Word Central gives students a quick word lookup for dictionary meaning, thesaurus, and rhyming words.  There are other interactive tools here.  Students can add to a student-created dictionary, which can be browsed alphabetically.  Word Central guides them through adding a word, and all the parts of a dictionary entry that go along with it.  There’s a daily “buzz” word, and a few vocabulary building games, aimed mainly at middle and high school age students.

Kiddle is a search engine for kids ages 9-12.  Search results are ordered by their kid-appropriateness.

Typically, results 1-3 are pages written specifically for kids, and they’ve been checked by the Kiddle editors.  Results 4-7 are also checked by Kiddle editors, and understandable by children, but are generally not written specifically for kids.  The rest of the results are still kid-safe content from reliable sites.  But kids might find them more difficult to read or understand.  Each result is accompanied by an image.

There are several kinds of searches kids can do.

• The Web.
• Facts, the Kiddle encyclopedia written specifically for children
• Images, many of which are copyright-protected
• Kimages, images from the Kiddle encyclopedia that kids can download and use in school projects and papers
•  News
• Videos

Kiddle is powered by Google safe search, but Kiddle.co is not affiliated with Google.  The font is large for easy readability.  The site does not collect any personally identifiable information.  There are a couple of ads on each page.

Parents, if you find inappropriate words or sites that you think should be blocked, there are links at the bottom to request site and keyword blocking.

It is often difficult to filter through typical search engine results to find articles kids can read and understand.  So Kiddle.co is great for elementary school children doing research on the web.

From site:

Hints about Print, included in an extended research skills unit which also employs the Fact Fragment Frenzy interactive, aids students in evaluating print resources that contain the facts they need for compiling their research. The tool asks prompting questions (shown at left) to guide young researchers in the process of their work. Having elementary students participate in this critical-thinking process early in their school experience promises to enrich further study and enjoyment of nonfiction texts.