned during the year.
4.	Welcome to Mrs. Elam's Classroom	Schedule, supply list and parent information are provided on this page.
5.	Mr. Camuel's Classroom	Schedule, student work, AR and homework are some of the items provided on this page.
6.	The Early Childhood Technology Literacy Project	This website deals with an early childhood technology literacy project for the Montgomery County Public Schools. The instructional focus of this project is to integrate technology into instruction and increase early childhood students' skills in reading and writing.
7.	Pair-It Books	These resource ideas are meant to complement the Pair-It Books series published by Steck-Vaughn. The Pair-It Book program is a learning tool designed to help emergent readers develop beginning reading, writing, and research skills through a multimedia approach. The program Kidspiration is used to help students organize what they have read.
8.	WebQuest	In this WebQuest students will use the power of teamwork and the abundant resources on the Internet to learn all about Shakespeare's world. Each person on the team will learn one piece of the puzzle and then the team will come together to get a better understanding of the topic.
9.	EMPOWER project	The EMPOWER project is part of a State of Indiana Technology Literacy Challenge Fund grant for High Tech Schools. As part of a summer workshop, high school teachers were teamed with high school students on the development of webquests.
10.	We're Off To See The Wizard	This is a quest created to help students recall the adventures of "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz." This is primarily for kindergarten and first-grade students.
11.	Welcome to Mrs. Brown's Third Grade Class	This page is for 3rd grade and e-MINTS class. Home page includes newsletter, calendar, special event, link, teacher resources, parent resources, computer rules, eamil, lunch menu and school homepage. The author links writing, spelling, reading, and lots of skills page. Teacher pages includes web quest, game page, spelling, museums, andlesson plans.
12.	Mr. Moore's Class	This page is for 4th grade and e-MINTS class. Home page includes assignments, lessons, links, calendar, about class, project, and teacher email address. The calendar page includes school calendar, classroom calendar, school newsletter, classroom newsletter, and lunch menu. Links page links dictionary, handwriting, verbs, and contractions.
13.	Mrs. Gould's Fourth Grade Classroom	This page is for 4th grade. Home page includes lesson, our school, links, and email. The links page links games and dictionary. Lesson page has spelling lists.
14.	Mrs. Allen’s 3rd class web page	This page is for 3rd grade and e-Mints class. Home page includes The scoop page, Showcase page, Assignments page, Links page, AR page, email page, and eMINTS page.
15.	Mrs. Pickering's Web Page	This page is for 3rd grade. Homepage includes calendar, projects, spelling lists, quilting, links, and email address. The links page has Funbrain, Wacky Web Tales, Dictionary, and Weekly reader.
17.	Mrs. Franchi's Third Grade Webpage	This website has numerous links to valuable information for parents, students and other teachers. There is a reading section, language arts section, science section, math section etc. In the reading section she lists the books the class has read so far and what the books are about. The teacher checks and answers her email and provides information on her homework policies and other classroom policies on her website. She also has a list of fun/game sites for students to visit. A parent section is provided that gives information to parents on how to help their children learn.
18.	Farenheit 451
19.	Abraham Lincoln Internet Project	Learn about the life of Abraham Lincoln and take a quiz! Tammy Payton's first grade class wrote eleven questions about the early life of this famous President of the United States
20.	Mrs. Serafini's second grade webpage	On this site the teacher provides her policies regarding homework, class discipline and grading. She also provided many good links to information about reading. She has links to tips for reading at home, tips for reading aloud, and reading comprehension strategies. She provides a list of recommended books for first and second graders. Student and teacher sites are also provided. Some examples are the magic school bus, Dr. Seuss, and the Scholastic site.
21.	Mrs Fischer's kindergarten in Missouri	This site offered Kindergarten Songs and Poems and various monthly theme activities. Those themes included Poems, Books in library section with photos and explanations.
22.	Ms. Levin's Pre-k in Texas	This site showed the unit theme with stories, songs and activities. There were 24 themes. Visitors can easily peek into young children’s activities with stories. And this site explained the circle time and circle area of reading stories. This site mostly focused on explanation young children’s learning in the school to their parents or visitors and offered so many tips with book lists, songs, videos, detailed activities.
23	Mrs. Talor's Kindergarten in FL	In learning together section, there was literacy part. And the literacy part included literacy centers, class books, writing, literature responses, literacy props, nursery rhymes& classic tales. And each part was explained in detail with photos so that visitors could easily understand young children’s literacy activities.
24	Ms. Fullbright's Kindergartne in PA	In teachers section, this site offers helpful readings posted and theme activity tips. In children’s section, there are several sites linked for literacy learning. And this site included classroom project.
