Red Ribbon Week

Ribbon by, Kate Hadfield Designs
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Kate-Hadfield-Designs

Red Ribbon Week falls during the last full week of October and has been a tradition since 1988 to teach students about the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse. This annual tradition is marked by school assemblies, 5K races, bracelets, and other trinkets to remind students about the dangers of using drugs. Most importantly is a pledge which students sign to agree to be drug free!

I was once a sponsor of the Pride Team at our K-8 school. Upper grade Pride students were typically the middle school leaders. They were the kind of kids who could step into an elevator, face the back wall, and have all the other kids follow their stance. They would sing and put on skits to remind all to be drug free. Also, several of these kids attended national Pride meetings.

I used to commemorate Red Ribbon Week with a door design. I would post pictures of witches and ghosts at the top and drugs on the bottom, "Witches and ghosts give me a chill, but DRUGS are really scary!" I would also have my kids sign pledges promising to remain drug free and hang these on the wall. Did this work? With some, maybe even most, but not all, for sadly, I do have a few former students who have died from drug overdose.

To help you teach drug awareness, here is a free product from my store that I hope you will download and leave feedback!

Click HERE for FREE Red Ribbon Week Reading Passage.

And now, since it's Monday, here are my Monday Music Moves Me songs.

They are all about anti-drug topics, so have a listen to:

Neil Young, "The Needle and The Damage Done"

Next up, Lynyrd Skynyrd, "That Smell"

And finally, here is Red Hot Chili Peppers, "Under the Bridge," about Heroin addiction.

October Research

When a new month arrived, I'd find a lot of tidbits about the month through research. Why not have your kids research people born in October? They may choose a celebrity or famous person and write a report about him or her.

In searching October birthdays, I found the following people:

• Buster Keaton
• John Lennon
• Eleanor Roosevelt
• Molly Pitcher
• Bela Lugosi
• Pablo Picasso
• Mahalia Jackson
• Teddy Roosevelt
• Sylvia Plath
• Emily Post

Perhaps your kids don't want to research these "old" people, even though it might be a great challenge for them. If that's the case how about researching the current celebrities listed below? If you're over 30, you've most likely never heard of most of these kids, but your students probably know them. Most are Gen Z stars through youtube or young pop culture.

• Brie Larson
• Alex Guzman
• PewDiePie
• Cardi B
• SSSniperWolf
• Queen Naija

Famous people born in October are not the only research possibilities. How about looking into famous historical events? Your kids could research the following:

• 1636 - Harvard was founded
• 1793 - Queen Marie Antoinette was beheaded
• 1871 - The Great Fire of Chicago started
• 1881 - shoot-out at the O.K. Corral
• 1884 - Greenwich began universal standard time zones
• 1908 - Henry Ford's Model T first went on sale
• 1927 - First full length "talkie" film, The Jazz Singer, opened
• 1929 - stock market crashed starting the Great Depression
• 1946 - Twelve Nazi leaders sentenced to death in Nuremberg, Germany
• 1957 - Russians launched Sputnik, first Satellite in space
• 1967 - Thurgood Marshall sworn in as first African American on the Supreme Court
• 1973 - Yom Kippur War against Israel started when Egypt & Syria attacked

Find products related to October below:

                                          

Click HERE for Historical Fiction Reading Passage on The Chicago Fire.

Also, find enough Fall Activities to keep your kids engaged and challenged throughout the month of October.

Click HERE to find the Autumn Activities Bundle

I send these posts to my mailing group; however, they get free resources along with the article. You can, too. Just join my group by clicking below!

https://mailchi.mp/b9a669919a4c/samplerpack

You will also receive a FREE No Prep Problem Solving Pack!

October Fire Prevention Week

Fire Prevention Week is here and definitely a good thing to teach in the classroom. I'll never forget when my son came home from a fire assembly worried about being on the second floor of our house. We bought him a flexible ladder to keep by his window, and that helped him to sleep well. That ladder has never been used in over twenty years, but it still sits below his upstairs window. I'm just thankful he never used it to escape out of the house during his teenage years. At least we think he didn't . . .

My best year in teaching fire prevention was when we entered our city's video contest. My kids had a blast making a movie about fire prevention. It won a prize and was shown to the school, so it may be worthwhile for you to search the local fire department to see if any contests are in place. If they aren't, there is nothing wrong with putting on a skit for another class. The kids will love it and learn about staying safe, too.

Click HERE for Historical Fiction Reading Passage on The Chicago Fire.

Also, find enough Fall Activities to keep your kids engaged and challenged throughout the month of October.

Fire Prevention Week Activities

I send these posts to my mailing group; however, they get free resources along with the article. You can, too. Just join my group by clicking below!

https://mailchi.mp/b9a669919a4c/samplerpack

You will also receive a FREE No Prep Problem Solving Pack!

Now, for a song!