PPE Guide

Whether you are into Halloween or not, it happens every year. Kids get dressed up in costume, they have parties, and they go out trick-or-treating and stuff their little bellies with candy….much to the dismay of their parents who try to limit the sugar intake! But what comes with a fun time of year can also be a dangerous time of year unless we all take the proper precautions. Safety first is always a good way to go. To help all of us stay safe this Halloween I have put together the best articles written by AC members called – The Best of AC: Halloween Safety.

Halloween Safety Article – Kid Related – read, print, read again and implement

10 Halloween Safety Tips (Click here)
By: Chris Zarras
A nice list of items that will help insure kids are safe on Halloween.

Halloween Safety Tips (Click here)
By: Lori Piper
Lori covers the bases with these tips and safety begins at home.

Halloween Safety Tips (Click here)
By: Nikki
Another good list of safety tips to help insure a safe Halloween and a fun day.

Halloween Safety Tips Keep Your Night Enjoyable (Click here)
By: Robin Vinci
A new take on some easy to utilize safety tips.

Halloween Safety for Food Allergic Children (Click here)
By: Diane Hartman
A good guide to food safety for Halloween and beyond. If you have a child, or know a child, that has food allergies, this is a great safety article for you to read and pass along.

Organizing a Halloween Safety Watch with Your Neighbors (Click here)
By: Thom W. Conroy
An excellent article regarding safety issues in and around your property and neighborhood. The more eyes the better for the kids' safety.

Halloween Costume Tips for Safe Trick or Treating Fun (Click here)
By: Jaipi Sixbear
Practical ideas in an easy to read and understand format to help you choose costumes that are safe.

Prevent Blindness America Provides Halloween Safety Tips (Click here)
By: Jeanne Marie Kerns
Eyesight is a gift that we don't want our kids to lose. Be sure to read this important Halloween safety article.

Halloween Safety Articles – Pet Related – read, print, read and implement

Halloween Pet Safety Tips (Click here)
By: Greenhill
Safety doesn't only apply to humans; make sure your pets are safe this Halloween also!

Pet Safety Tips for Halloween ( Click here)
By: Lori Lane
Make sure you keep your pets safe, here are some easy tips.

Follow the useful Halloween Safety tips and use common sense. The above articles are well written and informative. I've searched the archives to make it easier for you. Be pro-active when it comes to Halloween Safety!

Sources:
AC writers cited above

Fire Safety week in 2009 is October 12th – 16th. We hope to never find ourselves involved in such a heart wrenching situation, but fires do happen and many peoples lives are destroyed or altered by them. We cannot overlook the need for brushing up on our fire safety skills with ourselves, students, or our families.

In this article I would like to discuss things/activities to do during fire prevention week.

1. Meet with your family, co-workers and students and discuss any needs or concerns about the building or area in which you work or live in regards to fire safety.

2. Establish a fire escape route. If one has already been outlined, practice it and make sure it is the most appropriate way and means of escape. You could also role play situations where you planned route of escape was blocked, too devise an alternate route.

3. Educators could have students take home fire safety checklist and go over each task with their parents and have their parents sign the checklist showing fire safety is important.

4. Each child could share with the class one item from the checklist discussed with their parents and how they choose to meet the requirement.

5. Educators could give a basic fire safety quiz after teaching a fire safety unit to reinforce the facts and skills learned.

6. Book reports or research papers can be assigned concerning some component of fire safety, fire prevention or being a fireman/firewoman.

7. Have older elementary aged students mentor young students concerning fire safety and perform role-plays of how to respond during a fire.

8. For a math activity you can have students design charts and graphs showing the number of smoke detectors in the home.

9. Have older students research facts concerning fires in the home and their causes. A chart or graphing activity can be assigned for them to present on poster form to the class.

10. Schools can hold a fire safety poster contest by grade and display the students works around the campus. Winners can be awarded gift cards and other tokens.

11. Bring the local fire department to your school or community event for the firemen/firewomen to show the students first hand the fire truck, gear they wear and equipment they work with.

12. Parents, community leaders, or church congregations can educate about fire safety with brochures, posters and reiteration of the importance of working smoke detectors in a home.

There are numerous things that can be done to place importance on fire safety and fire prevention.

Sources: Educationworld.com

Applesforteachers.com

The No Child Left Behind Act mandates that all children be literate in technology by the time they complete the 8th grade and there has been a lot of progress in that area. As a matter of fact, 96% of school districts across the country report that at least some of their teachers regularly assign homework requiring the student to use the Internet. However, what is lacking is a program that teaches children how to be safe on the internet.

The National Cyber Security Alliance, with the support of such companies as CA, McAfee, Microsoft, and Symantec and organizations including the Consortium of School Networking and, the State Education Technology Directors Association are calling upon the leaders of every state in the union to see to it that lessons in cyber security, safety and ethics lessons and taught in every classroom in the country.

Internet skills are no longer an extra skill. It is a required skill for the students of the 21st century. There is no need to remind the public about the hazards that exist in the internet environment. We see it in the news every day, but young people need to be educated about what to look out for. There are predators on the net who are expert in tricking young people into revealing things like their names, addresses and phone number and that is only one of the risks.

The University of Michigan conducted a poll in May of 2007 that focused on children's health issues and ind internet safety was ranked number seven by the adults questioned.

They are calling for the implementing of cyber educations programs that teach cyber ethics, safety and security (C3) principles. Children must know that they are not as safe on a computer as they think they are. If it is taught in school it will help them realize how important it is and will stop them from being lulled into a false sense of security.

Exactly what do these lessons consist of?

Cyber Ethics Lessons: teach that hacking into someone's
computer and stealing their personal information is just as wrong as breaking into someone else's home. And is punishable by federal law.

Cyber bullying is the same as bullying someone on the playground. There are rules and codes of acceptable behavior that must be followed in the computer world, just the same as they are in the real world.

Cyber Safety Lessons: teach social behavior tips designed to protect children from all different types of online dangers, such as ways to avoid cyber predators, harassment, unwanted communications and cyber bullies. It will also teach them to realize when they are in a dangerous situation, how to respond to people on line. They will also be taught how to recognize when they should report computer activity to the authorities and how to do it.

Cyber Security Lessons: give students information on how to secure their computers and the identities and financial information that they have put on the computer. They will also learn about need for strong passwords, the effects of
viruses, what constitutes spam, and the dangers of responding to phishing and pharming schemes.

Source : National Cyber Security Alliance http://www.staysafeonline.org/