Last winter, Avani Anne, a senior student at Menlo-Atherton High School, led a bicycle and pedestrian curriculum at Encinal Elementary School. 

With the support of Menlo Park and Atherton police departments, school administration, Encinal PTO and Parents for Safe Routes, she developed a five-day curriculum to teach third graders bicycle and pedestrian safety. 

During one week in January 2020, third grade students started their day with a 15-minute lesson that included a short presentation, a video and an activity. The curriculum was delivered to about a hundred students. 
The lessons touched on safety crossing, hand signals, helmet adjustments, bike “ABC Quick Check” (Air in the tires, Brakes, Chain) and visibility. 

The students practiced the learning skills during a short activity: executing hand signals as fast as they could, “cantaloupe drop,” going through “ABC Quick Check” on 2 bicycles, testing visibility wearing dark clothing, light-colored clothing and reflective items on their cloths with the lights turned off. 

The third graders had a lot of fun learning about pedestrian and bicycle safety from an older student. This great initiative could be replicated in other schools and by other high school students!

Avani’s safety lessons are available in the Menlo Park SRTS Educational Materials and Resources Google Drive.