On Wednesday we welcomed Elmer, the Safety Elephant, and his special friend, Mrs. Young, to our Kindergarten classrooms.  Elmer comes to us from the North Shore Safety Council.  Although some of the children said they had met Elmer before, we know as parents and teachers there is no such thing as “too much” when it comes to the safety of our children.  Elmer brought along his trusty friend, Ruff, the Dog, as well.  Elmer gives two presentations a year, and today’s was about pedestrian, car and traffic safety.  We will learn about bicycle safety in the spring.

We learned a valuable lesson with Elmer, and that is, it is our choice whether we choose to be safe or not.  We all want to be able to play safely and enjoy ourselves with our family, but we need to make the right choices when doing so.

Elmer talked to us about several different scenarios.  First, when a toy, such as ball, rolls out onto the road, we just leave it.  Elmer reminded us the toy is just a thing.  It might be a special thing, but we should ask an adult for help to get it back.

In addition, what do we do when a toy falls between parked cars?  An adult has to help us.  Children cannot be seen when they step off the sidewalk, and a car may pull forward not knowing a child is in front of it.  So it is important that the children ask an adult to retrieve the toy.

We learned that pedestrians are people who are walking places.  As pedestrians, when we cross the street we know we should look in both directions.  But we also need to look behind us:   over our shoulder and towards the cars coming from another direction.  Did you know we don’t say “Look in both directions” anymore?   Now we say, “We look all ways” or “We look in all directions.”  When there is no sidewalk, the safest place to walk is on the grass or side of the road facing traffic.  As pedestrians, we want to be able to see what is happening with the cars coming towards us.

Here is a fun poem Elmer shared with us about traffic lights.  He brought a big set of traffic lights to show us.

“I am red and I say stop.  See me shining at the top

I am yellow and I say wait.  Please be patient even if you are late.

I am green and I say go.  But be careful and walk.”

Elmer also showed us what the pedestrian controlled lights mean:

The hand lit in red means “stop” and our feet stay on the sidewalk.
The walking figure lit in green means it’s time to walk.  But before you walk, look all ways.

Elmer spoke about safety equipment when riding a skateboard or riding a bicycle.  Cyclists and skateboarders must wear helmets when they are using these pieces of equipment, because it is the law.  For our own protection, we should also wear elbow and knee pads while skateboarding and shoes and socks to protect our feet on a bike or skateboard.

Ruff, the Dog stopped by for a short visit to tell us it’s the law to wear a seatbelt while we are in the car.  We need to listen for the “click” sound of the seatbelt as the latch engages.  If the children do not hear that sound when they put on their seatbelt, they should tell you immediately.  

As a further reminder, Ruff said we can hear that click sound again if we are on our bicycle.  We need to listen to the “click” of our bicycle helmet as we engage the latch and adjust it to fit under our chin.  Please remember that you need to wear a helmet that is the right size.

Thank you again to Elmer the Elephant and Ruff the Dog!  We can never be too safe when it comes to our children.

This Week in Our Room:  November 23-26, 2015

Please check the new Special Helper and Sharing calendar.  Our new theme is Holiday Traditions.  More information can be found on the Parent Board outside the classroom, and we sent out a Remind about it earlier this week.

We finished the letter “I” this week in the Alphabet.  We will complete letters “J” and “K” before the holidays.

We’re getting ready for the Christmas Concert and starting to think about costumes for our grade.  The musical is called “Toys” and our Kindergarten children will be dressing up as Prince and Princess Dolls.

Girls: please wear a princess costume (Disney Princess is fine) and crown.  No wands, please.

Boys:  please wear a long sleeved green top and black pants.  We will supply the gold garland sash and prepare the crowns at school.  If you have a crown, please let us know.

Wednesday, December 2 is our Christmas Cracker Craft project with our Buddy classes.  Our crackers will be donated to various organizations around the city.  We are in need of ribbon to tie off the ends of the crackers.  If you have any bolts of curling ribbon, or Christmas ribbon you are no longer using, we would gladly receive your donations.  Thank you.