Kid Safe Portals

Objectives:

Students will be able to: 

1.) Familiarize themselves with kid portals

2.) Create a guide for parents as to what kid safe portals are and how they can be found and used.

 

Introduction:

You might be wondering, “What is a portal?  And where will I find one?”  If you’re wondering, go no further, we will answer all of your questions about portals within this assignment.  There is tons of information on the World Wide Web that can be great for children, but on the other hand, there is also tons of information that is not so great for children.  As parents and educators, we need to be aware of which sites are useful and appropriate and which sites are not.  Children need to be guided through the web to ensure positive and safe learning environments.

 

Activity: 

To begin this activity, read the article: KID PORTALS: Safe Playgrounds in Cyberspace

This article will familiarize you with what kid portals are and give you examples of three popular portals.  Be sure to click on the links throughout the article and review the kid safe portals.  After you’ve read the article and checked the recommended websites, complete a search of your own for “kid safe portals.”  See if you can come up with other kid safe portals and review those as well.  Be sure to note the web addresses of the portals you find. 

 

Assignment:

You will create a brochure that tells parents and children about kid safe portals.  Within this brochure, you will include information on what kid safe portals are and a list of at least 5 of your favorites (be sure to include the title of the website AND the web address).  You must provide an annotation/description for your favorites.  Within the annotation/description tell what you did like and what you didn’t like about the portal and what you would change. 

 

When you have finished with your brochure, send it via e-mail to me at nsiegel@mcdaniel.edu.

 

Rubric:

 

 

1

Student has completed the brochure, and listed less than 5 kid safe portals.  There is little or no description of the listed sites.  Sites are not kid friendly.

 

2

Student has completed the brochure and listed less than 5 kid safe portals and annotations that lack description.

 

3

Student has listed 5 or more kid safe portals and has given a thorough description of each. 

 

Resources: 

Mama Media:  http://www.mamamedia.com/

Kid safe web portal linked linked in article.


Kids Channel:  http://www.surfmonkey.com/

A kid safe web portal linked linked in article.

 

Alfy:  http://www.alfy.com/

A kid safe web portal linked linked in article.

 

Search Gofernet.com:  http://www.gofernet.com/kids_portals.htm

A search engine for kid safe websites.