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Article Summary

An article that offers tips and advice on how you can stay connected with friends and family. It suggests different activities, both online and offline that people can do together.

Ways you can stay connected to friends and family

Be creative, together

Help with the cooking, take up baking, have a virtual arts and crafts session, create a shared playlist or make your own music! Share whatever you make with friends and family via video chat, take a photo or record a video for them to watch later!

Video chats or phone calls

Don’t forget to check in with your mates and your family too! Tell them about what you’ve done today and share what you’ve got planned for the week ahead. It’s a simple way to feel connected and remain in the loop with those in your life.

Book / homework club

A great way to share an activity with a friend and take a screen break is reading the same book and discussing it at the end of the week. You could do weekly catch ups with your school pals and share what you’ve been working on or reading so you don’t fall behind and can be there for one another. Make sure to share your progress as you go along!

Exercise together, from afar

Online exercise classes are easy to access and follow. If you want to exercise alongside a friend or family member you could take up yoga or do a short home workout video at the same time, making fitness fun and a shared activity!

Film or games night!

Put on your favourite film, dust off an old board game or connect virtually with a video game. It’s a fun and interactive way to stay connected and gather with family or friends from a distance.

Article: 2 min read

Learning Objectives

• ‘I can describe ways people who have similar likes and interests can get together online’

• ‘I can describe strategies for safe and fun experiences in a range of online social environments (e.g. livestreaming, gaming platforms)'

• ‘I can describe some of the ways people may be involved in online communities and describe how they might collaborate constructively with others and make positive contributions (e.g. gaming communities or social media groups)’

Glossary

• Isolation: by yourself
• Playlist: a list of songs or videos
• 'Virtual' something that exists in the digital world, but not in the real world
• Interactive the action and communication between two things, like between you and your game

Topic introductions and starters

Before reading the article:

• Ask pupils to write down three ways they use the internet or digital devices to connect to other people

After reading the article:

• Compare their lists written before reading the article to the headings in the article – did they have any different ways of connecting?
• Check understanding of specific vocabulary and key terms from the article: isolation, playlist, virtual, interactive – add to class dictionary/glossary
• Write a simple one sentence ‘dictionary’ definitions of key vocabulary – share with the class and decide on the best version
• Ask pupils to discuss and then create lists of ways that they have connected with people using technology
• Ask pupils to take the headings and write their own sentences to explore the ideas given in the article further

Discussion Points

• Why is staying connected with friends and family important? What happens if you don’t connect? Does everyone enjoy being connected?

• Is connecting online the same as being with people offline in real life? What are the differences? Is one better than the other?

• How can you stay safe when connecting with people online? What about friends of friends? Is video chat always safe? What should you avoid sharing? How does it compare to meeting people offline? Is it more dangerous?

Fillers and fast finisher activities

• Create some new headings for the ‘top tips’ list and add sentences describing ways to connect with friends and families
• Create hand-drawn illustrations for each heading with examples of the activities being described
• Create a pros/cons list for connecting online and offline, using a table to compare both ways of connecting with people – which is best?
• Make a mind map to show what the article is suggesting in a different, more visual format – add symbols and small illustrations

Signposting potential homework activities

• Create a digital collage of images to illustrate some of the activities in the article
• Create a checklist to remind people of how to stay safe online while connecting in the ways described in the article
• Create a poster/advert for one of the connection activities in the article and make it sound/look as positive and exciting as possible

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