Olympia North Student council has joined with the Danvers Lion's Club in donating a filling station that has been installed in the K-1 Commons. Student Council used money from the annual Candy Grams project to fund half the cost of the filling station. We thank the Lion's Club for helping out on this project and for their continued support of our students at Olympia North.
O.N.E. Kindergartners used the Quiver app to turn their coloring projects into 3D masks.
Fake News & Media Messages Tip #4: Discuss Fact vs. Opinion
Play around 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 rocks sink or float? Do you like dogs? Point out that both facts and opinions show up in the news, but opinion is usually labeled.
Pay close attention to those news articles and be a Deceptive Detective!
Fake News & Media Messages 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. One child might experience a game on the playground as fun, while another might feel like the rules are unfair. Sibling conflict can be a great example of how two people can have wildly different opinions about the same event. With older children, talk through controversial subjects and take turns arguing for different sides to help kids understand various viewpoints.
Kids find and read news in lots of different ways. But studies show they're not very good at interpreting what they see. How can we help them get better? Teaching your students about the structure of online news articles is an important place to start.
Video: bit.ly/OlyNMV1
Family Activity: bit.ly/OlyNMFR1
Fake news is nothing new. Check out this timeline to learn about some ways it has been utilized throughout history to influence society. Ask your family about other examples that you know of and why they were used!
Fake News & Media Messages Tip #2: Play "Spot The Ad"
When you see advertising on TV or on a billboard, ask your children to figure out what the ad is selling. Sometimes it's obvious, and sometimes it's not. Help them explore why certain pictures, sounds, or words are used to sell certain products.
Filter Bubble Trouble!
When we get news from our social media feeds, it often only tells us part of the story. Our friends -- and the website's algorithms -- tend to feed us perspectives we already agree with. Show students ways to escape the filter bubble and make sure their ideas about the world are being challenged.
https://youtu.be/mh1dLvGe06Y - BBC
Fake News & Media Messages Tip #1: Encourage Healthy Skepticism
Help your children analyze the messages around them -- from toy packaging to Instagram posts to news headlines -- and question the purpose of the words and images they see. Teach kids how to use fact-checking tools like Snopes and FactCheck.org.
Thank you to Rusty Richards and the staff at Minier Christian Church for providing us a tasty boxed lunch today from Jason's Deli! Our entire staff loved it! We always appreciate your support of Olympia North Elementary!
Video: bit.ly/OlyNMV2
All media comes with an author and an agenda. Help kids think critically about any media they view with critical questions that dig below the surface. And to really empower kids, have them create their own media with these same questions in mind.
With so much media and information coming at us through the television, phones, social media, and more, it's more important than ever for kids to understand the basics of media literacy. When kids can identify different types of news and media and the methods and meanings behind them, they're on their way to being critical thinkers and smart consumers.
Throughout the month, we will be sharing a set of five tips to help your children become critical thinkers of news and media. Here is a short video to get those conversations started!
bit.ly/OlyNMV5
Reminder!
Make sure to check out your Skyward Family Access Wall for the updated return to learn metrics and a letter from Dr. O'Donnell.
Check out this short video for your elementary kiddos around what a digital footprint really means. We already have K-5 students posting and interacting online, so let's start some good habits early!
bit.ly/OlyDFV2
Congratulations to Lily Walsh. She is the winner of the Olympia North Yearbook Cover contest.
Shop the Scholastic Online Book Fair through November 29. Follow the link below to shop! All orders are shipped directly to your home! Free shipping on book only orders of $25 or more!
https://www.scholastic.com/bf/one
Quick reminder; anything you post online can be searched, copied, and shared. Think about that~
https://d1pmarobgdhgjx.cloudfront.net/education/Digital_Footprint_Animation_2017.mp4
Books make great stocking stuffers and presents! Shop the online Scholastic Book Fair! All orders will ship directly to your home.
https://www.scholastic.com/bf/one
