Elementary Web World

Manners Can Be Fun or Netiquette

2011-05-08T14:40:00.000-04:00

It's no coincidence that all of us struggle to teach our children how to behave appropriately. Cell phones at the dinner table and the prevalence of all kinds of hand held devices make an already difficult task even more complicated. Added to this is the kinds of things that one needs to know to email correctly, and it is overwhelming. Email is no longer the tool of choice of teenagers; many people prefer texting to email but that doesn't mean learning about appropriate behavior using email is not worth teaching.The site pictured above features Parent Advice about manners in the digital age. Enjoy and employ!

Interesting presentation about Parenting Digital Kids

2011-04-20T21:33:00.000-04:00

'Parenting in the digital age' on slideshare

View more presentations from David Truss

What Do You Know About Email Hoaxes??

2011-03-31T13:35:00.001-04:00

The news is filled with people who have lost money from email scams and most of us believe that we can spot such a scam if it comes our way. However, it is not always that easy. Quite often I get an email from someone asking whether something they got in email is legitimate or not. There are many ways to check. Many times people ask if an email warning about a virus is true. Remember that if there truly is a terrible virus you will hear about it on the news or from your IT department, not a friend who forwards an email. Here is a great site that puts things in perspective. If you read it carefully, you will find links that lead you to places where you can check things if you are in doubt. Check out the Mythbusting Resources and Links on the left side. Happy verifying!

Apps for Your Child

2011-02-01T14:32:00.001-05:00

Some of your children may have received a an ipad for the holidays or have access to an ipod touch or iphone. Or you may have an Android device. This site has a little bit for everyone. There are many apps out there that claim to be for kids but it is nice to have others review them and make recommendations. This week, we will look at a couple of sites to help you out in your search for worthwhile apps.
This first site is the Best Educational iPhone apps for Kids. As you can see these apps are divided by age and include the ability to sort by type as well.

The next site, Mr. Coley.com, is not as attractive-looking as the earlier one but it has many, many resources for your use. It too, has flash card apps for Android and the Apple product line.

The last item is not really just a site. It is a Google Doc that is public and is edited by people who are interested in this topic. That means it is continuously edited and updated. You can find it at this link called Recommended iPod apps.

Music is Grand on the Internet

2011-01-13T15:29:00.000-05:00

Do you and your kids enjoy music? The Internet is a great place for them to experience and try learning new things about it. This week, check out some of the sites that allow them to grow musically.

At the New York Philharmonic Site, students can click on objects from the picture above to play games, hear from musicians and explore what it is like to be around an orchestra. They can learn about different instruments and composers as well.

Visit Carnegie Hall and help solve a mystery. The Listening Adventures there require registration so some adult supervision might be helpful. When I was growing up, the Young People's Guide to the Orchestra was interesting to me and I hope your child finds it so.

Another quality children's site is at the Dallas Symphony Orchestra site. There are games there which are compelling and educational.

Happy Listening, Playing and Learning!

MLK Day Family Activities

2011-01-05T21:01:00.001-05:00

Even though Martin Luther King day means a day off from school, you might want to do some activities as a family to honor his ideals. The Family Education network has a variety of resources at their website.

If you ask your children about BrainPop, you might find out it is something we do at school that they really love. Here is a link to their free activities for this holiday.

Gingerbread Activities for the Holidays

2010-12-02T14:25:00.002-05:00

Which ever holiday you celebrate at this time of year, you can appreciate Gingerbread people and houses. There are some online activities that you and your children can do related to Gingerbread. Check them out.
Jan Brett's site allows you to create a special gingerbread house and then print it out. It can be made into a card as well.

This site from Jenny Harris has a different feel to it but the child can drag many kinds of candy in place to design the house.

Another site from Highlights for children provides another opportunity to decorate.

Cure the Bullies

2010-10-31T19:01:00.000-04:00

Someone in my personal learning network brought my attention to this very interesting site called Cure the Bullies . It is a very interesting site that calls on children not to catch onlookeritis and many other interesting "viruses" that are spread by bullies and encourages them to be more active and kind in arenas online where they may think no one is watching. The sound effects and animations are very exciting and eye catching. I hope you will explore it and then share it with your child.

Halloween Fun

2010-10-23T21:22:00.001-04:00

The fun of Halloween is just around the corner. Treats aren't limited to candy. There are a number of sites that have fun things to do that don't involve visits to the dentist or sorting through the stuff. So treat yourselves to some good computer Halloween treats! The site at Theoworlds is easy to use and your pumpkin glows before your very eyes.

Swann's Pumpkin Farm in Wisconsin lets you pick from a number of eyes, noses, and other features and then shows you the finished project.

Quite a few activities can be found at the PBS Cyberchase site.

One of the best sites is this one with an interesting carving tool.
For your children who enjoy Hangman, the Hangman game at Quia will fill the bill!
And last but not least we have the scary stuff at Ben and Jerry's site.

Happy Haunting!

National Geographic Kids Revisted

2010-10-02T20:40:00.000-04:00

This is not the first time I have written about National Geographic Kids. It has just been redone and the results are well worth a visit by kids of all ages. There is such a variety of information that is written in a readable format.

If your child loves animals, check out the animal section.

Children have the opportunity to play a variety of games. Many are related to topics in the Social Studies and Science areas. And there are things like the animal memory game for young children as well as a game titled Stump Your Parents.

This list goes on and on. There are crafts, jokes, reading activities, separated by topic so your child can choose from a number of categories which are interesting to him or her, videos, photos and even an opportunity to enter a contest by blogging about your favorite books. Check it out with your child and enjoy it together.

