A lot of my second graders' friends have gizmos and she does too. It's probably not necessary but I do like it. Lets me feel better about giving her more freedom in the neighborhood. She doesn't bring to school but most do in school mode.

Anonymous wrote:My kid has a Gizmo and we make sure it's in school mode during school (and most of extended day, unless we need to communicate something time-sensitive about pickup). School mode means it tells them the time and nothing else.

Why would you need to tell your child rather than just calling extended day staff?

Elementary school kids don’t need smart phones or watches.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid has a dumb watch. It's basically texting, calls, and stopwatch. The rest I put in school mode for the entirety of school hours. Despite that, it was taken away during the last few weeks of school during lunch.

A dumb watch is a Casio. A watch that makes calls is a smart watch.

Whatever. It is the most basic functionality "smart watch" then vs say, an apple watch. And school mode is always on. We need it mainly to ensure kid makes the bus on the occasion my spouse and I both need to be at work early. I have no plans to get rid of it.

If your kid is not capable of coming back home and telling you they missed the bus, you shouldn’t be leaving them home alone in the morning.

So don’t be surprised when the school takes away your budget smart watch.

My kid has a Gizmo and we make sure it's in school mode during school (and most of extended day, unless we need to communicate something time-sensitive about pickup). School mode means it tells them the time and nothing else.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid has a dumb watch. It's basically texting, calls, and stopwatch. The rest I put in school mode for the entirety of school hours. Despite that, it was taken away during the last few weeks of school during lunch.

A dumb watch is a Casio. A watch that makes calls is a smart watch.

Whatever. It is the most basic functionality "smart watch" then vs say, an apple watch. And school mode is always on. We need it mainly to ensure kid makes the bus on the occasion my spouse and I both need to be at work early. I have no plans to get rid of it.

They were allowed to have them but if they touched them then the teacher would yell at them.

Anonymous wrote:My kid has a dumb watch. It's basically texting, calls, and stopwatch. The rest I put in school mode for the entirety of school hours. Despite that, it was taken away during the last few weeks of school during lunch.

A dumb watch is a Casio. A watch that makes calls is a smart watch.

The company line is that they can be used for telling time, but communication features need to be disabled for the school day.

Anonymous wrote:My kid has a dumb watch. It's basically texting, calls, and stopwatch. The rest I put in school mode for the entirety of school hours. Despite that, it was taken away during the last few weeks of school during lunch.

It was supposed to be put away/taken away the whole time.

My son’s school forbid them. If they were seen they were taken and written up. Parent had to collect at the end of the day.

Kindergarten teacher here. I’ve had a few kids in the last few years with them. One of them wore it so his mom could track him when he was with his dad. She would call him on Monday mornings to get the 411 about his weekend even though she knew where he’d been. All of them had to keep the watch in their locker just like a cell phone.

Your elementary school kid doesn't need a smart watch any more than they need a phone.

Stop buying this junk for your kids.

They have to be off and put away.

My kid has a dumb watch. It's basically texting, calls, and stopwatch. The rest I put in school mode for the entirety of school hours. Despite that, it was taken away during the last few weeks of school during lunch.

Most of the discussion about devices has centered around phones, but what about smart watches? Do these go in pouches or is "school mode" good enough? This is for a 6th grader.