DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP WEEK

This is a suggested plan for a positive classroom introduction of Hector’s World^® education and resources, or a chance to re-acquaint children who have used Hector’s World resources before. ‘Digital Citizenship Week’ is a way to structure this learning – a celebration that can make Hector and his friends an on-going component of young children’s use of technology. Activities can be for one week, two weeks or run over an entire term. They can happen in one class or in all the early primary school years in a school.

Constable Solosolave Teachers are certainly the best innovators with Hector’s World and you know the particular needs of your students better than anyone. Thus this plan is only offered as a guide. If you have any questions, you’re welcome to email feedback@hectorsworld.co.nz; likewise we would love to hear about activities teachers have tried with their classes, and about how the students responded.

The core of the Hector’s World education program can be enjoyed on this website or on our partners’ websites. You will need a reliable broadband connection to be able to view the episodes online. They are not available yet on DVD.

Age Group

Digital Citizenship Week can be tailored to the needs of any primary students, ages 5-9 years. We will be creating different activities for children in early childhood centres.

Staff Training (optional event with a local specialist)
A professional development presentation on the range of online safety issues for children, and management of online risk in a school environment, could be offered to all school staff prior to Digital Citizenship Week, if this hasn’t been done already. This sets the stage nicely within the school for learning about Digital Citizenship.

Components of Digital Citizenship Week

The printed songsheet (colour or grayscale) with the words of the theme song.
An MP3 file of the theme song.
The 6 episode lesson plans with the teacher information sheet (choose the appropriate age group for your class).
A parent handout about the safety button activity designed with a clip off section at the bottom of the form for the parent or caregiver’s response.
A ring-bound flip chart of character flashcards for use during the week.
Digital citizenship certificates for students (scroll down for link)

Parent information
In the week prior, a letter goes home to parents of participating classes explaining the Digital Citizenship Week process and the importance of parent participation in a specific part of the week’s activities (using the Hector’s World Safety Button™). Advance notice can also go in the school newsletter. There may also be activities that the school PTA or parent group could help promote.

Suggested process for viewing episodes

Show an episode.
Discuss with the class what they have just seen. This discussion could start with – “Did you enjoy that episode (or video)?” – and get students talking about things they liked. Then the teacher could mention three key digital citizenship and cybersafety points from the episode, using the flipchart when mentioning a character. He/she could ask if students had any questions about what they had just seen.
Watch the same episode again.
Involve the class in the lesson for that episode.

Hector’s World^® Digital Citizenship Week Timeline

Day	Activity
One week prior	The teacher announces a special Digital Citizenship Week the following week and sends a parent information handout home with each child.
Digital Citizenship Week - Day one	The teacher puts up Hector posters in the room (if available in that country). The teacher explains about Hector’s World and what lies ahead for the week, using the flipchart to introduce the characters.
Day one	Later in the day Episode 1 is viewed and the teacher leads a lesson (see the preceding section Suggested Process for Viewing Episodes).
Day one	Late in the day the Hector’s World Safety Button is loaded on classroom or computer suite computers.
Day two	Children are introduced to the Safety Button and shown how to use it. As part of their special week, the class is divided into teams (e.g. clams, crabs, dolphins etc) and compete to get the most installations of the button at home. Those who don’t have the internet at home can ask a relative or friend’s parent who does. Handouts are sent home with children, explaining how to install the button and asking for the parent to send in the response form by Thursday if this is done. This is recorded on a graph for the class. (Note: there is no Mac button yet so if a parent sends that message in the child can still get credit for trying!)
Day two	Episode 2 is shown to the class, followed by a lesson.
Day three	Children rehearse using the button and are reminded about getting the parents or caregivers to install it and send the form to the teacher verifying it has been done. The teacher then distributes the theme song songsheets, which they go over and then sing along with the music, ideally with movement/dance. (The MP3 file can be downloaded.)
Day three	Episode 3 is shown to the class, followed by a lesson activity.
Day four	Lesson 4 is shown to the class, followed by a lesson activity.
Day four	At some point in the day, the cut-out character hats can be distributed and the teacher can help all the children select an online nickname and write it on the hat. There can be one more sing-along to the theme (by children with their hats on) and any more notes from home are added to the graph.
Day five	Lesson 5 is shown to the class in the morning, followed by a lesson activity.
Day five	The announcement is made of the winning team(s) for installation of Hector on home computers and Hector’s World Certificates (see below) are awarded to all students in the class for them to take home. Digital Citizenship Week ends.
Digital Citizenship week certificate (for students)	Black and white student certificate (click to download)Full colour student certificate (click to download)