Course Profile
Beginning Literacy, ELD Level 1, open, Public
Unit 3
Course Profiles are professional development materials designed to help teachers implement the new Grade 9 secondary school curriculum. These materials were created by writing partnerships of school boards and subject associations. The development of these resources was funded by the Ontario Ministry of Education and Training. This document reflects the views of the developers and not necessarily those of the Ministry. Permission is given to reproduce these materials for any purpose except profit. Teachers are also encouraged to amend, revise, edit, cut, paste, and otherwise adapt this material for educational purposes.
Any references in this document to particular commercial resources, learning materials, equipment or technology reflect only the opinion of the writers of this sample course profile and do not reflect any official endorsement by the Ministry of the Education and Training or by the Partnership of the School Boards that supported the production of the document.
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Public District School Board Writing Team – English Literacy Development
Lead Board
Toronto District School Board
Course Profile Writing Team
Jane Campbell
Hazel Excell
Denise Gordon
Jane Hill
Elaine Iannuzziello
Paula Markus (Team Leader)
Eleanor Minuk
Jane Sims
Ero Siouga
Betty Ann Taylor
Unit 3: Health and Safety
Activity 1 | Activity 2
| Activity 3 | Activity 4 | Activity 5 | Activity 6 | Activity
7
Unit Developer(s): Jane Campbell, Hazel Excell, Michelle Flecker, Denise Gordon, Jane Hill, Paula Markus, Eleanor Minuk, Jane Sims, Betty Ann Taylor
Development Date: July 1999
This unit is designed to help students to respond effectively in emergency situations, to explore community resources, and to apply their knowledge about health and safety to everyday life. Students learn how to recognize an emergency, make an emergency phone call and understand safety signs and symbols. They acquire knowledge about fire safety and prevention, safety at school, seasonal safety and basic first aid. The unit activities provide opportunities for students to read a variety of simple reading materials, to use some basic reading strategies, to write simple texts, and to participate in discussions and work co-operatively on shared classroom tasks. Students demonstrate knowledge of safety issues by participating in a class Safety Awareness Exhibit.
Strand: Oral and Visual Communication
Overall Expectations: AORV.01L, AORV.02L, AORV.03L.
Specific Expectations: AOR1.01L, AOR1.02L, AOR1.03L, AOR1.04L, AOR1.05L, AOR2.01L, AOR2.02L, AOR3.03L, AOR3.05L.
Overall Expectations: AREV.02L, AREV.03L.
Specific Expectations: ARE1.01L, ARE1.02L, ARE2.01L, ARE2.04L, ARE2.05L, ARE2.07L, ARE3.02L, ARE3.04L.
Overall Expectations: AWRV.01L, AWRV.02L.
Specific Expectations: AWR1.01L, AWR1.02L, AWR2.01L, AWR2.02L, AWR2.03L.
Overall Expectations: ASCV.02L.
Specific Expectations: ASC1.02L, ASC1.04L, ASC1.10L, ASC2.01L, ASC2.02L, ASC2.04L, ASC2.05L, ASC.06L, ASC2.07L, ASC2.08L.
|
Activity 1 |
Help! When and How to Call for Help |
3 hours |
|
Activity 2 |
Fire Safety |
3 hours |
|
Activity 3 |
Safety Signs and Symbols |
2 hours |
|
Activity 4 |
Basic First Aid |
3 hours |
|
Activity 5 |
Safety at School |
3 hours |
|
Activity 6 |
Seasonal Safety: A Plan For All Seasons |
2 hours |
|
Activity 7 |
Fast Thinking: Safety Awareness Exhibit |
4 hours |
Personal safety is of fundamental importance to all students. ELD students need confidence in handling health and safety situations. They must also learn how to respond effectively in spite of limited literacy skills. The focus of this unit is to connect students to real life situations and to assist students in extending their literacy and numeracy skills.
Before beginning the unit, teachers are encouraged to familiarize themselves with accurate information about the health and safety topics covered in the activities. Contact local community police and fire departments to arrange field trips and obtain up-to-date resource materials. Many police and fire departments have websites from which information relevant to this unit can be downloaded.
