Senior Safety

When they reached 6th grade, students felt they had learned a lot about how to stay safe playing outside and being home alone.  They wanted to use their knowledge to help their school's elderly neighbors stay safe.

The students researched state and local safety laws and how such regulations are passed.  They then worked in pairs to ask the neighbors whether they would be interested in participating in the project.  The students created a survey, which was used during interviews.  They asked about the senior citizens' ideas and concerns about personal safety.  While visiting, the youths drew a map of the seniors' homes, noting such safety details as fire extinguishers and exit routes.

Returning to their classroom, the students used math skills to find ratios, proportions, and percentages in the survey results.  They incorporated these results, their maps, and information about safety laws and organizations into a pamphlet.  They learned how to create a professional-looking document on the computer.

By the time the students delivered their finished products, they had become good friends with their elderly neighbors.  This project produced much more than safety pamphlets: It gave students the opportunity to practice their own safety skills as they worked outside the classroom and connected seniors and 6th graders in long-lasting relationships.

Adapted from "Route to Reform: K-8 service-learning Curriculum Ideas," © 1994-95 National Youth Leadership Council.