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This site was so cool. I created my own comic story. I was able to play brain buster games I read stories and had stories read to me, and watched videos about how to create a comic.. This site was created by Jim Davis, creator of the comic strip Garfield, in conjunction with Ball State University and PAWS, Inc. It give kids the opportunity to explore, create and connect safely with kids around the world. Jim Davis created this site because he felt there was a need to provide a high-quality, free, and engaging web site that could motivate children to achieve their full potential. The approach is kid-centric and tries to close the achievement gap between what kids seek to do on the Internet and standards-based educational activities. The mission of Professor Garfield.org is encourage children to explore academically sound literacy activities and provide them with tools to express themselves through creative writing prorams. It's an Internet destination that is safe, free and fun! The Professor Garfield and Sparktop sites (both found on this link) provide all kids of ways for kids to shine and showcase their talents and abilities! Students can record their own "talent" for Sparkstage (our American Idol-like competition), arrange music with the awesome music mixer tool, create their own comic strip in the Comis Lab, learn to sculpt, or be taught to draw by professional artists in the Art-Bot section. On Sparktop.org kids safely connect with other kids who knwow what they are going through. They find information about how their brain works and get tips on how to succeed in school and life. And they get to showcase their creativity and be recognized for their strengths. Millions of children from around the world visit the web site every month.

Great examples of learning objects... wow.."Check our heroes of the air"

What a fascinating journey for Fiona McIntosh's class - they explored the two historic flights made by Charles Kingsford Smith and his crew. 'It's a pretty amazing learning object. It's absolutely loaded with things that kids love - I loved it. It's got really accurate footage from the period and kept the kids absolutely riveted. They really loved the fact that they were able to make their own newsreel. For some kids it's probably the best piece of work I've seen them do this year! Most students made wonderful observations, comparisons and displayed the knowledge they had acquired.'

TIME For Kids is a weekly classroom news magazine that motivates kids to read! Issues cover a wide range of real-world topics kids love to learn about - and it's the best nonfiction text you'll find! A powerful teaching tool, TIME For Kids builds reading and writing skills and is easily integrated across your curriculum, including social studies, science and math. Includes example articles, worksheets, printable quizzes, graphic organizers, photos, etc.

Since MIT's Lifelong Kindergarten group released Scratch in 2007, kids ages 8 to 13 have built more than 2.2 million animations, games, music, videos and stories using the kid-friendly programming language. Scratch allows kids to snap together graphical blocks of instructions, like Lego bricks, to control sprites-the movable objects that perform actions. Sprites can dance, sing, run and talk. Now, with a grant from the National Foundation of Science, Lifelong Kindergarten is collaborating with Tufts University's DevTech Research Group to make Scratch Jr, a new version aimed at kids in preschool to second grade. The expected launch date is summer 2012.

Kidswirl is a KID SAFE environment where kids can be kids! Connecting Kids, Parents, Grandparents and Teachers

Science News for Kids is a web site devoted to science news for children of ages 9 to 14. Our goal is to offer timely items of interest to kids, accompanied by suggestions for hands-on activities, books, articles, Web resources, and other useful materials. Our emphasis is on making the Web site appealing by offering kids opportunities to comment on and grade the subject matter, get ideas for science projects, and try out mathematical puzzles. At the same time, we offer teachers creative ways of using science news in their classrooms.

"General commercial search engines aren't designed for young learners. What may be the best search results for adults are often difficult for young users to understand. A handful of search engines for kids have been on the market for years, but most don't do nearly enough to ensure that high-quality content written specifically for kids is easy to find. SweetSearch4Me searches only Web sites that our staff of research experts, librarians and teachers have evaluated and approved as high-quality content appropriate for young users. Only the best sites directed at elementary school students are included, and many of the results on the first page were created exclusively for kids."

This is a link to the site for The Center for Schools and Communities. I am linking this site to our district web site. the video "Protecting Kids Online" has some really good information for parents to be aware of and think about with regard to their child's use of the Internet. In addition, the video has kids sharing real life situations that they found themselves in with regard to the Internet. If you have trouble getting parents to come to you, maybe you would be interested and taking this to the community like we are. We are posting questions that came with the copy of the video. If you would like to see the video user's guide that goes with the video, let me know and I can sent it to you.

I am going to be putting this link with this video onto our district web page. It provides lots of good tips for parents and students and also has kids talking about real internet issues they have encountererd.

"Nourish Interactive is your free one stop resource for fun nutrition games for kids, interactive nutrition tools and tips for parents and health educators to use to promote healthy living for the whole family. Created by nutrition and health care professionals, Nourish Interactive's nutrition education website gives children and families the knowledge and skills they need to make healthy choices."

Starfall is unique in that it begins with the basics (ABCs), moves through sounds, and finally reads aloud with the kid. It doesn't require any account or anything! Also, the stories in the "I'm Reading" section are clickable. So the kid can click on the words to have them read for him if he has trouble. Great resource because it begins with the basics and then builds from there. Awesome!

Stories from National Geographic for Kids

A new mobile app is teaching kids new to social networking how to stay safe online.

Think U Know Cyber Cafe is a virtual environment where students can practice their online safety smarts. In the cafe, students will help virtual kids make good choices when using email, texting, instant messaging, web browsing, creating an online personal space, and chatting in a chat room. Students are guided through a variety of scenarios where they must help the virtual kids make the right decisions about using the Internet.

"Top 10 Sites for Creating Digital Music 1. Myna - Far and away my favorite online music editor. This is very similar to Garageband and a nice alternative for those who do not have the Apple application. 2. Soundation - Very easy to use, with a drag/drop interface for creating excellent-sounding music. 3. Jam Studio - Fun site that lets users select a "key" to play in and a theme to match. 4. Loop Labs - Nice time- line editor; learning curve is a bit higher than most sites. 5. Your Spins - Great site for mixing prerecorded music and sharing with others. 6. Indaba - Unique site where users can create collaborative music pieces to make one final product. 7. Creating Music - Very user friendly website shows kids how to create digital music. 8. Contrapunctus Variations - Wonderful site for creating orchestral music by selecting an instrument and clicking on a time line. 9. iNudge - Fun site for kids, who can make music by drawing shapes. 10. Glitchscape - Create sound by drawing vector shaped rectangles. "

Fom the Tech and Learning blog

Canned "web safety for kids" program. Kinda interactive. Kinda hokey.

Yoursphere is a unique social network for kids and teens that puts safety first. Kids love yoursphere because it's private and activity-oriented. Parents love Yoursphere because it's built upon a rock-solid foundation of "safety first".

Great spelling word practice for elementary kids. Kids can put in up to 7 words at a time and then practice them with the fun game.

For younger kids

"Watch, Laugh, Learn, and Share * Largest video collection for kids anywhere * New videos added daily * Videos approved by parents and teachers * Watch your favorite videos and discover new ones * TV mode that plays all videos * Search with suggestions and KidRank"

Colleen Lewis, a doctoral student in Education at Berkeley, has created a series of 22 fun worksheets that teach kids how to program with Scratch. The worksheet questions are put in such a way as to make students think and explore on their own. The material is presented in a kid-friendly manner--colorful and rich with Scratch images and labeled diagrams.