Google Internet Safety Tips

2010-09-10T20:21:00.000-04:00

The popular news media will not let us forget that there is "danger" lurking out on the web--and there is. But there are some common sense tips that you can use to help minimize the risks your child uses. I can't emphasize enough that even the best filter is imperfect. You have a responsibility as parents to help your children filter what they see and how they react to it. There is a reason why some sites like Facebook and YouTube are not meant for children under age 13. Stick to your guns if you have an elementary aged child; they will have many opportunities to use Social Networking sites for the rest of their lives. Growing up happens almost overnight.
This blog emphasizes safety tools you can use. Google has a great set. The Google search settings are set to a moderate safe level by default. There are settings that can be added to YouTube to block many of the sexually suggestive videos. There are also ideas from other parents who are also Google staff members. Take a look at the site called the Google Family Safety Center

Reading is FUNdamental!

2010-08-29T19:34:00.001-04:00

Welcome to the 2010 - 11 School Year!!

Greetings! I'm the Lower Division Technology Coordinator. Throughout the year, I'll be writing to inform you and your children about Web sites and tools that might be useful to you. I hope you will find it helpful.
During elementary years, websites for class projects and work are provided for your children. While everyone talks about Googling and your children certainly know about it, it is not useful for them to spend their time in this way. You may already know that each grade has its own webpage where you can find links to project resources and age appropriate sites. To get there, simply point your browser to http://www.berkeleyprep.org/lower/llinks/llinksindex.htm.
If you have questions about your child's computer use or would like to suggest a topic to be explored, please feel free to contact me via email or call my office at extension 2350.
This week's post has two websites for you and your child to explore. For the younger set, you will find a variety of activities at Pinky Dinky Doo. There are games and other activities with a strong emphasis on reading. There are also podcasts that can be downloaded and put on your itouch, iphone, or MP3 player.

If your child is older, an exciting site for helping her select books is one that is filled with reviews of children's books. It has a searchable database that can find stories by genre, age, author or title. It can be helpful for adults looking to find books to buy as gifts or by students searching for that "Just right" book to read. Each book title has a short review to help find out more about the book. The site is called Story Snoops and is one of those sites where one could spend lots of time. Hope you will use this site and come back to it often.

Why Keep a Reading Log?

2010-08-15T19:35:00.003-04:00

Although my own children are now grown, I remember some struggles to get at least 20 minutes of reading done every night. I imagine it is even harder with the distractions of "screen time" interfering even more with time to read. A wise teacher shared this on his blog recently and I think it might be fun for you to share with your child. So here it is--Why Read?

Sensibility and Balance

2010-07-04T12:23:00.008-04:00

I know it is summer but I can't help but share this post from Detroit Free Press columnist and well known author Mitch Albom. After attending the ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) conference this past week, keeping a balance in the lives of our digital kids seems more important than ever. While our kids operate at twitch speed, if we are going to teach them to solve the problems of the world and of their lives, we need to help them develop skills for the long run. Once again, it is all about balance so when I saw this article, it made good sense to me. Although I am an advocate for technology use for both teachers and kids, sometimes it takes over our lives and theirs. Take a look at this article by Mitch and think about it as you choose what to do this summer.

Some things to do online this summer??

Magic Tree House

Science Bob

and e-Learning have enough activities to keep the kids busy on these rainy days.

Parent Resources

2010-05-05T10:57:00.003-04:00

With summer coming up, some of you may want to find resources to keep your child interested and engaged in activities which will help them retain the skills and concepts they learned during this school year. Help is on the way at the Internet 4 Classroom site. Resources are categorized by subject area. Featured are things that can be printed out or used online. There are sections for Reading, Math, Internet Safety, and even resources for Spanish. Take some time out now to bookmark it so you can use it during the summer.

Engineering and Science Discovery

2010-04-29T20:53:00.003-04:00

One of the treats at our Science Discovery Day last week was having BPS graduate Brandon Suarez, now a graduate student at MIT, present to talk about engineering with the students. They learned something about his work and had a chance to try their own hand at aeronautical engineering, his specialty, by making a special kind of paper airplane. As the mom of two engineers, I am always on the lookout for sites that feature engineering and one came across my desk this week. This site is designed for 9-11 year olds and has several exciting adventures involving engineering. Enjoy this site.

Facebook Settings

2010-03-31T11:31:00.004-04:00

Even though children under 13 are not supposed to have Facebook accounts, more and more parents are allowing their children to have them. (They are not supposed to have them because of the COPPA law) Some of you may also have children that are 13 or older but still not old enough to navigate the perils of Cyberspace without some parental supervision. Common Sense Media has grown into a very good site for parents to consult when thinking about what kinds of things are appropriate for their children to do online. A good example is a recent story about Facebook.

There are also resources there for you to use when you talk to your children about Internet Safety as well as reviews of movies and games. Resources are broken down by age groups. Another option is to sign up for their newsletter which comes to your email weekly. I hope you will take advantage of the wide range of resources available for you there.

Talking to Kids About Cyberbullying

2010-03-05T21:40:00.003-05:00

Author Jean Kilburne talked about helping your children be Media Literate. Where can you go to find resources to assist you in these topics? A group called Common Sense Media has many resources you can use. You will find them grouped by age appropriateness. There are some practical problems each week for you to think about and some advice about what games for your children are the best. I hope you will find the Resources for Parents helpful.

So Much Math--So Little Time

2010-03-04T20:24:00.009-05:00

Math can be a difficult subject for children to master but there are more and more resources available to help with that task. Several new ones have come to my attention recently. On the first one, there is an audio ad that plays but there are enough games that it is worth the wait. The first site has a number of logic games and puzzles.

Fun 4 the Brain has a variety of math fact problems to make practice fun. It features all four operations, and has a variety of ways that children can practice and learn addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. From the home page, click on the appropriate operation and then choose a game within that set.

