Checkpoint+5

= Thank you for wonderful submission Group 11! Very nicely done. I have a few minor comments that need to be addressed: - Please number your responses. - Make sure you concentrate on skills, not knowledge. Remember that knowledge of a behavior does not equate to behavior change. - I'm not sure if this is the case here or not but the mentioned activities should differ from the integrated lesson plans. - Very creative, wonderfully written and great activities! Kudos on a an amazing job! No need to make a resubmission, just think about addressing the comments I made. :) DUE: Wednesday, June 2, by 3:30pm = Checkpoint 5: Health Content In the box below please provide the actual content that will be presented to the participants as well as any background information the presenter will need to be confident with the presentation. Focus on the questions below but think closely about any questions the participants may have or other information the presenter should know. Number your answers. Include answers to each of the following questions:
 * Instructions:**

Put up your section by Tuesday, June 1st by noon. Look over all sections before our meeting on Tuesday, June 1st at 7pm (main floor of Library West). Come with comments and suggestions! Rai will be editing!

1. What background information on the health issue is critical for the teacher to know? This section should include specific health content. Include any subtopics as well. Amy 2. How can the health issue be addressed in the classroom? Andi 3. How will you involve parents? Monique 4. How will you involve the rest of the school? Brittny I am aware that my section will need to be broken down and put into paragraph form but I am leaving the place that I am using a computer and I just wanted to let you guys know that I do have something down. I will work on it again as soon as possible! *B.C.* 5. How will you involve the entire community? Yoonnie

This section should be formatted according to question number. This is the heart of the presentation so this is the largest section of the project. There is no minimum or maximum page length. Only one submission may be made per group and do not make any attachments.

As was previously established, home and street safety education is critical to students’ well-being. In order to teach students about home and street safety, teachers need to be equipped with the knowledge to be able to identify and prevent dangers on the street, as well as provide care for students who have been affected by these dangers. Teachers will also need to know how to safely deal with strangers and how to identify and prevent dangers in the home that can lead to unintentional injuries. Finally, teachers should be able to identify how home and street safety can impact a student’s home, school, and community.
 * Home and Street Safety: What Teachers Need to Know**

Before educating students on the topic of home safety, teachers must be knowledgeable about dangers in the home, such as poisoning, electricity, and falls. Teachers must be able to identify labels that indicate a product’s toxicity. These labels are often red or yellow and may include symbols such as an exclamation point or skull and crossbones. Teachers must also be aware of known poisons, know where to properly store household and cleaning products to prevent unsupervised children from coming across these hazards, and they must also know how to call poison control if a child has ingested any kind of poison. According to the American Association of Poison Control Centers (AAPCC), children are most likely to be poisoned by cosmetics, cleaning products, pain medicines, silica gel packets, and topical medications. Furthermore, the most dangerous poisons include certain medicines, corrosive cleaners, fuels, pesticides, and automobile products, such as antifreeze (AAPCC). The AAPCC has also established safe storage and usage procedures to prevent poisoning, including: · “Keep potential poisons in their original containers. · DO NOT use food containers such as cups or bottles to store household and chemical products. · Store food and household and chemical products in separate areas… · Never mix household and chemical products together. Mixing chemicals could cause a poisonous gas.” (para. 13-16) The AAPCC also advises that poisonous substances be kept in locked or otherwise secured cabinets that are not accessible by children. Also, poisonous products should never be left unattended within easy access of children (AAPCC).

When instructing children on the topic of poisons, teachers need know to instruct children to avoid medicine and cleaning supplies and to not put unidentifiable objects in their mouths, including pills, items that look like candy, items that look like water or juice, and houseplants, which may have colorful leaves and berries. Teachers also need to know to instruct children not to touch or smell unidentifiable substances, particularly liquids. Finally, teachers need to instruct children that, in case of poisoning, children need to contact the nearest adult or older sibling who can contact the Poison Control Center (AAPCC, n.d.).

Aside from the dangers of poison, teachers should know about the dangers electricity, such as lodging foreign objects into electrical outlets and placing electrical appliances near water. With this, teachers need to be able to communicate to students to avoid electrical outlets and exposed wires, to refrain from placing objects in electrical outlets or sockets, and to refrain from using electrical equipment near liquids. Teachers must also be able to inspect an environment to locate the sources of electricity and to properly prevent electrical injuries by installing safety plugs to cover exposed outlets. Teachers must also know the appropriate emergency phone numbers, such as 911, in the incident of an electrical injury.

