Disaster can strike at ANY time during ANY season. So, each year we are here to remind you to prepare for disaster situations in your home and communities.
BE PREPARED: Before an emergency or natural disaster strikes, here are 10 things you can do:
Have a safe location planned for shelter if your town is evacuated.
Plan for your pets and know where they will stay if you are evacuated. Hereare some pet-friendly hotels.
Have aplan where you and family members will meet and how you will communicate if you become separated.
Create an emergency kit, that meets your family’s particular needs.
Complete a homeinventory and document all of your belongings (clothing, mattresses, bedding, kitchen appliances, furniture, electronics, etc.).
Back up important phone contacts and photos physically or on The Cloud.
Check your insurance coverage with an advisor, to make sure you’re adequately covered or add protection (ex. Home, Renters, Auto, Flood, Earthquake, Floater, and Umbrella).
BE READY: If you need to evacuate:
To find local shelters download the FEMA app, text SHELTER and your ZIP code to 43362 (ex. SHELTER 12345), or visit the American Red Cross’ website.
Contact California Casualtyas soon as possible and save all receipts for living expenses, such as hotels, meals and other essentials.
Monitor local media about conditions, further evacuations, or when it might be safe to return home.
BE SAFE: When you return home, there are many potential dangers, such as:
Though it is National Preparedness Month, it is important to remain prepared every month of the year. An emergency or natural disaster can strike at any time or place; and if it does, please remember, you are not alone. California Casualty is there when you need us most, to help make sure you and your family are covered.
This article is furnished by California Casualty, providing auto and home insurance to educators, law enforcement officers, firefighters and nurses. Get a quote at 1.866.704.8614 or www.calcas.com.
Our Education Blogger is a public school teacher with over a decade of experience. She’s an active NEA member and enjoys writing about her experiences in the classroom. Cooperative learning strategies
Tired of using the same cooperative learning strategies over and over again? Ditch think-pair-share and jigsaw and try some of these fresh, meaningful group learning strategies.
Students are given four choices. 2. Students record their answers. 3. The teacher designates one corner for each choice. 4. Students travel to the appropriate corner. 5. Students pair up and discuss answers.Check out these examples:
Just for Fun: What is your favorite flavor of ice cream?
Science: Provide students with four animals. They choose which one to represent then give 2 to 3 examples of the animal that they chose.
Math: Provide students with four angles: Straight, obtuse, acute, or right. They think of a real world object that includes the angle.
Language Arts: Students decide what season of the year they think is the best. Then support their opinion with details.
Reading: Decide on four genres you want students to focus on. After students pick their genre, they are to write the title of 2-3 examples they think fit the genre. Discuss in corner.
Social Studies: Give the name of four Native American Indian tribes. Students share what they wore, used as weapons, lived in, etc.
Another great brainstorming technique to try is cooperative graffiti. This strategy requires students to think about a topic and write down as many ideas as possible using different-colored pens. To start, divide students into small groups and give each group a large, butcher block piece of paper and a variety of colorful pens. Write down a broad topic on the front board, and on your command “Go!”, instruct students to write down as many ideas as they can that correlate with the topic you wrote on the board. Once the time is up (about 5-10 minutes), then have students try and organize their colorful ideas into categories.
Round Table or Rally Table (Oregon Department of Education)
These are simple cooperative learning structures that cover much content, build team spirit, and incorporate writing. The roundtable has three steps to it. In the first step, the teacher poses a question that has multiple answers. Step two, the first student in each group writes one response on a paper and passes the paper counterclockwise to the next student. Finally, in step three, teams with the greatest number of correct responses gain some type of recognition. This type of cooperative learning can easily be used in the science classroom. For example, the students may be asked to write as many reptile names as they can. At the end the group with the most reptiles written down is rewarded. (Example: A teacher displays a picture and asks what are various food chains found within the ecosystem of the picture. One student writes a food chain on a piece of paper then passes the paper to other members of the team for them to write a food chain that they see in the picture. Students continue to pass around the paper until the teacher stops the activity or until a group runs out of answers.)
Carousel (University of Albany)
In this activity, students are broken into groups of 3-4 and the teacher places chart paper around the room with different questions on them, related to a certain topic. This lesson can be done before starting a new unit to activate prior knowledge, during the unit, or at the end of review. Each group starts at a different poster and is given a different color marker to write with. The marker travels with the groups around the rooms, and each group has 1-2 minutes to answer the question on the chart paper. They then rotate around the room to the next poster and repeat the process. You may want to try to get each group member to write their ideas down on the paper so that each student’s ideas are evident on the paper. When every group has written on each piece of paper, the class comes together for a whole class discussion and shares what is written on the posters.
