Educational CyberPlayground recommended safe sites for children and adults learning about computers, internet, and technology.
Internet Tutorials for Adult Beginners
CHILDREN'S ACTIVITY TABLES
Early Childhood A GUIDE FOR EDUCATION COORDINATORS IN HEAD START Please keep in mind that participants are often shopping with young children; activities should be simple, portable, and not too messy.
HEALTHY CHILDREN
In 1999, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended no screen time at all for babies under 2, out of concern that the increasing use of media might displace human interaction and impede the crucially important brain growth and development of a baby's first two years.
Skills Checklist for Kindergarten:
Basic Mastery of Concepts
- Identify basic computer terminology
- Demonstrate proper care of equipment
- demonstrate correct use of input devices
Personal and Professional Computer Use
- Will demonstrate knowledge of basic software operation/navigation (i.e. arrow keys, space bar, mouse, etc.)
- Will demonstrate use of basic paint and draw program
- Will be introduced to basic word processing
Applications of Technology
- Software programs will be used to advance needed grade level skills
- Software programs relating to the current curriculum will be used
- Will create simple media using the computer
KINDERGARTEN AND TECHNOLOGY
KEYBOARDING SKILLS START IN KINDERGARTEN
What Smaller Hands Need:
A tiny little keyboard has a smaller FOOTPRINT: the distance from edge to edge. What you want to know is NOT the FOOTPRINT, but the Key Pitch.
KEY PITCH: The distance from the center of one key, to the key next to it. Standard keyboards have a key pitch of 19 mm. See the key pitch on the keyboard. Also, their FOOTPRINT is smaller than a normal keyboard as a bonus.
DEVELOP KEYBOARDING SKILLS
- The best! BBC Online Typing, levels 1-4:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/typing/ - Typing with Booker - Level 2:
http://www.growing.course.com/level_2/keyboard/index.html - Typing with Carmen - Level 3:
http://www.growing.course.com/level_3/keyboard/index.html - Typing with Dwayne - Level 4:
http://www.growing.course.com/level_4/keyboard/index.html - Typing with Yasmin - Level 5:
http://www.growing.course.com/level_5/keyboard/index.html - Soccer demo - hard - words, symbols, numbers:
http://www.customtyping.com/goalie_demo.htm - Flash Typing - good tutor & game:
http://flashtyping.com/demo.html - Axis of Evil - really hard, but adolescent boys seem to like it
http://bluedojo.com/publisher2/webgames/31/game31w.php?id=31 - Barracuda - whole words:
http://www.powertyping.com/baracuda/baracuda.htm - in Japanese and English - kids like the anime intro to it: http://www.younganimal.com/airmaster/game/
- Letters -
http://www.project-design.com/PlayGame/typing_01.swf
SAFE PLACES TO GO WITH YOUR CHILDREN
Internet tools for the little kids who are starting. Use the following sites to work on mouse practice and basic skills:
- Mouse practice where the skills build each time
- Larry Loveland's CyberStart
teaches children mouse control, shapes colors, and order. You start the program and give the mouse to your child. There is no clicking needed. As he/she progresses through each skill a frame will build along the edges of the screen. When the frame is complete, the child is rewarded with a smiley face. They then put the pointer on the smiley face and the next skill set appears.
For aged 2 through 6 educational resources try these:
FREE PRINTABLES AND COLORING BOOKS
GAMES
- Kindersite Games
- Games for kindergartners
- Online Paper Dolls
- Mr Potato Head
- Another Kindergarten Games
- For Kindergarten students and has interactive sites for specific skills learned
- Flower Arrangement
STORY TIME AND FOLKTALES
MUSIC AND SONGS
- National Children's Folksong Respository
where you can listen to songs and also have your child give their song so they can hear themselves on the net !! - kindersite.org Music
ABC's
- ONLINE READING RESOURCES for CLASSROOM USE OR AT HOME
- Sebran ABC's
cover's theABC's, but it also covers Counting, Memory, Letters, Pictures, Addition, Subtraction, and Multiplication. - Owl and Mouse Educational Software has free puzzle software for maps of countries and the US.
There are letter sounds software. - Drawing for Children - Download software
A a fun drawing program for children with may different tools,stamps, clip-art and backgrounds.
ADULTS AND OLDER CHILDREN
Are you smarter than a fifth-grader?Take this online quiz and find out. This is the premise of the "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?" Each week, grown-ups who ought to know a few things square off with fifth-graders, who smile sweetly and answer questions and, frequently, help the adults reveal themselves as less knowledgeable.
The Milwaukee Public Schools fifth-grade teachers who came up with questions for this quiz are Kaela Zielinski, who teaches at Cass Street Elementary School, and Liz Schoone, who teaches at Golda Meir School.
1. What is a hyperbole?
2. Which chamber of the heart receives blood from the lungs?
3. Is the equator a line of latitude or longitude?
4. What is a mixed number?
5. What organ in the body produces bile?
6. What kind of a root is a carrot?
7. Nomadic tribes of American Plains Indians lived in what structures?
8. What did American Indians of the Northwest coast use to symbolize their clan and tell family stories?
9. Which is larger: 3/5 or 5/8?
10. What are the three branches of the United States government?
11. What are the names of the five Great Lakes?
12. How many hydrogen atoms are there in a molecule of water?
13. "You are as strong as an ox." Is this statement a simile or metaphor?