25	Miss Garress	The Kinderbuddies Home Literacy Program consists of thematic take-home literacy bags that promote home literacy in the context of the family environment. The aim of the Kinderbuddies Home Literacy Program is to motivate children to read and develop their literacy skills in their natural home setting in order to reinforce literacy's value in the real world. This program has been xtremely successful in my Kindergarten classroom! Each Kinderbuddies bag is organized according to a particular theme and self-selected by the students. Bags are "checked out" each Monday and returned to the classroom on Fridays, which allows families sufficient time to experience the books and activities in each bag."
26	2. Mrs. Fiorini-2nd grade
27	Ms. Tunkel's Kindergarten	In parents section this site offered writing workshop, high-frequency reading words, and activities. For teachers section this site showed themes activities, songs, games, writing workshop, color word songs, reasons to read aloud to children and so on. This site mainly consists of adults section to show some instruction.
28	Ms. Fullmor
29	Pohlmeyer's kindergarten	This site offered Top 10 Signs of a Good Kindergarten Classroom, weekly newsletters, units and themes, sight words, literacy stations, learning centers, bulletin boards, Internet projects. This site offered 40 Sight Words all Kindergarten students are expected to know when they leave Kindergarten in Bay City I.S.D and Challenge Words that were some challenge words added from the EDL (Evaluation Description Language) Reading Core Vocabulary Pre-Primer and Reading-1 List. Literacy station explained 24 detailed stations with photos; Build a Sentence Station, Beginning Sounds Station, Alphabet Order Station, Pocket Chart Station, Stamp Station, Sight Word Station, ABC Game Station, Fine Motor Station, Independent Reading Station, Overhead Station, Rhyming Station, Word Family Station, Letter Match Station, Word Study Station, Read the Room Station, Poetry Station, Storytelling Station, Puzzle Station, Big Book Station, Playdough Station, Book Box Station, Alphabet Book Station, Write the Room Station, Magnet Station. Units and themes section provided photos of related cover books, song lyrics, language arts activities, related vocabulary, poems, phonics, science activities, math activities, art projects, social studies, writing, home projects, and even cooking.
30	Mrs. Smiths third grade	This page provides a variety of activities and resources for the classroom.	1	1
31	Mrs. Bonthuis’s kindergarten in Iowa	In kid’s section of this site, there were some sites linked for young children’s literacy. This site like other sites provided teachers’ and parent’s page for instruction of young children such as the top ten signs of a good kindergarten, list of best books to read to kids.	1	1	1
32	Mrs. Anderson’s kindergarten in Georgia	This site offered Professional Reading, Learning Centers, Literacy Ideas. The professional reading section introduced some books with photos. In Learning Centers, there were Language Arts Centers; read the room, thematic book boxes, listening center, puppet center, write the room, buddy reading, pocket chart, handwriting center. And in the writing centers there were a list of materials for stocking a writing center.	1	1	1
33	Mrs. Broome’s Kinder, first in Georgia	This site provided ABC for first graders that was fun for teachers and parents to understand early education by alphabet. There was phonics/reading information and this section included Over and Over Words (Sight words) and Phonics Rules that provided such 13 phonic tips as Coding short vowels with a breve. (Pronounced breeve), Twin consonants, Using a c or a k, Letter / Word / Sentence, Compound Words, Syllables, The Bully Boys - ow/ou, The Nerds - ur/er/ir, The Fruit - or, The Birthday Present - oo, The Boy Coin - oi, The 4 H Club - sh/ch/th/wh, All My Children - all.	1	1	1
34	Mrs. Griffin’s Kindergarten	This site provided Themes section combined with books, poems, activities. This site showed literacy related field such as Reading Folder, Word Banks, Word Wall, Book Groups, Picture and Words, Letter Charts, Journal, Alphabet discovery Bottles, Read Alouds, Assisted Reading with photos and explanation. This site posted stages of beginning writing by scribble writing, letter and number exploration, letter and number strings, initial consonant sounds, final consonant sounds, and vowel sounds added.	1	1	1
35	Mrs. Rowley’s Kindergarten in Ohio	This site offered Reading, Sight Word Link, Word Wall, Weekly Books, Authors and Illustrators, Kids’ Poems, Read-Aloud, Class projects, Writing, Home projects and Themes sections. Most sections reported and explained educational tips for parents that could help learning of young children.	1	1	1
36	Mrs. Rahmeier’s kindergarten in KS	This site offered ABC’s of kindergarten that explained education of young children by alphabet, Work jobs that were Learning Centers of kindergartners with photos and activities.	1	1	1
37	Mrs. Klenke’s Kindergarten	In kids section there were links of Arthur, The Dinosaur Alphabet Book, Rebus Nursery Rhymes, and favorite authors’ pages. This site included ‘Kid Writing Korner’ that posted photos of children’s works name by name. This site linked ABC’s of parenting, for parents and provided Recipe for literacy, high frequency words. This site was peculiar in that the teacher respected each child’s work or word by posting children’s works and answers with name.	1	1	1
38	Mrs.Buchel’s Kindergarten in CA	This site included Homework, Sight Word Lists, Weekly letter sections. In homework section visitors could find monthly homework for children. There also was Ideas for teachers and parents section that provided Language arts ideas and Units. The Language arts ideas included Pre-Reading and Writing Strategies, Sight Word Lists, Sound Bingo, Sight Word Bingo, What Good Readers Do, Book Bags for leveled books, LCH’s Reading Specialist’s Website. The Sight Word Lists included not only the lists of words but also Test Lists, Note for Parents, Check-off sheet section and Sight Word Bingo play.	1	11	1