Writearound (ColorinColorado.org)
For creative writing or summarization, give a sentence starter (for example: If you give an elephant a cookie, he’s going to ask for…). Ask all students in each team to finish that sentence. Then, they pass their paper to the right, read the one they received, and add a sentence to that one. After a few rounds, four great stories or summaries emerge. Give children time to add a conclusion and/or edit their favorite one to share with the class. Cooperative learning strategies
This strategy requires students to use their communication skills to work within a group. Here’s how it works: The teacher writes a proposition on the front board, such as “Should there be a vending machine in the school cafeteria?” then the students who agree move to one side of the classroom and the students who disagree move to other side. Once students are on one side of the classroom, that is now their group. The teacher then forces them to debate the opposing side that they have chosen. This strategy really utilizes students’ critical thinking skills and forces them to really think about the question as a whole in order to argue for the opposing side rather than what they really feel about the question.
Snowball (AlgonquinCollege.com)
Flip chart papers are posted around the room. Each page has a different question to respond to, sentence to complete or other prompt for input. Learners are divided into pairs or small groups (up to 6). Each pair or small group is given a marker. Each group is situated at a different flip chart page and asked to write their responses on the sheet in front of them. The facilitator calls “snowball” and each group rotates clockwise. They read what the previous group has written and add new ideas or different views. The process continues until each group has rotated to all pages. The facilitator leads a debriefing session. You may have each group summarize the page that they finish at and suggest possible implications, applications etc.
Cooperative Learning is beneficial to students. Students have a responsibility to the group and to themselves. It encourages positive student interactions. Students also gain practice using social and collaborative skills. At the end of each cooperative learning activity, conduct discussions with students. You might ask students to name one thing they learned, how they felt working in a group, or how they might improve their group work.
We’d love to hear from you! Tell us your favorite Cooperative Learning Strategies!
This article is furnished by California Casualty, providing auto and home insurance to educators, law enforcement officers, firefighters and nurses. Get a quote at 1.866.704.8614 or www.calcas.com.
With all of the new technology and apps that are continuously being developed, it is easy for bullying to go unnoticed by parents and teachers. According to the American Federation of Teachers, 15-25 percent of all American students are bullied to some degree; 40 and 50 percent of that occurs in the form of texting and cyberbullying. Teaching bullying prevention and social media etiquette to students at a young age is key to combat bullying and cyberbullying.
Students that are victims of bullying are prone to suffer from loneliness, anxiety, and depression. They will likely carry this with them throughout their lives. Those who are bullied have also proven to perform at lower academic levels than their peers. That is why it is important for educators to be a part of the mission to combat bullying in schools. Bullying prevention
Here are some ways teachers can help prevent and fight bullying in their classrooms.
1. Maintain Consistent Classroom Management
To create a classroom environment of respect and responsibility invite students to help establish the classroom rules. Engage in a discussion about do’s (ex. saying please, raising your hand, using inside voices) and don’ts (ex. bullying, cheating, stealing). Keep the expectations of these rules clear, simple, and explicit. It is important to be consistent in enforcing these rules and follow through with consequences immediately if the rules are broken.
2. Have a Lesson on Bullying and Social Media Best Practices
Early in the year dedicate a lesson to bullying that shows first-hand the effects of bullying and cyberbullying. Go over best practices on how to avoid and handle cyberbullying and what to do it if is happening to them. Let students know bullying will not be tolerated, and reinforce the consequences of what will happen if someone is being bullied in your class.
3. Get the Entire Story & Act Immediately
If bullying does happen, be thorough in your “investigations” of the situation. Separately, talk to each student involved. Listen, don’t blame or assign labels. Hold all parties, including bystanders, accountable for their actions or lack of action. Once you know the full story, take action immediately. If you don’t, you are sending the message to all involved that the behavior is acceptable.
4. Follow Through
Check up on students who have struggled with a bullying situation: victims, witnesses, AND bullies. Ongoing support of students who have been involved in a bullying situation can help minimize, or prevent, the effects of bullying in the future.
5. Create a Safe Classroom Environment
It is important to create a classroom environment that is welcoming, safe, and supportive. Students should be aware of your willingness to listen and help them if they are in a situation where someone is bullying them in school or online.
6. Be Aware of School and District Bullying Policies
Brush up on your district and school bullying policies and procedures. When you know the rules, you can feel confident implementing them.
7. Open Up the Lines of Communication
Consistent communication with parents and families is an important tool in bullying prevention. When students are aware that their parents are only an email or phone call away from their teacher, they are less likely to commit acts of bullying.