Teachers are not expected to be trained in first aid in order to teach this unit. However, certain parts of Activity 4 require assistance from a trained first aider. We suggest inviting school personnel who are qualified in first aid to assist in giving a class demonstration on first aid techniques. Given the emphasis on life saving in the Ontario Curriculum, Grade 9, Health and Physical Education, 1999, staff are encouraged to take first aid training and to obtain resource material. In addition, it is strongly recommended that teachers contact The St. John Ambulance Society to arrange an in-class first aid demonstration and obtain copies of their resource materials. This province wide organization hopes to visit every school in Ontario to promote safety training using a preventative perspective. First aid demonstrations are done at no cost to the school.
Authentic materials are crucial to the success of this unit. A collection of safety posters, pamphlets, signs, symbols, newspaper headlines, pictures and stories will stimulate discussion and facilitate the explanation of new concepts. Set aside time each day to read aloud safety stories from the newspaper and have students participate in discussions that focus on personal responses to the newspaper articles read aloud. Bring in a First Aid Kit, a fire extinguisher, a smoke detector, and a carbon monoxide detector. Have a good supply of basic first aid equipment such as gloves, bandages, gauze, tweezers, and ice packs for students to use. Students can purchase personal copies of Pocket Guide to Emergency First Aid for 75 cents. Although the reading level of this booklet may be difficult for emergent readers, it is important for students to have authentic reading materials that can be shared without embarrassment with friends and families.
A service available to assist non-native speakers of English in emergencies is the AT and T Language Line Service. Access to this line is available directly from 911 service (or whatever alternate emergency telephone service exists in your community). Simply mention to the emergency operator the name of the language spoken, and the operator will immediately involve the AT and T Language Line. Students should know about the existence of this special service.
A key component in this unit is the partnership between the school and the home. Several of the activities suggested invite home participation. Making a list of emergency numbers for home use, creating a home fire escape plan, and encouraging families to have a First Aid Kit are examples of the extension of the school curriculum with everyday family life.
It is essential that students explore ways to be safe in their school. Before beginning Activity 5, review the school rules from Unit 1 Orientation to School Life. Consult with school staff on some of the problems emergent readers may have with individual subject safety procedures and develop together ways to address these problems. Personal safety at school includes psychological safety. A school environment that is free of racial and sexual harassment is as important to students as being in a physically safe environment. Make students aware of the board’s racism and sexual harassment policy and teach students how to report problems and to get help if they are being harassed. If such a policy is not yet in place teachers could refer to the Ontario Human Rights Code.
The culminating performance assessment task of this unit is for students to organize and participate in a Safety Awareness Exhibit for other classes. The purpose of the Safety Awareness Exhibit is to give a positive boost to emergent readers by having them share their work and demonstrate to guests the skills and knowledge they have learned. Students prepare a poster or a handout about a safety topic that interests them. They make a short oral presentation explaining their visual or prepare a role play that explains a safety topic.
At the beginning of the unit, explain the concept of a Safety Awareness Exhibit. As students progress through the unit activities, suggest ideas for posters and handouts that can be used in the Safety Awareness Exhibit. Have art supplies, pictures, pamphlets, and visual aids for the class to use while making their posters. Include the class in planning the exhibit, deciding whom to invite and where to hold the event. This is an excellent opportunity to involve the home, other students, staff, and community members. Consider what will work best for your group: an in class display with students there to explain their posters to guests, a static display in the library or other special area of the school, or an exhibit to be taken to a local elementary school. Consult your school calendar to see if your exhibit can coincide with a school wide event such as education week or parents’ information night.
Allow sufficient time for students to complete their visuals and practise their presentations. Have a dress rehearsal where students can set up their displays, practise their presentations and practise speaking to guests.
Collect samples of posters which demonstrate achievement at the four levels.
· knows personal information in written form
· recognizes phone numbers
· understands the importance of keeping an organized notebook
· understands school and class rules
· is familiar with various areas of the school
· works co-operatively in pairs or small groups
· understands prices from store flyers
· reads simple maps and graphs
· constructs simple floor plan
· reads simple stories with previously learned vocabulary and sentence structure
· writes guided stories using previously learned vocabulary and sentence structure
· is familiar with brainstorming, categorizing, role plays, matching exercises, cloze exercises,
· knows how to create posters
brainstorming, categorizing, cloze, co-operative writing, copying, dialogue journals, guided writing, directed reading, sequencing, role playing, experience charts, excursions, language games, key word lists, student-created posters, paired reading, reading aloud to students, read-along tapes, shared reading, skimming/scanning, sketching, think-alouds, small group work, viewing videos, sharing experiences orally, visual materials, internet searches, creating rhymes, songs, or rap.
