Windham’s Katherine Thomas Elementary School was the site of a week-long Safety Town program last week, providing young kids with the opportunity for hands-on learning opportunities on how to stay safe at home, at school, around water, animals, and in emergency situations.
The program was held with assistance from Crestwood Primary School teacher Jolene Reese, who implemented the same program for incoming kindergarteners at her school 14 years prior.
Ever since Windham Special Education teacher Jennifer Klavik’s kids attended that program, Klavik had wanted to bring the program to her home district. “The program was well-established, with a great flow,” she noted, “so starting from scratch would have been silly.”
In addition to learning some key concepts prior to beginning their school careers, the students had time each day to play together with future classmates and familiarize themselves with their school environment prior to the start of school, helping to ease some of their first-day-of-school jitters.
When she approached her district to ascertain whether they’d support starting a Safety Town program in Windham, “from the first email, both the Principal Melissa Malone and Superintendent Michael Dobran bought in right away,” Klavik shared. “When Windham Lion’s Club and Windham American Legion learned about the program, they were all for it, too!” Both groups contributed a total of $2,000 to fund the fledgling program, and supplied volunteers to assist during the week, as well.
Many volunteers from the Crestwood program joined in as well, including retired Music teacher Stacey Jarvi who led the music portion of the program each day. Lots of adult volunteers also volunteered to help the week run smoothly, and a team of CHS teen volunteers served as group leaders for the 22 children in attendance.
Topic experts from Windham’s Police and Fire Departments shared information and techniques, as did representatives from Deefield Farms, Portage County APL, Portage County Sheriff’s Department, and Streetsboro Emergency Dispatch. The experience was multi-sensory, as children learned not just by watching, but role playing and practicing safe habits, reinforced by simple songs that were easy to understand.
The lessons were so interactive – for example – giving kids the opportunity to throw out a life preserver to practice this life-saving skill. “And the firefighters were having a blast,” Klavik noted, “I’m not sure who smiled more – the kids or the squad!”
“Mrs. Jarvi related to the kids so well,” she continued. Each day, the kids sang songs about that day’s lessons.At pick-up time, I heard kids reminding each other to buckle up, via the seat belt song. The parents were very appreciative of this wonderful experience for their kids, as well,” she added.
With roughly 30 kids in each grade level at Windham Schools, the turnout during this inaugural year of the program was excellent. Klavik shared, “Windham supports our kids and community 100%” Not surprisingly, the program is already scheduled to continue next year during the final week in July. At that time, Klavik hopes to involve local kids as volunteers, calling on NHS and other high school groups, giving them the opportunity to help continue to support future Windham Bombers.
