Year 2 started the day considering, what is the internet? We used this video to help to understand what the internet is, where it can be used and what it is used for.
We talked about the benefits of the internet and how it can help us. This could be with our learning (Lexia, Mathletics and researching information for homework or in lessons), for entertainment, shopping and communicating with friends and family across the world. We remembered a recent Skype conversation with children at Sandford International School in Addis Ababa.
We then considered how the children currently use the internet at home and at school.
The text Chicken Clicking helped us to discuss how chatting to people online, that we don’t know, could put us in danger. Using drama, we thought about the chick’s actions in the story and gave some great advice for what she should have done. Remember that not everyone online is who they say they are. Ask your child what happened in the story.
In groups, using six key safety messages we tried to sort them from most important to least important. This generated lots of discussion and the children had good reasons to justify their positioning of the messages.
We decided that all these messages are important to remember, for different reasons, when you are using the internet.
We also spent time considering emotions that people might feel as a result of using the internet. Using different scenarios, the children had to decide how they might feel if this happened to them and why.
For example, someone in an online game says something mean about one of your friends. How would you feel?
Finally, we enjoyed the Key Stage 2 performance of Team Robot v Meanies led by Splats Entertainment. This reinforced a lot of the messages we had been thinking about during the day, in a fun way.
To follow this up at home, the children took home two NSPCC/O2 parent online safety booklets and we hope you enjoy reading Digiduck’s Big Decision with your child at home to reinforce this learning.
The key message from the day is if you see anything on the internet that makes you feel uncomfortable or you are not sure about, tell an adult that you trust.