LESSON PLAN How to behave near traffic This Lesson Plan provides a series of different sub-themes, each of which can be used on their own, as the basis of a road safety lesson. Learning objectives For children to recognise the different forms of traffic and understand that traffic can be dangerous. For children to know that when possible they should hold hands with their parent or carer when near traffic. For children and parents to know that wearing bright or fluorescent clothing (in daytime) and reflective clothing (at night) will help to keep them safer when near traffic and why this is. Vocabulary to be developed Traffic, road, car, lorry, bus, motorcycle, bike, vehicle, street, dangerous, fast, slow, speed, travel, pavement, colour, bright, safe, playing. Curriculum links England: National Curriculum Sub-theme A: Activity 1 Sub-theme A: Activity 2 Sub-theme A: Activity 3 Extension Activities Sub-theme B: Activity 1 Sub-theme B: Activity 2 Maths: 1a, 1e, 1f, 2a, 2c, 5a, 5b Art & Design: 2b, 2c, 5b, 5c Design & Technology: 5a English En1: 1c, 1d, 1e, 2a, 2b, 2c, 2d, 3a, 3b, 3e Ref: TRC031
Sub-theme B: Activity 3 Sub-theme C Sub-theme D: Activity 1 Sub-theme D: Activity 2 Details are available in Be bright, be seen (Ref: TRC033) required THINK! resources can be downloaded or ordered from the THINK! Resource Centre at http://think.direct.gov.uk/resource-centre School THINK! A digital projector and screen connected to the internet Toy vehicles of different types such as cars, lorries, vans, buses and motorcycles, or pictures of vehicles Art materials including paper, pens, clipboards, glue and scissors A townscape/roadscape play mat (or alternatively a range of A4 coloured paper and scissors) Adult helpers Poster: Busy traffic (Ref: TINF1315) Poster: Playing safe (Ref: TINF1390) Game: What s coming next (Ref: TRC099) Game: Holding hands (Ref: TRC087) Activity sheet: Match the traffic (Ref: TRC059) Activity sheet: Play safer (Ref: TRC060) Home-Link sheet: Know the road (Ref: TRC107) Introducing the theme Use a poster to show children what busy traffic looks like on a road. 10 minutes Poster: Busy traffic (Ref: TINF1315) Ask the children what roads are for and what is found on them. What is traffic? Where can a lot of traffic be found? Why do we need to be very careful near traffic? Show the A2 colour poster of a street scene to the children and talk about the roads and traffic it depicts. Children can identify the different vehicles on the road. Discuss why the people in the picture walk on the pavement. This will lead on to the message that traffic can be dangerous on quiet roads as well as busy ones. Emphasise that traffic can t hurt us if we are careful near it and stay safer by holding an adult s hand and not stepping into the road or a driveway unless led by an adult.
Sub-theme A: Recognising traffic Activity 1: What s coming next? An interactive slideshow story in which pupils join Molly and Az as they develop their awareness of different types of traffic by guessing what is coming next. A digital projector and screen connected to the internet for the interactive Flash game Game: What s coming next (Ref: TRC099) This online game features two six-year-old children, Az and Molly, who are inside a house looking out of a window into the street and watching the traffic pass by. They play a guessing game: what s coming next? Each time Az and Molly guess the type of vehicle before it is revealed. Children in the class can join in by guessing too, which will help them think about different types of traffic. After all of the most familiar vehicles have passed, the user is asked to guess the final one: what is next? It turns out to be a horse and rider which can prompt children to discuss different speeds and types of traffic etc. The story also features audio of each vehicle/road user. Activity 2: What am I? A guessing game in which pupils think about the features of different vehicles. Activity sheet: Match the traffic (Ref: TRC059) Children can play a guessing game to familiarise themselves with vehicles. The teacher gives a series of clues to a vehicle and each child has one guess which can be used at any time. For example: Clue 1: It doesn t carry passengers. Clue 2: It can be quite small or quite large. Clue 3: It carries objects. Clue 4: It usually has two doors at the back. Clue 5: It often has writing on the side Answer: A van Clues can be given for familiar vehicles such as a bus, a lorry, a motorcycle, car etc. Older children could also play this in pairs, using pictures to help them construct clues. In each case, underline that traffic is made up of different kinds of vehicles like these. This activity can be followed up with the activity sheet, which involves recognising vehicles.
