Don't Click On That!!!!!!! Tips for Getting Students Started with Online Research {FREEBIE}

As a digital learning coach this year, we get lots of requests to help come into classrooms and help get kids started researching. The internet can be a big scary place, for both teachers and students, and sometimes it's hard to decide where to even start students when they want to use the internet to learn about something. 

These are a few resources I've compiled along the way, and a few tips to help get your students started on researching. 

A great website to have students start at anytime they want to search something online is KidRex.

Here's a quick description of KidRex: 

I've found that this is GREAT website for students to begin their research. I've never come across anything here that is not kid-appropriate. This is always where we start! 

Next stop is usually pictures. Students love adding photos to their multimedia projects and this is perfectly fine! However, the first place students will usually go is Google Images. Unfortunately, not all of the images on Google are copyright OR kid friendly, so we've found a few other rescues for students to check out that ARE copyright and kid friendly! 

Pics 4 Learning

Creative Commons

Photos for Class

Photos for Class even CITES the source AUTOMATICALLY for students! #winning

If students are looking for music for their projects, Ben Sound is a great spot!

To quickly and easily direct students to these websites, I've created QR codes to each site that you can download below! 

Click to download!

Not sure what to start with? Animals are usually an engaging and safe topic! Here's a graphic organizer to guide students, and so students know what to look for! 

Click to download! 

If you are in need of more quick and easy digital citizenship resources, feel free to check out the videos below. My amazing colleague, Kay, and I created these to be used with K-5 students. They're short and sweet and were created to prompt discussions in classrooms about Internet Safety, Internet Etiquette, Time Management, and Copyright. 


 


  ***Side note- Apparently, a few of the students who saw these videos are under the impression that we've "Left our own classrooms to become movie stars" this year. ;-) Gotta love how kids think!  
Happy Sunday!