Students will use a letter Paul Revere wrote to learn how he worked to keep meetings secret and warn the colonists that the British army was on their way.  

This is a resource is a sorting activity for use with a lesson on Physical and Digital Security measures, SOL MSCSE.12.

During the American Revolution, the Patriots relied on sending coded messages to prevent the British from understanding the actions of the Continental Army. George Washington’s army used this cipher– though it is not a very secure system in its original form. The Patriots adapted it by using a randomized arrangement of the alphabet. This cipher was also used to some extent during the US Civil War.

This activity is from the Cyber.org website and covers the topic of the German Enigma Encryption machine that was used during World War II. Students will learn about how the Enigma machine worked and the process it used to encrypt messages. Students will be able to create their own Enigma machine using a normal size Pringles can and the activity sheet in PDF format. This is a great way to teach the concepts of encryption and a low cost way to give students a hands on approach to encrypting and decrypting messages.Ideas on how to use this activity would be to give the students a message to encrypt using their Pringles can Enigma machine or having students send an encrypted message to a classmate with the encryption key and have that student decrypt the message. To show the power of this type of encryption you can have other students try to decrypt the message without the key so they can see how difficult it would have been to crack the code during World War II.Link to the Cyber.org website for this activity

Students easily identify appropriate and inappropriate online behaviors. This lesson empowers students to collaborate while reviewing strategies to disengage or react when interactions become uncomfortable and potentially unsafe. 

This lesson is presented by Code.org
Lesson 8: Cybersecurity - Simple Encryption

From the website:
OVERVIEW
"In this lesson, students are introduced to the need for encryption and simple techniques for breaking (or cracking) secret messages. Students try their own hand at cracking a message encoded with the classic Caesar cipher and also a Random Substitution Cipher. Students should become well-acquainted with idea that in an age of powerful computational tools, techniques of encryption will need to be more sophisticated. The most important aspect of this lesson is to understand how and why encryption plays a role in all of our lives every day on the Internet, and that making good encryption is not trivial. Students will get their feet wet with understanding the considerations that must go into making strong encryption in the face of powerful computational tools that can be used to crack it. The need for secrecy when sending bits over the Internet is important for anyone using the Internet."

OBJECTIVE
"Explain why encryption is an important need for everyday life on the Internet.
Crack a message encrypted with a Caesar cipher using a Caesar Cipher Widget
Crack a message encrypted with random substitution using Frequency Analysis
Explain the weaknesses and security flaws of substitution ciphers"

The lesson is mapped out for teachers. It is easy to follow and includes vocabulary to cover, links to the necessary materials, and a teaching guide with background information, tips, and prompts.

AGENDA
Warm Up (10 min)
Classic Encryption - The Caesar Cipher
Activity (35 min)
Part 1 - Crack a Caesar Cipher
Part 2 - Crack a Random Substitution Cipher
Wrap Up (15 min)
Video: Encryption and Public Keys
Discussion
Career Discussion

Overview: This lesson is presented by Code.org
Lesson 8: Cybersecurity - Simple Encryption

From the website:
OVERVIEW
"In this lesson, students are introduced to the need for encryption and simple techniques for breaking (or cracking) secret messages. Students try their own hand at cracking a message encoded with the classic Caesar cipher and also a Random Substitution Cipher. Students should become well-acquainted with idea that in an age of powerful computational tools, techniques of encryption will need to be more sophisticated. The most important aspect of this lesson is to understand how and why encryption plays a role in all of our lives every day on the Internet, and that making good encryption is not trivial. Students will get their feet wet with understanding the considerations that must go into making strong encryption in the face of powerful computational tools that can be used to crack it. The need for secrecy when sending bits over the Internet is important for anyone using the Internet."

OBJECTIVE
"Explain why encryption is an important need for everyday life on the Internet.
Crack a message encrypted with a Caesar cipher using a Caesar Cipher Widget
Crack a message encrypted with random substitution using Frequency Analysis
Explain the weaknesses and security flaws of substitution ciphers"

The lesson is mapped out for teachers. It is easy to follow and includes vocabulary to cover, links to the necessary materials, and a teaching guide with background information, tips, and prompts.

AGENDA
Warm Up (10 min)
Classic Encryption - The Caesar Cipher

Activity (35 min)
Part 1 - Crack a Caesar Cipher
Part 2 - Crack a Random Substitution Cipher

Wrap Up (15 min)
Video: Encryption and Public Keys
Discussion
Career Discussion

***This lesson can be adapted for younger students but material covered aligns best with the current 8th grade Impacts of Computing Standards.

The Big Idea: Students will learn about and discuss the importance of private versus public information in Spanish.Concept: Students will address ideas of personal cybersecurity online.Summary: Students will learn cybersecurity vocabulary, explore cybersecurity concepts through authentic materials, discuss the importance of cybersecurity in Spanish using the present subjunctive and commands, and create a cybersecurity dos and don'ts poster in Spanish.

The students will participate in an escape room style challenge to uncover a strong password needed to access a computer program.

This poster uses the suggestions for strong passwords from the CS Standards of Learning Curriculum Framework for Grade 2.

This activity introduces puts participants in the role of agricultural workers in a fresh produce operation that grows crops in a hydroponic system to sell at grocery stores. As they grow their crops over the course of several weeks, they are responsible for ensuring that the products are safe, delicious, and ready to sell to customers. This activity is part of the Agricultural Cyberbiosecurity Education Resource Collection that contains resources for formal and non-formal agricultural educators working with middle school aged youth. Published as Open Educational Resources, all resources are provided in durable (pdf) and customizable (MS Word) formats. They are hosted on  GoOpenVA in a unique resource collection, Ag Cybersecurity Virginia Tech, at https://goopenva.org/curated-collections/143 and on on Virginia Tech’s stable repository, VTechWorks at https://doi.org/10.21061/cyberbiosecurity

This is a crossword covering several of the most common types of cyberattacks.

In this lesson students will learn how enslaved people used lyrics in songs to help them follow the path to freedom, in the time period before and during the Civil War. 

The teacher will introduce/ reiterate the importance of usernames and passwords. At the beginning of the year students receive their username and password for their personal school devices or for logging into the school equipment.
This activity allows students to locate and color the keys on the keyboard to help them with the initial login process and remembering their username and password.

This is a writing prompt choice board intended to be used in a writing center or station. In my classroom we typically use one choice board per week. Students choose up to 4 items to complete for the week. I do 4 items to give students time to finish incomplete work on Fridays, to work on final drafts, to edit a selected item, or to share their writing with peers. You can make the rules for your classroom to best suit your teaching style and your student's needs.

The choice board includes 8 prompts and one Student Choice square based on Cybersecurity standards for first grade.

Please feel free to make a copy of the choice board and edit it to meet your specifications.