Some Useful Sites on the Internet for Kids
Miss Berndl's Fabulous Fours

  1. Why the Internet is not such a good place for kids to do their research
  2. Search Engines
  3. Research for Kids  I  Libraries  I  Encyclopedias  I  Museums
  4. Sites For Parents
  5. Where to send animal E-Cards  fromI  E-Magazines
  6. About Education
Why looking on the Internet is not "doing research" for most grade 4 students:
The Internet is not the best place for most kids to do research. The information is not well organized and most of the language is way above a grade 4 reading level. Do yourself a favour and go to the public library and get a book out on whatever it is you want to find out about. Learn how to find books in the Public Library. Learn how to use the computer in the library to help you find books on topics you are interested in. Become so familiar with your library that you know where different kids of books are kept. This is where real research for students in grade 4 begins - in books written at their level.

Some students (and parents) think that research is asking someone what the answer is. That is not research. That is getting someone to do your thinking for you. I can't tell you how often I get requests from students and parents asking me for information just because I publish a web site about rocks & minerals.

Here is one email I got:

----- Original Message -----
From: MKR
Sent: Thursday, February 26, 2004 4:11 PM
Subject: question about rocks

 
My son has a project and one of his questons on this project is "what is the hardest rock". I was wondering if you knew that answer.
 
Thank you
KR

Here is my answer:

Go to the library & get out a book on rocks. Let your son find out where in the library such books are. That is how research is best done. The answer is easy to see in the books.

But ...... If you would like to get information from the Internet, then you might want to know about the following:
1. Kid Friendly Search Engines
Young students should use "kid" search engines rather than general engines such as Google or Alta Vista because they will only point to articles that are written at "kid" reading levels and because they will not include "adult" sites.
Yahooligans
Google for Kids

With Adult Supervision - The Best Search Engine (IMHO) is Google ...

... however due to the fact that there are so many kid-unfriendly sites out there, students should not search with this powerful engine without adult supervision. With supervision however & thoughtfully specific search words, the results are awesome. An easy way to "kid-proof" this site is to add the word "kids" to the string of key words entered in the search box.

2. Kid Research Sites

Web Sites for Kids - Listed by the Government of Canada
Link to Learning – by by Kevin McAsh, York Region District School Board

     Libraries On-Line

Richmond Hill Public Library - check out what books they have

     Encyclopedias On-Line

The Canadian Encyclopedia Although written beyond grade 4 level, this site has Canadian information, facts & history
Encyclopedia.com is powered by eLibrary  Free information written at a level above grade 4.

     Museums On-Line

Canada Virtual Museum

3. Sites for Parents who want ideas of things to do with their children

A to Z Home's Cool Homeschooling Site
American Library Association Great Sites Guide
PBS Kids

4. Sites you can send E-Cards from

Animal Greeting Cards

 5. E-Magazines

National Geographic
National Geographic Kids
National Wildlife Federation- Ranger Rick
World
World Wildlife Federation Kids Treehouse

6. Sites about Education

SchwabLearning.org A parent's guide to helping kids with learning difficulties
ConductDisorders.com A site to support parents in dealing with difficult children.
York Region District School Board web site

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