Educational CyberPlayGround

Safe Sites for Young Children

Safe Sites Adults can take Young Children
learning about computers, internet, and technology.

KINDERGARTEN AND TECHNOLOGY

No Screen Time At All For Babies Under 2 !

How Young is too Young to start Using Computers in School?
Learn when to start teaching children keyboard skills and touch type instruction.

STEM Initiatives and Computer Games that encourage Girls

  • The Zoombinis Publisher: The Learning Company
  • Professor Layton's Curious Village. Packed with math & logic puzzles, works its way up teaching you how to solve them as you go.
  • First Lego League is for ages 9-14 and Jr. FLL is for children 6-8. It is an international organization. In the US, there are many all-girl teams and a new partnership with the Girl Scouts, and internationally they are called Girl Guides.
  • the LEGO Robotics (FIRST LEGO League)
  • hoagiesgifted.org is not girl centered, but has information on just about every sort of education game and toy and program. Even if the girls you are thinking about aren't gifted (or you don't think of them that way), the information is solidly vetted and focuses on learning differences as well as just acceleration. They have listings of math and science games for all ages as well as local organizations in support of learning.

Tech Skills Checklist for Kindergarten:

  1. Basic Mastery of Concepts
    - Identify basic computer terminology
    - Demonstrate proper care of equipment
    - demonstrate correct use of input devices
  2. 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
  3. 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

KEYBOARDING SKILLS START IN KINDERGARTEN

Mouse / Keyboard - What Smaller Hands Need:

  1. 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.
  2. 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

Safe educational resources to use with children ages 2 through 6

Internet tools for the little kids who are just starting. Use the following sites to work on mouse practice and basic skills:
  • 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.

FREE PRINTABLES AND COLORING BOOKS

GAMES

STORY TIME AND FOLKTALES

MUSIC AND SONGS

ABC's

The Alphabet Song

PARENTS WITH 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.

SAFETY FIRST - TROUBLE AREAS FOR KIDS & PARENTS

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 USE WITH OLDER 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.
  • Online Literature - Reading Books online and hear books read to your 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.

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