How to Use the Curricula
Along with its effectiveness, the beauty of this program is its simplicity and flexibility.
The Be a Safety Kid lessons are organized in modules, and they may be presented in two easy ways:
- Teach the topics as individual lessons.
- Combine several topics together in one lesson.
Some topics have one lesson and other topics have several lessons. All of the topics have numerous reinforcement activities, so that additional lessons may easily be created. A variety of audio visual aids are incorporated into the lessons.
The S.T.A.R. curriculum presents 5 lessons for K-1 and 3 lessons for grades 2-8. Puppets, posters, a DVD, and numerous reinforcement activities are included
Who Presents the Material
Flexibility is stressed in the presentation. These curricula have effectively been presented in the following ways:
- Classroom teachers present it as an independent subject.
- Health teachers present it as part of the study on safety.
- Guidance counselors present selected topics to the classrooms.
- Police officers present the lessons in the classroom.
- Teamwork is used (police officers + guidance counselors, etc.)
Be creative: customize your presentation to fit the needs of your situation!
How to Evaluate the Program
A pre-test and a post-test are components of each individual topic in the Be a Safety Kid curriculum. There is one pre-test and post-test for the S.T.A.R. unit, which is part of a research-based and evidence-based study by Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Administer the pre-test, present the material, use the post-test to compare the progress.
"Check First" is the most important topic and should be taught first. Be sure to spend quality time on this portion of the lesson!