|
Activity |
Type |
Tool |
Categories |
|
Activity 1 |
Formative Summative |
Checklist Phone Numbers True/False Listening Quiz |
Knowledge Knowledge/Communication |
|
Activity 2 |
Formative Summative |
Role Play Checklist of Fire Escape Plan |
Communication/Application Communication/Application Knowledge |
|
Activity 3 |
Formative Summative |
Cloze exercise Matching Exercise |
Knowledge Knowledge/Thinking/ Communication |
|
Activity 4 |
Summative Formative Formative |
Sequence Sheet Draw/Label First Aid Kit Role Play 911 call |
Knowledge Knowledge Application/Communication Knowledge/Thinking |
|
Activity 5 |
Formative Summative |
Observation of Rules School Rules Sentences |
Communication Knowledge/Communication/Application |
|
Activity 6 |
Summative |
Group Safety Tips |
Communication/Knowledge/Application |
|
Activity 7 |
Summative Summative |
Poster or Handout Oral Presentation or Role Play |
Knowledge/Communication Thinking/Application |
Carver, Kasloff Tina et al. A Canadian Conversation Book: English in Everyday Life, 2nd ed. Toronto: Prentice-Hall Allyn and Bacon, 1997.
Driver’s Handbook. Ontario Ministry of Transportation, 1998.
Gagne, Antoinette et al. Emergencies. Ville Salle, Quebec:Didier,1987.
Health and Physical Education, Grades 9 and 10. Ministry of Education and Training Ontario. 1999.
Hoban, Tana. I Read Symbols. New York: Greenwillow Books, 1983.
O’Malley, J., Michael and Lorraine Valdez Pierce. Authentic Assessment for English Language Learners: Practical Approaches for Teachers. Addison Wesley, 1997.
Shapiro, Norma and Jayme Adelson-Goldstein. The Oxford Picture Dictionary: Monolingual Canadian Edition. Don Mills, Ontario: Oxford University Press Canada, 1999.
St. John Ambulance, Pocket Guide to Emergency First Aid. St. John Priory of Canada Properties, 1998.
Tanaka, Grace and Kay Ferrel. English Extra. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall Regents, 1998.
Zuern, Guenther. Ontario Reader 1997. Toronto, Ontario: Newcomer Communications, 1997.
Zuern, Guenther. Ontario Reader 1999. Toronto, Ontario: Newcomer Communications, 1999.
St. John Ambulance. First Aid Training for Life. Canada: Viva Interactive Learning Inc., 1998.
St. John Ambulance on the web
www.sja.ca.
Fire departments on the web
www.city.toronto.on.ca/fire/index.htm
www.fire.ottawa.on.ca/educate.html
Police departments on the web
www.torontopolice.on.
Fire...Not In My House - Consult your school board video catalogue.
Fire: two ways out - Consult your school board video catalogue.
Skin - Consult your school board video catalogue.
Time: 180 minutes
Students recognize an emergency situation, practise how to place an emergency phone call, and keep a list of emergency numbers for use at home. By using interactive tasks and authentic materials, students are able to ask and answer questions about emergencies, ask for and give clarification, reconstruct a sequence of events, and record important information.
Oral and Visual Communication: AORV.01L, AORV.02Lv; AOR1.01L, AOR1.02L, AOR1.03L, AOR1.04L, AOR2.01L, AOR2.02L.
Reading: AREV.02L, ARE1.02L, ARE3.03L.
Writing: AWRV.02v, AWR1.02Lv.
Social and Cultural: ASCV.02L, ASC1.10L.
· Collect safety posters, pamphlets, pictures, and newspaper headlines of local and international emergencies and other related materials to use as resources and visual aids for a class safety display. Excellent sources for materials are your local community police unit and fire department and the St. John Ambulance Society. These authentic materials provide up to date information that helps students make connections with real life situations. Encourage students to find materials to add to the class safety display.
· Contact your local community police unit to obtain print and visual resources on how to make emergency phone calls. Police department web sites also provide accurate information on how to make an emergency phone call.
