Comments received from visitors ~ Words in italics are mine.
Vtaide cited in books

~ 2008 Comments ~

This is a great site for interactive assessment worksheets on math, English, and science. This is definitely a site that you will put in your favorites category.

Endorsed by National Board Certified Teachers (NBCT) of Nassau County, Florida

I stumbled across your website through a Google search on "food chains and webs". I just wanted to let you know that I think your site is fantastic!

I teach 6th grade ecology and my students absolutely LOVE when they have computer time to explore all the links you have. Thanks so much for all the hard work you put into this site!

Lindsey Schray
Francis D. Raub Middle School
October 14, 2008

I chose to use the "Create a Food Chain" from the vtaide website because I think that doing an activity hands-on is the best way to remember something. I want students to be able to place a plant or animal on the food chain. This activity will keep them involved in the lesson.

Wendy Compton
Lesson plan written February 2008; found July 2008

This website (Food Chains and Webs) exceeds my expectations.

Laura Parker
Detailed evaluation available at Plant Biology
written Spring 2007; found July 2008

My children enjoyed watching (the special effects) and listening to the sound effects which you have included (in the stories).

Mary Mila Grace Roa-Rabe from the Philippines
March 18, 2008

It takes ALOT to impress me ... but - HOLY SMOKES AM I AMAZED!!!

The technology they create blows me away! I have found a site that has different stories ... and you can download an msagent that will read words or phrases to you that you do not know! It is very simple!

Go to this site ...

Download the three buddies Genie, Merlin, and Peedy. (You do this by clicking on the link READ ALONG WITH… and their name.) After downloading each one, they will open a page and say "type your text in the box and click the read button." At this point, you can have the kids type in their spelling words and hear them read back to them. They could type in phrases ... anything! It sounds like a computer generated voice, but nevertheless it is very cool!

Go back to the original page ... and choose one of the stories near the bottom to read. When the story page comes up, use your mouse to highlight some of the text and click the READ button. (I would choose one paragraph at a time.) The little character will then appear and read the text to you! If you click on the character, he says something funny to you. If you click an drag the character to another space on the screen, he says something. The character seemingly interacts with what is going on the computer!

Bells and whistles with reading!

Extracted from MutterBlog
Filed under: ROCK-ability, My A-Ha's! Inspiration
March 11, 2008

Thank you for making practical help available and still retaining your Christianity and spreading God's word and plan! I am doing research for my master's in nursing and came across your site. How refreshing! Your site is practical, interesting, challenging and biblical!

May God bless you and all that you are doing for Him.

Susie Hagan
February 29, 2008

~ 2007 Comments ~

Please let me know if you intend to update the Food Chains website (referring to Create A Food Web activity) to work with modern browsers such as Firefox or Safari.

Larry Waege
October 17, 2007

Webmaster's Reply: Got the page to work with both Firefox and Safari with exception ... icons once discarded cannot be retrieved.

LIKES: All of them. I like each stories [sic]. Could I please translate (them) into our local language?

Addis Tesfa from Ethiopia,
August 9, 2007

Just to let you know that it worked! - printing of "Animals of A Tropical Rainforest"

The children had a lovely lesson. Thank you.

Carol Petersen from England,
May 17, 2007

These exercises (interactive puzzles) have led to some very interesting outcomes.

My nearly 70-year old father is fascinated by the puzzle challenge and simplicity with which to play the stick puzzles. He’s also happy to have access to the results without having to unnecessarily frustrate himself. Since he was presented the game by his 11-year old great-granddaughter, I’m sure he’ll use the stick games to not only challenge himself, but have a enjoyable way to engage with his family.

For my part, I see using the puzzles as a way of teaching the importance of working as teams and cross-functional departments. I believe in learning as a life-long process and will surely look to your site as a way to get there!

Kat Fronek from Milwaukee, WI
April 3, 2007

Previously (April 2, 2007) ... before hidden solutions were sent

LIKES: interactive gaming and refresh to try new solutions

DISLIKES: ability to find hidden links to solutions

My 11-year old granddaughter challenged the family, but seems unclear about the solution.

I'm also a training facilitator, and sometimes it's more important to match the right thinking game to the teaching objectives, rather than my spending time to figure out the solution.

oh wow thanx~ :)

If you have more puzzles that i can try to solve, plz let me know! it'll be fun :D bye~

from Korea
January 24, 2007

LIKES: That it has so many sites to help children

DISLIKES: It has no color to make people think it's fun unless they go to the actual site.

