Internet Safety for Teens through games

We all know that the Internet can be a fun and rewarding experience. It is a wonderful resource to learn and play but access to it has its hazards for children. Below you will find four different sites I always use at the beginning of the school year with my students. Through online games I make sure they can surf the web safely.

PBS watch this documentary online about how radically the Internet is transforming the experience of childhood. There is a link to a a blog for parents on the topic.

NS teens can be played in English and in Spanish. There are wonderful games on cyberbulling and some really nice activity cards for middle school.

The Carnegie Cyber Academy is a site created by the Carnegie Mellon University. It  offers an interactive game that teaches Internet safety and computer security in a safe, fun setting. You can also choose  mini-games and extra activities for kids.

The Bully Roundup
An interactive board game to test your bully smarts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Really easy to play and the instructions are very clear.

Feel Baffled in Cyberworld?

Vance Stevens, Rita Zeinstejer, Jennifer Verschoor
Round-table discussions “Baffled in Cyberspace”
to be held, August 9 and 10, 2010 in Buenos Aires, Argentina

Posters:

• August 9 event:
  https://sites.google.com/site/baffledincyberworld/
  No more vacancies for this event.
• August 10 event: Very few vacancies left!!!!!

Abstract:

Learn about exploring Internet tools and how to integrate them into Language Learning, from the expertise of the creator of Webheads in Action (
http://webheads.info
and
http://webheadsinaction.org/about
, the Online Community of Practice (CoP) made up of educators from all over the world.

Summary:

Vance Stevens will present on two occasions in Buenos Aires, Argentina on the work done at the PI and in online teacher professional development groups such as Webheads in Action on integrating technology into the curriculum, from the perspective of training both students and their teachers. The talks will be given in conjunction with two teachers in Argentina who are organizing the event (both long-standing participants in Webheads in Action), Jennifer Verschoor and Rita Zeinstejer.

Part 2: Winter sites for young learners

You can teach a student a lesson for a day; but if you can teach him to learn by creating curiosity, he will continue the learning process as long as he lives.

Clay P. Bedford

Learning is a treasure and children must have fun acquiring new concepts. These are the best websites chosen by my students to learn English and have fun at the same time.

Junior 2 best websites

Building words

Wordworld disguises learning through fun and interactive games. Easy navigation makes it friendly for young learners and first-time Internet users. Students learn how to identify different letters until they form a word.

106 Literacy activities

iBoard allows students to practice 106 literacy activities. You can choose several different topics: Numeracy, Literacy, New Literacy, Science, History, Geography, R.E., ICT, Early years and Old online club.There are loads of fun and interactive games. It is ideal for introducing topics on an Interactive Whiteboard.

Alien Scavenger Hunt

Students listen to the word  and must catch the letter bug to make up the word they hear. You do not need to catch the letters in order. Nice and simple game with a catchy sound for young learners.

Junior 3 best websites

Spin and spell

Click on the picture you want to spell. Dial the letters on the wheel to spell the word. You can also listen to the word and spell it. Really nice site to use with an Interactive Whitebaord.

Photo Munchrs

Students learn vocabulary from the flickr database photos that have been tagged with a particular word. A page full of photos will appear a green word at the top. Your monster must gobble up the ones that match the word presented on screen.

Part 1: Winter break sites for young learners

A great way to keep children entertained during our winter holiday is to allow them to play online games and learn English at the same time. This year I have been integrating several online games in my classes.

Here is a list of the best websites according to my students and divided by levels.

Kinder 5 best websites

Kids safari

Kinder 5 loves this website. They practice spelling by collecting the flying letters that spell the words chosen by the computer or type up to eight words you want your students to practice.  If you touch a bird or animal one balloon will pop.

Matching exercises

Nice visual site to match different images with the correct word. There is a timer for each game. Match school objects, family members, playground objects, animals, different parts of the face and food.

Learning Planet

Students have to complete the missing letter. Really nice activity for students who still haven`t learned the alphabet because they can check the alphabet before each game. Kinder 5 students really enjoys this website.

Junior 1 best websites

Switch zoo

Students love to create their own animal. They can change the head, body and tail of several animals and create their own crazy animal. Students can read the facts of each animal, add a title and a story to their own animal creation.

Spelling city

This is one of my favourite websites. I created a word list for my studens to learn new vocabulary. In order to create a word list you need to become a member. Students are able to learn words through several engaging games.

Connect the dots

Students enjoy connecting the dots and guessing what animal they have created. At the beginning the game is very easy but as you advance it becomes harder.

Please drop by soon to check Part 2 of Winter break sites for young learners.

A PLN birthday gift

On June 27 the same day that @Ozge got married it was by birthday. It was a really special day because Argentina played a World Cup match. Luckily it won therefore everybody was on a great mood to celebrate my birthday.

Before leaving my house to watch the match at a friend´s house I checked my Twitter account and found this message:

My Twitter followers created a beautiful wallwisher with wonderful birthday wishes that all came true!!!! Thank you very much for this unique surprise and I would like to specially thank Twitter Queen @ShellTerrell for creating the Wallwisher and spreading the news about my birthday

You´ve all made my day!!!!