Happy Fall!  October is both Bully Awareness month and National Substance Abuse Prevention month.  Here at the K-3 Campus, we used to participate in Red Ribbon Week.  However, we found that many of the students just didn't "get" the whole point of Red Ribbon Week.  Sometimes we got a lot of questions concerning drugs and alcohol because they were unaware of them.  That's a good thing!  Last year we decided to have lessons about bullying during the month of October.  I want to continue the topic and expand it a little more to cyber bullying and internet safety.  While the internet can be an amazing thing to explore, it can also be very scary.  Internet safety is something that I have always tried to sprinkle into lessons, when it was appropriate.  As the number of children on the internet grows, here are some statistics to give some perspective to the topic.  According to growingwireless.com, 56% of children ages 8 to 12 have a cellphone.  Among children 8 years and younger 21% use  smartphones.  38% of children under the age of 2 use a mobile device for media purposes.  According to guardchild.com, 21% of kindergarten to second grade students have cell phones.  70% of children ages 7 to 18 have accidentally encountered online pornography.  65% of 8 to 14 year olds have been in a cyber bullying incident. Children are stepping into a world where they think they can safely play.  In reality, more and more children (and sometimes very young children) are exposed to the dangers of the internet.  I feel that it is an important topic that needs to be discussed.  In their guidance lessons, they will be introduced to some basic rules for internet safety.  The curriculum comes from the NetSmartz Workshop resources created by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.  Guidance lessons will be in the Chromebook lab.  There will be two lessons this month.  In the first lesson, the students will watch a video called, "Router's Birthday Surprise."  The video has fun, age appropriate characters that learn about rules that address what they should do if they:
     *see something inappropriate online
     *are asked to share personal information
     *are asked to meet offline
     *encounter a cyberbully
Students will also learn about four "out-laws," who they may encounter while on the internet;
     *Meet-Me Mack who encourages people to meet face-to-face
     *Look-At-Dis Louie who tries to get people to look at sites, images, etc. that could make them
       feel "sad, scared or confused"
     *Potty-Mouth Pete who encourages people to be mean or rude online
     *Wanta-Know Wally who encourages people to share personal information
After watching the video students will complete some activities to reinforce what they have learned and also be allowed to explore the NetSmatzKids.org website which is a kid friendly website that focuses on the concepts taught in the lessons.  I hope that the lessons create boundaries for kids when they are on line and that these boundaries will stick with them as they grow!
     Parenting with the internet has created a new challenge.  As I tell my kids, my version of snap chat was writing everything on a piece of notebook paper and folding it in a variety of creative ways.  We did not face the challenges that our young people face today.  I encourage you to visit the websites listed above.  There are some excellent resources for parents.  Here are a few more links to some resources for various online topics.  https://www.netsmartz.org/TrendsandTopics  Here is another article about dangerous apps.  https://foreverymom.com/family-parenting/6-dangerous-apps-jenny-rapson/?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Mique&utm_campaign=danger+apps
     As always, please feel free to contact me at kim.bennett@owensborocatholic.org or (270) 684-7583.   I hope everyone has a very blessed and restful fall break!