For older students, there is Math Live which is a site written to help students understand many math operations. It has lessons on a variety of topics from Place Value to Fractions and also a very detailed glossary that can be very helpful.

Resources from NASA

2010-02-18T20:39:00.000-05:00

On Wednesday of this week I was privileged to travel to Cape Canaveral and the Kennedy Space Center to see what kinds of things teachers and students could learn about space and science from the research and photos they have done there. The website associated with NASA has a students section. The material on this part of the site changes often according to what is going on in space. A very interesting part for students to investigate is the NASA Kids Club. There are many different kinds of activities and games in this area. There are slide shows of space photos and levels that you can use to play the games. Enjoy these great games.

The Winter Olympics are Coming!

2010-02-05T18:02:00.000-05:00

There are numerous sites having to do with the Winter Olympics which begin soon. The first two are more general in nature and are full of great things to see and do. On the site of the Olympic committee, check out the interactive cube in the youth section.

At the NBC site, you can find out almost anything you want to know about this year's Olympics including profiles of the athletes and the viewing times in our area.

Younger children will find something that they can read by going to theWeekly Reader site.
This site is really nice because they can choose to have the text read to them.

Students in New York wrote Web pages about the Winter Olympics and its sports some time ago but the site is student friendly and not out of date yet.

If your child is an aspiring sportscaster (or maybe you've always wanted to be one), try out the CTV Virtual Sportscaster site. You must register (an adult) so that you can see the video clips there and record your own commentary to go with the clip and then send it to others.

And last comes a game site called Path of the Athlete from the Canadian Olympic School Program. Hopefully you can all find something to enjoy here.

Thanks to Larry Ferlazzo for collecting many of these.

Find Out What You Know

2010-01-28T21:11:00.001-05:00

This week's site is an interesting way to review and practice skills in several subject areas, particularly math. The site is growing, adding features as college students build games to add to this collection. As you can see from the illustration, there is an assortment of games both single and multiplayer. If you select multiple players, you can join a public game or you can set up a game and invite known players to race you. (This is especially helpful in classrooms.) In case you are unsure of how these games work, E-how has a great explanation that contains everything you need to know.

The site is called Academic Skill Builders and you and your child will find it entertaining and useful. Another interesting thing about the site is that games from here can be played on your Wii. Enjoy the variety.

Getting to Lower Division sites from Berkeley Portal

2010-01-20T21:09:00.000-05:00

Today a student in one of the third grade classes asked a good question. How to you navigate to the portal that has the Learning Links on it if you don't have your favorites list?

Here's how. Log into www.berkeleyprep.org with your user name and password. From the top list, click on Community and then from the drop-down list choose Parents. The Parent Portal will look like the illustration below. On the right hand side you will see the Lower Division links; if you scroll down a bit, to just below the navy blue rectangle, just across from the map, you will find them. Hope that helps.

A Video About Internet Safety

2010-01-12T15:58:00.000-05:00

There are many good resources about Internet safety out and about. In October, a site about Internet Safety was featured--you can find it by clicking on the archives and finding the October 2009 posts. This one is about phfishing, which is a concern with all of us to learn more, please watch the video below.

IPhone and ITouch and Holiday Gifts

2010-01-11T20:13:00.003-05:00

At the National Education Computing Conference last summer, I attended several sessions about using the itouch in education. Because of my schedule, I didn't have much time to think about what I learned there, much less put it into practice.
With the passing of the Christmas holidays, students got ipod touches and their parents and some teachers were talking about the apps that were available to use for kids. Then some of the blogs I read began having information about educational apps that students might want to use, particularly younger children, since the older ones have laptops.
Here is a blog that contains links to ipod touch or iphone apps that you may want to try with your child.
If you have tried some additional apps that your child likes for educational purposes, please let me know.
I'll be doing some more exploring as well and hope to update you as I learn more.

Excellent Free Software

2010-01-03T12:41:00.000-05:00

I am guessing that holiday gifts for some of your families included a computer. This week's site features software that is free that will be helpful to kids in elementary school. As you can see in the picture the software selections are many. For the younger set there are programs that emphasize reading skills, story building and something called Bridge to Reading. If your child is into things from the Middle Ages, the Medieval Castle builder and the Shield Builder are great discoveries.
There are many map games and utilities that will help your child learn geography. Since this site is trusted, you may download from it without fear of spyware or virus. Check it all at Owl and Mouse Software.

Celebrate the Holidays with Computer Activities

2009-12-09T11:49:00.000-05:00

A simple Google search will bring you many computer activities and links for the holidays but some are filled with ads and distractions. Although these sites have some advertising, they are suitable for children and not too flashy. The first site is KidsTurn Central.

As you can see, there is a wide array of things to do here. Another similar site is from DTK kids.

If you celebrate Hannukah at your home, this site is your ticket to lots of activity, both online and off.

Unfortunately, the other resources for this holiday have ads that I consider to be inappropriate for kids.

Digital Coloring Book

2009-12-01T21:23:00.000-05:00

Sometimes when things get hectic during the holidays, kids need a chance to do some unwinding. Now in addition to the traditional coloring book and crayons, you can have them make some digital pictures. Just send them to this week's site at Crayola's Digi-Color

You can see that children have a choice of tools and colors. There is no undo feature but there are multiple pages available if you make a mistake. Most children are better artists than I and my attempts to make a picture showed my lack of art training. But since the pictures can be printed, you could have them design a picture for grandma.

And even better, when I clicked out of the Digi-Color interface, I got a view of the whole Crayola site. It is packed with holiday craft ideas, other kinds of art tools and games, sure to keep kids of all ages busy exploring.

Enjoy!