Other common unintentional injuries are caused by falls. Accordingly, teachers should know and be able to communicate the proper methods to prevent fall injuries, such as keeping the ground clear of objects, like toys, to avoid tripping. Other critical prevention methods include avoiding running in closed spaces, avoiding crawling or climbing onto anything that is above one’s own height, and avoiding running up and down stairs. In the event that a child has received an injury from a fall, teachers should be able to assess the severity of the injury and call for proper help, whether it is the ambulance or just the parent.

Safety is extremely important when children are in or near the streets. Teachers must understand how to safely cross the street, know how to find a safe path to walk on, and have comprehension of basic road signs before preparing their class on the topic of street safety. In order to safely cross a street, pedestrians must make sure that drivers have full sight of them before crossing. Teachers should know that, in order to make sure of this, the pedestrian needs to stop and look both ways before crossing the street and to walk – not run – so that the pedestrian is visible to drivers at all times. Teachers should be able to recognize basic road signs that can impact students on their walk to school, including stop signs, crosswalk signs, streetlights and pedestrian lights. Teachers must also know how to find a safe route to school. A safe route is one that is paved and in a lighted area.

Finally, in order to prepare students on the topic of stranger danger, teachers must have basic knowledge about the issue. Teachers should know that children who are home alone should lock all doors and windows. Furthermore, teachers should know that the door should never be answered by a child. Teachers should also know that, when a child is to leave the supervision of an adult, the child should tell their parent(s) where they are going and should be accompanied by a friend at all times. This system, often described as the “buddy system”, can be used to prevent many kinds of stranger-related threats.

Young children spend the majority of their time in school; thus, the classroom is often the best place to address health issues, including home and street safety. Teaching students about home and street safety will give students the necessary skills to prevent accidental injuries stemming from these issues. Accordingly, it is important that teachers find ways to integrate knowledge about home and street safety into the elementary curriculum. In doing so, teachers should guide students towards a greater knowledge about these issues, including tips for preventing accidental injuries and appropriate skills and behaviors that can be used to confront these issues. Furthermore, teachers should inform students of the correct ways of handling any accidental injuries they may encounter.
 * Home and Street Safety: In the Classroom**

Teachers can ensure that they are communicating this information about home and street safety by integrating home and street safety topics into the other core subjects of the curriculum. For example, when learning and practicing to read, teachers can have students read stories or passages related to fall prevention or stranger avoidance. Teachers can also choose words that are related to home and street safety, such as “stop sign” and “poison”, as new vocabulary words for a language arts lesson. Street safety, in particular, can also be integrated into a geography lesson by discussing appropriate ways of dressing when walking around the neighborhood during various weather conditions. Another great way of incorporating this topic into geography is by having the students make a "safer route to school plan" (Nationwide Education, 2010, para. 6). The students can draw maps of their neighborhood and, using what they learn about home and street safety, try to find the safest route when walking to school.

Home and street safety can also be integrated into math lessons. During math lessons, the students can go on short field trips in and around the school grounds to identify safety objects or hazards related to home and street safety. For example, the students can count how many bike riders are wearing a helmet or how many indoor or outdoor light sources they see. The class can also conduct surveys to see which types of safety practices are employed by the students within the class; for example, the class can survey the number of students who carry lights or wear reflective clothing when walking in the dark. The students can then take these surveys one step further and use the information they gathered to create bar graphs and pie charts.

Another math and science activity that can incorporate home and street safety involves asking students to keep diaries about the time of the sunrise or sunset; the class can then use their findings to discuss what differences they notice in their data before and after day light savings. This activity helps students learn about time and the rotation of the Earth while promoting students’ awareness of the times that they should or should not be outside.

Another major concept within home and street safety involves teaching students to use their senses in order to function in their surroundings in a safe manner. This concept can be tied into a science lesson regarding the five senses. The class can also talk about various light sources seen in and out of the home during a science lesson on light (Nationwide Education, 2010).

