Another belated post …
We got a request from Prakriya Green Wisdom School to conduct a session on School Bus Safety for students of grade 1-3. This was the first time we addressed young children of this age. This was also the first time we tackled the subject of School Bus Safety. So we took some time to prepare ourselves and conducted the session on 11 Feb. About 120 students attended the session.
We started with discussing the differences between Buses and Cars. And the normal safety rules for child passengers in cars. Then, we went on to show the danger zones around the bus, the blind spots of the driver.
The talk was divided into
* Waiting for the Bus
* Boarding the Bus
* Riding the School Bus
* Getting off the School Bus
* Crossing the Street
It was a pleasure because the children were very engaged and interactive – asking questions, sharing their experience or comments. We did a quick hazard mapping exercise with the children using a few pics and videos related to school bus safety. The children were quick to respond.
We also went out to the school yard, to do a practical session with the children and demonstrated the danger zones.
In the most dangerous zone, the child is not visible to the driver at all.
A little further, the child’s head may be visible but not the full body.
Only after the full body is visible to the driver, can we say that the danger zone is crossed.
We also provided a suggestion to the school bus coordinator to ease the process of drop-off at school such that the children do not have to cross in front of the bus in the school yard.
Hyundai has a very nice video “Traffic Safety with Poli” which we used.
Taking a cue from some material we saw online ( from Podar International School ), we tried to make it a little fun for the children by creating small rhymes sung to the tune of “Here we go round the mulberry bush”. Some ditties don’t rhyme, but you can follow the meter 🙂 This was incorporated into a one page worksheet which was sent via email to the children/parents to recap their learning. We hope that they help in retaining some of the learning.
Take a look:
Many Thanks to the dedicated teachers Pranjal and Shalini for their help in organizing the event. From their feedback, it does look like the message was well received by the children.