Olympia South

Video: bit.ly/OlyCBV2 As kids grow, they'll naturally start to communicate more online. But some of what they see could make them feel hurt, sad, angry, or even fearful. Help your students build empathy for others and learn strategies to use when confronted with cyberbullying.

WOW! Our incredible students did a fantastic job at today’s kick off assemblies! Please take ten minutes tonight to REGISTER and COMPLETE your Golden Ticket! Imagine a world where kids are EMPOWERED to change the world! That is what STEP IT UP! is all about, and it starts with the Golden Ticket!! #stepitup #empoweredkidschangetheworld #schoolrules #makeadifference #dayofawesomeness

Family Tip 2: Check in about online life. Just like you'd ask your kid about their sleep, exercise, and eating, stay on top of their online life. Who are they chatting with? How do people treat each other in the games and on the sites they're using?

We can hardly wait for tomorrow! Our STEP IT UP! program will focus on teamwork and taking action to change the world, starting right here at school! Please help us EMPOWER your child to help others by helping them with their GOLDEN TICKET assignment. We thank you in advance for being awesome! 👍 #stepitup #empoweredkidschangetheworld #schoolrules #makeadifference #dayofawesomeness

Video: bit.ly/OlyCBV1 Let's face it: Some online spaces can be full of negative, rude, or downright mean behavior. But what counts as cyberbullying? Help your students learn what is - and what isn't - cyberbullying, and give them the tools they'll need to combat the problem.

Family Tip 1: Define your terms. Make sure kids understand what cyberbullying is: repeated and unwanted mean or hurtful words or behavior that occurs online (through texts, social media posts, online chat, etc.).

Once kids go online, their chances of finding cyberbullies, haters, and trolls is, sadly, quite high. Find age-specific guidelines, videos, and articles to help with tough conversations -- whether your kid is a bully or is being bullied. Common Sense Media addresses your cyberbullying questions, offering age-appropriate advice, school resources, and more from parents and experts. https://www.commonsensemedia.org/cyberbullying

Fam Tip 5: Choose a Variety of Sources Show kids how you get news & information from different places, & explain how you make your choices. Use words like "credible," "trustworthy," "respected," and "fair." As kids get older, introduce the ideas of bias, satire, and clickbait.

Have you been keeping up with our News and Media Literacy suggestions? Here are some questions that you could use as discussion prompts to see how things are sinking in! bit.ly/OlyNMQ

Preschool had so much fun celebrating the 101st day of school with a 101 Dalmatians party!

Preschool had so much fun celebrating the 101st day of school with a 101 Dalmatians party!

Family Tip 4: Discuss Fact vs. Opinion! Play with ideas and decide which are facts and which are opinions. Ask: How tall are you? What's the best food in the world? Do you like dogs? Point out that both fact and opinion show up in the news, but opinion is usually(!) labeled.

Due to slick roads and dense fog, Olympia schools will have a one hour late start today (Friday, Jan. 24, 2020)

Fearless Fact Finding! Check out this list of trustworthy resources to help you learning what's true (and what is not!) on the web. You can even use one of them to look back in time and what was on a website in the past!

Who created this message? How does it try to attract my attention? Be a detective when looking at news and media!

Fam. Tip 3: Explore Different Sides of a Story! Use real-life examples to help kids understand how people can view the same situation with totally different perspectives. Sibling conflict is a great example of how two people can have wildly different opinions on the same event.

If a picture's worth a thousand words, do the words always tell a true story? One way to find out is through a reverse image search. Search with an image instead of a keyword and see what you discover!

Link: http://bit.ly/OLYNMLr Common Sense has released a brand new News & Media Literacy Resource Center with TONS of resources around this topic. Check out this new web series from Crash Course! https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8dPuuaLjXtN07XYqqWSKpPrtNDiCHTzU

Link: http://bit.ly/OLYNMLr Common Sense has recently released a brand new News & Media Literacy Resource Center with TONS of resources around this topic. Particularly neat is a new web series by Crash Course...check it out! https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8dPuuaLjXtN07XYqqWSKpPrtNDiCHTzU

bit.ly/OlyNMV1 | bit.ly/OlyNMFR1 Kids find and read news in lots of ways. But studies show they're not very good at interpreting what they see. How can we help them get better? Teaching your kids about the structure of online news articles is an important place to start.