Welcome back to school! I hope everyone enjoyed their extra long Christmas recess. I feel blessed to have had so much time with my family, but I am very happy to be working with your wonderful children once again. For the new year we are starting many new projects. Here is what we have been working on the last two weeks.
First Grade:
Going Places Safely from Common Sense Media
The students have been learning how the Internet is an amazing tool that allows us to visit amazing places without ever leaving our home or school. They also learned that, just like on real field trips, there are specific rules that we need to follow when we go online in order to stay safe. These rules include: Always ask a teacher or parent first before going online, only talk to people you know, and stick to places you know are just right for you. We went on virtual field trips to the Museum of Modern Art in NYC and the San Diego Zoo - Check out the project resources page to see the links the students used. We also visited with my grandpa over face time.
Second Grade:
Staying Safe Online from Common Sense Media
The students have been learning the importance of choosing websites that are good for them to visit, and avoiding sites that are not appropriate for them. First students learned about the similarities of staying safe in the real world and staying safe when visiting websites. Next they learned about the website traffic light to decide if a site was green (good), yellow (use caution and ask an adult), or red (stop and exit out). Our next lesson will be on the importance of keeping our private information private when online.
Third Grade:
New Years Resolutions
The third graders have been working on setting goals for computer class for the new year. Several students had goals pertaining to becoming better keyboarders. They created drawings using Google Drawing to show what resolution they chose. Then we are inserting all our drawings into a class Resolutions presentation. If your child would like to work on their typing skills at home, please check out the typing tab of the class blog.
Fourth Grade:
Digital Citizenship Pledge from Common Sense Media
The fourth graders have been learning about what makes up a community, and how to create a positive online community. We worked on establishing expectations for online behavior and we collaborated on a class motto. Our next lesson will take what we learned about positive online communities and transfer that knowledge into how to write and comment on a blog post.
Fifth Grade:
Talking Safely Online from Common Sense Media
The fifth graders had some wonderful discussions this week about who is and is not safe to talk to online. They discussed the difference between an Internet only friend, and an in-person friend. We discussed what information should ALWAYS be kept private and what to do if someone online started asking them for private information. I was really proud of the insight and positive discussion from this group this week!
