Internet Safety: Grades 4 - 5

Objective

• To identify dangers on the Internet
• To build critical-thinking and decision-making skills
  

Activity

• Cut out four pictures of adults from a magazine and glue each to a sheet of paper.

• Hold up the sheets one at a time so that the picture is facing away from the students. Explain that each page has is a picture of a person. Tell the class that you want them to draw a picture of what they think the person looks like based on some information you will read to them. For each picture, read one of the descriptions below and allow students time to draw. Ask some students to share their pictures and why they believe the person looks that way.

• I have a dog named Rusty. Sometimes I take him to the park, and we play with my friends and their dogs.

• I like writing stories; I've already written eight stories about a girl named Susan. Sometimes my friend and I draw pictures to go with the stories.

• I really love baseball. My friends and I play on the same team, and at lunch we share our baseball cards. Sometimes we go to games together.

• Sometimes I go camping with my friends. We like to go hiking, and at night we roast hotdogs and make s'mores.
  

• Turn each sheet of paper around so students can see the pictures of the adults. How do they compare to the images the students drew?

• Ask students how people communicate via the Internet (email, instant messenger, chat rooms). Remind students that they can never be sure of the true identities of people they encounter online. Some people they meet online may want to harm children.

• Tell students that they should never give out any personal information over the Internet without a parent's permission. If anyone asks them for personal information, they should tell their parents immediately.

• As a supplement, pass out a copy of the Internet maze for students to complete.