Posted by Amanda Kenuam on Fri, Jun 18, 2010
There are many search engines available for browsing general interest topics and research on the Internet. Many of the top search engines, including Google and Bing, give specific results based on the information typed in the search box. However, some of these results can be misleading, contain inappropriate information for children, or may not be related to what you wanted to search. In order to help children with safe searching while on the Internet, many companies have come up with child friendly search sites. These sites allow children to find information about topics they are interested in, along with information that will be useful for homework and school projects in a safe environment.
Ask Kids
Ask Kids, formerly known as Ask Jeeves Kids, is a kid friendly search engine. You can enter search information into the search box and the results will list appropriate sites for children to view to learn more information about the subject they were searching. They also have category buttons for schoolhouse, movies, games, images, and answers. Schoolhouse provides a page with options of subject area and age appropriate content along with learning resources and top visited learning sites for kids.
I especially like the quick links to the learning resources which includes a periodic table, math facts, digital images, and a "today in history" section. The image search section provides students with a search box to look for images. These images are filtered to include only appropriate images for children. Once you have used this search in your classroom or at home, you will be pleasantly surprised with no need to worry what the results will be when the children are searching images for school projects or fun.
Yahoo Kids
Yahoo Kids, formerly known as Yahooligans, is another kid friendly search engine. They provide safe search links for games, music, movies, sports, jokes, e-cards, homework help, reference, animals, science, and horoscopes among many other searches. Like Ask Kids, they also provide a search box where kids can type in information they want to search and then they will receive only child friendly results. Many of the results received also are written and designed for children to learn with research-based facts. This makes it easier for students to learn how to verify websites when using them for projects.
There is a fun section within Yahoo Kids site called "Ask Earl." ‘Earl' is a virtual kid who is able to answer questions from real kids. There is a section posted on the Ask Earl page with results to previous questions and then there is a space for kids to write in their own new questions. They can then check back to the Ask Earl page to find their answers! The questions that have already been answered are broken down into several academic and non-academic categories. It is just a fun section where kids can feel like they can be heard along with learning.
ipl2 for Kids
The ipl2 for Kids is the Internet Public Library & Librarians' Internet Index online specifically for kids. This site also contains a search area for children to safely search the Internet. When the kids search they will only receive a few of the top resources for kids returned as results. This provides less information for children to search through and makes searching the Internet easier.
Ipl2 for kids also provides general information on topics like the world, computers, science, math, health, art, reading, sports, along with reference material and games. Once selected on one of these sections there are more links provided to narrow your topic search along with other direct links to child friendly sites that cover the board area of the topic selected. They even have a section with parent and teacher resources. This page contains links to lesson plans, webquests, and teaching ideas along with including sections to narrow down the topic of choice.
Other Kid Friendly Online Resources
There are many other sites on the Internet that help kids to search for school related information besides search engines. Below is a list of kid friendly research sites:
1.
Time for Kids
2.
CIA Kids' Page
3.
KidsClick
4.
KOL (Kids AOL)
5.
Kid Friendly Resources Listing
-Article by Laura Ketcham
Free Teacher Resources | Special Education by MangoMon
Posted by Amanda Kenuam on Thu, Jun 17, 2010
In my last blog I wrote about kid friendly search engines and resources for home use, educational projects, and home learning assignments. This led me to think about more kid friendly options on the web - what other tools do students and kids use online on a day-to-day basis that could be more simplified or increased in parental controls to make using the Internet safer for kids. That is when I thought of email.
While Gmail, AOL, Yahoo, and other major search engines often provide free email accounts, these are not necessarily the best option for younger children. There are other options that have easier interfaces for the kids and easy to implement protective controls for the parents. Below are some kid friendly and parent approved options for students and kids to keep in contact with family, friends, and webpals around the world including email for students with special needs.
PC World's Parent Guide to Kid Friendly Email
PC World has a great article about three different emails that contain both parental controls and are kid friendly. Their three top choices are KOL (Kids AOL), Hotmail, and ZooBuh. KOL and Hotmail require that a parent also have an email address with their services. This way the parent can setup the controls on the child account. The process is relatively simple to setup the parental controls including filtering unwanted or unknown messages, or limiting time or access to message boards, chat, and outgoing emails. The child can email the parent requests for access to send email to users not in the approved address book and for more accessibility to other options for their account including time limits and chat ability. One advantage that I see for this setup is that eventually the parent can open up the access and allow the child full-rights to their email account when they are older, and then they won't have to change their email screen name. Another great reason to choose one of these two options is that they are free!
