What We Do: Safe Routes Philly Assemblies

Our Safe Routes Philly program operates in Philadelphia public elementary schools with a "train the trainer" model.  We provide teachers, mainly PE teachers, with the training and resources required to give lessons on pedestrian (2nd grade) and bicycle (5th grade) safety.  The goal is to seed Philadelphia's public schools with the knowledge to teach future generations of students the joys of walking and biking to school safely.

Unfortunately, there are schools in Philadelphia without PE teachers or the time or staff necessary to take our trainings and implement the lessons.  For these schools, our Safe Routes Philly program provides assemblies.  These assemblies are not the ideal delivery vehicle for the Safe Routes message, for they are not repeatable within the school without our future involvement.  But they do reach students who would otherwise miss our lessons.

We have two assembly programs, one each for bicycling and walking.  Safe Routes Philly has conducted 5 assemblies so far this school year.  The most recent took place on May 10th at Decatur Elementary in Northeast Philly.  We aim for approximately 70 students, but schools frequently include additional classes.  At Decatur, we had over 200 students.

Anyone who has conducted an assembly for elementary school children, or can remember being a child themselves (or, heck, is an elementary school child, if you are reading this blog) knows the characteristics of a successful assembly.  Keep it active, engaging, and participatory.  Keep it moving.

Our assemblies are fast-paced and engaging.  They last around 45 minutes.  We show videos which offer lessons on safe walking and bicycling practices.  We have songs and raps featuring call-and-response portions.  (If we can't be at the school all day, at least we can get students singing a catchy, safety-themed song all day.)  We have challenges, such as one where students are tasked with rifling through a box of items and clothing to find the five most bicycle-appropriate articles.  At the assembly's end, we hold game shows where students and teachers square off.  These are always a blast:

"Are You Smarter Than _______" (above) pits a small group of 2nd graders against Mr. or Mrs. ________, a teacher from that school.  The questions reinforce lessons from the assembly, and give students that thrilling opportunity to out-knowledge their teachers.

"Three B Jeopardy" (above) is the bicycling assembly game show, again pitting students against teachers.  We bring our own projector and screen, and tailor questions to the school we're visiting.  The game includes questions like, "How can you be predictable to walkers and runners on a trail when you are biking?"  Nothing helps a student remember the answer to a question like beating a teacher to that answer.  

The assemblies do not endow schools with institutional knowledge they can repeat in future school years.  Our goal, however, is to promote walking and bicycling as safe and healthy transportation in Philadelphia schools.  The assemblies are a good fall-back option.  They engage students for an hour, bringing classes a fun and rewarding lesson on how much fun biking and walking to school can be, and how to do them safely.

Interested in learning more about our assemblies?  You're in luck!  We will soon be posting our assembly program materials on our Safe Routes Philly website under the Schools --> Curriculum tab.  You will be able to see PowerPoint presentations, videos, our famous raps, and a How To Use guide for folks wishing to put on a bicycle or pedestrian assembly in their school.