Get to school safely each day! These miniature traffic signs help young children learn about road safety while they play.

• 1.

  You pass colorful road signs everyday when you walk or ride to and from school. What do these signs mean to drivers? Why do you need to know what those signs mean? After you make your miniature signs, place them on a map to practice safe walking.

• 2.

  Mix Crayola Model Magic® with aquarium gravel (to add weight) for your sign bases. Form into bases. Poke a craft stick in each one.

• 3.

  With Model Magic, shape several signs in the correct colors. You can make different colors by kneading color from Crayola Washable Markers into white Model Magic.

• 4.

  Press your signs down on craft sticks. Air-dry signs.

• 5.

  If necessary, use Crayola School Glue to hold craft sticks in the bases. Air-dry the glue before using them.

Standards

• LA: Read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poetry, in the grade level text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.
• LA: Read and comprehend informational texts, including history/social studies, science, and technical texts, at the high end of the grade level text complexity band independently and proficiently.
• LA: Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about grade level topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups.
• LA: Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences.
• VA: Use different media, techniques, and processes to communicate ideas, experiences, and stories.
• VA: Use visual structures of art to communicate ideas.
• VA: Select and use subject matter, symbols, and ideas to communicate meaning.

Adaptations

• Possible classroom resources include: Officer Buckle & Gloria by Peggy Rathmann; No Dragons for Tea: Fire Safety for Kids by Jean E. Pendziwol; Healthy Me: Fun Ways to Develop Good Health and Safety Habits by Michelle O'Brien-Palmer; Staying Safe on the Street by Joanne Mattern
• Encourage students to take digital photographs in the community of safety signs. Upload photos to a class computer for viewing. Have students determine the safety message for each sign. Students can use Crayola Colored Pencils to illustrate each sign and write the safety message on the illustration. Display in the classroom for students to view.
• Students work in small groups to make up new symbols for "traffic" issues within the classroom and school building. Students design signs for each issue and write the safety message on the illustration.
• Students groups research road signs from other countries. Ask if they are able to understand the safety message even though they may not be able to read the language. If so, how are they able to do this?
• Students investigate the colors used for road signs. What colors are used? Why do you think these colors were selected for the safety signs?