First Grade Curriculum Resources
Standard of Learning
1.3 The student will explain the need for specific rules and practices to promote personal safety and injury-free situations. Key concepts/skills include:
- bus and automobile safety;
- pedestrian safety;
- playground safety;
- fire safety;
- home safety;
- Internet safety,
- water safety;
- bicycle, in-line skating, skateboard, scooter, and other self-propelled vehicle safety;
- the need for protective gear.
Understanding the Standard
The student will identify and demonstrate pedestrian safety knowledge and skills.
Essential Knowledge and Skills
The student will:
- define a pedestrian.
- describe pedestrian safety rules while walking on public roadways. (walk facing traffic, cross at intersections, look both ways before crossing the street, cross with the light, etc.)
- describe crossing guards, police, or pedestrian signs and signals.
Sample Lessons
Oral Health Education Curriculum
Grade: 1
The student will understand the importance of following school safety rules, especially in relation to preventing orofacial injuries.
Sponsor: Virginia Department of Health
Oral_Health_Grade_One.pdf
Free
Lesson Ideas
- Play “Red Light-Green Light” with pedestrian signs
- Practice looking left-right-left
- Students talk with a crossing guard then complete a page for their community book
- Students also make crossing guard vests from construction paper
- Students can make walk/don’t walk signs out of construction paper
- Review and briefly discuss the basic pedestrian rules. Have the students talk about where they walk, what they do when there are no sidewalks, and what they watch for when going to and from school. The groups of students who take the school bus, come by car, or walk, will likely relate different rules. Point out how the basic rules - Stop, look left, right, and left again, listen for vehicles and trains, and obey traffic signals - must be followed by all people when they are walking.
- Discuss the hazards of walking in poor weather conditions and at different times of day and ways to reduce the possibility of injury, (Le., use white or reflective clothing in rain and snow, take short steps on ice, etc.)
- Have the students talk about how they use sight and hearing to alert them to traffic signs, car horns, emergency vehicles, etc., so they can obey rules and avoid danger.
- Compare safety in crossing streets with crossing intersections (ie., always look left, right, then left again to make sure cars are not coming, and don't dart into the street between cars when walking or bicycling). At intersections, traffic is coming from at least four directions and all kinds of vehicles are involved. Obeying traffic signals helps to avoid being injured, but not all people obey the rules and many intersections do not have traffic lights.
- Emphasize that SEEING a railroad crossing sign means to stop, look, and listen; not all train crossings have working red lights and a stop bar. People should walk carefully across the tracks, not run and play on them. Also, since trains and railroad crossings are special hazards, students should avoid them and take an alternative route when possible.
Additional Instructional Resources
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control - http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc and http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/cmprfact.htm
- “Crossing Guard” – Health Teacher (membership fee) - http://www.healthteacher.com
- The Educators Reference Desk- School Safety - http://www.eduref.org/cgi-bin/lessons.cgi/Health/Safety
- Kids Health For Kids- Watch Out - http://kidshealth.org/kid/watch/
- National SAFEKIDS Campaign - http://www.safekids.org
- RISKWATCH - http://www.riskwatch.org
- Safe America - http://www.safeamerica.org
- Safety – http://www.pbs.org/teachersource/(health & fitness k-2)
- Safe USA - http://www.safeusa.org
- VDH, Center for Injury & Violence Prevention (CIVP) - http://www.vahealth.org/civp
- Virginia Center for School Safety - http://www.dcjs.virginia.gov/vcss/index.cfm
- Watch Out - http://kidshealth.org/kid/watch
Assessment Ideas
The student will:
- participate in a pedestrian rodeo.
- draw a picture of pedestrians walking and crossing a roadway safely.