· Examples of emergency situations can be found in English Extra, A Canadian Conversation Book: English in Everyday Life and The Oxford Picture Dictionary, Canadian Edition.
· Bring in several copies of the phone book to show the list of local emergency numbers.
· Prepare multiple copies of a blank personal emergency list for students to complete and use at home.
· Create an easy to read script on making a 911 call using the school setting as the location. Refer to A Canadian Conversation Book: English in Everyday Life, English Extra, police department, and/or St. John Ambulance materials.
· Tape your teacher-prepared script.
· Create a true and false listening test of important facts learned in this activity.
· pamphlets, posters, pictures, and captions from local newspapers on first aid and emergencies; several local phone books, police, or St. John’s Ambulance resource material outlining a 911 emergency call; tape and script of teacher making a 911 call; true and false listening test; blank personal emergency lists.
· knows personal information
· recognizes phone numbers
1. With a display of photos and posters on first aid and emergencies as a backdrop, begin a class discussion of what constitutes an emergency. Determine if anyone in the class has ever been involved in a fire, an accident, or other emergency situations. Students need time to tell personal stories about their own experiences, if they feel comfortable doing so. From the group discussion, record key points on chart paper and begin a class list of serious emergency situations. Students copy the list into their notebooks. As the unit progresses, the class adds other emergencies to the chart and into their notebooks.
2. Throughout the activity, encourage students to select visual materials to add to the class safety display. Set aside time daily for the teacher to read aloud newspaper stories about safety and have the students participate in discussions that focus on personal responses to the articles read aloud. Ontario Reader 1997 has 3 newspaper stories for the teacher to read aloud on what to do in an emergency.
3. Using the list of emergency situations as a guide, help the class to define an emergency. Write the group’s definition on chart paper and display prominently. Students copy the definition into their notebooks.
4. Discuss non-emergency situations. Make a list on chart paper.
5. Have the class explain what happened during serious emergencies in other countries and what they would do in a serious emergency in Ontario. In the discussion, emphasize the importance of immediately calling for help if a person’s life is in danger or if someone needs help right away. Distribute local phone books to the class. Explain that in most areas of Ontario there is one phone number, 911, that connects with the police, the fire department, and an ambulance service. Discuss the serious consequences of dialing 911 when there is no emergency. Point out the list of emergency numbers found in the front of every phone book and explain when and why to call these numbers. In pairs have students practise reading aloud the numbers and words of emergency services. Circulate and assist students with clarity in oral communication.
6. Explain that each of us, in times of emergency, can forget important information. It is helpful for everyone to prepare a list of emergency numbers ahead of time to keep near the phone. The list must have your address, the nearest intersection to your home, the emergency number 911, and the phone number of the police and poison information centre. The list also includes the name and numbers of a neighbour, and a nearby family friend. Distribute blank copies of a personal emergency list for students to complete at home. Assess the list for completion and accuracy.
7. Explain in detail the vital steps for making a 911 call. When someone calls 911 the operator will need the answers to these questions: What service do you need? Where did the accident take place? What happened? When did the accident take place? Who is hurt? What are you doing to help? Students copy these questions into their notebooks. Distribute a teacher made script of a 911 call using the school as the location. Play a tape of the script and have students follow along. Have pairs of students role play making emergency phone calls. Have students complete the answers by using patterned sentences such as “I need...” “My name is...I’m calling from....” “There are__ people hurt.” Refer to English Extra and Canadian Conversation Book for practice dialogues. Stress to the students to remain calm, to speak clearly, to listen carefully to the key words of the questions asked and to not hang up until told to do so.
8. Students complete a true or false listening test based on information learned in this activity.
9. Explain to the class that at the end of this unit they will participate in a Safety Awareness Exhibit. Refer to the unit planning notes for more details. Begin a chart of possible class projects for the Safety Awareness Exhibit. Explain to students that creating a poster of what is and what is not an emergency could become one of the projects of the safety exhibit.
· Checklist of accurate completion of emergency numbers list (Formative)
· True and false listening test of important facts learned in this lesson (Summative)
Carver, Kasloff Tina, et al. A Canadian Conversation Book: English in Everyday Life, 2nd ed. Toronto: Prentice-Hall Canada, 1997.
Shapiro, Norma and Jayme Adelson-Goldstein. The Oxford Picture Dictionary: Monolingual Canadian Edition. Toronto: Oxford University Press Canada, 1999.
