Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Safety Sources

The below complied list includes a variety of digital resources that parents are welcome to review and use when allowing their children access to the internet.  There are examples of how to check your child's on line use, and what to be on the "look out" for concerning digital predators. Please be sure to use parental discretion of course! I have also linked references to the laws that help protect your child online. 
There are thousands of resources out there, this by no means is a comprehensive list and is in no way a solicitation for you to use or purchase any of the products that may be advertised on any of these sites!

Some of these resources will be used in our classroom to help students understand proper "Netiquette" and "Digital Citizenship". 
Examples you may hear your child talk about include lessons aimed at cyber-bullying, digital footprints, showing respect on-line, and safe-searching. 


Resources to help keep children safe while on the internet:

Common Sense Media  & Scope & Sequence for K-12 On-Line Media Use

Digital Passport Lesson (FREE)


Infinite Learning Lab


Media Smarts Game


Netsmartz Kids Learning Games, Lessons, & Activities for Kids


Safe Surfing for Kids on 4kids.org


United States Attorney Office District of MN on On-line Safety

FBI Parents Guide to Internet Safety


Chat Acronyms Used in Email, IM & Text Messaging


On Guard On-Line


Get NetWise


Child Safety Network

Net Family News


NC Attorney General Site on Internet Safety


Links concerning the laws that protect your student:

Child Internet Protection Act (CIPA): The school is required by CIPA to have technology measures and policies in place that protect students from harmful materials including those that are obscene and pornographic. Any harmful content contained from inappropriate sites will be blocked.   http://fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/cipa.html


Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA): COPPA applies to commercial companies and limits their ability to collect personal information from children under 13. By default, Google advertising is turned off for Apps for Education users. No personal student information is collected for commercial purposes. This permission form allows the school to act as an agent for parents in the collection of information within the school context. The school’s use of student information is solely for education purposes. http://www.ftc.gov/privacy/coppafaqs.shtm



Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA): FERPA protects the privacy of student education records and gives parents the right to review student records. Under FERPA, schools may disclose directory information (name, phone, address, grade level, etc...) but parents may request that the school not disclose this information.
• The school will not publish confidential education records (grades, student ID #, etc) for public viewing on the Internet. The school may publish student work and photos for public viewing but will not publish student last names or other personally identifiable information.
• Parents may request that photos, names and general directory information about their children not be published. Parents have the right at any time to investigate the contents of their child’s email or web tools.
http://www.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/ferpa/index.html