January 2010

Readers Speak Out
Bulletin readers share what they enjoy in the newsletter and what other news they'd like to see.

Ask Dr. Cole
Resources to help teach kids the basics of fire survival.

Reaching Out to Parents
Resources that children can take home.

Classroom Activity: What Things Match?
Have your students complete this fun matching activity by asking them to draw a line from each picture on the left to the picture it goes with on the right.

News Briefs
Novelty lighter legislation update and upcoming play safe! be safe!® workshops.

Fact: Did you know?

• When students are evaluated after participating in a play safe! be safe!® preschool program, between two thirds and three quarters are able to successfully answer key fire-safety questions compared to between five and 10% of the children in classrooms that did not participate in the program.
• After motor vehicle crashes, fires are the second leading cause of death in children ages 3-5.

Readers Speak Out

In October 2009, we invited readers of the play safe! be safe!® Bulletin to share with us what they found most useful in the newsletter, the least useful and what other news they'd like to see. Hands down, activity pages are the most helpful to daycare providers and preschool teachers, and we'll continue to provide new activity ideas on a timely basis. If you are new to the site, we invite you to visit our project archive.

Readers also enjoy the news items and would like to see more handouts, so this year we will search out more helpful resources and provide links to downloads. Finally, we will be more diligent about maintaining a list of upcoming workshops to further our goal of reaching more preschool educators, health specialists and fire-safety educators.

We invite you to use the contact link at the website at any time to tell us what's on your mind.

Ask Dr. Cole:
Helpful resources to teach fire survival

In my last column (October '09), I stressed how important it was for educators to remember that after a fire it's not only the child directly involved with the incident who is affected, but all the children in a classroom are affected to some degree by a fire in the home of a classmate. Most importantly, this is a teachable moment.

In the protocol developed by Prevention 1st Foundation, there are three modules. Processing the Event, which I discussed, is followed by Module 2: Fire Survival. This is the lesson in which children are taught specific actions to take if a fire happens in their home, as well as things not to do.

For this lesson, play safe! be safe!® story cards for Lesson 2 (Stop, Drop and Roll) and Lesson 3 (Crawl Low Under Smoke) are important to review with the children. Engage them in discussion by asking the questions on the back of the cards.

There are also helpful books to read to the class. For 4-7 year olds, for instance, we recommend No Dragons for Tea by Jean E. Pendziwol. Ask questions about what the little girl did when she heard the smoke alarm ring and what mistakes the dragon made.

For ages 6-9, Lucia Raatma's book Safety Around Fire delves into what causes fires and what to do if fire gets on their clothes. In Raatma's book Crawl Low Under Smoke, there are hands-on activities at the back to show children what is meant by "crawling low under smoke."

Another good book to read for ages 5-8 is Stop, Drop, and Roll by Margery Cuyler. Of particular importance in this story is the value of kids learning in school and taking the messages home.

Taking fire safety messages home:
Resources you can count on!

Encouraging children to talk with their parents about planning and practicing a home fire drill is a critical step in the education process. Most of the resources listed below offer information in English and Spanish.

At the Prevention 1st website, there is a full-color, two-sided illustrated checklist about practicing a home fire drill, which can be downloaded and given to children to review with their parents. Additional resources available at the site are: Help Mikey Make It Out, an interactive animated game, and Mikey Makes a Mess, a book in English and Spanish, which children and their parents can read together to learn what to do when the smoke alarm sounds.

The U.S. Fire Administration has additional information at its website with step-by-step guidelines for developing fire escape plans. Also on this page is a Fire Escape Plan Grid, which is downloadable.

For families living in apartment buildings in urban areas, another helpful resource from the U.S. Fire Administration site is the downloadable pdf about Security Bars. Security bars, which are used to deter intruders, can also trap people inside a burning apartment if precautions are not taken. Finally, there are helpful tips for exiting high rise buildings.

News Updates

North Carolina Enacts Legislation to Ban Novelty Lighters
In October, North Carolina was the 10th state to pass legislation making it illegal to sell or give away novelty lighters in the state. Violators will be fined $500. Unfortunately, California's law banning novelty lighters failed to pass.

Upcoming play safe! be safe!® Workshops
We are pleased to announce play safe! be safe! workshops for the first part of 2010. They are:

February 26, 2010 - Clearwater, Fla.
Community/Train the Trainer Workshop
Location: Fire Training Facility, 1700 N. Belcher Rd., Clearwater, FL
Sponsors: State Fire Marshal's Office & Clearwater Fire and Rescue.
Contact: Shannon DeFazio, Shannon.Defazio@myclearwater.com, 727-526-4334, Ext. 3077

April 30, 2010 - Champaign/Urbana, Ill.
Community/Train the Trainer Workshop
Location: Pollard Auditorium, Carle Foundation Hospital, 611 West Park, Urbana, IL
Sponsors: Carle Foundation Hospital and Champaign County SAFE KIDS
Contact: Patty Metzler, pat.metzler@carle.com, 217-326-6601