Date: Wed, 22 Jan 1997 08:25:15 -0600 (CST)
From: Susan Calcari

ANNOUNCEMENT

Now available: The K.I.D.S. Report: Kids Investigating and Discovering Sites

Now K-12 students can read an Internet publication written specifically for them -- not by adults, but rather by other students. The K.I.D.S Report is a bimonthly publication of Internet sites selected by K-12 students for use by other K-12 students.

Students as Publishers:

The K.I.D.S Report is truly the product of the students who collaborate to make it happen. They chose the name of the publication, they choose the sites that are included based on the set of Selection Criteria they developed, and they write the annotations for ee students also choose the artwork for the Web version of each report, and in some cases do the HTML mark-up. We believe the K.I.D.S Report is the first ongoing publication done for kids, by kids.

Many of the positive comments we've already received about the K.I.D.S project (see below) have focused on the fact that the students themselves developed the Selection Criteria to be used in choosing each resource. The criteria they have developed ensures that all sites included arand support, however students assemble the K.I.D.S Report, often around a single theme, such as Ancient Civilizations or Native Americans, which allows for easy integration into classroom work.

Publication Schedule and Delivery Options:

The K.I.D.S Report can be delivered to your students automatically every 2-3 weeks via email, or they can visit the Web site for the current and all previous issues of the report. For more details about the report or information on how to subscribe, see the Web site or send email to kids-request@internic.net. Also, additional details and some comments from current readers are included below.

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http://www.cs.wisc.edu/scout/KIDS/index.html

http://rs.internic.net/scout/KIDS/index.html

mail to: kids-request@internic.net

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The K.I.D.S. Report is an ongoing, bimonthly Internet publication about useful Web sites, produced by K-12 students as a resource to other K-12 students. It is an ongoing, cooperative effort of two classrooms in the Madison, Wisconsin, Madison Metropolitan School District and two classrooms in the Boulder, Colorado, Boulder Valley School District. The publication is supported by the InterNIC Net Scout project at University of Wisconsin - Madison.

The students from all four schools nominated and voted on the title: The K.I.D.S. Report: Kids Investigating and Discovering Sites

Students from the four schools also discussed and decided on a list of Selection Criteria to be used as guidelines for evaluating all potential sites to be included in the K.I.D.S. Selection Criteria are available on the Web site as information to all readers of K.I.D.S., and for consideration by other students who may want to use similar criteria when identifying and selecting Internet sites for their own Web pages.

* From a school librarian in Santa Rosa, CA:
"I'm writing to request permission to reproduce and distribute a screen printout of your site and a copy of your selection guidelines at a workshop I'm doing for children's librarians. I've looked at a number of evaluation checklists, and I think your is one of the best around. The fact that it was developed by kids should be a real eye-opener for some of the people at the workshop, since it clearly points out that the web is familiar territory to many of their patrons! In fact, I think I'm probably safe in saying that some of your students could teach this workshop with ease. What you're doing is very exciting."

* From the Webmaster at the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Toronto:
"Checking it [KIDS], I was gratified to find the criteria on which students are being asked to judge sites are pretty much the same criteria I apply in creating Web modules."

* From a parent in Edmonton, Alberta Canada:
"WOW! I was looking for an informative and creative ways to get my children and their friends interested in the Internet. Yourterrific! Please forward my thanks and appreciation for a job well done to all the great people involved in your endeavours."

* From a parent in Green Bay, Wisconsin:
"Love the KIDS connection. My son (grade 5) is involved in an ongoing social studies project that requires him to act as a reporter once a week. He has been using the Web as a source for material and discovery of this site is perfect."

* From a Harvard Graduate Student in the School of Education in Cambridge, MA:
"I'm using the KIDS website as the basis of a paper I'm writing for a course on children and multimedia. I wondered if you would have time to answer a few questions..."

* From participating students at Cherokee Middle School in Madison, WI: "I didn't realize how difficult it is to be a critic." "We are learning at the same time we are discovering. It is kind of like how preschoolers learn."

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