Kideos

2009-11-19T21:33:00.004-05:00

Most of you have heard of You Tube. There is a Kid-Safe alternative out there. It has a group of videos that are safe for kids to watch and you can sort by age, most popular, or by topic. The site is called Kideos You can see a sample below. Fantastic Mr. Fox Theatrical Trailer | Kideos
The majority of the movies here are for 2nd Grade and under but they are enjoyable.

Veteran's Day

2009-11-11T21:19:00.003-05:00

Today was a day to honor heroes that have kept all of us free and to honor their sacrifice. Since children talked about it at convo this morning, some resources to continue the conversation might be useful.
This site is from the Veteran's Administration and is an especially good site. The next site from the Holiday Zone has a wide variety of crafts, as well as poetry, writing prompts and other interesting topics you might want to explore together. If you want to read about the veteran who visited in convo today, here is a link to his story and his work with the Southeastern Guide Dogs.

Books, Books, Books

2009-11-05T19:56:00.009-05:00

There's a great site for finding books that might interest your children in the upper elementary grades. It's called BookWink and has been acclaimed by the American Library Association as an award winning site. With both podcasts and videos, the purpose of this website is to help kids enjoy reading. You can search by author, subject, grade level or title of the book. You might encourage your child to make their own booktalk or podcast. We'd love to have some to share with each other.

A site to help to find books for students up to third grade is Bookfinder from PBS. Putting in the child's age (up to third grade) or theme returns a list of books that are appropriate for them. There are also suggestions for starting Parent/Child Book Clubs.

Still another site is Kidsreads. On this site you can find information about authors and even write to some of them. There are also materials for book clubs at this site. Books are reviewed by a variety of people and there is an extensive list of book reviews.

Happy Reading!

Another Place to Get Information About Internet Safety

2009-10-31T21:32:00.007-04:00

Being a parent these days is challenging in part because none of us has grown up with all the media that is available to our children. What rules are reasonable in use of the computer? Should my child be using social media at this age? How do we talk with each other about this? Luckily, you are not the only parent struggling with these questions. An interesting website that deals with these issues is called On Guard Online and it is sponsored by the government. It features one of the best online guides for these sorts of questions in its section called . There is a downloadable set of guidelines available for your use. This 54 page set of guidelines is sensible, positive and a real help to parents.
Another section has information for you about spyware and phishing which also put you and your family at risk when you are online. There are videos and games. Thanks to safety expert Nancy Willard and Kevin Jarrett for this site.

Windows 7 upgrade for School Laptops

2009-10-25T17:08:00.002-04:00

Parents of 4th Grade students should receive an email about the upgrade to Windows 7 that they are eligible to get for cost of shipping and handling from Lenovo and Microsoft. Berkeley's technology team is in the process of testing Windows 7 and preparing our network tools to work with it. We expect to be ready to have computers with Windows 7 working on our network soon after the beginning 0f 2010. We are rolling this out cautiously and carefully as are many large corporations such as Intel.

If you are the parent of a 5th Grade student, you will be receiving information about upgrades. Please be aware that the only version of Windows 7 that will work with our network is Windows 7 PROFESSIONAL. The Home versions will not work and we caution you about trying to upgrade your child's laptop to that only to find that you will have to buy the professional version later. Watch for more information coming soon or look at the links in the This Week at Berkeley publication.

Type to Learn at Home

2009-10-08T07:32:00.003-04:00

October 2009

Dear Parents,

Mrs. Driscoll and I are very excited about a new keyboarding program that the school purchased this summer. It offers lessons and games that promote keyboarding skills for students in Kindergarten through 5th grade. One of the things that make it really exciting is that it can be used at home as well as at school at no additional cost to families. It has already been installed on the 4th and 5th grade laptops. It is also installed in our lab and on classroom computers. Mrs. Driscoll has introduced this program to many of her computer classes. However, to use it on your home computer, you must download the program client and install it on your computer.

To begin the process, go to the Sunburst download site. you will need to scroll down on the page to download the full version. There are versions for both Windows and Mac. Choose the right version for your computer. Be sure to use the FULL version, not the update.

Client Installation
Every Type to Learn 4 web user must do this Client Installation.
Note: You must have Administrator rights on the machine in order to run this installer. The client installation places the Type to Learn 4 client application onto your computer. Installation may take about 10-20 minutes and may require a restart of your computer. (Warning—the download can take longer than 1 hour—so don’t expect to have this be a quick job.)

There is a Quick Start Guide at the very bottom of the page with installation instructions. You may use that to help you. Please call my office should you experience problems. (813-885-1673, extension 2350)

Your child has been or will be given a log-in name and password to use with this program. The only other information you will need when logging in for the first time is the school code. It is 107588. After it is entered once, your computer is recognized by the online component of the program.

Thanks for all your help in assisting your child to learn this very important skill. Any reminders you can give about not looking at keys and using proper hand position are very helpful.

Gameroom

2009-09-22T20:52:00.002-04:00

This week's site was first brought to my attention by two fellow technology bloggers, Kevin Jarrett and Richard Bryne. One of the nice features of this site is that it collects all sorts of games on one site without the student having to go to another site to play the game. Games are arranged by grade levels from Kindergarten to Grade 5 and several games are featured each day. You will find this site at http://www.gameclassroom.com/.

ABCya!

2009-09-17T20:52:00.004-04:00

This week's site is one with activities for all age levels. When you get to the site, you can check out activities by grade level. There are some general activities as well. See for yourself at

H1N1 on the Web--Fun Ways to Get Kids to Wash Their Hands

2009-09-10T20:50:00.006-04:00

There have been lots of opinions and articles about the H1N1 virus on the web. Kids seem to be getting the message. Here are a few more fun ways to get the point across! Bill Nye the Science Guy has this reminder.

And in a blast that sounds a lot like the past comes the music video "Wash Your Hands".