Tanaka, Grace and Kay Ferrel. English Extra. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall Regents, 1998.
Zuern, Gunther. Ontario Reader 1997. Toronto, Ontario: Newcomer Communications, 1997.
www.torontopolice.ca
Time: 180 minutes
In this activity, students learn about fire safety and prevention in the school and in the home. They explore measures for preventing fires, and become familiar with and practise actions required in case of fire. The language needed to report a fire and to ask for help is reviewed. Students practise formulating questions. They read bar graphs and also focus on sound symbol differences in rhyming words.
Oral and Visual Communication: AORV.02L; AORV.03L; AOR 1.03L; AOR 1.04L.
Reading: AREV.02L; AREV.03L; ARE 2.01L; ARE 3.02 L.
Writing: AWRV.01 Lv; AWRV.02Lv; AWR1.02L; AWR2.01L; AWR2.03L.
Social and Cultural: ASCV.02L; ASC2.01L; ASC2.04L.
· Locate your school fire safety plan and create a simplified version of the steps to take in case of fire.
· The local fire department is an excellent resource for materials and information on fire safety and prevention. In addition, many fire departments have developed programs for adolescents. Arrange a visit to a fire station or invite fire department personnel to visit the class and teach how to escape a burning building and what to do when clothes ignite. Teachers may obtain additional information from fire department web sites.
· Be aware that some students live in apartment buildings where there is a predetermined fire exit route. Landlords are responsible for smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors.
· Become familiar with the location of the fire extinguishers in your school.
· Borrow a fire safety video, such as Fire … Not in My House or Fire: two ways out (2nd edition), from your board or fire department.
· Obtain a map of the school, labelled with the fire exits. Make multiple copies of small blank maps of the school. Every classroom should have a fire exit route posted.
· Obtain statistics of causes of residential fires from your local fire department. Create a large bar graph.
· Train a few students to use a video camera or invite a senior student to videotape the role play.
· Bring in a fire extinguisher, a smoke detector, a carbon monoxide detector, and hardware store flyers depicting these items.
· Locate the Stop, Drop, Roll technique in pamphlets from fire departments.
· Some students may have been in traumatic experiences involving fires. If these students do not wish to share their experiences, respect their wishes.
· Make note of the special requirements of any physically challenged students in your class, and begin to plan accordingly for helping them to meet their needs in emergency situations.
· school fire safety plan, fire safety video, map of school with fire exits, blank maps of school, video camera, chart paper, fire extinguisher, smoke detector, carbon monoxide detector, hardware store flyers, markers
· reads a map of the school
· constructs a floor plan
· reads a graph
· makes a 911 call
1. Initiate a class discussion on fire safety and fire prevention. Have students share some personal experiences with their classmates. Show a fire safety video and guide students to summarize information from the video. Record this information on chart paper and have students copy it into their notebooks. Begin a list of fire safety words to be posted in the classroom.
2. Students examine a bar graph showing causes of residential fires. They identify the reasons for the highest number of fire deaths: smoking and kitchen fires. In a large group discussion, students brainstorm the ways in which these fires start and discuss ways to prevent them. Record their ideas and add to the fire safety word list.
3. Demonstrate how to use an authentic smoke alarm, fire extinguisher, and carbon monoxide detector. Divide the class into three groups. Each group discusses one of the fire safety items answering the following questions: How many are needed? Where do we buy them? and Where in the home do we locate them? They draw or glue a picture of the fire safety item from a flyer on chart paper and record the information under it. Then students return to the large group where they share the results of their discussion. Record the group findings in an experience chart story. Using the pattern of the group story, students write two or three sentences about the fire safety items.
4. Students look over a map of the school labelled with the fire exits. On individual blank maps of the school they trace the fire exit route from their ELD classroom to the outdoors from the school fire safety plan and also the alternate fire exit route. Then they trace the fire exit route and alternate fire exit route from one or two of their other classrooms. As the teacher points to the words, students read the procedures from the simplified version for leaving the school in case of fire. Students copy these steps into their notebooks. For homework, students make a floor plan of their residence. Using coloured pencils, students outline escape routes in case of fire. Generate a checklist of steps to be included in the fire escape plan. Then students write down the steps in words. Remind students that this could be part of the Safety Awareness Exhibit. Discuss the consequences of false alarms.