Because this is such a critical issue that students need to be made aware of, it is important that teachers use several methods of presenting the students with this knowledge. Teachers should incorporate visual and audio cues to help students learn the information, as this will provide several forms of input for a variety of learners within the classroom. It is especially important that the teacher focuses on visual literacy, since much of this topic deals with a child’s ability to recognize various signs, cues, and labels. Other useful tools that can be incorporated when presenting this information are mnemonic devices, which serve as a way of helping students remember important safety tips and procedures. In addition to being presented with knowledge of this subject, it is also imperative that the students be given opportunities to practice and demonstrate their learning. This can be done through various interactive methods, such as role playing and hands-on-activities, to ensure the students are truly learning the given information.

Role playing is a great way to place students in pretend scenarios involving home and street safety issues in order to allow them to practice the correct ways of handling the situations. This method will help students practice the correct skills and behaviors for hazardous situations, which will better prepare students to deal with these situations in the real world. Hands-on-activities are also very important because they allow students to take control of their own learning. These activities may include creating diagrams, word webs, songs, presentations, mini-dramas, poems, rhymes, etc. Both role-playing and hands-on activities are excellent, enjoyable learning experiences that allow students to express their knowledge in a creative way.

Finally, a very important factor when dealing with any safety topic is the active engagement of the students. It is very important to grab the attention and interest of the students in order to make them aware of the significance of the topic. It’s vital that each student realizes that this information is valuable to them, and the best way to help them realize this is by applying this topic into the curriculum in an enjoyable, interesting, and relevant way.

Although the importance of educating students on home and street safety has been emphasized, the importance of involving parents in their child’s learning is equally crucial. It is vital that teachers educate their students’ parents so that they feel knowledgeable in the same subject matters that their children are learning. This holds special importance when it comes to the matters of home and street safety for it will be the role of the parents and teachers to work as a team to utilize and enforce the newly learned safety procedures. The great news is that there are excellent ways to get parents involved and on the same page without requiring them to find time in their busy schedule to come on school campus for instructional time or meetings. Finding ways around requesting time from families’ busy schedules will increase the likelihood of involvement from all parents.
 * Home and Street Safety: Involving Parents**

The first step to involving parents is making them aware of the topics that their child will be learning while in the classroom. This can be done by sending home a short note from the teacher explaining the focus on home and street safety. Teachers can mention which subject matters will be discussed on which day and request that parents contact the teacher with any comments, questions, or concerns. This small gesture will give parents a heads-up to the subject matter that their child will be discussing as well as allow parents to begin conversations with their child each day on what they learned. Furthermore, this gesture enables better communication between parent and teacher as well as parent and student.

Another step to involving parents in their child’s safety education is to provide parents with printed information on the same safety information the child is being taught. “My Child Safety” offers free of charge some great print resources on street safety education that can be sent home with children on the same day that they learn about street safety. By sending home this information, parents will gain the same knowledge that their child is learning as well allow parents to discuss and solidify this new knowledge with their child.

A final way to involve parents is to assign students homework assignments that must be done with the help of a parent. This assignment will take what has been learned in the classroom about dangers in the home and apply it in each student’s actual home setting. By having parents and their children assess the safety level of their own home, they will be demonstrating to each other their knowledge and ability to note dangerous objects or situations, as well as gain the opportunity to remove or fix possible dangers.

Overall, each of these parent involvement tips has the goal of increasing the likelihood of providing a safe environment for their children while enhancing communication and cooperation between the school and home. With a knowledgeable and involved parent comes a more aware and safe child.

" 'USA Today' reports that someone is injured in a pedestrian related traffic accident every nine minutes in the United States. This is a frightening statistic. Because a parent cannot always be present, teaching a child how to use a crosswalk can encourage safety in their absence" (Erickson, 2010, para. 1). In order to get schools involved in promoting good school and home safety for students, a Coordinated School Health Program (CSHP) should be implemented. There are eight components of a CSHP, one of which being a healthy school environment. In order to ensure a healthy school environment, the streets surrounding the school, the homes of the students, and the school itself must all be safe. The school’s employees are vital participants in making sure effective safety practices are upheld on campus. The employees’ participation may be the most important factor in ensuring student safety because students spend majority of their time at school, and many students already view their teachers as role models. With this, there are numerous educational opportunities within the school day teachers and staff to teach students about home and street safety. Also, safety practices that are started at the school may serve as a positive influence on the community and families to help produce a safer and healthier school environment.
 * Home and Street Safety: Involving the School**

