Safe Clicking
Explain that the Internet is a great place to find lots of the things that are listed on the board, but that there are millions of things online so it’s often better to start with a list someone has already made for you.
Go to the site https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/animals/.
Ask students if they have ever heard of “National Geographic.”
Do any students have National Geographic books or magazines?
Have any of them ever watched a National Geographic video?
Now demonstrate how to search for information about an animal by clicking on some of the links.
Explain that text and images on a page can be clicked on and lead them to more information: these are called “links.”
One way to recognize them is when the mouse arrow turns into a pointing finger. Click on “Mammals”: you’ll move to another web page with entries about different kinds of mammals. Scroll down to the entry for “Brown Bear.” Explain to students that they can also open links in new tabs in their browsers so they don’t have to go backwards if they wind up in the wrong place.
Show them how to open the Brown Bear link in a new tab:
on a PC, right-click on the link and select “Open link in new tab”, or click it with the scroll wheel
on a Mac, hold down Command while clicking
on a Chromebook, click and hold the link, then drag it to up to your browser’s address bar
Point out the informational text on the Brown Bear and read it out to the students. Explain to the students that when they start with a site recommended by a trusted adult, it is generally safe to click on any link or image to look at the information it leads to.
Demonstrate again how to find an animal on the National Geographic Kids site and this time ask your students to suggest another animal category and animal.
You may need to review some basics of how to scroll up and down a page, how to bookmark a page (and use them) and how to get back to a previous page in case a student accidentally clicks on a link leading to a different part of the site.
As you progress through the search, encourage students to tell you what you need to do next.
After you have done this second search as a class, have students individually, in pairs or in groups find a picture of either a koala, a giraffe or a gray wolf using only the links on this page.
Note: also make sure that the site is bookmarked on their computer or their device before they start the search (you may have to do this on each device) to be able to quickly come back to it if the students accidentally clicks away from the site.
A text or image that brings you somewhere else on the internet when you click or tap it.
