"Scienc News" - A science news site for kids

It is easy to browse sites which provide specific topic information, such as kids sites which are based on learning, offer different interesting and interactive activity based games or information for them. I usually review the sites or blogs which are equally useful for kids, children, teachers or parents.

Science News for Kids is a new Web site devoted to science news for children of ages 9 to 14.

Goal:
Their goal is to offer timely items of interest to kids, accompanied by suggestions for hands-on activities, books, articles, Web resources, and other useful materials.

Their emphasis is on making the Web site appealing by offering kids opportunities to comment on and grade the subject matter, get ideas for science projects, and try out mathematical puzzles.

For teachers: They offer teachers creative ways of using science news in their classrooms

Society for Science & the Public, the publisher of Science News, is a nonprofit corporation based in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1921, Society for Science & the Public has the mission of advancing the popular understanding of science through publications and educational programs.

Science News for Kids Web site is devoted to particular interests.

At present, there are six zones:

1- a weekly brainteaser for those who enjoy solving and inventing puzzles (PuzzleZone),

2- Entertaining science-fiction composition exercises for those interested in writing (SciFiZone),
3- Weekly science fair profiles along with science project ideas and tips (ScienceFairZone).
4- The GameZone contains a small selection of logic and memory games, implemented as Java applets.

5- The TeacherZone has materials, including question sheets related to the feature article of the week, so that teachers can bring science news topics to the classroom.

6- The LabZone features a weekly hands-on activity or science project idea .

"Family Web Watch" - helping your learn safe use of internet

As internet use is increased in last few years and number of people having access to internet is increasing very rapidly. Internet is a source of knowledge and learning, but at other side, we and our families are at risk. I try to bookmark all the sites or blogs, which provide any kind of internet safety guides or posts. As a parent and then an educator I can understand that we have to save ourselves from dangers of internet.

Family web watch is one of the blogs which parents can trust, because these kind of sites provide safe online surfing tips and resources.

You’ll find reviews about products and services that can help you reduce your risk to online threats. Other reviews involve sites that parents should watch out for to know where their child should and should not participate. I also post things that I think are safe, fun, and educational.

Ken Cooper, the author of this blog is an enthusiast of "protecting families in an online world". There are not many posts at the blog, as it is relatively new, but you can subscribe to the blog, to get fresh posting news at your inbox.

Blog is very useful as well as interesting for parents, kids and children, because there are many links, advice and tips for everyone.


More sites and posts about internet safety:

* Kids Konnect"- A safe internet gateway for kids!

* The world’s largest Internet Safety site “Wired Kids”

* Sites and links providing help for safe internet use!

* Useful links for online safety !

"Wonder Korner"- where education meets fun

There are a lot of sites at the internet which provide educational plus interactive material at the same time. So the sites are fun to browse not only for parents or teachers but for children also. Today's site "Wonder Korner" is equally informative and useful for teachers, parents and kids.

Wonder Korner is for book reviews, answers to kids question, tools for writers, teacher's classroom projects, parenting articles, family friendly links and crafts ideas.

It started in 1995 as a homework helper siteTeacher Korner provides you fun kids' crafts, puzzles, games, classroom projects, practical teacher-to-teacher tips, bulletin board ideas, helpful site links and more.

* Parent's korner provides helpful articles; parenting news; inspiration & encouragement; book reviews; and family activities like crafts, puzzles, and fun recipes kids can help make.
* Family friendly links provides you a lot of links for web exploration.

An internet learning site for children and teens!

This site is not only for children or teens, but teachers who want to guide their children about basic knowldge of internet and web, this site would be a good source.

“Welcome to the web” provides you step by step instruction based tutorial where you can lean about internet, web browsers, searching and researching the internet.

Welcom to the web is created by Mark Warner, and is a production from Teaching Ideas for Primary Teachers.

What you can learn from the site?

1- The internet section provides you with the information about the Internet, what can it do and how do you move around the internet.
* The internet

2- Guest book section shows you the use of guest book and also give you tips to be safe on the internet.
* Guest book

3- Web browser is an important section of this site, as you would get introduction of “web browser, use of it.
* Web browsers

4- Searching the net-Here you can learn safe use of internet.

* Search the net

5- “Researching on the internet” is basically about printing web pages, finding words on a page and how you can copy text and pictures from the web.
* Researching

6- And the most important part of the site is “Challenge”.
This will test what you have learned about the Internet and if you are good enough to succeed, you will get a special certificate to prove your brilliance!

*

"Stree free school"-helping us improving academic achievement!

In my previous post "Do children and teens are affected by stress, anxiety and trauma?", I mentioned that like adults, children and teeens have anxiety in their lives, and as a result they suffer from anxiety disorders. And as research shows if children are not treated, their performance in school would be poorer.