5. In preparation for a visit to the fire station or the visit by fire department personnel or volunteer firefighter, students make up questions. Model sentence patterns for forming question sentences and record student questions on chart paper. Then students repeat the questions as the teacher reads them. They record the questions in their notebooks. Use I Want To Be A Firefighter as a read-along to review the new vocabulary.
6. If it is not introduced by the firefighting staff member, teach the Stop, Drop, Roll technique for extinguishing clothing fires. In pairs, students practise the procedure. They take turns practising and giving feedback to their partners. Students videotape the polished version of Stop, Drop, Roll for the Safety Awareness Exhibit.
7. To assist with the next activity, review/teach rhyming words by asking students to examine the key words stop and drop for similarities and differences. Point out that these words rhyme. On experience chart paper, write stop and under it drop. Students contribute rhyming words ending in op. They continue by giving rhyming words for roll while the teacher records. Demonstrating that not all rhyming words have similar spelling by giving examples such as roll, pole, goal, stole. Elicit from students other rhyming words. They contribute any two or more words that rhyme.
8. Students make up rhymes, songs, or a rap about Stop, Drop, Roll to help them internalize the technique. These may or may not rhyme. Students volunteer to read their creations aloud. Encourage students to use a word processing program to make a final copy for the Safety Awareness Exhibit.
9. Review/teach the steps for reporting a fire from Activity 1. For additional practice, the class plays a game in which a volunteer starts by saying, “There’s a fire at my house. I live at _____. It is near _____ street and _____ street. It is a house/an apartment. My name is _______. The fire started in the _______.” At the end the volunteer calls on someone else. If the person forgets any of the details s/he forfeits her/his turn. The students continue the game until everyone has had a chance to call the fire department.
· teacher-developed checklist for fire escape plan for residence (Summative)
· Students may record the escape route from their residence on blank tapes supplied by the teacher.
· Make the steps for escaping fires available so students may use them as a pattern.
Fire safety web sites such as:
http://www.city. toronto.on.ca/fire/index.htm
http://www.fire.ottawa.on.ca/educate.html
I Want To Be A Firefighter. Willowdale: Firefly Books Ltd., 1999.
Brochures and pamphlets available from the local fire department
A fire safety video such as:
Fire … Not in my House from the school board’s audio/video library
Time: 120 minutes
Students learn common safety signs and symbols. They understand the meanings of these signs and symbols, where they are likely to encounter them, and their importance to our health and safety. Students begin to write independent dialogue journals. Using cloze exercises and personal word lists, they consolidate vocabulary on signs and symbols.
Oral and Visual Communication: AORV.02L; AORV.03Lv; AOR3.05Lv.
Reading: AREV.02Lv; AREV.03Lv; ARE2.01L; ARE2.04 Lv; ARE2.05L; ARE 3.02Lv.
Writing: AWRV.01L; AWR 1.02L; AWR2.01L.
Social and Cultural: ASCV.02L; ASC2.05L.
· Before the start of this activity, collect posters/pamphlets of safety symbols/signs.
· Obtain copies of the book, I Read Symbols and mount the pages on poster paper. Prepare corresponding flash cards for the game in Teaching/Learning Strategy 5.
· Make multiple copies of Appendix 1 and Appendix 2.
· Obtain a copy of The Driver’s Handbook.
· Obtain multiple copies of the laundry chart, Follow the Signs.
· Building on the co-operative journal writing begun in Unit 2 students now start to write dialogue journals. The dialogue journal is a method employed to improve reading comprehension and writing fluency. Students write in their journals and the teacher responds to their entries. Teachers should be prepared to reply to dialogue journals frequently. Errors are not corrected. Students often feel more comfortable writing about issues in a journal, rather than discussing them with the teacher. Journals also allow the teacher to get to know students on a more intimate level because of the comfort factor. Journal writing should be an on-going activity for the rest of the course.
· posters and pamphlets of safety symbols/signs, flash cards of symbols/signs, copies of Appendices 1 and 2, chart paper, mounted pages from the book, I Read Symbols, small notebooks or exercise books cut in half for the dialogue journals
· makes sentences
1. Introduce safety symbols by showing some common household items such as cleaning materials, paints, and aerosol cans. Show the book, I Read Symbols or The Oxford Picture Dictionary, p. 107 or A Canadian Conversation Book, English in Everyday Life, p. 133. Students contribute additional symbols/signs from their own countries. Following this, walk with the students around the school to observe signs and symbols and have them draw symbols/signs that they see.
