We're Talking About Online Safety

This week, the 2nd-5th grades have been talking about Online Safety.  We have been watching the BrainPOP video "Online Safety", sharing experiences we've had on computers, tablets and game consoles, and discussing different ways to stay safe when we go online.

The most important part of online safety for elementary age kids is for them to have an adult they trust available when they are online.  You wouldn't send you child out into the middle of Los Angeles by themselves, because it's just not safe; the same holds true for kids wandering around the internet.

We have also been discussing the idea of the Digital Footprint.  What you post to the internet travels far and wide, and does not go away.  It's never too young to be aware of this!

A Beautiful Week!

It's been a beautiful week so far at Community.  Such a lovely view outside of the Technology Lab!  :-)

This week, in addition to typing practice...

In 1st grade we played math games in the 1st Grade area of abcya.com.  There are a number of great, FREE, educational games on this site, but many address subject matter that has not yet been covered in the 1st grade classrooms.  This week we tried "100 Number Chart", "Number Grid Fireworks", and several different levels of "Connect the Dots".

2nd and 3rd graders played the spelling and vocabulary games that are a part of the Treasures (Language Arts) online curriculum. They started with activities using words from stories they are reading this week, and then went back to play games using words from stories from previous weeks.

4th and 5th graders discussed responsible email use, school (not private) vs. home (private) email accounts, and cyberbullying.  We also watched BrainPOP's "Cyberbullying" video to reinforce the main ideas.  These guys are at the age where we need to start talking about this stuff.

The Acceptable Use Policy went home in backpacks this week.  Please read and sign it with your child, and return it to school as soon as possible.  The intent of LAUSD's AUP is "to prevent unauthorized access or other unlawful activities by users online, to prevent unauthorized disclosure of or access to sensitive information, and to comply with the Children's Internet Protection Act."

New Headphones And Other Stuff

I'm very excited about our new headphones in the Technology Lab!  They are much more durable than the old plastic ones, and will also be easier to clean.

This week, in addition to typing practice, 2nd-5th graders continued to discuss internet safety.  We wrapped it all up by watching the BrainPOP video, "Online Safety".  It's a great one to watch and review with your kids at home.

In 1st grade, we've been practicing typing as well, but have also been making use of the online components to the Treasures (Language Arts) and Everyday Math curricula.  Everyday Math has some really fun two-player math games!

The kindergarten teachers have been interested in having students work on "beginning sounds" and "end sounds", so this week students have explored the Letter Muncher, Word Magic and Reading Raven apps. Word Magic is especially useful with regards to the skills that the K teachers wanted to target, because you can go into the settings and tell it to focus on "beginning sounds", "middle sounds" or "end sounds".  I anticipate using all three apps throughout the year to help the students practice their reading skills.

Digital Footprints

Hopefully you all received the letter we sent home about "cloud storage". 

As we mentioned in the letter, all LAUSD students are assigned an LAUSD (name@mymail.lausd.net) email address.  We will be using these accounts to access some great built-in Google features this year. 

Each  account comes equipped with:

•         Email address (gmail with LAUSD branding)
•         Google Docs (a free web-based software suite that allows users to create and edit documents online)
•         Google Calendar
•         Cloud Storage

As we prepare to provide students with their LAUSD email, Google Docs, and cloud storage information, we will begin talking about internet safety.  This week we will discuss “digital footprints” – specifically, which information is “safe” information to disclose, and which information is private and should not be revealed online.