14. What part of speech is "after": An adverb, conjunction or preposition?
15. Who invented peanut butter?
16. How many pints are in 2 gallons?
17. How many feet are in 9 yards?
18. What part of speech describes a verb?
19. What is a proper noun?
20. What is something found on a plant cell that is not found on an animal cell?
Scroll over the text to find The Answers
1. An exaggeration. Example: "The spider was as big as a house." 2. Left atrium 3. Latitude 4. A whole number with a fraction (Example: 1½) 5. Liver 6. Tap root 7. Tepees 8. Totem poles 9. 5/8 is larger. (3/5 equals 60%, and 5/8 equals 62.5%) 10. Legislative, judicial and executive 11. Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie and Superior (Use the acronym HOMES to remember them). 12. Two - H20 13. Simile (A metaphor would be: "You are an ox.") 14. It can be all three. 15. George Washington Carver 16. 16 pints 17. 27 feet 18. Adverb 19. A specifically named person, place or thing 20. Cell wall, cytoplasm REPORT CARD So, how'd you do? Find out if you belong at the head of the class. 20 to 16 correct: Congratulations! You are as smart as a fifth-grader. 15 to 12 correct: No genius, but you'll pass. 11 to 8: Hello, summer school! Less than 8: Errr. Pack up your backpack. |
TROUBLE AREAS FOR KIDS & PARENTS
DO YOU WANT TO LEARN HOW TO KEEP YOUR CHILD SAFE ON THE INTERNET?
- where kids go and get in trouble
- where you should go with the kids
- how the filters work
- privacy protection
- what kind of keyboard is good for little kids
- how to handle technology and your kids.
The bottom line is that your kids do NOT have a right to privacy when it comes to internet or computer use, and you as a parent have a right and a responsibility to see to it that they're not getting into anything they shouldn't be getting into. PARENTS -- These things need to be supervised. You won't be able to and can't, keep up with what is going on here. FILTERING SOFTWARE: PRIVACY / FILTERS, Revealing Personal Family Information Online for free gifts. Myths about how children (ages 5-11) navigate through sites. Free email addresses for kids.
SAFE PLACES TO GO WITH YOUR CHILDREN
- Netsmartz and Netsmartzkids
Created by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, this site features Internet safety games, plus online and offline activities, safety pledges, and more. (8+) - CyberPigs Adventures
Younger kids will love these interactive (and hilarious) cartoons that illustrate various aspects of Internet safety. To download, first add the titles to your content cart, then you will get the free download instructions. (8+) - Chatguide
Explore this BBC portal to chat safety info aimed at kids, teens, parents, and teachers. Some British slang may confuse kids at first, but compelling content will keep them interested. (10+) - Joe Cool or Joe Fool?
Don't miss this outstanding Canadian interactive learning experience for tweens and teens. Help Joe decide what to do when faced with various Internet scenarios. (12+) - Websafecrackerz
Another terrific site from the UK! Visit an interactive world of web woes including spam, bullying, and cyberstalking. Teens learn strategies to deal with each issue as they collect codes and win prizes. (12+) - ID the Creep
Take on the role of a teenage girl and see if you can spot "the creep" among harmless participants in email, online chat, and instant messages. (12+) - Chatdanger
Besides safety in chat rooms, this site also helps kids and parents learn about mobile phone texting and chat within online games. (12+) - I teach k-6 computer classes and have a four year old at home that's never used the computer. I personally don't think that kids should be on the computer a whole lot until they can read. This said, I have found a website that I feel preserves much of the innocence and wonder of young children, while promoting basic computer skills with developmentally appropriate activities.
- www.boowakwala.com The site has some 200 or 300 free games, songs, and stories and hails from Mauritius, is available in 5 languages and has an advertising free environment that is easily navigated intuitively by young ones with minimal help. I used to write site reviews for several education websites, and have in truth found no other website that I would so completely recommend for young children. - Laurie Furumoto
- Big 6 Kids Site
- Interactive Literacy Websites for K-18
21st Century Literacy Skills Test - find out what this is and how you need to prepare for it.
LITERATURE - READING BOOKS ONLINE AND HEAR BOOKS READ TO YOU WHILE YOU READ ALONG.
About Online Digital Curriculum and the benefits of using computers instead of books that cause kids to use backpacks and causing back Injuries.
Collaborative, Interdisciplinary Online Curriculum prepare students for the changing nature of the economy and work. Educational CyberPlayGround provides fresh, accurate, and culturally relevant online content and curriculum where errors can be fixed immediately and information can be updated on a daily basis if necessary. Unlike big print publishers we can update information daily, even hourly, so that our learners can be assured that they won't be stuck with outdated and mistake ridden material.
Subscribe to NetHappenings mailing list it usually always suggests great sites for the little ones.
http://www.childrenspartnership.org |
http://www.parentsoup.com/edcentral Resources for educational issues |
http://www.pta.org |
http://www.ncpie.org National Coalition for Parent Involvement in Education |
http://familyeducation.com |
http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/cool Online college selection web site |
