It's Digital Citizenship Week!

Caution!  A ton of free resources ahead!

I knew Digital Citizenship Week was this week.  Then I forgot.  So it's possible that I'll be celebrating it next week.  So if you missed it this week as well, perhaps you can join me in the procrastinator's version of Digital Citizenship Week.

Even though this may not be part of your school or district's curriculum (we are required to teach a digital safety class in our school), it's still super important for kids.  If you use any technology in your classroom, or require the students to do the same, then it's important to teach how to use the internet, apps, etc. safely.

The great part is there are a TON of wonderful, FREE resources available for teaching digital citizenship to students.  I've compiled a few resources to explore now or bookmark for later (possibly next week...or next year?!).


Brain Pop Jr. Video
Brain Pop Jr. offers a great short video on internet safety for primary students.  No log in required, so check it out!


Netsmartz Workshop
Brought to you by the National Center of Missing and Exploited Children, this website is a great resource for teachers, parents, law enforcement and students of all ages (including tweens and teens!).  It offers teaching resources for teachers, already made presentations, webinars, and even a digital ethics comic for middle-high schoolers.


Safe Kids 
Safe Kids offers an ongoing blog and a bunch of links to help support digital literacy and safety.  Topics range from family cell phone use to photo sharing to cyber bullying.


Connect Safely
The sister site to Safe Kids, Connect Safely offers numerous links and information regarding online safety.  Another bonus- they're behind the "One Good Thing" campaign to spread kindness.  But speaking of online safety, be sure students check with parents before uploading any videos- even if they are in support of kindness!  Safety first!


Common Sense Education
My personal favorite is the Common Sense Education website.  It has complete classroom lessons for K-12 students.  You can access entire printable curriculum for your grade level, or access their online ibooks if your students have immediate access to computers or tablets.  Link up with them on Edmodo or sign up for their enewsletters for updates.  Also, click on the posters below to download and print a poster for your classroom.

Google iKeepSafe

Google also offers digital online safety curriculum for teachers.  This website is chalk full of resources for teachers as well.  Lessons include video, lesson plans, and student handouts for each lesson.  There's also an educator section that includes both elementary and middle/high school information.  For elementary students, iKeepSafe also offers four videos and four full color books (in pdf and flash format) starring "Faux Paw's" (the techno cat's) adventures in online safety.

And as usual, I've been curating my Technology Pinterest board with all kinds of digital citizenship and technology resources.  Check it out for even more good ideas and happy links to digital safety goodness.  

            

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Back by popular demand...Place Value BB Set to the BILLIONS

When you're new somewhere, everything takes longer.  The minute I start to feel comfortable with something, I have something new pop up that I have no idea how to do or where to go or who to contact.  It's all one giant learning experience.  I've been super busy.

I've also had a bunch of requests for my place value bulletin board to be to the BILLIONS and not just the MILLIONS.  And while I haven't been super speedy on it with all the changes going on, I'm here to tell you it's done!

I love mine...obviously, I wouldn't have made it otherwise.  My favorite part?  When I lose a piece, I can just print another and don't have to worry about going out and buying the entire set again.

If you already have the bulletin board set and are hoping for the billions period card, please re-download the file and it should be there.  Any problems, let me know.

While I was at it, I went ahead and made another set- same thing, different colors- in case anyone was looking to change things up on their math board.  So while the last one was green/purple, this one is orange/blue.  If you had both you could even mix and match.

They are BOTH to the BILLIONS.  The green/purple set still says millions on TpT because if I change it, it changes my link and I really don't want to do that.  But the billions card and place value is in both sets.  I hope this helps and appreciate everyone's patience with me!

            

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So...Student Birthdays?

Someone please tell me I'm not the only one who forgets student birthdays...

I'm terrible about them!  Even when I write them down in my lesson plans, I still manage to forget by the time the students walk through the door.  They will walk in and proclaim "It's my birthday!" and I'll be like..."Yes....YES!  IT IS!" and by the afternoon I've completely forgotten again.  I can hold a lot of information in my brain during the day, but for some reason this just seems to slip right through.

So, that being said, I don't do a ton of things to celebrate.  It just sets me up for failure and them for disappointment when I totally flake the follow through.  