Appendix 3: All data for task 2

Lists of good WebPages:

1. Mrs. Smith’s multiage class website:

http://www.concord.k12.nh.us/schools/kimball/Classes/Smith/jansmi.htm

2. Mrs. Allen’s 3rd class web page:

http://emintsteachers.more.net/allens/index.html

3. Miss Gerress' Kindergarten class website:

http://www.beehappyteaching.com/

4. Mrs Serafini's second class website:

http://www.jsasd.k12.pa.us/bserafini/

5. Mrs. Smith’s third class website:

http://emintsteachers.more.net/FY03/smiths/index.html

Our finding from WebPages;

1.	This page includes homepage and links several pictures. We agree the site the site would be improved if written task were included. We like the pictures of the students at work in the classroom. And we think this site needs more links for literacy.
2.	This page is for 3rd grade and e-Mints class. Home page includes The scoop page, Showcase page, Assignments page, Links page, AR page, email page, and eMINTS page. Daily assignments link is a good way to have students check what is coming up. This page links game for children's vocabulary improvement, language arts games, online stories. This is powerful site for children to use and share in schools of certain area.
3.	This page includes The Kinderbuddies Home Literacy Program. It is to motivate children to read and develop their literacy skills in their natural home setting in order to reinforce literacy's value in the real world. This page is good for parents and other kindergarten teachers. Kindergarten Daily Schedule is very detailed literacy's activities. This page has many good links. The snowmen thematic unit is full of fun activities for young children to do.
4.	On this site the teacher provides her policies regarding homework, class discipline and grading. She also provided many good links to information about reading. She has links to tips for reading at home, tips for reading aloud, and reading comprehension strategies. She provides a list of recommended books for first and second graders. Student and teacher sites are also provided. Some examples are the magic school bus, Dr. Seuss, and the Scholastic site This site has a variety of information.
5.	This page provides a variety of activities and resources for the classroom. We like Showcase page. There are student’s works (Venn Diagrams and Pourquoi tales), nice pictures, and poetry webquest. Parents and students can easily find out what the teacher expects in her classroom. The language arts links of reading, writing and spelling provide useful sites.