A great example of how staff, teachers, and parents can get involved in home and school safety is through the iWalk: International Walk to School in the USA. In the year 2009 forty seven out of the fifty states participated in iWalk with a total of three hundred ninety four schools (International Walk to School, 2010). The iWalk was successful in the October month of 2009 due to the implementation of "the four E's: Education, Encouragement, Enforcement, and Engineering" (International Walk to School, 2010, para. 4). The role that the school played in this model was the education of students. Schools taught students safe walking behaviors and proper crossing at crosswalks. Although this served solely as preparation for iWalk, students were exposed to skills that they were able to use in everyday street crossing. Furthermore, iWalk is the ideal example of school involvement in that it allowed every individual, including staff, teachers, and students, to make a collective effort towards home and street safety and a healthy lifestyle.

The website for The National Center for Safe Routes to School has a vast amount of information about iWalk, how effective it has been, what its goals are, and how schools can get involved (International Walk to School, 2010).

To take advantage of the value people place on children, community members should be intrinsically motivated to do their best to protect and raise their children. Although adults may neglect to teach and guide their children in safety practices on the street and in the home, it may not be because they do not care, but instead, it may be because of their lack of time, their lack of knowledge, or mentality that their children can learn on their own. For these and other reasons, communities should take a proactive and preventative approach to enforcing the safety of children.
 * Home and Street Safety: Involving the Community**

An idea for an ongoing program in the community can be sponsored by a community center or the City Hall. Each week, the group can put together fun training programs to get the community involved in proactive practices of street and home safety. These workshops do not need to particularly be aimed towards the adults, but children should be encouraged to participate as well. There can be a monthly theme that the city promotes through their workshops, so that reviews of safe practices are demonstrated. Special guests, such as policemen, firefighters, doctors and nurses, poison control specialists, and crossing guards can be invited to speak about the safety topics that they encounter in their profession and how to prevent dangers from happening in the home and on the street. For example, a policeman may speak about the high prevalence of family and stranger abduction, and advise the community about ways to prevent those situations as best possible. Throughout each workshop session, the directors can provide mock scenarios where parents, children, and other community members role play situations, so that essentially, they can be prepared to react to real situations.

To make children aware of their surroundings and common dangerous occurrences, posters can be posted throughout the entire neighborhood, including street lamps and in/outside community stores and restaurants. If there are high crime rates in the community, communities may want to consider installing emergency blue light stations, like the ones at the University of Florida, around the city’s parameter so that children have easier access in retrieving help in risky situations, such as accidents on the street.

Wearing a seatbelt is crucial when riding in a car. According to Spainhour, Brill, Sobanjo, Wekezer, and Mtenga’s (2005) study, 63% of car passenger fatalities could be prevented with the use of safety belts. In another workshop session, a policeman may also speak about the importance of wearing seatbelts because of their life-saving and injury-preventing abilities.

To encourage street safety behaviors, the city can adopt a program where children, and even the all community members, keep a mini log of signatures or stickers that the policemen and/or crossing guards individually give them to rack up points to receive the title of and a certificate for being a good citizen.

Association of Poison Control Centers. (n.d.). Poison Prevention Tips for Adults. //American Association of Poison Control Centers//. Retrieved June 2, 2010, from []

Erickson, R. (2010). //Crosswalk safety for kids//. Retrieved from []

Haynes, A. (2002). //Tips for teachers: road safety education lesson plans//. Retrieved from []

//International walk to school in the USA//. (2010). Retrieved from []

Spainhour, L. K., Brill, D., Sobanjo, J., Wekezer, J., Mtenga, P. (2005). //Evaluation of traffic crash fatality causes and effects: A study of fatal traffic crashes in Florida from 1998-2000 focusing on heavy truck crashes, BD-050.// Tallahassee, Florida: Florida Department of Transportation. Retrieved from[]

//Suggested cross-curricular extension activities//. (2010). Retrieved from []

Statistically, the largest number of injuries among child pedestrians is the failure to stop at every street edge and looking for cars. The key point to communicate to children is to stop at the edge of the sidewalk before crossing, look left, right, and left again, and listen for oncoming cars. Children should only cross if it is clear. You can help children practice this by simulating situations in the classroom. For example, you can use masking tape inside or outside of the classroom to create a mock street. Have the children line up on one side of the tape, and have them practice looking left, right, and then left again. A remote control car can help children learn to wait for cars to pass before crossing.**
 * * Hey Amy, here is the info. I gathered. Feel free to use this for your section! =) **
 * OBJECTIVE 1: STOP, LOOK, AND LISTEN

