Technology is all around us. We teach students how to be safe, respectful, and responsible in the classroom and this connects with how to be safe, respectful, and responsible when using technology. After viewing the digital curriculum, I see several lessons I can teach to first graders.
1. Keep It Private: Our first grade curriculum covers safety at home. We discuss several types of safety including: how to be safe around strangers, what to say on the phone, how to be safe during fires, and how to be safe on a computer. While learning about computer safety, I could teach this lesson in order to help children understand what information they should and should not give out on the internet. We can discuss what kinds of information should be private and effective usernames.
2. Sending Emails: Students go to a writing center each week. Here they can choose to write a letter or a card to someone. I could easily integrate this lesson on how to send emails during this time. Students know that I email families each week with my newsletter. They also know I email updates and pictures throughout the week. Every student has an email address through LPS, but I have never introduced it to them. It would be powerful to allow them the opportunity and resources to learn this life-long skill. Currently, several students tell me, "My mom is going to text you about...." What the student means is that mom is going to email me. Some don't understand exactly what emailing entails, so this lesson would be helpful.
3. Using Keywords: Students are full of questions and the desire to get the answers. With the internet at our fingertips, I am often the one who will search for the answer to a student's question. However, I could teach this lesson about keywords to empower students to find the information on their own. I could connect this to the essential question each week. For example, this week we are studying inventions. Students could search for other inventions by using keywords. Also, students could use the keyword lesson to find information for their animal research unit. They currently use Pebblego to find information, but keywords would broaden their resources.
I am glad you found helpful free resources for your first graders at Common Sense Media. Teaching these skills to your students empowers them to ask questions and find answers, new literacies skills they will need throughout their lives. Let me know if you want to implement any of these ideas! I'd be happy to assist!
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