Soon-to-be kindergartners spent this week learning about safety at Safety Town, held this year at Ida Burns Elementary School.
The annual, week-long event is funded by Conway Regional Medical Center and staffed by Junior Auxiliary. Missy Thoelke, the Mayor of Safety Town for 2008, provided a tour.
"We do it every year to teach incoming kindergartners basic safety," Thoelke said. "We teach them their address and phone number, emergency contact phone numbers. We've always felt like kindergarten was such a big step that some basic safety things might get left out," such as why they should walk in a crosswalk, and what "yield" means.
Each day has a different focus, and each day involves a special guest, she said. For example, Monday focused on police officers, dialing 9-1-1 and what children should do if they are lost and need a police officer. The children also learn to give police officers a "thumbs up" sign if everything is OK, Thoelke said.
"They love it, and the questions they ask are so funny. The police officers just love it," she said.
Wednesday was school bus day.
"Are we going to ride it?" one child exclaimed.
Children learned how to get on and off a school bus, how to walk around the plastic rail that extends out in front of the bus and about other safety features on the bus, such as a surveillance camera and emergency exits.
Thoelke said they have school bus safety "so if they do ride the bus, they'll know exactly what to do."
A big attraction for children at Safety Town is the miniature town with streets they get to drive around on Big Wheels. They learn to fasten their safety belts, obey traffic signals and drive on the correct side of the road.
Andrew Freyaldenhoven will be among the 122 children who will graduate from Safety Town on Friday. He said he learned "not to go on the train tracks."
Thane Johnson said, "We've been riding bikes. We learned about a school bus. It was great. I getted to talk to the dog (Patches the fire dog)."
Thoelke said in addition to road safety and bus safety, children see a firefighter in all their gear and learn not to be afraid of the apparatus. They also learn railroad safety, what to do in a house fire and what constitutes an emergency.
As a graduation present, each child will receive a bicycle helmet from Conway Regional, Thoelke said.
Children also have craft time, watch safety-themed videos and sing safety songs, she said. Safety Town has quite a few teen helpers this year, she added.
"Some of our teen helpers actually went through Safety Town. It's fun to see them helping," Thoelke said.
She concluded, "We're really glad the school let us use this building, because it's a real school setting. I think the kids really connected with this building and they'll know better what to do when they get to kindergarten."
(Staff writer Rachel Parker Dickerson can be reached by e-mail at rachel.dickerson@thecabin.net or by phone at 505-1277. Send us your news at www.thecabin.net/submit)