To teach younger children about traffic lights and what they mean, make a snack. Give each child one-fourth of a graham cracker. Spread peanut butter on the cracker and have the child place a red M&M on the top. The red is for stop. Have the child place a yellow M&M in the middle for the caution light. A green M&M stands for the go signal. Once children understand the lights meanings, they can eat their creation. OBJECTIVE 3: PEDESTRIAN SIGNS Have children create common pedestrian signs. Cut cardboard into sign shapes. A stop sign, school crossing sign, and a walk/don’t walk sign are good. If the children suggest any other signs, discuss their meanings and make these too. Once the signs are painted, tape them onto gift-wrap cardboard tubes. Secure the signs upright in coffee cans filled with sand. Place these signs in a mock street scenario. These can be made in the classroom using masking tape, or throughout the playground. Practice walking with the children, what the signs mean, and what they should do at each sign.
 * OBJECTIVE 2: TRAFFIC LIGHT MEANINGS

OBJECTIVE 6: PEDESTRIAN SAFETY There are several points to this objective. It is a lot of material, but discussion, and practice on mock street scenario can help children remember these points. 1. Always walk on the sidewalk. If there is no sidewalk, walk off the road facing traffic so that you can see any cars that are heading your direction. 2. Cross the street only at intersections or marked crosswalks. Always stop, look, and listen. 3. If there is a car parked where you are crossing, look to see if there is a driver in the car. Carefully walk to the edge of the car and then stop, look, and listen. 4. While crossing, continue to look for cars. Always walk across the street. Do not run. 5. Do not walk at night. 6. Never run into the street to catch a ball or an animal. 7. Before you cross a street where cars may be waiting, like at an intersection or crosswalk, look at the drivers. If the drivers are looking at the child, then walk across quickly and do not stop in the middle of street. Driver and pedestrian eye contact lets the child know that the driver sees them. Found At: []**
 * Overview**

• Learn what traffic signs mean. • Before crossing a street, stop at the curb or edge of the road and** never **run into the street. • Look and listen for cars and trucks to the left, then to the right and then to the left again. • Cross at the street corner and walk in the painted lines if they have them. • Keep looking while you cross the street. Never walk or run between parked cars.**
 * Street Safety **
 * Safety is very important when you are near a street. Always remember to follow these rules:

Street Smarts • Look and listen for cars and trucks to the left, then to the right, and then to the left again. • Never go between parked cars to cross the street. • Always walk with a friend or a parent. • Don’t talk to strangers. If a stranger comes up to you, yell as loud as you can. • Never get into a stranger’s car.**
 * • Never run into the street.

• Always tell your parents where you are going. • Try not to walk anywhere alone. Walk with a friend. Don’t take shortcuts through the woods, a back street or empty lot. • Bad people do not always look mean or scary. • Do not get close to people you don’t know well. Make sure you have room to run. • Don’t tell your name or address to people you don’t know well. • Never take candy, money or gifts from people you don’t know well. • Never go with someone you don’t know well to help look for a lost pet or play a game. • Never get into a car with anyone you don’t know well. • If anyone bothers you, run away and ask an adult for help. • Know safe places you can go—a police or fire station, the library, a store or a friend’s house. • If anyone follows you or grabs for you, yell real loud. Shout, “I don’t know you,” so people know you are in trouble. Fight back and make as much noise as you can. • If anyone touches you in a bad way, say “NO.” Tell an adult. • Tell your parents about places you don’t feel safe. • Talk to your parents and come up with a secret code word. Never go with anyone unless they know the secret code word. If you are home alone: • Know how and when to call 9-1-1. • Never open the door to people you don’t know very well. • Never tell anyone on the phone you are alone. • Do not tell callers your name, phone number or address. • Know how and when to call 9-1-1. If you don’t like what someone is saying on the phone, hang up right away.**
 * People Smarts (Stranger Danger) **
 * People who look friendly are not always nice. Keep safe from people you do not know very well with these tips:


 * From: []**