Internet Safety

2009-09-01T20:47:00.004-04:00

You probably have gotten your share of Internet Hoax emails. What many of you do not realize that you are jeopardizing your computer's health and allowing spyware to be installed on your computer when you open or pass them along. Often people send me emails like the following (from about.com)--
You should be alert during the next days:

Do not open any message with an attached file called "Invitation" regardless of who sent it. It is a virus which opens an Olympic Torch which "burns" the whole hard disc C of your computer. This virus will be received from someone who has your e-mail address in his/her contact list, that is why you should send this email to all your contacts. It is better to receive this message 25 times than to receive the virus and open it....etc. followed by more official sounding warnings.
However it is often this email itself that is the virus and it is forwarded to you and many other of the person's "friends" All of you have been victims of the email hoax. Perhaps they want you to sign an online petition to Obama or a cell phone numbers being sent to telemarketers warning or emails wanted by a class or a sick child. Either way, they are all hoaxes. Untrue. Waste of your time, effort, and internet resources.
When you forward these or hit reply all, you publish your and others email addresses to the Internet to be harvested by spambots and others who value your email address and sell it to others.
Maybe your excuse is that you think it is a hoax and wonder...or it says it was checked by Snopes (a famous database of Internet Hoaxes and Urban Legends) ...or you don't want anyone to be hurt but instead you can be causing more harms. Even if it came from someone you know, or you wanted to see what it does, don't send it on before checking the facts on Hoax Encyclopedia.
When students sign the Acceptable Use Policy, they agree not to use the school computer and network to forward chain letters of this type. Please help us keep them from being tempted and help them avoid this . If you see something that says FORWARD THIS TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW, DON'T!

Even when you don't send that email, your email address may be sending out viruses without your knowledge. Keep all of us safe and think before you press send.
Picture from springm Creative Commons

Online Games

2009-08-04T10:58:00.001-04:00

More and more connected things in your home give your child an ability to play games and do things with people from around the world, not just with schoolmates and people known to you. This link gives you information and a link to resources that allow you to learn how to use parental controls on your Wii or your X-Box to keep your children safer. Take advantage of these resources to help your child interact with others while still minimizing the risk.

Internet Smarts

2009-07-22T16:43:00.002-04:00

At the end of the year someone asked me about Facebook for younger students. Because of a law the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, children in the US are protected from having sites collect information about them and where they go. That's why sites like Facebook and My Space along with many others have a minimum age of 13 for participation. You can set privacy controls in places like that but part of the problem is that children can tell you if you ask about what they should not post but somehow "forget" what is really meant by private information. They post about where they are going etc. These laws were made to keep your children safe.

Here are some tools that will help you and your children keep out of danger. There are some .pdf files to be downloaded here as well as interactive activities for you and your children to use.

Handwashing Resources

2009-05-05T10:27:00.003-04:00

Worried about the Swine flu? Health experts tell us that washing our hands often and properly can reduce school absenteeism greatly. Check out some of these sites with your kids as you remind them about keeping their hands clearn. The Scrub Club is filled with songs, games, and quizzes that your children will enjoy. Mitchell Musso of Hannah Montana fame is featured on this site "Clean Hands Are Cool Hands". Resources for parents and teachers are also featured on this site. More suggestions for games and activities are featured at this site. At the Henry the Hand site, children can view videos and hear a handwashing song. Hitch a ride to a YouTube Video called Handwashing for Kids or to PBS which has a 13 minute video about washing your hands.

Here's to clean hands and wellness!

Summer Reading

2009-05-05T08:20:00.002-04:00

Celebrate books and summer reading along with the Book Fair now going on in the library. This week’s sites have to do with reading and activities your child might want to participate in online.

Al Roeker of the Today Show has a book club for 4th and 5th graders. At the Al’s Book Club for Kids site you can see videos and recommended books. There are book club guides and suggestions for what you might want to read at Kidsreads. Find a book of the Month picked by teachers with activites to go along with it at Reading to Kids. Especially interesting is the Spaghetti Book Club that features book reviews by and for kids. You can write your own book reviews there as well. Scholastic, provider of our book fair, has a very nifty site called THE STACKS. Scholastic has another book club for younger children that you can join. It has activities and a summer buzz section at Flashlight Readers. Another site for older students is the Planet Book Club. It has Authors of the Day and book talks as well as vocabulary words. If you like Oprah’s picks, there is an extensive list of children’s book suggestions.
And of course, there are activities for kids at your nearby Public Library.

Earth Day is Here!

2009-04-22T10:12:00.002-04:00

Today, April 22, is actually Earth Day. Travel to Scholastic’s Virtual Forest and play a game that asks children to make the best environmentally friendly choices for everyday tasks that they might encounter. This site is rich in content and colorful and has teacher resources as well. There are still more places you may visit to help children think about how to treat the earth. The first is a series of Video clips from PBS. It is called The Greens . If your children are into gaming, there is an online ecology game site. It is a social site where they may play against others and is called Elf Island . It is a game designed to help children play to “do good” for the environment. One can play for free but membership for a fee is also an option. Another “virtual world,” this time with animals as characters is found at Emerald Island, . This site has a membership fee but parents may set a variety of controls to keep their children safe.
Another very simple way your child can be involved in habitat preservation is to click each day on the Rainforest site . Sponsors donate a certain amount of money for each click on the site and the money goes to buy acres of rainforest habitat. It is part of a bigger site called The Hunger Site that has similar opportunities for hunger, children’s literacy, pets, cancer, and children’s health. Clicking on this site every day is a painless way to make a difference.

