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Here is a great collection of ideas to introduce the World Wide Web and internet safety
Computers & Internet
Title – The World Wide Web
By – Patricia Walker
Primary Subject – Computers / Internet
Grade Level – K
This is one of my favorite subjects to teach. I begin introducing the World Wide Web by explaining how the computers have to be connected by wires to other computers so we can communicate, shop, find important information (find answers to our questions), listen to music, play games on the World Wide Web.
We do an activity where one person stands in the middle of a circle with a cardboard picture of the world and all of the other students become a computer when they put a cardboard picture of a computer around their neck. I then have students hold a piece of yarn and connect them to each other in a pattern to look like a spider web. I play the game so some students are not connected. I ask “Can Pat get on the World Wide Web to find information”? Why not?
We take a walk to our server room where the students can see how the wires run up the wall and across the ceiling and how the computers connect to one machine. Our custodians have been really great about leaving a place in the ceiling where the students can view the wires. I show them the wires on the computer and let them see where the computers connect to the web in the lab.
I use http://www.netsmartz.org/Parents to teach network safety. I love the “Webville Outlaws”. I have made a copy of each character and put them on the wall in the lab and we continue to discuss how to stay safe on the web.
We watch the video titled ” Computer Capers ” about email.
We compare a web page to a Word document (title page, menu bar, tool bar). I make a point to show them where the address bar is. We learn about hyperlinks by moving our mouse over a hyperlink and watching the pointer turn to a hand, finger or a different shape than the arrow.
I have heard Magic School Bus has a video called ” The Magic School Bus Gets Programmed .” I can’t wait to purchase this video and incorporate it in my lessons next year. The students will be allowed to visit the PBS web site at the end of our lessons on the web.
The most important thing I want the children to learn during this time is how to stay safe on the Web.
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