Safer Internet Day takes place this week on the 7th February. The aim of the day is ‘ to promote safer and more responsible use of online technology and mobile phones, especially amongst children and young people across the world.’ Here’s a video which gives more information about the day:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Here are some of my favourite resources that you can use to support your work on the day:

1) A ‘Safer Internet Day Kit for Schools‘ is available with resources, lesson plans, competitions and certificates.

2) The ThinkUKnow site has resources that can be used with different ages groups:

3) The BBC have a number of great resources, including an animation featuring Dongle the rabbit, an interactive Tracy Beaker episode and a ‘Caught in the Web’ Newsround special.

4) KidSmart have a wide range of resources and interactive games that can be used in class.

5) Vodafone also have lots of useful information for parents to help them keep their children safe online.

6) Our sister site, Teaching Ideas, has an enormous collection of themed ideas and resources linked to ‘Staying Safe Online‘.

7) There are also lots of e-safety videos on Teaching Videos.

8 ) Know IT All have a fantastic animated video which teaches children about different aspects of Internet Safety.

9) BrainPOP also have a free video about Online Safety.

10) Kent Trust Web have a number of useful resources, documents and links to support schools.

Are you planning to get involved in Safer Internet Day this year? What activities will you be trying?

Here are five great new resources that I have discovered online this week:

1) 100 Most Beautiful Words (shared by @LibWithAttitude) – This list of 100 beautiful words was chosen by Robert Beard, who has been making dictionaries, creating word lists, and writing poetry for 40 years. It’s a great selection of vocabulary which can be used in a number of ways. You could ask children to try and guess the meaning… or work out how to spell each word… or make flashcards which will help people to remember the definition / spelling… or use it as a starting point for discussing the children’s own favourite words.

2) Red Riding Mood – There are lots of great Internet Safety videos and resources online and I’ve recently discovered a series of three new videos from Facemoods. They highlight key safety messages for people to remember when using Facebook so they are probably more relevant for older pupils (although lots of younger children also seem to have Facebook accounts, despite their Terms of Service stating that under 13s should not join).

Click here to view the embedded video.

3) 25 Superb Optical Illusions (shared by Larry Ferlazzo) – These fantastic optical illusions are perfect for use in the classroom. Can your children see all of the illusions straight away? Can they explain how they work?

4) Online Storytime (recommended by 2sparkley) – This wonderful site has videos of famous stories being read aloud. The stories are all popular books and the videos show the original illustrations. You can also embed the videos, so they could be posted on a school website to share with your pupils and their parents.

5) Polyphonic Kids (created by Chris Leach) – Chris has created this blog to introduce children to a wide range of music… from different styles and artists. It’s a great place to share a variety of music with your pupils. They can also add comments to share their opinions or vote in the poll on each day’s post.

What have you discovered recently?

Kids and Media is a new charitable organisation which gives information and advice about children’s use of digital media. Their aim is to ‘help parents to guide and guard their children in a digital world, different from the media world they themselves experienced as children’.

Although the site is still very new, there are lots of useful articles and resources online already. I particularly liked the game and film review sections, which give detailed descriptions and information about appropriate age ranges.

This is definitely something to share with parents and colleagues at school. You can also follow the site on Twitter, Facebook and via their blog.

I have recently published the latest Teaching Theme… Staying Safe Online.

The new theme has hundreds of lesson ideas, activities, resources, display material, videos, class display photos, games, apps, jokes and links, all of which are linked to e-Safety. They are perfect for use on Safer Internet Day (on 8th February) but, of course, they can also be used at other times of the year too!

Many thanks to the following people who have helped with this theme:

• My wife Helen who drew the cartoon pictures for the site,
• Simon Haughton who continues to share lots of amazing links and support within the teaching community,
• Rebecca Avery, Kent’s e-safety officer, who has offered lots of advice and resources during the development of this theme.

