MONROE – Kindergartners in Laurel Pope’s classroom at Fryelands Elementary School sang a song they had just learned for a visiting firefighter on Wednesday.
“Tell a grown-up, tell a grown-up. If you see, if you see,” the children chimed to the tune of “Frere Jacques.” “A gun in a closet, a gun in a closet. Looking at me, looking at me.”
The sounds brought a smile to Audrey Duncan, the Monroe Fire District 3 education coordinator who is helping teachers bring safety lessons into their classrooms.
All of Monroe School District’s six elementary schools will use Risk Watch, an injury prevention program created by the National Fire Protection Association.
Unintentional injuries are the No. 1 health threat to children under age 14, hurting and killing more kids than drugs and disease combined, according to the association.
Risk Watch helps students understand and prevent the dangers.
“You guys don’t like it when you get hurt, do you?” Duncan asked another class of Fryelands students. “And we don’t like it when you get hurt, either.”
Lessons at various grade levels will touch on eight areas: motor vehicle safety; fire and burn prevention; choking, suffocation and strangulation prevention; poisoning prevention; fall prevention; firearms injury prevention; bike and pedestrian safety; and water safety.
Students will learn different lessons appropriate to their age, such as waiting for turns on playground equipment to avoid falls and reminding a friend to wear a bike helmet.
The program includes songs and role-playing, as well as visits from Sparky the Fire Dog and adults to help drive home the lessons.
Monroe Mayor Donnetta Walser signed a proclamation on Wednesday to kick off the partnership with schools.
Fire Chief Jamie Silva commended Fire Marshal Mike Fitzgerald for writing the $142,000 grant that allowed the department to purchase the curriculum and hire Duncan.
Reporter Melissa Slager: 425-339-3465 or mslager@heraldnet.com.
Watch out for injuries
The Risk Watch program aims to prevent unintentional injuries by teaching kids about specific dangers. The program’s eight areas, with statistics for Washington state:
Bicycles: Helmets, worn correctly, reduce the risk of brain injury by up to 88 percent. Children ages 5-14 account for 30 percent of bicycle deaths.
Choking: Choking suffocation is the leading cause of death for children under a year old.
Falls: Falls are the leading cause of injury requiring hospitalization for children 14 and younger.
Fire: In 2003, 43 lives were lost in Washington state due to fires.
Firearms: From 1997-2001, 72 children ages 17 and younger were unintentionally injured by firearms and another 14 were killed.
Motor vehicles: Traffic accidents are the leading cause of death for children.
Poisonings: In 2001, the state Poison Control Center received 47,168 calls concerning people 18 and younger. Poisonings are the second leading cause of injury hospitalization for children ages 1-4.
Water: An average of 25 children 17 and younger drown each year in the state.
Source: Risk Watch
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