In this lesson children will learn the importance of making safe choices for safe Internet behavior. Children are introduced to several unsafe situations and shown how to use their tools to make safe choices. The situations include an online invitation for entering a conversation in a chat room. Chat rooms are never safe for children and the concept that a child will really never know who they are chatting with is illustrated. Another situation in this lesson deals with a cell phone search for a math game that ends with a disturbing image being depicted on the screen. Children see how to handle such an occurrence using their tools, especially by telling their Grown-Up Buddy. They also learn about how safety settings on their devices can help keep them safe from accidentally ending up on sites that are not appropriate. They see what to do if they receive an unwanted text message that asks for personal information. Also, they learn to never respond to someone they don’t know with any personal information or picture over the Internet. In this lesson they also learn that once a picture, personal information, email address, and/ or text message is put online or sent, it can never be retrieved. Cyber Learners Permits are earned by the children for learning the rules for good Cyber Citizenship!
Rules for the Cyber Highway include the following:
1. Chat rooms are not safe. Never accept an invitation to a chat room.
2. Always tell a Grown-Up Buddy if you find an unsafe site.
3. Never send pictures or personal information to anyone you don’t know.
Teacher Note:
Please refer to the Teacher Guide on the Safer, Smarter, Kids 2-3 page. This will guide the activities and have the answers to any handout/activity.
Materials Needed:
Bi-fold Activity/Parent Letter for each student
Cyber Learner Permit for each student
Cyber Safety Certificate for each student