2. Students read along as the teacher points to the words of the easy read passage, Safety Symbols, from Appendix 1. After copying the passage into their notebooks they reread it to a partner. Students take turns rereading it two or three times and then begin a list with the words they find difficult. When they can read the passage well, they complete the cloze exercise from Appendix 2.
3. For homework, students look around their homes and neighbourhood to observe safety symbols to bring to class. Have students draw the symbols and write the meaning below each symbol. On returning to class, students share their homework. They add new words to their vocabulary list.
4. Brainstorm the symbols that students know. Students categorize these into groups such as traffic symbols, symbols for dangerous substances, and community symbols such as telephone, hospital, fire, or police stations. Add other important symbols such as those found in The Driver’s Handbook. Students choose one symbol each and tell the class about it.
5. To reinforce their knowledge of symbols/signs, students play a flash card game. The class divides into two teams. The teacher holds up a card of a symbol/sign. The first member of each team calls out the name. The one who is first scores a point for her/his team. The game continues until each member of the team has had a chance to play at least once.
6. Students complete an exercise by matching symbols with their message. A Canadian Conversation Book, English in Everyday Life is a good resource for this exercise.
7. Students place symbols/signs into groups by shapes and colours. Review/teach shapes and colours. Then the teacher informs the class that rectangular signs are regulatory while diamond-shaped signs are warning signs. Students categorize symbols/signs into groups by shapes. Begin a discussion on the significance of colour on symbols. Red means stop, amber and yellow mean caution or be careful, and green means go. Distribute copies of the laundry chart, Follow the Signs, to show how the same colours have been used to correspond to traffic colours.
8. On an overhead transparency or sheet of chart paper, model for the students an example of a personal journal entry. This entry may or may not be related to the content of the day’s class (in this case signs and symbols). Students do their journal entries in class until they are independent enough to do subsequent entries at home. Collect the journals daily and respond briefly, handing them back during the next class.
· cloze exercise from Appendix 2 (Formative)
· matching exercise such as found in A Canadian Conversation Book, English in Everyday Life (Summative)
· Give the missing words for the cloze exercise as needed. Give students multiple opportunities to complete the cloze exercise until they achieve success.
· Students may cut out and glue the words below their symbols instead of copying them (matching exercise).
· Provide sentence patterns where needed.
Hoban, Tana. I Read Symbols. New York: Mulberry Books, 1983.
Shapiro, Norma and Jayme Adelson-Goldstein. The Oxford Picture Dictionary, Monolingual Canadian Edition. Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1999.
Carver, Tina Kasloff. A Canadian Conversation Book, English in Everyday Life. Toronto: Prentice Hall Allyn and Bacon, 1997.
Industry Canada. Follow the Signs. Competition Bureau. Phone 1 (800) 348-5358
Time: 180 minutes
This activity helps students respond effectively in emergency situations. Students learn some basic first aid, identify, and use items in a First Aid Kit and demonstrate knowledge by participating in a role play of an emergency situation. Opportunities are provided for students to use some basic reading strategies and to restate key information from material read aloud.
Oral and Visual Communication: AORV.02L, AOR1.02L, AOR1.03L, AOR1.04Lv, AOR2.02L.
Reading: AREV.02L, AREV.03L, ARE1.01Lv, ARE2.04L, ARE2.05L, ARE3.02L.
Writing: AWR1.02L, AWR2.01Lv.
Social and Cultural Competence: ASCV.02L, ASC1.04L, ASC2.04Lv, ASC2.05L, ASC2.06Lv ASC2.07L, ASC2.08L.
· Become familiar with basic first aid. An excellent resource is St. John Ambulance. Review their materials ahead of time for suggestions on curriculum content and handouts. Do not attempt to teach first aid unless you are trained. Instead have a qualified staff member demonstrate first aid techniques or invite St. John Ambulance to do a class demonstration.
· Become familiar with the location of the school First Aid Kits and know how to contact the staff trained in first aid. Be sure to take along a First Aid Kit on all field trips.
·