Does your child love space the space program? Does he or she dream of walking on the moon or exploring the final frontier?

If so, you’ll love the NASA Image of the Day. Imagine, every day, your child can receive an email from NASA. What a great way to learn about science! It is completely free to register your email address and receive daily photos of a star cluster, real and experimental space ships, planets, moons and more. There’s also an image archive, so you can print out pictures for school reports or to decorate your child’s room.

Here’s the link: http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/iotd.html

Enjoy!

How to stay safe on the internet

NEVER download ANYTHING without a parents permission
BE CARFUL! Don’t give anyone your password, or your name, or your school, or your address, or your birthday. If you already gave your friend your password, make sure you can make a new password!

ONLY I.M, text, and email with people you KNOW!

I said to I.M, text, and email people you know. That’s because there are some VERY mean people out there! They pretend to be kids, BUT THEY’RE NOT!!! If there is someone you don’t know who is emailing, I.M, or texting you you,TELL A GROWN-Up and block them.

Viruses

Don’t open emails you do not recognize! They can give your computer a virus. A computer virus is a lot like flu virus. If you open an unsafe email, you can get a virus and accidentally spread it to other computers. So if you don’t recognize an address, DON’T OPEN IT!!!

Websites

Only go to websites you and your parents KNOW are safe! If you are going to play on a new website, show your mom or dad /mom and dad how it works and see if they think its okay.

Free Internet Safety Video

I learned a lot from a video I saw on Brainpop. You can watch it with your parents and learn a lot!

The End!

I hope you learned a lot! Have a great day!
Photo: Internet Safety Video on BrainpopJr.com

By Jr. Reporter

Poptropica is a very popular website, and I must admit I play it quite a lot. Normally, it’s fun. BUT on Halloween, appropriate words and scenery go downhill. The other night, my friend told me about the “Haunted House.” So, I went to the website as a new character under a “disguise,” and the second I landed in the haunted house section, I knew just from the start, it was nothing but trouble!

I grabbed the key from the virtual bat and went inside. I found the words “Find the draught of the dead.” I told my mom right away!! She knows a lot about about computers, so she snapped pictures, while I found the what should I call it? “not so good stuff.” Then, I inspected the kitchen and found the words “Ice soothes the burning dead.” My mom snapped that too. Finally, I found a picture of a skull. I told her to snap it. Oh yeah, they let kids start doing this at age 6. Note to parents: keep kids away from Poptropica.com for Halloween!

Did you know that the same person who wrote Diary of A Wimpy Kid, Jeff Kinney, is in charge of Poptropica? I found that out by reading Nick Magazine. So, I wondered if we could write to him on Facebook. There are a lot of pages for Poptropica and Jeff Kinney, but my mom said it didn’t look like he was the one who made them. Next, we looked at the official website for Diary of A Wimpy Kid, but it said that Jeff Kinney can’t answer emails. I wish Jeff Kinney would know that some of the things in the Poptropica Haunted House are too scary for kids.

Here are the pictures my mom snapped:

Typing is an essential skill for today’s kids. Touch-typing, or being able to type without looking at the keys, will help them complete their reports and assignments faster because, with enough practice, their hands can move at the same speed as their thoughts. Otherwise, they might forget what they are typing before they find all of the letters.

I discovered Dance Mat Typing from the BBC when I was a computer teacher. I was looking for an alternative to some of the boring, slow-loading programs in the computer lab. Immediately the children started laughing and smiling. Whenever a child types an incorrect key, the program shows a keyboard with the correct key highlighted, and a funny voice says “Type on me!.” It’s non-competitive, meaning the program does not keep score, so it is perfect for beginning typists and for children who are easily frustrated.

At the end of each stage, the animated characters sing a catchy song. If the child wants to hear the song again, he or she can repeat the stage, which is great practice to reinforce learning. At the end of each level, an award certificate pops up on the screen that you can print out as an incentive to keep going.

If you want your child to learn to type, give Dance Mat Typing a try. If your child is having trouble with a standard computer keyboard, try a learning keyboard made especially for children and beginning typists. Let us know what you think.