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Swoosh, Glide and Rule Number 5

About this resource

Our Swoosh and Glide education material can be used to teach lower primary students how to make good choices when they are online. Teachers can read the picture book to the class or read along with the video, and then explore the puzzles with students.

Target audience

Level

Lower primary

Keywords

Time online, Respectful online relationships, Permission, Digital resilience, Critical thinking

Type of resource

Picture book, narrated video of the book, puzzle activity book

Timeframe

30-minute reading session and discussion

Australian curriculum

Key learning areas

Digital Technologies, Health and Physical Education

General capabilities

Literacy, ICT Capability, Critical and Creative Thinking

Using this resource

This resource is suitable for children in lower primary school and younger.

The picture book follows the adventures of Swoosh and Glide who have a fun family sleepover with their sugar glider cousins. It explores some of the common online experiences of children, shows what to do when something unexpected happens on a screen, and highlights safe internet practices for the whole family.

Use the book to:

  • start the chat about online safety with your students
  • encourage student self-reflection about how to use technology safely
  • establish online rules together to follow in the home or at school.

To turn the pages, click or tap on the arrows next to the page numbers. 

To view the book in full screen, hover your cursor over the top right corner of any page, click or tap on the dots, then click or tap on the screen button.

To download the book, hover your cursor over the top right corner of any page, click or tap on the dots, then click or tap on the download icon (with down arrow) and select the PDF file. You can download the pages separately by selecting the JPG or PNG file option.

To share the book with others, hover your cursor over the top right corner of any page, click or tap on the dots, then click or tap on the share icon (with side arrow) and select from the social media options or copy the link.

Watch the video

Written and illustrated by Barbara Uecker and Peter Viska and read by Jimmy Rees.

Audio

Hi, I'm Jimmy Rees and today we're reading Swoosh, Glide and Rule Number 5 from the eSafety Commissioner.

[Jimmy reads]

'They will be here soon,' said the sugar glider mum, as twins Swoosh and Glide waited in their old river gum.

'Coooeee, sleepover time!' yelled their uncle in a flash, as he landed with their cousins River, Reed and Ash.

After they had all hugged and said a warm 'hello', they played Statues and Chasey and other games you may know.

They whispered and giggled as they played Hide-and-Seek, while Swoosh counted numbers and tried not to peek.

What's the time, Mr Wolf? was the next game to play. Cousin Ash called 'Dinner time' and they all ran away.

The 'big wolf' made Swoosh feel a bit funny inside. This feeling made Swoosh want to run away and hide.

It was time for a rest when a sight met their eyes. Grandma and Grandpa were calling out 'SURPRISE!'

They'd called on their new tablet straight to the hollow. Glide asked them if they had special rules to follow.

The grandparents asked, 'What rules do you mean?'

1. 'Be kind, take turns!'

2. 'At dinner time no screen!'

3. 'Use it only in shared spaces!' Glide proudly said.

4. 'Ask before you use it!'

and 5. 'No taking screens to bed!'

Mum finished stirring and called 'Dinner will be soon. 'Say goodbye. Time to go. We'll chat tomorrow afternoon.

'Put the tablet away, I need some help please. We need cups and saucers for our sweet leaf teas.'

While the others played possum games and Mum stirred the soup, Swoosh took the tablet and hid from the group.

A silly video made Swoosh laugh so hard, it was lots of fun. Swoosh clicked on another, and another, and then another one.

But the last one was not nice or fun anymore. Swoosh dropped the tablet and curled up on the floor.

Glide ran to help. 'What can we do?' they said to each other. 'Put it away?' 'Turn it off?' They decided to ask their mother.

Swoosh soon told her, 'Something not nice was on the screen. It made me feel funny in my tummy, like when Mr Wolf screamed.'

Mum held their little hands and told them as she knelt, that they did the right thing to come to her for help.

Uncle declared, 'If something's not right while you're on a device, go quickly to your grown-up and ask for advice.'

He pressed on a button and a happy tune came on. 'Here's something that I wrote called My Family Rules song.'

Then Uncle saw the time and waved a fond goodbye. 'Got to go. Sun's up soon, so I really must fly.'

He jumped off that old river gum's branch with an almighty leap, looping to his homely hollow for a good day's sleep.

The children sat down, the table was cleared, a last game of Snap, all sugar gliders cheered.

'The sun's coming up,' said Mum with a yawn. 'It's time for bed, it's getting close to dawn.'

In bed Mum gave everyone a warm kiss goodnight and said, 'Night, night, sleep tight don't let the bed bugs bite.'

And in the wink of an eye the three cousins and twins were sound asleep and dreaming of their favourite things.

With the little ones asleep before early morning's glow, Mum set off to bed on her tippy tiptoes.

