Garfield Offers Kid-Safe Interactive Community, Internet Safety Kit
PCS Edventures! is now offering its customers Children's Technology
Group's Garfield Island, a safe and secure Internet community for students, available online at www.garfieldisland.com. Developed for children from 4 to 14 years of age, Garfield Island is a free Web browser that allows students to surf only pre-approved Web sites. Additional free features include Desktop Lockdown, which prevents students from accessing files and programs, as well as allows parents and teachers to block students from accessing certain Web sites.
For a fee, students and teachers can join Club Surf, the official and exclusive online community for kids within Garfield Island. Club Surf members receive talking e-mail, encouraging words and task reminders, as well as language and personal information filters. They also receive exclusive educational games and activities, access to exclusive content, and a monthly newsletter customized for children and adults. In addition, Club Surf features an animated talking Garfield as the Surf Guard who comes to life on screen to read e-mail, tell jokes and recite preprogrammed information.
Garfield Island also features a "Teacher Center," which provides a downloadable Classroom Internet Safety Kit to help educate students about the dangers of the Internet. The kit includes a lesson plan, an Internet Safety Award and a flyer to send home to parents about Garfield Island's free Internet safety tool. The "Teacher Center" also allows educators to recommend their favorite Web sites to help build a kid-friendly, educational, fun site for students. PCS Edventures!, Boise, ID, (800) 429-3110, www.edventures.com. Children's Technology Group, Golden, CO, (720) 533-4888, www.abctg.com.
This article originally appeared in the 09/01/2002 issue of THE Journal.