SUBMITTED
Students at The Stewart School are helping educate their community on water, fire, and personal safety through informative messaging all developed and produced by the students themselves. Student teams have created postcards that feature a QR code linking to videos with valuable tips on how you can stay safe around water, steps to take when there’s a fire, and general considerations that can help keep you safe in everyday life.
This Real-World Learning project began in early October when Grade 1/2 Teacher Cara Dean stumbled upon an article in the local newspaper about the importance of smoke alarms in homes.
“This powerful article got my attention,” said Dean. “In the article, Perth Fire Chief Trevor Choffe shared that 31 per cent of households didn’t have working smoke alarms, and that historically, educating people is a better method than fines for enforcing the law.”
Photo credit: UCDSB.
Dean returned to her classroom with the newspaper article in hand, introduced students to the topic, and together they began writing journal entries about fire safety.
Following their research and writing on fire safety, the class turned to water safety and personal safety and heard from special guests on each topic. Armed with their newfound knowledge, they decided to share this information with their community.
To help with the technical aspects of their project, the class recruited the school’s media team. The team consists of students in Grades 5 and 6, who worked with their younger schoolmates to create scripts, collect props, and record segments of video for the final product. The media team then edited the segments together into seamless videos featuring the young hosts, who highlight great tips for staying safe in a variety of situations.
Students in the Grade 1 and 2 classes enjoyed the technical aspects of the project, working with the older students on the media team, and seeing how videos like this come together behind the scenes.
“We got to talk in front of a big green screen, and it looked like we were standing in a big hill of grass,” said student Nathaniel Noble-Kay.
“I like being backstage and getting to watch the whole thing live,” added Wallond Jamieson. “I liked doing the fire safety ones because it had a lot more cool props like fire hoses and a fire extinguisher.”
“It’s been one of the things I’ve liked most about the year because we got to do different things,” added Grade 5 student and media team member Maxwell Ferris. “We got to learn how to use different equipment and figure out how to set it up. It’s been really fun.”
Photo credit: UCDSB.
To get their videos to the public, the students decided to create postcards with QR codes linking to the informative videos. Working with a local print company, Images Inter Alia, who graciously offered to print the postcards at a 50 per cent discount, the students got to work designing the postcards and prepping the print files. The postcards have since been distributed to the Perth Library, and local restaurants and cafes.
“It was fantastic to see them so engaged and wanting to share their messages with our community,” said Dean. “And I love how this project involved multiple classes. It evolved to include the development of many skills like reading, writing, media, technology, social skills and more. It has turned out to be a great cross-curricular project!”
If you find yourself in the Perth area this summer, be sure to look for these eye-catching postcards and learn more about fire, water, and personal safety from the dedicated students at The Stewart School.
View the safety videos here, and viewers are invited to share their feedback by dropping a note in the front door mailbox of The Stewart School at 7 Sunset Boulevard in Perth.