Pinky Dinky Doo

2009-04-05T17:32:00.003-04:00

This week's site has many activities for children to enjoy. My favorite is the Storyboard and Story Maker but there are many options for games and puzzles, mostly for the younger set. If your child has an ipod, you can subscribe to podcasts of stories for them to enjoy and there is an option for them to create their own video podcast. Included in the mix are also some videos that the children can watch. And even grown-ups are included in the choices. Hurry over to Pinky Dinky Do to experience them for yourself.

Interactive Games

2009-03-30T19:47:00.003-04:00

This week's feature is a site for children to use for review or for fun involving all kinds of topics. Woodlands Jr. High in the United Kingdom has students maintain a site and they've been building it for years. There are sections on Math(s) and Science, a Literacy section, games, and even some Pokemon activities. An area for Pooh makes this a site for everyone, both younger and older students. Enjoy the fun at the Woodlands site.

Sites for Parents

2009-03-09T15:45:00.001-04:00

Sites for parents and families are the topic this week. The first site has to do with video games and screen time with that medium. You are encouraged to think together about what kinds of rules you will have about your child’s use of video games in any kind of “screen time”, not just computer use. You will find Get Game Smart to be a helpful parenting guide . Facebook and other social networking sites have been in the news quite a bit lately. The second site, OnGuard Online, gives you tips about what to know about computer security, email scams, identity theft, spyware, and malware as well as working guides on social networking.

To the Zoo

2009-03-03T13:02:00.003-05:00

Thanks to my Twitter friend Kevin Jarrett for mentioning Switcheroo Zoo in his blog this week. Zoos can be lots of fun for kids, whether they are real or imaginary activities. The first is a set of animal games at the Switcheroo Zoo . The site includes the Switch Zoo Critter Chorus, a mystery, a build your own habitat area and animals you can create by mixing animals. Tampa is home to two “real zoos”. See the information at Lowrey Park Zoo and Busch Gardens. Or take a virtual trip to some other zoos. The National Zoo in Washington has lots of animal cams that let you see what is going on in various areas at the zoo. Or visit the San Diego Zoo and see their animals live. For another type of animals, visit the web cams at the Monterrey Bay Aquarium at Enjoy the animals!

Johnnie's Pages

2009-02-23T21:17:00.003-05:00

The best kinds of sites often have several levels of activities. Johnnie's Page has many types of activities for students of all ages. The first is for reading. It contains stories for beginning readers, some stories for most readers and a series of myths and legends for older readers. Most of the sites are interactive. Check them out. The same web page builder has also collected many sites for math. The site features activities for students who are just beginning to count to activities for statistics and probability. Check it out here . Another collection by the same person includes puzzles and logic games of all kinds.

KidsKnowIt Network

2009-02-10T10:34:00.000-05:00

The Kids KnowIt Network is full of activities and interesting facts for children. Scrolling down on the page offers a glimpse into each section. There is an extensive list of dinosaurs, a section on outer space and another on astronomy. There is a game section as well. You can input your child’s spelling list into the spelling section as a way to practice the week’s words. See it all at this link.

Photo Searches

2009-02-03T12:56:00.007-05:00

Hello everyone,
In several classrooms and the computer lab, projects are beginning which include using pictures and photographs to enhance and enrich presentations. There are many sources of photographs on the web but many of them, including Google images, are not appropriate for use by the students for both safety concerns and copyright issues. There are links to sites which have copyright-free photo sources on the Picture links page of is actually a safe Flickr search tool. When your children use this at school they will be supervised carefully by their teachers since no site can guarantee that an inappropriate item will not slip through. If something does, this gives us a chance to teach how to handle such instances. We ask that you use the same kind of supervision at home if your children use these tools there. Before your child uses this site for the first time, please be sure that safe search is on. When you click the link the top of the site should look something like this.
Learning Links, . One of them which I added recently, called Creative Commons Safe Search,

If it does not, clicking on the “Off “button that follows the Safe Search would change it to “On”. If you have questions, please call me at extension 2350.

Creativity Rules

2009-01-27T20:54:00.000-05:00

Big changes in the way students use the Internet are moving them into the 21st Century. Studies have shown that children today expect to contribute and interact freely with others. Many of your children are already familiar with social networking sites like Webkinz or Club Penguin. This week's sites are on the web but let children be creative in the online world. The first site is Qubo where children can create movies with provided resources. To sign up, they need to submit your email address and you have to OK it but there is no charge.
A site that third grade has been using in computer class that might be interesting to 3rd grade and above is Scratch. Mrs. Hillmer has also been using this in art class also. It requires that you download the program to your computer. Scratch comes from MIT and is a very interesting environment for your children to explore.
Have fun creating!

Martin Luther King Resources

2009-01-12T21:33:00.002-05:00

On January 19, Dr. Martin Luther King's birthday is celebrated. You and your child can spend some time learning about his life and thinking about heros and making a difference using his example. Some websites will help you. Family Learning Network has several activities on their site. You can read and listen to the "I Have a Dream Speech" at this site. You can take the day to join one of the service projects registered at the government site called Day of Service. The Seattle Times has lots of photographs of King's life on its website.
We hope that whatever you do, you will take a few moments to remember his contributions to our society.

Chinese New Year

2009-01-12T21:24:00.006-05:00

January 26 marks the celebration of the Chinese New Year! You and your children might enjoy learning more about it. This site from the British Council has a puzzle to put together and then an audio story to read when that puzzle is completed. This site from the History Channel has a video explaining the holiday. The next link has a series of Chinese New Year Games and is from PBS. An easily readable site from Topmarks has good information as well.

Science Anyone?

2009-01-06T08:20:00.003-05:00

This week’s spotlight shines on a couple of games that take some science principles to work but are also good fun. Take a look at the Science Museum‘s game . where you can play a game or create one of your own. This same museum has a game about building a “green” building as well. Or stroll over to National Geographics Interactive Adventure for the Tomb of the Unknown Mummy There’s also Who Dunnit at Cyberbee. Have fun. If you have any suggestions for fantastic web sites that your children love, please share them with me.

