Getting Started with Our Preventing and Responding to Emergencies Homeschool Health and Fitness Curriculum

The Preventing and Responding to Emergencies homeschool health and fitness course helps introduce upper elementary students to ways they can prevent, identify, and treat a variety of emergencies. This course should be studied with parents, and it is not intended to give medical advice or work as a substitute for formal emergency training.

Overview

• 9 weeks
• Includes text-based lessons and activities
• Grades: 5-6

Supplies Needed

Corresponding lessons on SchoolhouseTeachers.com; journal for notetaking and research.

What to Do

Go to Class Lessons and download the lesson plan and lessons file. Start with the Day 1 reading assignment. Follow the instructions each day on the lesson plan and check them off when completed.

Course Sample for Our Preventing and Responding to Emergencies Homeschool Health and Fitness Curriculum

To view a full sample of this course, click here.

Preventing and Responding to Emergencies
By Jenny Underwood

Lesson 1: Hypothermia, Frostbite, and Frostnip

Hypothermia is a condition in which your body temperature falls below 95 degrees. Normal body temperature is approximately 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit. If the body temperature falls below 86 degrees, it can very easily be fatal.

The most common causes of hypothermia are being outdoors in very cold weather without proper clothing, falling into extremely cold water, and living in an unheated or poorly heated home.

How do you spot hypothermia?

Answer:

1. Shivering
2. Cold, pale, and dry skin
3. Tiredness, confusion, and strange behavior
4. Slow and shallow breathing
5. Slow and weakening pulse

What should you do if someone has symptoms of hypothermia?

Answer:

1. Move them indoors immediately, if possible.
2. Remove any wet clothing and cover with warm, dry things—coats, blankets, etc.
3. Give them something hot to drink (coffee, tea, hot chocolate, or soup).
4. If you can’t get them indoors, remove any wet clothing and wrap in blankets.
5. Put branches or pine boughs under them if no blankets are available.
6. Call 911 and wait with them until help arrives.
7. Keep talking to them.
8. Remember to warm their internal organs (trunk) first, not the hands and feet, to prevent shock.

More About Our Preventing and Responding to Emergencies Homeschool Health and Fitness Curriculum

Do your students know how to respond if they see someone drowning? How can they recognize a potentially dangerous situation with a stranger, and what should they do if they are in an uncomfortable situation with a stranger? What if someone they are with is bitten by a snake or has a reaction to an insect or spider bite? How can they prevent hypothermia, and how can they know if someone has it?

These are a few of the questions explored by this basic introduction to emergency safety. The Preventing and Responding to Emergencies homeschool health and fitness course also looks at frostbite, hyperthermia, heat exhaustion, burns, poison, electrical shock, cuts and scrapes, broken bones, sprains, and how to assemble a first aid kit. Emergencies arise without warning, so it is critical to be prepared ahead of time. They can also arise in regular, everyday situations. Being familiar with potential hazards and learning how to identify and avoid them is the first step toward staying safe. This homeschool health course is designed for upper elementary students and should be studied with parents. It is not intended to give medical advice or work as a substitute for formal emergency training.