Appendix 3: All data for task 3

Lists of guidelines (Valmont, 2003):

1. The name of the web page
2. The colors of text, background, or other elements on the page
3. The type sizes and font styles
4. The graphics such as photographs and logos
5. The graphics elements such as dots or lines
6. The animation, sound, and video elements
7. The internal links to other page and the external links to other sites

8. The student's work (student’s project)

9. The contact information

10. Others

Evaluation:

1.	Name	Mrs. Allen 3rd class grade	Miss Gerress's Kindergarten class in PA	Mrs. Serafini's Second Grade Home Page	Mrs. Smiths third grade
2.	Text Color Background	Title color is red,Link color is blue, visited link color is red. Text is black.	Text black, links blue or green / lots of graphics -bees, honeypots, pencils, apples, bears, etc. / the pointer is a bee	Background is white with pink and blue specks throughout. The main text is in blue, green, black and maroon. These colors all show up easily on the background. Graphics (teddy bears reading books, a line of students holding hands, a pencil, a cupcake) are on the page along with a picture of the school.	Text blue and black-background includes school mascot a panda Large font which is easy to read
3	Font sizes and style	Good size and style. All of the text are easy to read for 3rd grade.	font size 14(almost) font style Cominc Sanc MS	There are photos of the school, photos of student work, and photos of bulletin boards in the classroom	Large fonts for the headings on the page (18 and 14 point). The rest of the text is in 12 point. All of the text is easy to read.
4.	Graphics (photo)	Home page has a graphic of the pretty flowers and houses. Photos of the king and queen.	photos...Kindergarten learning and literacy centers, Greeting meeting area, Weekly classroom journal (students' works and activities), Thematic units (covers of books, children's projects photos) Home literacy program (photos)	There are photos of the school, photos of student work, and photos of bulletin boards in the classroom	Photos of the students are included and projects are on this site.
5.	graphics elements (line and dots)	Used tables	so many graphics that represent kindergartners' activities and learning	Colorful lines break up parts of the page. There is a line made of paw prints on the main page that makes the page look nice. The lines are used in good places and not overdone.	Graphics are not overwhelming but are easy to incorporate into reading.
6.	Sound Animations	Animated mail box	no	Animation- the teddy bear is dancing, the pencil is moving back and forth writing Mrs. Serafini's name on the web page, and many other graphics are moving.	Sound-none --Animation-several small pieces of animation for example the panda waving his flag
7.	Internal and External links	Homework, calendar, lunch menu, Photos, Dictionary page, Web book online, spelling game, language lessons, reading materials (mysteries), typing, and puzzle maker.	Inks to Bubba&Ana's page, the virtual vine, the holiday zone, the learning leap, www.ourmarietta.com, Barnes and Noble's Online Bookstore, Amazon.com, the teacher's room, kinderthemes, Author's pages, Adobe Acrobat Reader, Preschool printables, www.drjean.org, Garden stroll board game, etc	Internal links are to teacher sites, student sites, bulletin boards, student work, classroom discipline procedures, reading, homework, school calendar, parent's corner, about Mrs. Serafini, day schedule, grading policy, mission statement and everyday math. External links to other sites include educational sites for the core subjects.	Links include other third grade teachers sites, parent information, games and activities which will encourage students to learn new information
8.	Student's work	No		Yes	Yes
9.	Contact information	Name, E-mail address	e-mail link to Miss Kelly Gerress	There is an e-mail link to Mrs. Serafini and a phone and fax number for the school listed on the page.	Address, name, phone number and e-mail information
10.	Others		guest book, hit counter	There is a hit counter and the page tells when the site was last updated.

Evaluation with framework (Leu & Kinzer, 1999; Bruce, 1997; Bitter & Pierson, 2002;Person & Stephens,1994)

		Mrs. Allen 3rd class grade	Miss Gerress's Kindergarten class in PA	Mrs. Serafini's Second Grade Home Page	Mrs. Smiths third grade
Perspective	Linguistic	different font for stress	different font, bold, Caps, underline
	Psycholinguistic	visual readings link	visual readings		visual reading in Pourquoi Tales section
	The cognitive psychology		publish activity by valuing experience
Stance			Utilitarian, Aesthetic Skeptical on children’s participation known by email survey	Utilitarian	Utilitarian
Aspects	Graphophonemic	spell matching game link, letter fun link	Identify and match up the rhyming words activity	ABC’s of parenting section
	Semantic	words link
	Syntactic	grammar link
	Affective		ok
	Semantic			vocabulary section, reading comprehension section
	Pragmatic				Poetry webquest section
	Automaticity				Pourquoi Tales reading section
Types of classroom web sites		Drill and practice-spell game, language art game link	Web based(?), Tutorial-explaining section of activities	Tutorial-math lesson section, Drill and practice…math game section	problem solving(?)-digi block section