Activity 3: All about traffic Encourage children to think more about traffic, using toy cars or a poster as a basis for discussion. Toy vehicles of different types such as cars, lorries, vans, buses and motorcycles, or pictures of vehicles Poster: Busy traffic (Ref: TINF1315) Discuss the different types of vehicles and what they are like: What words can be used to describe them? What do they sound like? How fast do they go? Do we see them on the roads near here? Where do we see them? What is traffic? Alternatively use the street scene poster. This shows a busy road and includes a wide variety of vehicles including taxis, motorcycles, minibuses and lorries. Use the poster to prompt discussion and think about standing and moving traffic, what controls traffic, different types of road and different drivers. The concept of pedestrians can also be introduced here (pedestrians are shown on the poster) and vocabulary can be emphasised in various ways. The poster includes a cyclist wearing a helmet plus light/bright colours and using a bike with reflectors and lights, so that teachers can discuss how cyclists stay safe. Extension activities A series of additional activities to help children understand about traffic. Variable (ranges from 15-30 minutes) Art materials including paper, pens, clipboards, glue and scissors A townscape/roadscape play mat (or alternatively a range of A4 coloured paper and scissors) Toy vehicles Watch traffic outside the school and carry out a simple survey. This makes a very good maths activity. Use a townscape play mat or make a simple table-top roadscape from coloured paper and populate it with toy vehicles. This can be used as the basis for discussion about traffic and for building or reinforcing vocabulary or assessment of understanding. Create a large wall collage consisting of a street scene. Cut out painted vehicles or photos with labels added to build word recognition.
Sub-theme B: Holding hands Activity 1: When do I need to hold hands? An interactive game asking pupils to identify in which situations they should be holding hands with an adult. A digital projector and screen connected to the internet for the interactive Flash activity Game: Holding hands (Ref: TRC087) In this simple online activity a series of images of different places are shown. The question in each case is Do I need to hold hands with a grown up here? The scenarios are: a busy town centre a playground a busy car park a country footpath crossing a field a quiet street outside school Right and wrong answers are not provided on screen. Whether or not children need to be holding hands in a particular situation will depend on their age, where they live, their maturity and any special needs. Generally speaking: Children aged should be holding hands with an adult (or holding onto a pushchair pushed by an adult) near busy traffic in town, and in a busy car park. Children at the upper end of the age group may not need to hold hands walking along the street it is up to their parents or carers to decide. Whether all children need to hold hands outside school will depend to some extent on the age of the child and the location of your school again, it is up to their parents or carers to decide. The children do not usually need to hold hands in a playground, on a country footpath or crossing a field, unless other hazards are present, e.g. a pond or river, or animals. Children should always hold hands if their parent or carer asks them to, even if they are in a place where there is no traffic. There may be other hazards present, or it may be busy and there is a risk that they ll get lost. The objective is to get children to think about potential danger and why they should hold hands, as well as when. It is also important to talk about the question Which side should the child stand on? (If possible the side away from the road, though this may not be possible if there is more than one child per adult.) Ask What might you hold onto instead of an adult s hand? (The side of a pushchair). Another key issue to raise in discussion is distraction. Talk about the kind of things that distract children near traffic (talking, playing, animals, friends) and why it s important to pay attention.
Activity 2: Holding hands Children draw a picture of a child holding hands on the correct side of an adult. 5-10 minutes Art materials including squared paper or graph paper, crayons Activity sheet: Holding hands (Ref: TRC053) The activity sheet shows three scenes each with an adult near traffic. In each case pupils should draw a child holding hands. The aim here is for pupils to identify the safer side to stand when there is only one child with an adult (away from traffic), and alternatives to holding hands if the adult s hands aren t free, e.g. because they are pushing a pushchair, so this should be discussed before carrying out the activity. Activity 3: Out and about Taking children out onto the roads in small groups. 30 minutes Adult helpers There is no substitute for practical experience gained out on the roads. If sufficient adult supervision is available, then children can be taken out onto the roads around the school in small groups of two or three, so that holding hands can be modelled and children can be shown on which side to stand. Emphasis should be put on children being attentive and avoiding chattering when they are going to cross the road. Sub-theme C: Bright is right Details of this sub-theme are included in a separate Lesson Plan, Be bright, be seen (Ref: TRC033).
