Two weeks of safety instruction at Clyde Green Springs Safety Village was completed last week by 33 preschoolers. The purpose is to educate children about safety with each child becoming more aware of how to be safe in a variety of situations. Classes were held from 9:30-11:30 a.m. Monday through Friday at Clyde Elementary School.
Field trips were made to a Clyde Fire Station where they sat in a fire engine and were taught how to safely escape from a burning building in the CFD inflatable smoke house.
The students visited the Clyde Police Department and the Clyde Aquatic Center, where they dangled their feet in the water and lifeguards told them about pool safety. They rode in a school bus where they were taught bus etiquette, and a train conductor came to talk to them about train safety. Everything they learned was reinforced by singing songs and reciting rhyming verses about safety.
Graduation ceremonies for the students were held June 27. Students met outside the school and marched single file into their classroom wearing graduation caps made with plastic bowls and construction paper, trimmed with red and white tassels.
All wore their red Safety Village T-shirts. Inside the school, parents, grandparents and siblings were waiting. While a PowerPoint presentation showed photos of their activities from the past two weeks, the youngsters sang songs and recited safety rhymes. Then they went outside to show what they had learned. One group walked behind the school toward Fair Street with teen helpers and demonstrated how they had learned to cross an street.
The other group showed off what they had learned about proper traffic procedures in a miniature street block set up on a parking lot beside the school with streets, stop signs and a traffic light. Each child wore a bike helmet and rode a three-wheeler through the streets, stopping and waiting at stop signs and the traffic light.
Parents watched from the sidelines.
“We teach safety at home, but it was more in-depth here,” said Kaylah Kauffman, mother of Charlie and Colby, who both attended. Safety Village is for preschool children about to enter kindergarten; for the first time, the class was opened to 4-year-olds. She said she was pleased when her boys came home chanting their address and phone number.
There were 28 student volunteers who assisted teachers Maria Bischoff and Izzy Hoke. Bischoff teaches music to preschoolers through fifth graders at Woodmore Exempted School District. Hoke is a McPherson Middle School former math teacher, who will now teach art there.
Kaileese Charles said that working with the youngsters will help her to be a better babysitter.
Anson Lian, one of two male volunteers, was a first-time volunteer and had fun working with the youngsters. “The kids are great once you get to know their quirks,” he said.
Kirra Gilbert, who plans to become a teacher, said she loved hanging out with the little kids. She also volunteers at Creek Bend Farm, Wilson Nature Center in Lindsay.
Clyde-Green Springs Safety Village has served the children of Clyde for decades. It is held for two weeks every summer and is sponsored by Clyde Career Women. CCW members Vickie Smith and Teri Campbell were given special recognition for their help behind the scenes. If someone wants to help the program, all donations go toward the purchase of children’s bike helmets, maintenance of the mini-village, classroom materials and supplies, snacks and the large tricycles.
Vacation Bible School set in July
Clyde Community Vacation Bible School is July 13 to July 17 from 5:45-8 p.m. at the First United Methodist Church, 510 W. Maple St. The VBS is for children ages four through 6th grade and the theme is “Road Trip Vacation Bible School.” For more information, call or text Amber Keegan at 419-455-4716. To register online, visit https://clyde-community-vbs.mycokesburyvbs.com/.
Jeanette Liebold Ricker writes about Clyde and Green Springs. Contact her at 419-547-8177 or by email at jeanette.ricker@gmail.com.
This article originally appeared on Fremont News-Messenger: Talk About Clyde: Fun days at Safety Village
Reporting by Jeanette Ricker / Fremont News-Messenger
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