Safe & Kind Online
Stay safe and be kind on the tablet. Solve four locks. Use the picture clues to help you.
The premise
The internet is fun. It is safest when you ask a grown-up, keep your name private, and stop when something feels bad. Look at the clues. Then open all four locks. Each lock tells you why the safe, kind way is the best way.
How this breakout builds CLEAR thinking
Every Critical Thinking Online Breakout runs on the CLEAR process — Claim, Lens, Evidence, Alternatives, Response (full framework). Here is where students practice each step in this activity:
- Claim — for each lock, decide what answer it is really asking for, and make it specific.
- Lens — notice what you already assume before you choose.
- Evidence — weigh the six clues; “Toy Dino” is true but off-topic, so it is not evidence for any lock.
- Alternatives — the multiple-choice and multi-select locks force a comparison of competing options.
- Response — the reason revealed after each lock models the justified answer to act on.
Standards alignment
Aligned to Texas TEKS Technology Applications, Grade K, §126.5, Digital Citizenship strand — subsections (c)(10), (c)(8). Skills are paraphrased; read the official standard at tea.texas.gov. This page shows the reasoning focus of each lock — not the answers.
| Lock | Reasoning focus | DigCit substrand |
|---|---|---|
| Lock 1 Who Do You Ask? |
Choosing a trusted grown-up to ask | (c)(8) Social interactions |
| Lock 2 Kind or Unkind? |
Telling kind from unkind messages | (c)(8) Social interactions |
| Lock 3 Keep It Safe |
Keeping personal information private | (c)(10) Privacy, safety & security |
| Lock 4 Something Feels Unsafe |
Safe vs. unsafe things to tap | (c)(10) Privacy, safety & security |
In the classroom
- Warm up (5 min). Ask: “Be a Safe & Kind Helper” — what does this mean online? Surface prior experience before the activity.
- Model one clue. Open a single clue together and think aloud: what does this tell us, and which lock might it help?
- Reason, don’t guess. Require students to say why before checking a lock. After each solve, read the revealed reason and compare it to their thinking.
- Spot the decoy. One clue is true but useless. Debrief which one and how they knew — a core evaluation skill.
- Language support. The 🌐 picker offers 7 languages; pair newcomers to discuss clues in their home language, then answer.
- Extend. Have students write a new clue, or a real-life example, for the focus skill they found hardest.