Lesson Notes By Weeks and Term v5 - Grade 1
Personal and social well-being: safety at home and school – Week 6 focus
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Personal and social well-being: safety at home and school – Week 6 focus
Download the Lessonotes Mobile South Africa app for faster lesson access on Android and iPhone.
Subject: Life Skills
Class: Grade 1
Term: 2nd Term
Week: 6
Theme: General lesson support
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This lesson focuses on a critical life skill for young learners: understanding and practicing safety at home and at school. In South Africa, children encounter various environments, from urban apartments to rural homesteads and bustling schools. It is vital they learn to identify potential dangers and know how to react to keep themselves safe. This topic empowers learners by giving them knowledge to make safe choices, recognise hazards, and understand who the trusted adults in their community are. By building this foundation early, we help children develop a lifelong awareness of personal safety, reducing the risk of accidents and harm.
What Does 'Being Safe' Mean? Being safe means protecting our bodies from getting hurt. Just like we wear a raincoat to stay dry from the rain, we have safety rules to protect us from danger. Danger is anything that can cause an 'ouchie' or make us sick. Our homes and schools are wonderful places, but they have some things and places that are only for grown-ups. Dangerous Objects at Home Some things at home are tools for grown-ups, but they can be very dangerous for children. We must never play with them.
Fire Starters (Matches and Lighters): What they are: Small sticks or tools that make fire.
Why they are dangerous: Fire is very hot and can burn your skin, your clothes, and your house very fast. A tiny flame can become a very big, scary fire. Only grown-ups know how to use them safely.
Example: Thabo sees a box of matches on the kitchen table. He knows only his Gogo is allowed to use them to light the stove. He leaves them alone and goes to play with his toys. Sharp Things (Knives, Scissors, Broken Glass): What they are: Tools used for cutting or broken pieces of glass.
Why they are dangerous: Their edges are very sharp and can cut your skin, which hurts a lot and bleeds. Special scissors for children are okay, but kitchen knives are not toys.
Example: Anelisa drops a cup and it breaks. She must not touch the shiny, sharp pieces. She must stand still and call for her dad or a grown-up to help clean it up safely.
Medicine and Pills: What they are: Things that help sick people get better.
Why they are dangerous: Medicine is only for the person it was given to, and only a grown-up can give the right amount. Taking the wrong medicine, or too much, can make you very, very sick. It is not sweets!
Example: Sipho sees colourful pills in a bottle on the shelf. He thinks they look like sweets, but he remembers his teacher said to never eat anything unless a parent gives it to him. He leaves the bottle alone. Cleaning Chemicals (Bleach, Handy Andy): What they are: Strong liquids grown-ups use to clean the house.
Why they are dangerous: These chemicals have poison inside. If you drink them or get them on your skin or in your eyes, it can burn you and make you extremely ill. They often have a picture of a skull (☠️) to show they are poison.
Example: Lerato sees a bright blue bottle of cleaning liquid under the sink. She knows that the space under the sink is not a play area and that the bottle contains 'yucky stuff' for cleaning, not for playing. Dangerous Places at Home and School The Kitchen Stove: It gets extremely hot to cook food. Touching it can give you a very bad burn. Children should not be close to the stove when a grown-up is cooking.
Swimming Pools or Dams: Water can be fun, but you can drown if you fall in and can't swim. NEVER go near a pool, dam, or river without a grown-up watching you every second.
Roads and Driveways: Cars, taxis, and bakkies move fast and cannot always stop in time. Always hold a grown-up's hand when crossing the road and play in safe areas like a fenced yard or park, not in the street.
School Gate without a Teacher: Never wait alone by the school gate. A stranger might try to talk to you. Always stay inside the school grounds with the teacher on duty until your parent or transport arrives.
Out-of-Bounds Areas at School: Places like the back of the hall or a broken jungle gym are 'out-of-bounds' for a reason. They might be unsafe or no one can see you if you get hurt. Trusted Adults and Strangers A Trusted Adult is a grown-up you know well and who takes care of you.
Examples: Your parents, grandparents, teacher, principal, or a police officer in uniform. A Stranger is anyone you do not know. Most strangers are nice, but because we don't know them, we have to be extra careful.
The Safety Rule: No, Go, Tell! NO! If a stranger asks you to go with them, offers you sweets, or makes you feel scared, you shout "NO!" in a big, loud voice. GO! Run away as fast as you can to a safe place (like back into the school or to your house). TELL! Immediately tell a trusted adult what happened. Guided Practice (With Solutions)
Question 1: Look at the picture of the room below. Circle TWO things that are dangerous for a Grade 1 learner to play with. (Imagine a simple drawing of a lounge with a teddy bear on the floor, a book on a small table, a lighter on the coffee table, and an open bottle of pills on a low shelf.)
Solution 1: Answer: The learner should circle the lighter and the bottle of pills.
Commentary: We explain to the learner: "Well done! The lighter is dangerous because it can start a fire that can burn you. The pills are dangerous because they are medicine, not sweets, and taking them can make you very sick. The teddy bear and the book are safe toys for you to play with." Question 2: Zola is playing in the front yard and her ball rolls into the busy road. What is the safe thing for Zola to do? a) Run into the road quickly to get the ball. b) Ask a stranger to get the ball for her.