Sub-theme D: Playing safe Activity 1: Play safer Children look at a poster showing children playing and identify how each child could keep themselves safer, then complete an activity sheet. Poster: Playing safe (Ref: TINF1390) Activity sheet: Play safer (Ref: TRC060) The objective of this activity is to help children understand that sometimes they might be around traffic when they don t realise, for example when they play in a front garden, on the pavement, or at the edge of a park. The poster for this activity shows a quiet road with some traffic. There is a park near the road and a house with a front garden close to the road, plus a pavement. There are children in each of these three places. The scene shows no vehicle immediately nearby but rather one approaching to prompt discussion about the apparent safety of the conditions when in fact there is traffic approaching and care/vigilance is needed. Using the poster, talk about what could go wrong, for example: Sometimes people park partly on the pavement, even where they re not supposed to, or drive over the pavement to get to a driveway. Even where they shouldn t, sometimes adults ride bikes on the pavement. If children are playing near the road, in a park or garden, their ball might go onto the road. If children are on wheels (roller skates, wheeled trainers, on a scooter or tricycle on the pavement) they could find it difficult to stop at the kerb, or roll onto the road by mistake. Ask the class how the children in the poster could keep themselves safer, while still having a good time (e.g. by moving further into the park, away from the road; playing in the back garden). Point out that even if you make sure that you are safe from traffic when you are playing, you still need to be careful. For example the roller skater could fall over, or the children in the park could fall from the slide. The activity sheet, Play safer, can be completed after the discussion. This shows a simplified version of the same scene with some children playing safely away from traffic in a park and some playing on the pavement or a driveway. For each child on the sheet there is a label and pupils must add either smiley face for those playing safely or a sad face for those who are not. When they have completed the activity sheet, ask pupils to think about how else the children can stay safer when they play (e.g. being careful on the slide, making sure they don t have loose clothes which could catch on the slide, being kind to the dog so that he doesn t get cross and bite, only playing with strange dogs if a grown up says that you can, trying not to fall off roller skates by going too fast or skating on a rough surface, staying near an adult or something like a wall while you are skating).
Activity 2: Is it safe? Children match up different fun activities with appropriate places in which to undertake them to emphasise key safety messages about playing more safely near traffic None Ask pupils to sit in a circle. Name an outdoor game or fun activity that children play and ask the class to take it in turns to add to the list. This could include playing in a park, playing football, walking a dog, skating etc. Suggest a game or outdoor play activity and a place it could be played. Pupils respond with thumbs up or down to show whether this is a good place for that activity or not. Here are some suggestions: Playing football in a car park. Playing with toys in your back garden. Walking a dog through some woods. Playing catch on a beach. Skating on the pavement. Riding a scooter outside some shops. Pushing a bike along a footpath. Having running races in a park. Going on swings in a playground. Bouncing a ball in a front garden. Rollerblading on the road. Ask children to say what they should do in certain situations: If a ball rolls onto a road (ask an adult you know to get it). How they can stay safer with a scooter near traffic (carry it). If a dog runs across a road (tell an adult you know). If the park or play area where you are playing frisbee is near busy traffic (move as far away from the traffic as you can). This sub-theme can be concluded by taking children outside to practice how to be safe on roads. Home-link Sheet A Home-link Sheet for parents is included in the pack supporting this lesson. This can be given to children to take home to pass to their parents. The purposes of the Home-link Sheet are to: inform parents about the road safety activities that their children are carrying out and the accompanying learning objectives; give advice and ideas for parents about how they can reinforce key road safety messages through simple, enjoyable activities with their children; underline the message that the home plays a vital part in children s learning about road safety, not least through providing examples of good behaviour.