I have been doing my placement in a grade 4 classroom, where students are about 10 years old. When I was younger, I wasn’t allowed to get any social media until I was 13 but students in today’s world use social media as a communication tool. My cousin had to get Snapchat as a way to communicate with her volleyball coach and team. Students need to be literate to understand things that are appropriate and inappropriate to post on social media as well as who to add. Snapchat is a tricky subject because someone can add you on “Quick Add” and all you might see is their first name and their Bitmoji (if you are confused about what a Bitmoji is you can find an explanation here). The quick add section is where someone can add you because you have mutual friends. Snapchat thankfully tells you when someone added you on quick add or if they have searched up your username. The image below is from my personal Snapchat account. I have had a person try to add me 4 separate times using 4 different accounts.

This is from Snapchat, a few days later, she added me again using a different username

Something I have learned, and I will try to teach my students is actually to look at the name. Do you recognize the name? No? Well then don’t add them! Why do you want some stranger texting you or seeing your Snapchat stories? Sometimes someone’s username can come in handy as well. Some people have parts of their last name in their usernames or recognizable words. This is another tool to help your student think clearly before they add strangers on Snapchat.

Learning about online safety would build on the health curriculum in grade 4 and make connections to developing new relationships.

The scores you see below are my results to the quizzes “Can you spot the fake news headline?”, “Spot the troll”, and Break the fake. As you can see, I am not the best detective to when it comes to determining if an account is real or fake. However, I still swear by the method if you don’t know them, then don’t add them. You don’t need to be best friends to add someone on Snapchat but it is good to at least have an idea of who you are adding.

Can you spot the fake news headline?

Spot the Troll

Break the Fake

These quizzes have humbled me and my ability to spot a fake account. People on the internet have been getting very good at faking accounts and news headlines. This is why it is so important to fact-check your information including the site the information is coming from.

Thanks for reading,

You’re a gem ☺️