Breanna from USA
January 18, 2007

~ 2006 Comments ~

I just wanted to let you know what a fabulous website you have created. Part of our grade 7 ecology unit deals with food chains/webs and I thought I would see what was out there on the web. Your "create your own food web" game is fantastic! I can't wait to use it with my class tomorrow!

Thank you for an excellent resource!

Heather Flosman
October 24, 2006

I love this website ... the way the children are able to interact with the stories. My grandson has reading problems and it helps him to enjoy learning how to read.

Iris from Baltimore, MD
September 20, 2006

Hi. I have just been playing on your food webs and chains page - researching info for a fourth grade field trip. I just wanted to compliment you on how fabulous the website is. I love the nice simple, clear explanations and all the great links. It has got my brain whirring. :)

Lauren Greene
Program Manager
Dunwoody Nature Center
August 23, 2006

I've been taking a look at your Matter quiz, and noted that there are number of inaccuracies. I presume they're simplifications for the sake of teaching kids, but still ...

  • "Matter is anything that has weight." - Is false.

    Matter has *mass*, not weight. You allude to this distinction in the second question, but weight does not equal mass.

  • "You can compress water to force it to occupy less space." - Is true.

    Although it takes a lot of force to compress water even a fraction of a percent. So I suppose at school level water can be considered incompressible.

  • "Matter can exist in three states: solid, liquid and gas." - Is debatable.

    While strictly true, the question implies that matter exists exclusively in those three states. Matter can also exist as plasma, Fermionic condensates and Bose-Einstein condensates.

Other than that it was an interesting quiz, with some refreshing angles here and there.

Andrew Perry
April 17, 2006

Webmaster's Reply: You are right in that the quiz (and its contents) are a simplification for the sake of teaching kids. The quiz is actually targeted at the equivalent of Grade 3-4.

Andrew's Response: I thought that might be the case. And for that, the only thing I'd say is misleading is the mass/weight thing in the first question. But I heartily agree, for that age group some things need to be simplified. And for that it's a good quiz.


Your (lifeskills) website is really neat and has helped me a great deal. It was especially cool the "Who am I" section and after filling in the blanks and scrolling down, I couldn't help but cry with the realization that it does count for me too. You have done a wonderful job on this site. Thank you very much.

Jennifer M Barton
February 20, 2006

It’s probably the worst-named website I’ve ever found, but, it’s worth a visit for anyone teaching elementary math and science: "Interactive Assessment Worksheets".

NCS-Tech Blog
Northfield Community School
January 5, 2006

Previously (December 5, 2005), on NCS-Tech Blog

Sorry for the late posting … wanted to bring a very special site to your attention: http://www.vtaide.com/png/assess.htm

The site also has superb Math brain teasers & other Science activities for primary grade students. Check it out!

~ 2005 Comments ~

LIKES: I can use it with my Spanish native speakers, newcomers to the country. I teach Math and Spanish to them and your website helps them develop critical thinking skills without a language barrier.

DISLIKES: It was hard to find some puzzle solutions. You hid them way too well. Could I get hints to where they are? Some puzzles I could solve myself, others were complicated even for me, but they loved to try them. I emailed you too for the solutions :(

Laramie Del Valle from Carrollton, Texas
Mary Grimes Education Center
October 19, 2005

Stories for children is a site that tells stories replete with music, special effects and graphics for illustration but don't get scared, this doesn't make the site slow to load at all.

The Hindu : Young World : Techie Taffy
Online edition of India's National Newspaper
October 14, 2005

Aligning De Bono's 6 hats and CORT programme with the Bible was a refreshing and out of the world experience for me. I am sure an incisive thought process must have gone through you to demonstrate such an application.

Please accept my thanks. It will be of immense help to me in the future and enable me to apply biblical principles to my profession.

Anthony from India
HR Manager
September 27, 2005

I am currently working on (putting together) a module on self awareness and just wanted to say thank you for your lovely web site. I was encouraged to see your boldness and your willingness to share your life with others.

Tracy May from New Zealand
May 19, 2005

You guys are the first website that actually made it easy to understand this type of science (referrring to Food Chains and Webs with MCQ). Thanks a lot!

Rob Christmas
May 11, 2005

I like the student-friendly format! (referrring to Food Chains and Webs). Thanks.