But guess what happened as she watched Bush News Live? Swoosh, shuffled in and called, 'MUM! Rule Number 5!?'

And that's the end of the story. What did you think?

Do you have family rules at home?

Remember to always ask for help when you're online, just like Swoosh and Glide.

Well that was fun. I'm Jimmy Rees. Goodbye.

Swoosh and Glide story time video

Travel into the Australian bush to the treetop home of eSafety sugar glider twins Swoosh and Glide as they learn about being safe online with their family.
Audio

Hi, I'm Jimmy Rees and today we're reading Swoosh, Glide and Rule Number 5 from the eSafety Commissioner.

[Jimmy reads]

'They will be here soon,' said the sugar glider mum, as twins Swoosh and Glide waited in their old river gum.

'Coooeee, sleepover time!' yelled their uncle in a flash, as he landed with their cousins River, Reed and Ash.

After they had all hugged and said a warm 'hello', they played Statues and Chasey and other games you may know.

They whispered and giggled as they played Hide-and-Seek, while Swoosh counted numbers and tried not to peek.

What's the time, Mr Wolf? was the next game to play. Cousin Ash called 'Dinner time' and they all ran away.

The 'big wolf' made Swoosh feel a bit funny inside. This feeling made Swoosh want to run away and hide.

It was time for a rest when a sight met their eyes. Grandma and Grandpa were calling out 'SURPRISE!'

They'd called on their new tablet straight to the hollow. Glide asked them if they had special rules to follow.

The grandparents asked, 'What rules do you mean?'

1. 'Be kind, take turns!'

2. 'At dinner time no screen!'

3. 'Use it only in shared spaces!' Glide proudly said.

4. 'Ask before you use it!'

and 5. 'No taking screens to bed!'

Mum finished stirring and called 'Dinner will be soon. 'Say goodbye. Time to go. We'll chat tomorrow afternoon.

'Put the tablet away, I need some help please. We need cups and saucers for our sweet leaf teas.'

While the others played possum games and Mum stirred the soup, Swoosh took the tablet and hid from the group.

A silly video made Swoosh laugh so hard, it was lots of fun. Swoosh clicked on another, and another, and then another one.

But the last one was not nice or fun anymore. Swoosh dropped the tablet and curled up on the floor.

Glide ran to help. 'What can we do?' they said to each other. 'Put it away?' 'Turn it off?' They decided to ask their mother.

Swoosh soon told her, 'Something not nice was on the screen. It made me feel funny in my tummy, like when Mr Wolf screamed.'

Mum held their little hands and told them as she knelt, that they did the right thing to come to her for help.

Uncle declared, 'If something's not right while you're on a device, go quickly to your grown-up and ask for advice.'

He pressed on a button and a happy tune came on. 'Here's something that I wrote called My Family Rules song.'

Then Uncle saw the time and waved a fond goodbye. 'Got to go. Sun's up soon, so I really must fly.'

He jumped off that old river gum's branch with an almighty leap, looping to his homely hollow for a good day's sleep.

The children sat down, the table was cleared, a last game of Snap, all sugar gliders cheered.

'The sun's coming up,' said Mum with a yawn. 'It's time for bed, it's getting close to dawn.'

In bed Mum gave everyone a warm kiss goodnight and said, 'Night, night, sleep tight don't let the bed bugs bite.'

And in the wink of an eye the three cousins and twins were sound asleep and dreaming of their favourite things.

With the little ones asleep before early morning's glow, Mum set off to bed on her tippy tiptoes.

But guess what happened as she watched Bush News Live? Swoosh, shuffled in and called, 'MUM! Rule Number 5!?'

And that's the end of the story. What did you think?

Do you have family rules at home?

Remember to always ask for help when you're online, just like Swoosh and Glide.

Well that was fun. I'm Jimmy Rees. Goodbye.

Swoosh and Glide story time video Auslan

An Auslan interpreter brings to life the story of Swoosh, Glide and Rule Number 5.

Solve the picture puzzles

Read the four stories in the activity book and use the picture puzzles to talk about online safety rules with your students. These scenarios will help them develop life-long skills for using digital technologies in a safe and positive way.

To download or share the book, or view it in full screen, hover your cursor over the top right hand corner of any page and then click to select your option. 

Other teacher resources

How our class stays safe online is a resource for 5 to 8 year old children about safe online behaviour. It includes discussion questions, a poster and guidelines about how to create a tech agreement.

Print and display the posters to remind students about your class rules and positive online behaviour. 

Additional activity

Encourage your students to create a family tech agreement for the home, with their parents and carers. Agreeing on a set of rules with their family can help children to develop their digital intelligence and build good habits around technology.