To help our children keep safe from stress, depression, anxiety and similar mental disorders, we as a parent and teacher can take some action in this regard by first getting the knowledge of these conditions and then look for proper treatment process.

Stress free school.org is a site which provides Transcendental Meditation (TM) program for this purpose. It showcases 40 years of scientific and class room experience with TM method. I am also a regular practitioner of meditation, but I don't believe that only "Transcendental Meditation" technique can be a only solution for these kind of mental disorders. As to my personal experience, I participated in a "Quantam method meditation" 40 hours long course, and results were astonishing. I was very stressed and felt that I was losing my interest in life, before doing that meditaiton course. But just after completing it and practicing it on regular basis proved that I could get rid of my anxiety, depression and stress conditions. I could feel myself happy, satisfied, energetic and more creative than before. I was really feeling sick and physically exhausted before it, but gradually I could overcome these symptoms also. This post and review of the site is only an effort to create an awareness that we can help our children improving academic achiements. Mostly the mental disorder symptoms are not taken seriously, and results are poor performanc in schools, social behavior problems and so on.

What the organization does?

Education & Transcendental Meditation Research on improving Academic achievement by preventing and treating stress, anxiety and depression, and learning disabilities.

What is Transcendental Meditation?

The Transcendental Meditation technique is thousands of years old—it comes from an unbroken tradition of meditation instruction from ancient India.

What is the evidence that the TM technique works?

During the past 30 years, hundreds of scientific studies validating the benefits of the Transcendental Meditation technique have been conducted in 33 countries at 210 independent research institutions and universities, including Harvard, Stanford, and UCLA Medical School.
This research found that the TM technique produces a physiological state of restful alertness, distinct from ordinary waking, dreaming, and deep sleep. During practice of the TM technique, the physiology becomes deeply rested, as indicated by significant reductions in respiration, minute ventilation, tidal volume, and blood lactate, and significant increases in basal skin resistance (an index of relaxation). At the same time, the physiology is alert rather than asleep, as indicated by an increased abundance of alpha waves in the EEG.

More about the topic: Frequently asked questions

* For further posts go for their blog

More research links:
* University of California at Irvine Study Finds Transcendental Meditation
Reduces the Brain’s Reaction to Pain

* University of Michigan study finds improved emotional development in
early adolescent African children practicing Transcendental Meditation

Yoga in an interactive way for children and teens!

It might be surprising to know that yoga can be used as an effective tool for relaxation of children, teens in a very interavctive way. But after searching Adventures of yoga, you would realize that yoga can be a fun, interactive and rewarding activity for parents, teachers and children.

For school teachers Adventures of yoga is a great way to introduce a new educating activity that can reinforce any theme you may be teaching while using story telling, music and movement.

Why yoga for children? (In their own words):
"In the American Heritage College Dictionary Yoga is defined as: "1. a Hindu discipline aimed at training consciousness for a state of perfect spiritual insight and tranquility.
2. A system of exercises practiced as part of this discipline to promote control of the body and mind. Yoga- Union, joining."

While we are not here to promote any type of religion, we have found through our experience that children are able to relax, and meditate, bringing to the awareness of their bodies, feelings and their health.

Many parents are concerned with the cognitive development of their children and spend time teaching them academic subjects. This of course is wonderful but we mustn't forget that their bodies are just as important as their minds and with out the free flow of energy and flexibility our cognitive development is limited as well."

More at this link: What is yoga and how does it benefit children?

The site helps children to concentrate by guiding them through the relaxation and using imagination. Through the imagination and concentration children are actually able to feel their body, or their energy because energy goes where your mind is.
More at: Relaxation and Meditation for kids

There are yoga games, warm up exercises which can be easily adopted as a form of physical light exercise, in a very fun way.

Do children and teens are affected by stress, anxiety and trauma?

Anxiety disorders, Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), and depression among our children are listed as top health problems in America and in rest of the world, situation is not different. But what are the symptoms of these mental disorders and how we can help our children and teens to keep safe from affects of stress, depression and other anxiety disorders?

"Children and teens have anxiety in their lives, just as adults do, and they can suffer from anxiety disorders in the same way. Research has shown that if left untreated, children with anxiety disorders are at higher risk to perform poorly in school, to have less developed social skills and to be more vulnerable to substance abuse.

Although children experience the symptoms of anxiety in much the same way as adults do, children display and react to those symptoms differently. This can lead to difficulties in diagnosis. It can also be difficult to determine whether a child's behavior is "just a phase," or whether it constitutes a disorder."

For whole article at "Child Development Info.comAnxiety Disorders in Children and Adolescents

* Children also experience trauma in their lives. What is trauma and what can you do as a parent to help them? It can be traumatic for children to witness or experience violent crimes (e.g., kidnapping, break-in, attacks, and school shootings) or vehicle accidents such as automobile and plane crashes. Witnessing assault, rape, or murder of a parent can also be traumatic for children.
Children and trauma: How to help

* An article from BBC.co.uk-Parenting page:
Some estimates say that up to ten per cent of children in middle childhood may suffer from depression.

