Lesson Plans.

These plans are all downloadable as pdfs.

Click here for the SR2S 2003-04 curriculum guide

Safety Lesson Plans

Safety Art (grades 1+) prepares children for International Walk to School Day. The lesson reviews the four most fantastic reasons to walk and ride and the six simple steps to staying safe. The children make picket style signs to carry and large banners to place at staging areas and in front of schools. Making these signs gets kids excited about the event and equips them with a device which makes them more visible in traffic. Download the pdf.

Click here for an 11x17 safety poster

Stop! Look! Listen! (2nd grade) is a lesson addressing the behavior which statistically causes the greatest number of injuries for child pedestrians: failure to stop at the edge and look for traffic. The lesson uses direct instruction, NHTSA's video Safe Crossings With Willie Whistle, modeling and practice. Children will learn the importance of stopping at every edge, looking left, right, then left again (all the way over the shoulder), listening for cars and only crossing if it's clear. The Walking Obstacle Course (2nd grade) The course is a simulation of street crossing situations. Students will demonstrate the procedure of stopping at the edge, looking left then right, then left again (looking all of the way over their shoulder) before crossing, doing so only if it is clear. Four obstacles: legally parked cars, cars parked in the crosswalk, the shrub (visual obstacle) and the moving car, give students an opportunity to put into practice what they learned in Stop! Look! Listen! Download the pdf.

Helmet Safety (4th grade) is a demonstration-based lesson which teaches the importance of wearing a helmet and proper helmet fit. The lesson uses the "egg drop" method of showing the effectiveness of a helmet and the short video Travis's Story to illustrate what can happen if you don't wear a helmet.This testimonial by another young person impresses children with the risk they take if they don't wear a properly fitting helmet. We conclude by giving the students an opportunity to share positive experiences they have riding a bike and experiences they have had with crashes or close calls. Students are prompted to share what they could have done to avoid the situation, we also ask them if they had a helmet on and how the helmet protected them from being more seriously hurt. Download the pdf.

The Traffic Safety Game Show (4th grade) is based on the TV game show Jeopardy, with four different categories: Walk this Way, Rules of the Road, Safe Cycling and Celebrity Cyclists. Questions cover safe walking and biking behavior, traffic laws and cyclists who serve as role models. Download the pdf.

The Bicycle Safety Rodeo (4th grade) teaches children the importance of stopping at every edge, looking for traffic and remaining in control, at all times when riding a bike. This is achieved through a series of bike handling drills and the simulation of traffic situations. Each rodeo begins with a safety check of the bicycles and the helmet. Eight different courses give students the opportunity to practice a variety of specific bike handling skills and procedures for operating a bike safely and legally in traffic. Download the pdf.

Mapping (grade 4-8) is an opportunity for students to map their route to school and rate the safety of their route by conducting the Safe Routes Check List, an inventory of hazards and safety features. Download the pdf.

Fitness/Active/Healthy Lifestyle Lesson Plans

The Travel Diary (grades 7-8) helps students to make healthy choices early in life. The students keep track of their trips for a week and how they get there. They then discuss the many other options available and are then challenged to change some of those trips to "active" trips by walking and biking, or even transit and carpooling. They then keep track for another week and see how many trips they were able to change. Download the pdf.

Active Living for Better Health (grades 3-5) which demonstrates the relationship between lifestyle choices we make early on and a long healthy life. Students will work in small groups , each group will be asked to choose from a list of alternatives for recreational activities, transportation options, nutritional choices and other opportunities we have in our lives to make decisions which will either benefit our health or have a negative impact. As each group shares their conclusions students will see how these areas of our lives are interrelated. Download the pdf.

Transit to Careers (grade 6-10) The career and housing choices we make will be influenced by our ability to access employment opportunities from where we live. Students will make an oral and/or written presentation describing the results of an interview with a professional and their transit experience traveling to the interview. Students will submit their interview questions in advance and document their commute, share results and discuss their experience with the whole class. Download the pdf.

Environmental Lesson Plans

Family Mouse Behind the Wheel (Grades K-2) is a fable with an environmental message. When the forest creatures vote to develop their home in the name of progress they wind up in gridlock. They learn their lesson though, and abandon their automobiles in favor of preserving their forest home in it's natural state. Download the pdf.

The Eco Points Score Card (Grades 5-8) This is a game, best played in teams, which assigns points to daily activities which require fossil fuel or electricity. Playing the game teaches students about the impact of their transportation choices and energy use on the environment. Each team must answer certain questions about how they use energy (transportation, appliances etc.) for a cumulative team score. The higher your score the greater your team's impact on the environment. Teams can reduce their totals by answering questions about transportation alternatives and renewable vs. non-renewable energy sources and their effect on the environment. Download the pdf.

Eco Travel Log (Grades 5-8) Students record their travel patterns over a four week period. In a journal or a notebook they record the mode of travel, how far they went and how long it took. After 2 weeks students review their travel logs and identify trips that could have been made differently, either replaced by human powered travel or transit, combined with other trips or could have been a car-pool or ride share. For the second two week period students record their travel patterns with a goal of making changes in the ways they get around. Download the pdf.

Greenhouse in a Bottle (Grades 5 and 6) is a hands on science project or can be set up as a demonstration. Students work in teams to simulate the earth's environment; doing a comparison and contrast of a pre and post-greenhouse atmosphere. After the class sets up the experiment, while waiting for the results, we have an opportunity to discuss how cars and non-renewable energy affects the environment. Download the pdf.

Transportation Choices and the Environment (grades 7 and up) helps students to see that choices they make about how they get around affects the health of our environment. The presentation covers renewable versus non-renewable energy sources, focusing on oil. Using overheads of graphs which demonstrate that we are dependent on a finite resource and illustrations which explain the greenhouse effect, we show how our reliance on non-renewable energy pollutes the environment. We close with whole group discussion about changes we can make in our behaviors and our attitudes. Download the pdf.