Health & Safety - Learning about Bus Safety

Did you know that June is National Safety Month? While safety instructions should always be discussed when a situation arises during the school day or you have the opportunity to prevent an unsafe situation, it’s always a good idea to spend time going over simple precautions your kinders can take in every day situations to prevent injury and stay safe – as a pedestrian, on the bus, when riding a bike, in the even of a fire, when dealing with strangers, etc!

Bus safety is another important topic to review with your kinders. While you may have already gone over the information back in the fall and your bus riders have likely received a second safety demonstration from their bus driver, the information remains relevant. Especially since, as the end of the school year nears, your kiddos probably feel like "old pros" and, while that may afford them some confidence as bus riders, it can also lead to bad habits! Also, while many parents prefer to drop their kindergarten-aged students off, they may at some point transition to bus riding and will have the information to fall back on.

Here are a few resources we found that might help you put together your own bus safety lesson plan...

Health & Safety Kindergarten Lesson Plan
Photo Source: saferoads.com

STREET SAFE is a free educational resource that focuses on three aspects of safety; one of them being bus safety. Discussing everything from what safety means and the various modes of transportation students use to get to kindergarten to how to wait for a school bus and how to safely enter, sit on, and exit the school bus - the information is comprehensive and age-appropriate. The packet also comes with a free student activity booklet where your kiddos can review the information they've learned.

Health & Safety Kindergarten Lesson Plan
Photo Source: ece.aed.org

While all of the safety procedures in this packet created by AED may not apply to your school, we included it in the learning resources because we like the way it was set up. Each mini-lesson - safe riding practices, safe procedures for leaving/exiting the bus, safe procedures for crossing the street to/from the bus, recognizing danger zones around the bus, and emergency procedures - is broken down into easy-to-follow actionable steps and are accompanied by large images. This is a super helpful way to introduce the material to your kinders! This resource shows how to keep it simple and the text-to-picture connections will help your kiddos review the material on their own.

Of course, to go along with all your safety learning, you can revamp your centers with a bus theme! We especially love this literacy activity from Deanna Jump...

Literacy, Health and Safety Kindergarten Lesson Plan
Photo Source: mrsjumpsclass.com

We hope these resources help you! Happy planning & stay safe!