It was an honor to join host, Chris Salcedo on his namesake show, The Chris Salcedo Show on NEWSMAX along with fellow guest, Dr. Lois Lee
to discuss the record number of children flowing freely over our open borders. #Criminal Who’s doing anything? Not Washington. But we are. Take a listen. Border = $. #truthnotpropaganda #LynnsWarriorsđź’™
The smell of new school supplies, fresh borders around the bulletin boards, rosters ready to go: It’s back-to-school time! We educators know that the first weeks of class are critical in terms of setting the tone, establishing expectations, and building community.
You likely have some tried-and-true approaches and activities to start the school year, but below we’ve put together a list of possibilities to try out at the start of this school year.
Online Activities
Ask students to create a Flip introducing themselves, stating their goals for the year, or sharing one thing you and their classmates need to know about them. Then make a Mixtape of their responses to share with the class.
As you’re developing classroom norms and expectations, use Mentimeter or Wooclap to generate a real-time word cloud to consolidate and display responses.
You can also have students create personal word clouds (ABCya is one option) that represent them.
Curate videos from GoNoodle to help facilitate classroom routines, mindfulness and movement breaks, and more. You can also use UNICEF Kid Power to build community around helping others, or Move This World as a more comprehensive program to build SEL skills into the weekly routine.
Try Along to open up lines of communication and build relationships right from the start of the year.
Create a Kahoot or GimKit quiz about the year to come, and then revisit it at various points throughout the year so students can reflect.
Use generative AI to create a poem, rap, or other form of song about your class, what to expect, yourself, etc. You could also have students generate something about themselves to share, and use it an opportunity to discuss AI in general.
Using Canva or Adobe Express, tap into the power of generative AI design and videos to create an introductory video or presentation for new students.
With a classroom TikTok account, you can create videos that students can duet with. Introduce yourselves, talk about goals for the year, or just open up fun conversations for community building. Note that a public account is required for Duets, which could have privacy implications.
Use Breakout EDU to set up a back-to-school escape room, or GooseChase EDU to create a scavenger hunt.
Start a routine using the Connection Cards in Sanford Harmony Game Room (part of the free Harmony SEL program) to build community.
Connect with classrooms around the world (easily!) using Empatico or Belouga. Establishing a regular cadence for meetings with students from somewhere else can build relationships and broaden student horizons.
Use Book Creator to make a book about your class and have kids create self-introductions or a book reflecting their goals for the year.
Take kids on a virtual field trip to kick off the year. You could establish a routine of checking on particular animals (the cameras in Africa on Explore.org are live all year!), find art that represents them on Google Arts & Culture, or visit Catie’s Classroom from Super Simple each week.
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On this week’s episode of Up Close, we discuss sex trafficking on the streets of New York City. Why is it growing?
Cops say women are the victims.
We talk to NYPD Chief of Department Jeffery Maddrey about that, along with the decline of gun violence this summer.
To your kid, TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, and other platforms may seem essential for a healthy social life. But as an adult, you know social media also opens them up to the Wild West of the internet, including exposure to potentially hateful content, online harassment, and other harms.
Until now, the onus has been on parents and caregivers to navigate when and how their kids should access social media. That’s still the case, but key mental health groups and players have recently weighed in to say it’s time to give parents and caregivers more guidance.
U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, MD, issued an advisory last May 23 on the topic of Social Media and Youth Mental Health. The report outlines the current scientific evidence on the health effects of social media use in kids, as well as action items for key stakeholders, including parents and caregivers.
Surgeon General’s advisories are a type of public statement “reserved for public health challenges that require the nation’s immediate awareness and action.”
A Texas woman whose case received support from activists and celebrities after her family alleged she was a victim of sex trafficking has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for her role in a fatal robbery, the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office announced Monday.
Zephaniah “Zephi” Trevino, 20, was charged in connection with the death of Carlos Arajeni-Arriaza Murillo, 24, who was fatally shot during a 2019 robbery at an apartment in Grand Prairie, Tex. Her attorney said Trevino pleaded guilty to murder and aggravated robbery to avoid risking a possible life sentence.