Holiday Tech Ideas

2008-12-15T14:58:00.001-05:00

There’s not much time to do your holiday shopping but here are a few ideas that use technology. Scholastic has come out with a new series of books for the upper elementary detectives in your home and so far there are two of them that have been released. The first one is called The Maze of Bones and the second is One False Note. A website, http://www.the39clues.com/ goes along with the books and after reading the book, you may answer the clue online. Children always enjoy programs like The Print Shop or Printmaster that combine creativity with poster making. If your child enjoys picture taking, Kodak and Nikon each have several digital cameras for under $100.00 that take good quality pictures. Getting a camera with an SD card is a good idea since our laptops a card reader for SD cards built in. There are two easy to use video cameras, the Flip video and the Kodak Zi6, both of which are the size of a small digital camera.
Happy Holidays!

Celebrations Online

2008-12-09T12:51:00.004-05:00

There are plenty of interesting activities and sites on the web for your children to explore that relate to some of the holidays celebrated at this time of year. For Christmas fun, you may head to the Christmas Site or to Primary Games . Another Christmas site features some PowerPoint games. The Rudolph is Missing game is another treat. At NorthPole. com one can follow Santa’s sleigh as it travels around the world and do other fun activities.
Hanukkah Puzzles is an interesting site for older students. A site called Apples for the Teacher has some activities here and a site called Akhlah has a lot of different activities as well. You can find both on and offline activities here at the AcademyBJE. The granddaddy of the sites is found here and called Chanukah.
Children’s activities and information about Ramadan can be found at Children’s Month of Ramadan.A very interesting site for holidays around the world is found at the online site of Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry
However you celebrate, best wishes for a happy holiday season.

Winter Fun--Snow without the Cold

2008-11-20T16:12:00.001-05:00

Winter activities are plentiful on the Internet. Here are a few to get you started. Make an online snowflake at http://snowflakes.barkleyus.com/ or at http://www.zefrank.com/snowflake/ or http://ww2.unime.it/weblab/mirror/ExplrSci/dswmedia/snwflak6-adv.htm. Making a snowflake online here increases a donation to the Salvation Army. http://www.aadl.org/node/3348. Still another type of Koch snowflakes is made with a drag and dropi interface at http://www.papersnowflakes.com/games/kochflakes/kochflakes.htm and a Noggin version at http://www.noggin.com/games/snowflakemaker/

Learn how to make them with paper at http://www.papersnowflakes.com/. Ben and Jerry of ice cream fame have a virtual snowman to decorate at http://www.benjerry.com/fun_stuff/online/virtual_snowman/, There is a pattern for snowflakes at http://ms-t-inc.com/pdf-file/snowflak.pdf
and another type can be created here http://www.cyke.com/snowman.swf or still another one here http://www.frontiernet.net/~imaging/build_a_snowman.html . South Florida has its own version at http://www.sun-sentinel.com/broadband/theedge/sfl-edge-a-snowman,0,3635913.flash (you can put a Dolphins helmet on here).
Enjoy the season.

Noggin and Kerpoof!

2008-11-18T13:07:00.001-05:00

This week I would like to highlight two sites , one for the very youngest learners, and another that is more appropriate for the older set. Noggin is a site that goes along with the Nick, Jr. network. It does have some advertising on it but it provides another opportunity for you to speak with your children about what advertising is and and to talk about why someone would want to advertise on this site. There is a variety of games here that can be sorted by subject or age. There is also a section for parents that you might want to check out as well.
The site for the older children might be used as a drawing and/or moving making or animation tool. Everything is done online. The link takes you to the instructions for this site so you might have ideas about what can be produced here and how to do that. After you see how it works, you can go back to the home page to start your own. Some things require a purchased membership but there are many things that can be done without becoming a member. Enjoy Kerpoof!

Photo Sharing

2008-11-10T11:47:00.002-05:00

This week’s post is about something that some of you may have already discovered and is a quick and easy way to share your digital photos with people near and far. You can see an example of a Smile Box that I created for the third grade Pet Show by going to http://moourl.com/90vg3 There are three levels of accessibility that you can select when you create a SmileBox show. You can create free shows where there are limited options for both designs and music to go with it. Pictures can’t be printed and your slide show plays in a small window with ads on the side. You can select a $3.99 fee and create a full featured show that you can re-edit, share, print, select a wide variety of designs and music or add your own music. These same features are available as a $5.99 per month subscription or a $39.00 yearly subscription. Combined with the free photo editing software from Picassa, http://picasa.google.com/ you can take pictures, edit them, and share them with friends and family. Enjoy your new toy.

Fun With Books

2008-11-04T13:09:00.002-05:00

Scholastic has many wonderful resources on their site. As a book publishing firm, they support many of the children’s books that are enjoyed by students of all ages. They have added a new part to their site called Games in the Stacks. The site is for older children and has many kinds of activities to go along with the Goosebumps series, Holes, Captain Underpants and other series. Check it out at http://www.scholastic.com/kids/stacks/games/
Your child of any age can read other young author’s work or write a book online at the other site for this week. Enjoy the variety at http://www.biguniverse.com/.

Downloadable Fun

2008-10-28T10:05:00.000-04:00

I usually don’t recommend programs to be installed on your home computer but here are two which I would like to have you consider. The first is a program that allows your child to build things with virtual Lego blocks. The site has downloads for both Windows and Mac and there is a tutorial to help you get started with all you need to know to be a successful designer. You will find LEGO Digital Designer at http://ldd.lego.com/
Another site featuring programs to use with children who are learning letter sounds and early phonics is Owl and Mouse software. You will find a variety of programs for free at their site at http://www.yourchildlearns.com/owlmouse.htm. You will need to scroll down the page to find the reading games. For the older students, the site also features map puzzles and even software to build a town, a castle or a farm. While some of their offerings are not free, there is still an abundance of good things to be had just by going to their site.

