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Kelly Mangan
Dr. Martin
Web 2.0 Assignment

http://www.kidthing.com

Kidthing.com is a very fun and interactive source for children. The company contains a
large variety of games and educational activities for kids on the web. One of the benefits of the
website is that it helps keep children away from other dangers of the Web. The site is ad free
which allows parents and teachers to feel comfortable letting their children/students browse the
site without risk of pop-ups. One fun aspect of the company is that a user is able to chat with
other users while playing games. Another benefit to the program is that it contains activities that
cover a wide variety of subjects. Kidthing.com is not only useful at home, but in the classroom as
well.
Kidthing.com can be a great tool in the classroom. While browsing the online store, I
saw that the website contains a great selection of math games for children from 6 to 11 years old.
Even though my target grades of teaching are Middles grades, I would still be able to incorporate
these math games into a younger Middle grades math classroom for review. I could also use it as
a recommendation for parents to have on their home computers if I notice their child seems
behind on basic math skills.
Another way I could use kidthing.com in the classroom would be during free computer
time. If I wanted to allow my students free computer time, I could give my students the option to
browse kidthing.com knowing that they are on a safe and appropriate program.

http://www.carrotsticks.com

Carrot sticks is a program created by students at the Stanford School of Education to help
children from grades one through five improve their math skills. The program is divided into 25
levels where kids can either work individually or compete with other children around the globe.
One of the benefits of the program is that children can chat with other users but in order to keep
kids safe, the chat is not open to anyone. By using carrotsticks.com children are able to develop
muscle memory which is important in developing confidence in math skills. Carrotsticks.com is
free for kids who only need to work on addition, however it is $5.95 per month with unlimited
practice in subtraction, addition, multiplication, and addition.
Carrotsticks.com seems like it would be a great tool for the classroom. The program can
be used to help get children excited about math by turning it into a competition among their
peers. Since carrotsticks.com allows users to compete with peers, I could use the classroom
setup option that would connect all students through fun online math games. This program
would encourage students to start talking about math and help each other along the way. To
make math homework more fun, I could even turn carrotsticks.com into a homework assignment.

http://kidoz.net/plus/index.html

Kidoz.net is an online product that allows children to surf the web without running the
risk of coming upon any inappropriate websites or pop-ups. Children can watch videos, play
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games, send emails, and explore all kinds of interesting sites. One benefit is kidoz.net even
enables children who cannot read or write to explore the world of the internet. The best part
about kidoz.net is that the amount of information a child can explore is at the parents’ fingertips.
The parent controls what information can be viewed and also has the power to update the child’s
access at any time.
Kidoz.net is a great tool for classroom computers. If the school I am teaching in is up to
date with classrooms for my students, I would want to make sure that while students browse,
they are browsing the web in a safe and appropriate way. If I would be teaching in a classroom
with younger students, such as elementary grades, I would limit the students browsing to
kidoz.net. A benefit of limiting the students to kidoz.net is that, since I have the ability to control
what the students view, I can select the websites that focus in on content we would be currently
focusing on in the classroom. Kidoz.net would be a great tool as teacher because I can allow my
students to explore the web in a way that shows them how much the internet can help them as
learners.

Program Is this program Is it a safe tool Can I use it in Disadvantages?

strong in for students to the classroom?
content related use?
to my field of
teaching?
Kidthing.com -Contains -“ad-free zone” -Only as a game -targeted for
addition, -Downloadable not to teach but younger kids
subtraction, player keeps as practice for
multiplication, children from the students
and division need to browse
game
Carrotsticks.com -Strong in -no “free chat” or -can be used as -targeted for
elementary ability to talk fun practice of elementary math
concepts with strangers new/old material children

Kidoz.net -Not content -password -during recess or -not targeted for

specific protected free time for only math
parental control students to -lots of time
-pre-approved browse web spent monitoring
content and updating

My tables show how each of these resources are useful, and when, in the classroom. The
three categories are important for me as a teacher because I need to know how a certain program
can help, at what point in teaching content can I use it, and the disadvantages of the product. The
best part about it, it is all summed up in a simple chart that can be accessed and read within
minutes. There is no need for me to go back and take the time to review each website and why I
thought it could be beneficial for me in the future.
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