Digital Citizenship

"Digital Citizenship is a concept which helps teachers, technology leaders and parents to understand what students/children/technology users should know to use technology appropriately."

This a VERY important topic to instill in children in today's society. It's important that they are aware of the proper ways to interact online. When I taught elementary computers, we would revisit this and Internet Safety a few times a year. I always told my students that just because you're "hiding" behind a computer screen doesn't mean that the rules of safety, courtesy, and anti-bullying don't apply. 

I am including the links below to many resources to help teach this concept to students. It's never too early to teach them how to be safe online. 

Digital Citizenship: BrainPop

5 Videos for Teaching about Digital Citizenship

Free Digital Citizenship Posters

How Students View Digital Citizenship

Ways to Be Kind on Social Media

I Am a Digital Citizen

Digital Citizen Curriculum for grades K-2

Classroom Posters

My New Bulletin Board!

I decided that since the school year is half over, that it was time for a new theme for my bulletin board outside my computer lab. It's a very large board, so the possibilities are endless!

 

My previous board tied in with my lab's Social Media theme. It was a giant Facebook page.

 

Well, my new board is as close to a Pinterest page as I could create. Each board is a different grade level, featuring projects that students have created in the lab. I also have a board titled "I Heart Technology". This is a board that features hearts from teachers. On the hearts they wrote various technology related tidbits: favorite websites, technology goals, memories of technology as a child, etc. This way the students can see that teachers and staff use technology often as well. I will post some pictures of those hearts in a different post.

 

I will also post more details about some of the student projects in a future post. For now, enjoy these pictures. I am super proud of my students and their hard work!

 

 

P.S. On a personal side note, Happy 5th Birthday to my beautiful daughter, Elizabeth!! Daddy and I are so proud of you and love you lots!

Love Live Binders!

I love Live Binders! I think it is very user friendly and easy to organize. That's why I have so many binders now (see tab for the page with all of my Live Binders at the top of this blog). My students use my Computer Lab Bookmarks binder daily in my computer lab. They love it!

 

What I really like about the site, too, is seeing all of the other binders with fantastic resources! Live Binders can be created for any subject, but the majority of the ones on the site are education related. I am including the links to a few of the FANTASTIC binders below! I hope you enjoy them!

 

Also, be on the lookout soon for a blog post about how my first ever Ed Tech PD Presentation went last week! :-)

 

• Free Tech Tools for the Classroom
• Interactive Websites
• Internet Safety Activities
• Common Core for the Holidays
• 30 Webtools to Transform a Classroom
• Angry Birds in the Classroom
• Free Technology Tools for Teachers
• Infusing Technology into the Common Core

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No Cyberbullies Allowed!!

October is National Bullying Prevention month. It's nice to see that there is a whole month dedicated to  bringing awareness to this growing problem.

Whether the bullying is occurring face to face or via electronic means, it's still a serious problem in today's society. In my computer classes, we cover both Internet Safety and Cyberbullying throughout the year. It's important that students are aware of Online dangers and what to do should something unsafe or inappropriate occur.

I stress to my K-4 students that bullying to someone's face is just as serious as bullying them through electronics. This includes via social media, text messaging, email, chat, etc. Bullying is NOT allowed in my classroom and is not tolerated at our school. It can have such damaging effects on a person, sometimes fatal.

With all of this in mind, I am including many links below to help teachers, students, and parents learn more about Cyberbullying and ways to both prevent and deal with it. I pray that this epidemic is one that can be tamed sooner rather than later.

• Cyberbullying Research Center
• Cyberbullying Resources
• National Crime Prevention Council: Cyberbullying
• Common Sense Media: Cyberbullying Toolkit
• Cyberbully Not
• Stop Cyberbullying
• Cyber Cafe
• Stop Bullying: Cyberbullying

All Things Computers

I am working on a review activity for my 3rd-5th Graders. It has caused me to revisit some sites that we've used this year in the computer lab, to help teach about various computer and technology concepts. Here are three really great resources below:

Computers for Kids

Webonauts

Technology for Grades 3-6

For more Great Links, check out my Live Binder site HERE!

Safer Internet Day!!

So, I just found out that today is Safer Internet Day!! Please check out these great resources to help teach kids about being safe online. Luckily today, my second graders were already doing an activity to show their Cyberbullying knowledge.

Enjoy the links below (sorry this post isn't too fancy)!

What Should I Click On?

Safer Internet Day Website

Internet Safety Resources

Garfield's Online Safety

Bad Guy Patrol

Zoe & Molly



Keeping Kids Safe Online

The Internet can be a helpful, fun, and exciting place to explore. However, it can also be dangerous, especially to kids. In today's world, you unfortunately hear many stories of how the Internet has been the cause of crimes or heartaches involving children. It's truly sad to hear. I know I personally worry for my own kids someday.

But, as educators and parents, the best any of us can do to protect our kids while they are online, is to educate them. We need to educate them about the proper ways to use the internet, what's appropriate, and what to do if they should run into any "trouble" online. There are a lot weird and crazy people out there.

Here are some great websites to help teach kids about the dangers of the internet, as well as what to do if they should encounter any problems.

4 Online Safety Tips

SafeKids

Get Net Wise

Bad Guy Patrol