Digital Citizenship in Kindergarten

We are teaching digital natives. Our students come to us knowing how to take a selfie, swipe on a screen and much more!

It can be a mixed blessing. As our classrooms become more integrated with technology, it is important to be mindful and think about what we are teaching our students as digital citizens.

Last year, I had the opportunity to become a Digital Citizenship Educator. The experience helped to raise my awareness about the topics that our youngest learners can handle in regards to Digital Citizenship. 

Next week, October 16th - 20th is Digital Citizenship Week. So, I thought I'd share how you can help create Digital Citizens in your classrooms. 

What does Digital Citizenship in Kindergarten look like? 



In my classroom, I kept the format simple. We usually watched a video on an element of Digital Citizenship. The Educator section on Common Sense has many to choose from. Afterwards, we had a class discussion. If possible, I created extension activities and anchor charts. 


I found out a lot about my students' interaction with social media, the internet and how they use their devices during our class discussions. This was truly eye opening. Their candor helped me with follow up lessons. 

If you think that teaching Digital Citizenship in Kindergarten is too soon. I'm sorry to tell you, it isn't. These discussions and lessons are important. I hope that by teaching this sooner rather than later, we will help alleviate the problem we see now with teens and social media. We are creating habits that can have a lifelong impact. 

If you'd like to learn more lesson on Digital Citizenship for young learners, here is a Thinglink I created. I highly recommend CommonSense.org for both educators and families. It has a wealth of resources for all ages.




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