What might stress your child, Common causes include:

- arguments between parents or parents splitting up
- falling out with friends
- being teased too much
- being overwhelmed with work or homework
- school tests
- holidays

To read full article:
Moods, stress and depression in Primary School children by:Claire Halsey

* But how to help our children keep safe from stress, depression and other mental disorders?
"Lite Books" is a commercial site, but I saw very interactive books, cd's and other material, which can help us in this connection.

"Lite Books"was created to inform, educate and share ways we can counteract stress and give our children the tools they need to ease anxiety, manage anger, promote sleep, boost self-esteem and enjoy relaxation.
Even the most conservative, traditional parents are comfortable with our books, curriculum and "Indigo Dreams" CD Series. Proven techniques of breathing, visualizations, affirmations and muscular relaxation are recommended for:

ADHD, posttraumatic stress disorder or PTSD(an anxiety disorder associated with serious traumatic events and characterized by such symptoms as survivor guilt, reliving the trauma in dreams, numbness and lack of involvement with reality, or recurrent thoughts and images) , Aspergers, Autism, Night Terrors, Obesity, Self-Esteem, At Risk Teens, Stress Management, All Anxiety Disorders,Anger Management, Sleep Difficulties, Imagination Stimulation, Depression, Migraines, Stomach Aches, Bullying, Pain Management, Trauma, Focus, Hyperactivity, Increase Creativity, Addictions, Phobias, Panic Disorder.

LiteBooks.net - Stress Management books/CDs and other products for children, teens and adults.

Search for the kids sites at "Kinder Start"

Searching for kids sites at the net could be a time consuming task. Because if you search at usual broad search engines like Google, Yahoo or MSN, you would get thousands or millions of results, but as that search is not focused and it might take hours to search for the useful resources, better to search sites at specific topic search engines.

I have written posts about some search engines which provide the site links safe for children. Today I am here with a review of a directory plus search engine, which is focused on children 0-7 years on the net.
As far as I searched the site, there are lot of useful links and informative sites. It is the largest and most popular indexed directory and search engine for kids.
Site was created in May, 2000 with funding from a group of private investors.
Mission (In their own words): To provide parents, grandparents, foster parents and teachers with the most organized, and easiest to use index and search engine available.


Their motto or trade mark is: "Because Kids don’t come with instructions"

KinderStart.com has added resources for teachers of young children and even young users.

How to use the site: When you click on the home page link, you would be provided with topics, and each topic takes you to another page with a lot of site links. KinderStart has given some description of the site, so you can search for your favourite sites easily.

Sign up to receive their newsletter: link

How to shape your child to an excellent character!

This is a free e-book for parents, and educators, who are concerned not only about their children's future, but about development of their young ones as a good human, a good muslim. This parenting book is a short manual, but it would be a very useful and informative for all.

This book is from "Islamic World.net and book is an effort from "Women's club, University Kebangsaan,Kuala Lumper, MALAYSIA"

In the introduction section it says:

"According to Imam Al-Ghazali, a child is like an uncut diamond. The parent's responsibility is to cut, shape, and polish their child's soul until it becomes a glitteringly beautiful jewel, pleasing to the eye of Allah. Clearly, it is the parents who determine whether their children will become of fine character or not.

Every parent wishes to raise their children to become noble souls, good in every way; but, many do not know how to achieve that goal in an effective manner.

There are two primary requirements:

1- Parents have to know how a child's character or personality is developed.

2- Parents must themselves possess right values that will act as the basis for shaping their children's character; these right values are the traditional values of Islamic Character, and children must be raised to understand their role as Representative of Allah in this world (Khalifah Allah).

By combining these two necessary aspects of character development, parents will be able to shape their children to be excellent individuals in this world and the next.

And summary of the book says:
* It is best to shape your children's good character from an early age, but it is still not too late to correct the character of children of any age group.

* Children should be encouraged to be well behaved through directed positive influence. Reward them immediately when they do good. Gently admonish them immediately when they do wrong. Explain to them what they have done wrong, and clarify why it should not be repeated.

* Children need to be educated to observe certain limits in their freedom of action, and these are the limits that have been clearly set out for us by Allah when he gave us Islam as our perfect plan for a right life.

* We need to be consistent in encouraging positive values at every time and in every place.

* The application of Islamic values in raising our children is the best way to encourage the development of positive character.


Start downloading from this page:
Shaping Excellent Character-A manual for parents e-book


(I have taken these images from the book.)
This book is also available for non-muslim parents:
Shaping excellent character- A manual for parents (For non-muslims)