I do post their birthdays.  I do it as more of a "wall of fame" than a birthday chart.  A million years ago, I found these fantastic vintage frames at a teacher store and scooped them right up.  I'm glad I did, too, because I've never seen then since then (although they obviously still sell them!).  I.love.them.  I put them up every year.  

They're awesome, right?  I put a name plate underneath with their name and "date of birth".  It's like a 4th grader museum.  I really enjoy having their pictures on the wall the whole year as well.  This actually ends up taking up more space on the wall than a regular birthday poster, but it looks more impressive and gives us classroom ownership.

So on their actual birthdays I keep it suuuuper simple.  I'm not a big treat person at school (and my school isn't either), so I stay away from the cute pixie sticks that a lot of teachers do....and the twisty straws are cute as well, but then I have to go hunt for twisty straws.  I'd rather make than hunt (in this case), so you have to pick your poison I guess!  

I prep it all before the school year starts so I just grab and go on their special days.  I just run off a few "Happy Birthday!" cards....and I make bookmarks.  I love those little corner bookmarks so I make one for each student and that's it!  Simple!  

Once I figured out my template, this project took no time at all.  Since I have a full stock of scrapbook paper for various projects in my closet, I just grab a few pages and get tracing and gluing.

One year I even made those adorable monster corner bookmarks.  The kids loved them, but they were a bit more work for me.

Easy and ready to rock and roll!  Now I'm all set for the year and there's no need to panic when a student reminds me it's his/her birthday.  Thank goodness.  

But I still haven't figured out how to get myself to just remember in the first place....Oy!

            

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What do you want to be when you grow up?

Did you always want to be a teacher?

I did.

There was a brief moment in high school when I thought I may want to be a family and child psychologist, but it was suggested to me that I may become too emotionally involved and take my work home so I opted to go the education route instead.  Um.  Teachers are emotionally involved and take all their work home.  It's ok, it turned out fabulous and I love what I do.

I was thinking of this last night when I saw this sign on tv while watching the Royals game.  It said "*teacher name*, I'm going to be tardy tomorrow!"  and everyone around him was laughing and the announcers were talking about how a lot of students would probably be late in the morning.

There are some tired students in Kansas City today...and a lot of teachers as well!  (NICE sweep, Royals!!!)

Now I'm thinking about the Seahawks game on tonight on Monday Night Football and thinking about how tired all my students will be on Tuesday morning after staying up to watch the game (except it's the west coast, so really it's all done by bedtime).  After the Super Bowl win last year, some teachers had just a handful of students arrive on parade day.

Every year our DARE officer used to come in and ask my students what they want to be when they grow up.  They have a variety of ideas: veterinarian, teacher, doctor, etc.  But most of the kids (mostly boys, but not always) say they want to be a pro football player, or baseball player, or basketball player, or soccer player.  Or they want to be a college something-ball player (we need to have a conversation about what a career is apparently because you can't stay in college forever, no matter how much you may want to, because it's just plain expensive).  This happens every year.

*sigh*  It makes me sad.

I battle with this.  Did I stay up late to watch the same games?  Yes.  Was I tired?  Yes.  But I'm an adult and made that decision and I know my responsibilities and will still do my job the next day.  I'm not saying "parents shouldn't let their kids do that!" because I don't feel that way either... these things are fun...and great hometown pride!

I have nothing against pro-ball players.  I quite enjoy hanging out and watching them play and having reasons for friends to get together and yell at the television.  I know that players on pro teams are doing a job and that it is their career.

I have nothing against kids being on sports teams.  I want well rounded students.  I want my students to be kids and go outside and play.  I want them to learn team sports and sportsmanship.  I want them to be problem solvers and good teammates.  I want them to play sports and find the enjoyment in being a player and spectator.

But the odds of a child having pro-ball as a career are small and unless they possess and can cultivate that special talent, we just keep feeding a goal that is probably unattainable.  Or at least a ton of hard work during a really valuable learning age.

Work that is distracting at school time because they are talking about yesterday's game.  Or last week's try outs (in 4th grade, sad face).  Work that is put aside because of two hour practice after school.  And all day game schedules on the weekend.  Sports should be about teamwork, working towards a team goal, and having fun.

I just wonder...

What if we refocused that energy?  What if we put the emphasis on school and academic work in order to better prepare our children for the future they will have?

I don't know.  Food for thought.

            

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