Digital Citizenship & Internet Safety

Technology is a powerful tool that can transform the way we learn and teach. Technology fosters the application of 21st century skills of collaboration, communication, creativity and innovation. Technology takes our learning beyond our school walls to the vast and wondrous world beyond. Schools provide a very safe and secure environment for children to learn technology skills and practice digital citizenship.

It takes families, schools and the greater community working in partnership to ensure that our children remain safe and develop responsible online habits both in and out of the school setting. School Resource Officer Rick Veenstra from the Arlington Heights Police Department joined our Technology Facilitator Beth Breaux to talk with our PTA about Internet safety and digital citizenship. Here is some practical advice that they shared:

• Know and supervise what your children are doing online. 
• Play child-appropriate video games with your kids. Teach them safe ways to play. Don't let them use their names for a user name or for online gaming.
• Keep children off of social networks while they are in elementary school. 
• Keep a list of your children's apps and passwords.
• Keep telling your children it's not okay to share any personal information on Internet.
• Have your children keep devices in open family areas, not in their bedrooms.
• Keep your privacy settings on social networks high.
• Make sure geo-coding and geo-tagging location services on social networks are turned off. 
• Remind your children that they have a "digital footprint". Just about everything on the computer or online is permanent. Browsers save what they are searching. 
• Make your children aware that a "digital tattoo" resulting from creating inappropriate online posts can negatively impact their future opportunities (acceptance to universities, participation on sports teams, employment, etc.)
• Make your children aware that cyber-bullying is against the law. Help your children feel safe and assured telling you if they experience online communication that upsets them or that they know is dangerous. 
• Do not download files from an unknown source.

Officer Veenstra shared some web resources about Internet safety and Internet monitoring that parents may find helpful:

Internet Safety
commonsensemedia.org
isafe.org
netsmartz.org/parents

Internet Monitoring
mymobilewatchdog.com
shieldgenie.com
Halt Social Monitor App

Thank you, Officer Veenstra & Mrs. Breaux!

FUN-filled February!

What do you want to be when you grow up? On Career Dress Day, it was so fun to see the children dressed up as rock stars, farmers, veterinarians, scientists, attorneys and more!

We thank our PTA for fun-filled Valentine parties! There were so many fun crafts, treats, and games for the children to enjoy!

We had so much fun at the "Be the Groove!" Assembly that our PTA brought to Dryden. Rhythm, music, movement, creative expression and teamwork were themes that resonated throughout this high-energy performance.

Our students are also bringing some FUN to the children at Lurie Children's Hospital. This fifth grade service project brought in donations of 41 blankets, 171 activity packs and 364 supplies from Dryden families. That's about 585 items, and more are still trickling in. Considering we have about 500 students, that averages out to more than one item donated by every student! Way to go, Dryden!!

Kind & Caring Kids

Every year the fifth grade students lead the school in a community service project. This year, they coordinated a collection to benefit Lurie Children's Hospital in Chicago, Illinois. PTA volunteers and fifth grade teachers guided students in planning and implementing every aspect of the community service project. Students wrote and gave public service announcements every morning. They decorated and displayed posters throughout the school.

They decorated and distributed donation boxes to every classroom and our school office. The service project focused on making and collecting fleece blankets and craft activity kits for the children who are staying at the hospital.





Each day, fifth grade students collected, sorted and tallied the donations then announced what had been donated by each grade level during the lunch hour. This certainly made for a friendly competition and lots of cheering by each grade level team! 

We are very proud of our fifth grade students' leadership on this special project. This will certainly bring many smiles and much comfort to many children at Lurie Children's Hospital. 

Ravenous for Reading

Wow! What a wonderful week! Thanks to our PTA, we had a very successful Book Fair and Family Fun Night this week. Even though we had a snow day on Monday, many parents made it to school to set up the beautiful, inviting Book Fair displays.  There were so many enticing, enriching books available for our students and families. Many students chose to spend much of their recess time browsing, buying and reading all of these great books. We are very grateful to have a PTA and parents who support and nurture our students' love of reading.

Our teachers also do an amazing job of inspiring a love of reading in our students and teaching them to think deeply about their reading. Within the past couple of weeks, I have observed so many engaged, thoughtful readers in all of our classrooms...

In Kindergarten, children were sorting fiction and non-fiction books according to text features. They chose their favorite non-fiction books to share with a partner and were so excited to talk about the books they found.

In first grade, students were examining poems for the features of rhythm, rhyme, patterns and line breaks. They explored many poems independently and were so proud in sharing these features with their classmates. They dramatized an action poem, and came up with many creative written extensions of the poem.

In second grade, I sat in on a class of students sitting on edge as their teacher read aloud a chapter from Fudge by Judy Blume. The children were so eager to share their predictions and find out what was going to happen next!

In third grade, students debated whether the sinking of the Titanic could have been prevented as they read a document from the Titanic Historical Association chronicling the events leading up to the sinking of the Titanic. Students had to read slowly and deeply to identify key facts and make inferences.

While in the LMC fourth grade classes evaluated Internet sources of information. They learned and practiced different reading skills of skimming and scanning. Our students are learning how to read critically and to read in different ways for different purposes.

In fifth grade, I observed a group of fifth grade students reading and discussing the significance of flashback in the novel Pictures of Hollis Woods. A lively discussion and debate ensued as the students shared their interpretations of the different events and details the author included in this book.

So... if you need a break from shoveling the snow, take a break! Relax and read a good book instead!