Another kid friendly email discussed in this article is ZooBuh. ZooBuh costs $1 a month, but provides children with a more child-friendly (fun colors, big buttons, easy to read) email. The parent does not have to setup an email account with them, but will have a logon to set parental controls on the email. This site also has other child friendly links and services within their site. This is the most simple of the three to setup, maintain, and use.
ZillaDog
ZillaDog is another kid friendly email service. There is a onetime fee of $9.95 for the service. Parents can set up lists of approved people for emailing and they receive copies of both incoming and outgoing mail from the child's account. When the kids log in for their email it also has a homepage of appropriate (and fun) links for kids to play online. There are no chat room features, spam, or pop ups. The site is very colorful and easy for kids to navigate. It is also compatible as an App for the iPhone or iPad.
Email for Special Needs Kids
The program called ICanEmail is a special program that can assist kids with disabilities both cognitive and physical to use email in a user-friendly environment. The system is setup to verbally ask questions of the user in order to fill out the information in the email. This includes who it will be sent to, recording or typing the message, editing or deleting, and then sending the email. This system is also compatible with many other hardware assistive tools like different keyboards, microphones, switches, and mice. Users who receive email from ICanEmail view the email just like any other email.
IzzyMail is another program that allows individuals with special needs to automate the process of emailing. This system uses speech-to-text software to send emails within current popular emailing programs like Gmail, Hotmail, AOL, and WebMail.
Email Etiquette & Use
Now that there are many options for kids to use email safely, there are just a few more sites that have tips for kids to use email appropriately:
1. Email Etiquette Rules
2.
Kids Domain: Netiquette
3.
Emailing Exploration 4 Kids
-Article by Laura Ketcham
Free Teacher Resources | Special Education by MangoMon
Posted by Amanda Kenuam on Fri, Jun 04, 2010
Over the summer, many students will be spending more time, possibly unsupervised, on the Internet. With the popularity of social networking, blogging, wikis, YouTube, and ‘Googling', many children may be exposed to inappropriate material for their age. Online safety should be a priority for teachers and parents to stress during this time. A good time to cover a lesson on Internet safety would be the last few days of school, while other assignments, activities, and lessons are winding down. Here you will find a variety of resources you can use in your classroom or pass along to parents to teach and inform about online safety.
Kids Online Resources
The Kids Online Resources
provides links of relative information for safe surfing, blocking software, and filtered search engines. The safe surfing links include resources from police departments, government agencies, and non-profit organizations about guidelines for use of the Internet by children. It also has game links for students to play to actively learn about online safety. The blocking software includes applications that can be installed on the computer to block and monitor child use of computers. The filtered search engines include child-friendly search engines for finding research information and school-related materials. Ask Jeeves for Kids, Yahooligans, and Animal Search are great resources for children to use in lieu of Google or Bing. Google and Bing do not filter results for children.
The Teacher's Guide
The Teacher's Guide
has a page devoted to Internet Safety. This site provides information for parents and teachers about email, browsing the web, chatting online, parental control tools, and other online resources for further information. Each of the sections of this site provide tips for why these technology tools are important and provide positive benefits for children along with their risks, tips for parents, and ways to be actively involved. This site also includes general technology links about virtual field trips, interactive sites, online reference tools, software, and SMART boards.
Life Skills Activities for Secondary Students with Special Needs
Life Skills Activities for Secondary Students with Special Needs is a textbook that I found available through Google Books. I found a very informative and fun lesson for middle and high school students to teach about social networking. It includes brainstorming activities that correspond to a worksheet, discussion and extension activities, along with an evaluation tool. The lesson encourages the teacher to lead a discussion with the students about the typical use of the social networking sites, the differences between the sites (what is appropriate where), along with site safety. This textbook is a great resource for 6-12 students with special needs to learn skills for independence and life success.
Safe Kids
The Safe Kids website has a link for an online safety quiz. This quiz is best suited for elementary students who are able to read. The quiz asks approximately 10 questions about what are appropriate and inappropriate activities while on the net. When the students finish, they are returned to the main page for the Safe Kids website. This site contains comprehensive information about safety for children with various types of technology including computer, the Internet, cell phones, and social networking.
Online safety is an important lesson to include at all grade and ability levels. Students should be actively involved in the learning about online safety as well as parents being informed of tips, sites, and other information about online safety.
-Article by Laura Ketcham
Free Teacher Resources | Special Education by MangoMon