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Today's students have
access to a variety of technology devices and the internet, often both at home and at school.
School use is supervised; individual student access to email, file
downloading, instant messaging, and social websites (such as
myspace.com) is blocked. While parents are aware that technology is used on a daily basis, the misuse of technology has caught many
adults off guard.
Teachers and parents need to educate themselves about ways that
students are using social websites and online communities as well as
file downloads and online gaming. Many
parents have no problem setting rules to keep their child safe when
using a new toy, piece of equipment, or driving a car. However, many
do not establish rules for the use of the internet, computers, cell
phones and other electronic devices.
There are three basic ways of keeping kids safe while using
technology: educate your child and yourself, supervise your child's
use of the internet and electronic devices, and use software to
track online activity and/or filter
websites.
We have
created our own Top Ten Recommendations
for family internet use.
We have
selected the
following resources to help educators, parents, and
students extend their knowledge of online safety, security, privacy,
and citizenship.
McGruff.org
This site provides
several areas for parents, teachers, and students to access
information on various technology topics.
Raising Cyber
Safe Kids offers information about cyberbullying, luring,
plagiarism, copyright issues, and identity theft. There
is a
lesson plan for teachers in grade 4 and 5.
Internet Safety Circuit has four games and quizzes for
children to explore.
The Comic
Club addresses the issue of using chat rooms.
Cyberbullying: This site provides a definition, a parent
brochure, interactive game, and a
lesson plan for teachers in grades 1 and 2.
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This site provides
Internet safety tips for parents.
Surf Swell
Island: Adventures in Internet safety is a series of three
"quiz like" adventure games that address: privacy, viruses, or
netiquitte (guidelines for behavior on the Internet).
The games are geared for students in grades K-6.
However, many high school students enjoyed the games.
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Parry Aftab, a lawyer who specializes in cyber-abuse and
cybercrime created an informative website on
net bullies.
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Wiredkids' mission is to educate children so they have and
educational and safe internet experience. This site
provides information for children of all ages.
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This "comic"
style website reinforces the message about smart, safe, and
responsible surfing on the web.
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 NetSmartz
is an interactive resource from the NCMEC (National Center for
Missing and Exploited Children) and The Boys and Girls Clubs
of America. This site has age-appropriate activities to
teach children how to be safe on the Internet. It has
links for parents, educators, and teens.
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Myspace.com has a
page addressing parents' concerns about the website.
This page provides some tips for parents, including a link
to instructions for removing your child's profile from
MySpace.
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A
Parent's Guide to Internet Safety is a handbook published
by the FBI.
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Return to
District 118 homepage
Graphics on this page are
from DiscoverySchool.com
Teacher Clip Art
Disney logo from the
Disney site
McGruff logo from the McGruff site
myspace.com logo from the myspace site
Last updated March 2006
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