“Instead, it is a testament to the challenges of navigating a legal system that currently does not provide an affirmative defense for victims of sex trafficking,” Moore said in a statement to The Washington Post, “and [a] district attorney who has refused [to] view this case within a necessary trauma-informed lens.”
The state of Ohio vs. a sex-trafficked teenager. Trevino was among three people charged in Murillo’s death. Philip Aguilera Baldenegro and Jesse Martinez, who were 19 and 18, respectively, at the time of the shooting, were each charged with capital murder and aggravated robbery and are awaiting trial.
Scan the QR code in the photo above with your phone, and you’ll see photos of missing children in a 50-mile radius of where you are right now.
It has the potential to revolutionize the way we search for missing kids.
In the nearly 40 years since the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) was founded, we’ve helped law enforcement recover more than 400,000 missing children. Photos have consistently been the most powerful tool we have to bring them home. But what has changed is how quickly we can get those photos of missing children to people in the best position to help find them.
From the early days of putting children’s photos on milk cartons, technology has continually evolved to help us distribute literally billions of photos faster and faster – using emails, billboards, mobile devices, social media, and even gas station TVs. We can geo-target posters to specific areas where a child went missing or is believed to be now. But the QR code could usher in a whole new era. Now we’re talking a matter of seconds – and not just one child at a time.
“Instead of sharing one missing child poster, this will allow the public to view all missing children in their immediate area, whether they’re at home, visiting friends, or on vacation,” said John Bischoff, who oversees our Missing Children Division. “More images will be seen, and, hopefully, more children will be found quickly.”
Make students’ mental health and well-being a priority.
Growing up has always had its challenges. But for kids today social media and tech have a way of amplifying the typical stressors of adolescence. Instead of simply telling kids to get off of their screens, how can we help them cope in realistic ways?
These free, back-to-school resources from Common Sense are a positive and accessible place to start. Our new Digital Well-Being lessons for grades 6-12 were co-developed with the Center for Digital Thriving at Harvard Graduate School of Education. And our new Device Advice lessons for grades K-5 are a great way to help young students build healthy habits with media and tech.
Promote a healthy start to the school year with our digital well-being resources.
Teachers and parents are being warned to look out for new ‘High Light’ Chinese vapes that are designed to look like highlighter pens.
The vapes are packaged in bright neon colors that resemble typical pencil case items and come in 20 kid-friendly flavors like blueberry ice, mango and strawberry banana. But they contain nicotine, which is breathed in through the lungs when the vapes are used, which can cause damage to children’s lungs and brains, as well as cause nicotine addiction, lung damage, gum disease and oral cancers.
Teachers are fighting back against the school vape epidemic as the new term begins in September.
Previous research has shown that the average teen vaper in America starts aged 13, which has gotten lower since 2014. need a number of vapers. 2.5million high schoolers or middle schoolers
Illicit Fentanyl is 100 times more potent than morphine and 50 times stronger than heroin. There are two types of fentanyl: pharmaceutical fentanyl and illicit fentanyl. Our work addresses illicit fentanyl. Drug cartels make and supply deadly illicit fentanyl either as a standalone substance, as an additive in other dangerous street drugs, such as heroin, cocaine, and methamphetamine, or as substitutes for these drugs. Illicit fentanyl is purposely and deceptively added to other drugs because of its extreme potency, making drugs cheaper, more powerful, more addictive, and more dangerous. Illicit fentanyl has also been identified in counterfeit prescription pills. These fake pills are made to look identical to legitimate prescription pills — such as Oxycontin®, Percocet®, Vicodin®, Adderall®, Xanax® and other medicines—and have been found in every state in the country. Criminal drug networks are also harnessing the accessibility of social media to push deadly drugs into American communities.
Read more here and take action with Voices for Awareness Facing Fentanyl.Â