I hope that you like the new theme and that the content is useful… please share it with your colleagues if you think that they would like it. You can also print one of the posters on this page and put them up in your staffroom. Thanks!

According to research carried out by the Home Office:

• Children of school age are five times more likely than adults to become victims of mobile phone theft.
• 48% of all victims are under the age of 18.
• One third of all robberies involve a mobile phone only.
• The peak age for offenders in this type of crime is 16.

The ‘Out Of Your Hands‘ site has been set up to educate young people about responsible mobile usage, prompting them to consider the impact of mobile phone crime. This can be done through a range of PSHE, Citizenship, Literacy and ICT curricula linked resources that are available to download from the teacher’s area of their site.

Thanks to Tim McShane for bringing this to my attention via Twitter.

Here are details of a new e-safety resource which is due to be released soon. As their Safe site explains:

‘Safe is a new programme of practical, activities to develop primary children’s skills, self-confidence and safety awareness when using social network sites.

Combining a safe, social network, downloadable materials and teacher resources, the programme will enable any primary school to easily deliver fun activities which develop their pupils’ digital literacy skills. By completing the programme pupils gain a Safe certificate as evidence of their learning.’

www.digitalme.co.uk/safe

The resources are due to be launched officially at some point this month, so sign up on the site to receive updates when they’re available.

Following this week’s Safer Internet Day, lots of news stories and Internet safety resources were announced. Here’s a summary of what I discovered:

• CEOP revealed a new Internet safety resource for children aged 4-7. Lee and Kim’s Adventure, Animal Magic, is an 8 minute animation which involves a brother and sister navigating the online world with the help of their trusted superhero friend SID. Here’s a promotional video to tell you more about the resource:

• There are lots of related resources for teachers, which you can download here.
• These resources share four top tips for younger children to remember:
  • People you don’t know are strangers. They’re not always who they say they are.
  • Be nice to people on the computer like you would in the playground.
  • Keep your personal information private.
  • If you ever get that ‘uh oh’ feeling, you should tell a grown-up you trust.
• There is also a music video which children can use to help them learn and remember the messages shown:

Did you discover any new Internet safety resources this week?

Safer Internet Day will be taking place on Tuesday 9th February. This event is organised each year to promote safer and more responsible use of online technology and mobile phones, especially amongst children and young people across the world. The topic for 2010 is “Think B4 U post!“.

Here’s a short advertisement which is being used to advertise the day and promote the message:

www.brainpop.co.uk/designandtechnology/ictcommunicatingandcollaborating/onlinesafety/

November saw Anti-Bullying week throw the spotlight on cyber-bullying and the distress caused by the spread of malicious video content across the internet through social networks, video sharing websites, e-mail and mobiles.

The Department for Children, Schools & Families have created a set of videos with the aim of demonstrating how a seemingly harmless and funny internet clip can be something far more sinister, and can even make the viewer an unwitting accomplice in the cyber-bullying chain.

It was also announced last week that lessons in using the internet safely will be a compulsory part of the English primary curriculum from 2011. The lessons are one element of a new government strategy called “Click Clever, Click Safe”. The main messages in the lessons are ‘Zip It, Block It, Flag It’:

Find out more in this BBC article.

UPDATE – This offer has now ended.

Superclubs Plus, created by Intuitive Media is a social networking site for children, giving them access to email, forums, web site creation tools, competitions, surveys, ICT challenges, author interviews and much MUCH more… all within a safe moderated environment.

The children at my school have been using Superclubs Plus for many years and it is always incredibly popular. We use it reguarly to develop the children’s ICT skills and to support our work on Internet safety. If you haven’t tried it out with your primary pupils (aged from 6 to 11), then I highly recommend it.

If your children are too old for Superclubs Plus, why not try out Gold Star Cafe (suitable for ages 11 to 14). It’s just like Superclubs Plus, but has lots more ‘cool stuff’ for older pupils to enjoy.