8. Get Other Teachers Involved
Bullying isn’t limited to just one classroom or area in a school building. With your colleagues, talk about the issues in your own classroom and listen to other teachers as they discuss their specific challenges. As a team, or building, you can identify the needs of specific students, or areas of the building, that may need additional supervision/monitoring.
9. Learn About It
Not quite sure what to do with a bully or how to speak to a victim? Seek out professional development or courses that will help you learn about bullying. There are also many free resources for teachers, like the APA bullying module for teachers listed in the resources below.
10. Create a Club or Group Against Bullying
Group meetings are a great way to bring up the topic of bullying and peer relationships. Expound on the topic by discussing bullying in pop culture (TV shows, movies, etc.). Have students describe the impacts of bullying and ways to solve the issues, and then try and start a no-bully campaign at your school where everyone can be involved and stand up against bullies.
For more information on Bullying in the Classroom Visit:
This article is furnished by California Casualty. We provide auto and home insurance to educators, law enforcement officers, firefighters and nurses. Get a quote at 1.866.704.8614 or www.calcas.com.
Keeping track of all our security passwords and codes is a pain. There’s one for the credit cards, a few for work, and a half dozen others for everything from the online bill paying to our social media accounts.
Since it’s become such hassle, all too many of us are using an easy-to-remember password that is making it very easy for cyber-crooks to breach our security and have access to our bank accounts and other important personal information. In the US alone there is a hacker attack every 39 seconds. That is why creating a strong password that is easy for you to remember, yet difficult for a hacker to guess is so important.
When you create a password to protect your personal information please avoid using:
123456
password
123456789
12345678
12345
111111
1234567
sunshine
qwerty
iloveyou
These passwords have been named “worst passwords of the year 2018” and many of them have been on the worst list for YEARS. Using these, and others like football, abc123, and 654321 (also on the list), means you are making it too easy for hackers and criminals to compromise your accounts.
So, what’s the key to creating a complex, secure password? Use one that employs 12 characters or more with a mix of symbols, letters, and numbers.
To avoid having one of the worst passwords, follow these password creation tips:
Create passwords with as many letters, symbols, numbers and mixed case letters as possible
Store your passwords in a safe place that’s not on your computer
Use different and unique passwords for important accounts
Set up your password recovery options and keep them up to date
The United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team, part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, says a secure password should look something like this: Il2pBb3x!. The sequence comes from, “I like to play basketball three times a week,” just changed to simple symbols. Or think of a word that only has significance to you, change a few letters to make them capital, make some letters into symbols, and add in a long number. Ex. m@VEr1cK5991
And, if that all seems too complicated, there are free online password generator internet sites that will do the hard work for you. But once you’ve created a nearly full-proof password, your work is still not done. Experts advise that passwords need to be changed often, possibly once a month or quarter.
California Casualty also offers an added layer of protection; every auto and home insurance policy comes with free ID Theft 911 protection, which comes with ID theft resolution service. Contact an advisor for more information or a free policy review at 1.866.704.8614 or visit www.calcas.com.
The rush is on to get everything ready as students head back to college. If yours are moving into a place of their own, don’t forget to purchase renters insurance to protect all the special items that make their new place their home away from home.
Here are some important reasons why it is a necessity for your college student(s) to have renters insurance:
1. College kids have more these days: books, bicycles, TVs, computers, tablets, gaming systems, smartphones, sound systems, clothes, bedding, furniture, and kitchen items. Replacing those items if they were stolen, damaged or destroyed in a fire could add up to tens of thousands of dollars. Renters insurance also pays for temporary living expenses, like a hotel room, while their room or apartment is being repaired.
2. Once they move into a place of their own they usually need their own renters insurance policy. Most students who live in a dorm have personal property coverage under their parents’ homeowners insurance.
3. A landlord’s insurance policy won’t cover your student’s belongings. The landlord’s insurance protects the building and only pays to fix walls, roofs, etc., not any of your kid’s contents.
4. Renters insurance provides liability coverage if someone gets hurt at your student’s home/apartment. It helps pay for medical expenses and other costs, like legal fees, if the injured person sues.
5. Renters insurance a great value. On average, it costs between $10 and $20 a month, or about $200 a year. That’s less than most people spend each month for cell phones or their cable bill.
Policies from California Casualty also providefree ID theft protection from CyberScout, adding another layer of security in our modern world of social media, data breaches, and online trolls. Now is the time to find out how little renters insurance costs, and how it can cover your student’s belongings. Learn more by contacting an advisor today at 1.866.704.8614 or visithttps://mycalcas.com/quote
This article is furnished by California Casualty. We specialize in providing auto and home insurance to educators, law enforcement officers, firefighters, and nurses.