Karen Hargrove from USA
Middle Tennessee State University
April 29, 2005

~ 2004 Comments ~

It is an in-depth site (referrring to Kohlberg's Stages) that discusses different angles and answers questions so well you can't come up with any more; also it seems to be unbiased, objective.

Rhondeen Pitts from Belize City, Central America
September 29, 2004

Came across y(ou)r website on Erikson's psychosocial stages. Would like to commend (yo)u on a job well done!! It's a great help to have the stages explained in the local context + concerns of Christian parents addressed.

And I like the smooth transitions between the webpages, made the web surfing a pleasure!

Laura from Singapore
Early childhood postgrad student
February 3, 2004

Featured on Internet for Christians (IFC) ... "great educational Web site with a Christian perspective"

IFC Digest
February 3, 2004

~ 2003 Comments ~

LIKES: Superb puzzles

DISLIKES: Wish there was an easier way to get the solutions b/c you could really integrate these puzzles into classroom lessons

Beth Williams from Reidsville, USA
December 4, 2003

Webmaster's Note: Solutions are provided but hidden.

As a parent who has recently lost a child to Leukemia, your choice of words were very impressive. I enjoy how you incorporate "God" into Erikson's theories. Thanks a bunch!

Beatrice Starks from USA
October 11, 2003

"Many of the puzzles at this site are challenging for elementary age students and they make terrific activities for those students who always finish first and complain of being 'bored.' This site contains no ads or commercial links and so requires minimal supervision."

Linda Starr
Technology Article - Learning Games for Students in Grades 3-5
Technology in the Classroom, Education World
April 9, 2003

Webmaster's Note: Google Ads were added on July 9, 2003

Thank you for the biblical parenting information (referring to Feelings, Empathy and Decision Making). I found it very helpful and encouraging. Your work is a blessing for me and some of the parenting situations that I encounter. It is an answer to my prayers and relying on scripture I feel more adequately equipped to handle the tasks which God has given me. God bless you!

Mrs. Teresa Mora
March 12, 2003

~ 2002 Comments ~

I just found your website and it is terrific! I have a potpourri of students at various levels. This is great for all of them. I like the individualization for students. Also, I can take my entire class into the lab and let each student make their own food web.

Sybrenda Holiday
Blackville-Hilda Public Schools
November 13, 2002

Your web page on Kohlberg is helping me immensely with my Human Growth & Development paper. Thank you for clarifying what my text book did not!

Lori Culberson from The Woodlands, TX
June 23, 2002

LIKES: Your site has lots of puzzles and brain teasers! I like the way you hid the answers in most of them!

DISLIKES: Not all the solutions are easily accessible, when needed.

Kelly from USA
May 24, 2002

~ 2001 Comments ~

Thank you for taking the time out to give students the opportunity to think through a problem. The task (The Parade of Legs) wasn't easy but it was very useful. It took me a couple of tries before I got the right answer. Even though I had seen the pattern. Yet what appears to be obvious isn't always. Again, it is a good thing to remind our students to use pictures to help them out.

Rhonda Whitfield
November 23, 2001

Thanks for the site (articles on Kohlberg's Theory). Beautifully laid out and very clearly articulated. Very helpful in my preparation for a term paper.

Adam Henderson
October 13, 2001

~ 2000 Comments ~

This fall, I will be the teacher for a new "Mommy, Daddy and Me" Sunday school class. I needed material for the parents that would be easy enough to cover in a 30-minute time frame. I found your site and like what I read ... will use the articles for the parents' weekly lesson. Thank you for the time and love you have put into the work you have done to prepare this material.

Susan Horner from Pittsburgh
August 28, 2000

Review by CrossDaily.com ... "All the material found here is well written and informative. You really have to read the material included here to experience its' effectiveness."

Cross Daily
August 2000

LIKES: you can help us with our homework. I don't know how you do it but you are brilliant just like my friend told me. No! she lied. You are better than what my friend told me.

DISLIKES: it takes so long to get every thing loaded and sorted but if I want to get extra help in my homework then I guess I will have to wait.

Hayley from Southport
May 5, 2000

Excellent job! I especially enjoyed the Christian perspective on Erikson's First Four Stages (that absolutely coincided with the real world). I think it would be highly interesting, not to mention helpful, if you would go through the next 4 stages, using the same easy to understand and highly practical approach. Keep up the good work and God bless. I'll definitely be watching for any other articles.

Simone Chambers
University of the West Indies
February 5, 2000
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