Evaluation of Curriculum Website

I chose to evaluate this site for several reasons:  it is a webquest, it is designed for fourth grade students, it included a rubric to evaluate the product, it was designed by a teacher at a summer institute, it includes state standards, and it is a lesson I would be interested in teaching.  The page is a Language Arts Quest Focusing on Fables.  Students are to read three fables from the links provided and then using the graphic organizer, write their own fable from a life lesson they've learned.  The final project is then written on poster board to present to the class.  I created a table to use when evaluating websites or webquests.  The questions were created to look for positive answers.  The more "yes" answers- the better the page.  Look Here for my evaluation of the page above.
 

Evaluation results:  I think that this a good quest to use with fourth grade students.  The page and the links used worked well and were age appropriate, the content was interesting, it required cooperation between students, and the rubric included to evaluate their efforts was well thought out.  The graphic organizer, also included,  will help direct students in this project.
 

Recommendations: I would recommend going over the rubric in detail as a class using a completed project for demonstration purposes before beginning.  You may even want to create a class fable to get started. I would be sure to begin this activity with  attention getting material. I recommend using the links listed below that contain various types of fables, some including short movies and audios that would inspire student learning.

Fable Links to use with this lesson.

1st choice
This is my favorite fable link.  It shows short examples of fables with both  traditional  and modern versions of each.  Some of the fables found here are short films.  You need Flash 4.0 to view- there is a link available to download it from the page.  This one will keep them interested- careful if you are short on time, they'll want to read them all!  Be sure to check out the "The Fisherman and the Little Fish"

2nd choice
This is a HUGE (655) collection of Aesop Fables, some use 'Real Audio' so that students can listen to the fables as they read them. It includes lesson plans, a dictionary, links to other fables and suggested morals to use with your students.(background of this page comes from this link)

3nd choice
This link also includes fairy tales that are much too long to use with this lesson- be sure to use only the fables at the top of the page.  This page links to a moving cube that features story titles.  Your mouse controls the cube, but I couldn't get the fables to appear from there.

4th choice
 This one includes multiple 'Frog Fables'.  I liked this link because it gave a short description of what a fable is at the top of the page.
 

Extensions:

This quest opens endless possiblities.  Students could create their own multimedia presentations using the puppet show to display their work.  The puppet show is an excellent motivator for student writing.  They could record themselves reading their fable and share it with the class along with the poster presentation, they could create a web page for their fable, or they could make real puppets to demonstrate their moral.