Thanks to Kevin Jarrett for the good tips about these sites.

Childtopia

2008-10-20T19:53:00.002-04:00

This week's posting has goodies for both younger or older students. For the younger set, Childtopia is full of games to help with beginning reading, writing, and has lots of just plain fun things to do. There is a section for arts and crafts as well. Find it at http://childtopia.com/.

For the older students, make spelling more fun by letting them spell words with some Web 2.0 tools. Some of the classroom pages contain a link to Wordle which is a place where words may be typed. The more they are typed, the larger they appear in the "Word Cloud". Find it at http://wordle.net/ Still another fun site is Flickr spelling. You don't actually go to Flickr to find it so children should not be searching for images. They go to this site and type the word they are practicing into the space provided and the program returns a series of letter blocks to them. Typing it several times will bring different results. Hurry over to http://metaatem.net/words/

Web Safety 4 Kids

2008-10-13T15:49:00.001-04:00

Some of you have expressed an interest in learning more about helping your children make wise choices online and in some more meetings in which this might be discussed. If you are interested in such a meeting, please email me and let me know if you would prefer a morning drop-off meeting or one before pick- up in the afternoon. In the meantime, check this website. It has instructions on checking history, information about RSS feeds and other web related information. This site is from Australia but it has information we can use as well. Check out Web Safety 4 Kids at http://websafety4kids.pbwiki.com/.

Halloween Treats

2008-10-07T11:27:00.002-04:00

Halloween is just around the corner. Kids of all ages enjoy the entertainment that the holiday brings, both on and offline. There are a number of good sites that reflect the excitement of the season. The Ben and Jerry’s site is brought to you by the good folks that make ice cream. You can find it at http://moourl.com/y88br . This site presents an opportunity to talk about advertising as well—children need to know that this is another way companies try to get customers to like their products. Not to be outdone, Hershey’s has gotten on the Halloween bandwagon as well but has lots of off and online resources at http://www.hersheys.com/trickortreats/index.asp .
Discovery Kids also has a fun site where students can zap ghosts but it is also full of ads. Find it at http://moourl.com/z94ha Some of the sites are educational as well as fun. For little ones learning about odd and even numbers try the Oswego site called Ghostbusters at http://moourl.com/jrzh0 for even numbers and http://moourl.com/tpcwa for odd ones or counting by tens at http://moourl.com/0gm1l
Carve on online pumpkin at http://www.theoworlds.com/halloween/ or create a Halloween mad-lib type story at http://moourl.com/lbxzm
Enjoy these treats together!

Art Galore

2008-09-29T14:36:00.002-04:00

The computer is a great tool for exploring the world of art. Of course, one can tour famous museums via the Internet but these sites are places where children can explore and “do” art. They offer a wide variety of activities. One is from the National Gallery of Art. You can find it at http://www.nga.gov/kids/zone/zone.htm With titles like Brushster, Jungle, and 3-D Twirler, there are lots of opportunities to try different things. The National Museum of Wildlife Art has a games section which can be found at http://www.wildlifeart.org/Learn/Games/ . Travel to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts to check out their Artist’s Toolkit. It gives the chance to explore line, color, and balance to build art. It is at http://www.artsconnected.org/toolkit/ . While in the Midwest, travel to The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis. Their exhibits feature Dale Chihuly, a glass artist whose work has been displayed at the art museum in St. Petersburg and there are children’s activities for readers and non-readers at this site. Enjoy them at http://www.childrensmuseum.org/themuseum/fireworks_ofglass/games_k2.htm

I Know That

2008-09-22T10:54:00.000-04:00

This week’s site is packed with games to help reinforce skills. Activities may be sorted by grade level or subject matter. Parents might choose to subscribe to this resource for your child if you wish. A subscription to the site entitles you to have the “no ad” version. Students can register (with parent’s permission) and have personalized spaces called My Know That at no cost. The site allows the students to create avatars. I encourage you to talk with them about not posting identifying information about themselves when they use the site. You can find all of this at I Know That.com http://www.iknowthat.com/com

Computer Lab Favorites

2008-09-15T20:54:00.001-04:00

This week's site has great choices for Lower Division students. It is a site from Scholastic and is called Computer Lab Favorites. Children may spin a wheel to get a random activity. There is a way to build a character description to a Clifford Activity to a Sports Store Mystery. Hurry over to http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/clf/ and pick something fun to do.
Thanks to my Twitter friend Kevin Jarrett from New Jersey for sharing this on his blog.

The Space Place

2008-09-09T15:36:00.001-04:00

This week’s site is full of interactive games about science for your child to enjoy. There are games for several different ages. It is called The Space Place and is run by NASA. Hurry over to http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/en/kids/games.shtml and blast off for fun.

Animoto

2008-09-02T16:25:00.002-04:00

Web 2.0 is here! Recently there has been a lot of press about the term Web 2.0. Many more people are producing information that becomes part of the web. While the Encyclopedia Britannica was an example of Web 1.0, Wikipedia is an example of Web 2.0. Many of us who attended conferences and workshops this summer came back with many exciting ideas of ways that our students can create content on the web as the outcome of their learning. One of my favorite web 2.0 applications is Animoto. Here you can upload still digital photos you took and make movies with them. The free version makes 30 second movies. You may add music that you find on the site and then a link to the finished video will be emailed to you. If you have a camera that has lots of pixels in the pictures, you may have to resize the picture in order to upload it. Find it at http://animoto.com/

Welcome to the New School Year!!

2008-08-20T23:59:00.003-04:00