Continuing education online courses in DrugFree Kids.

D19. DrugFree Kids, 3 CE-hours, $21

Professor Rudolf Klimes, PhD, welcomes you to this online course. Keep going.

START the course here. TAKE the exam at the end. PAY after the exam.

If possible, teach a group of children about DrugFree Kids. If you do not have access to children, you may simulate the responses of children as you would expect them.

Objectives:

At the completion of the course, Grades 1 and 2 children shall:

1. have a basic understanding of the value of good health
2. make pre-decisions to avoid harmful drugs.

Course Format: Online linked resources and lectures that you can use anytime 24/7. One multi-choice test.

Course Developers and Instructors: R. Klimes, Ph.D., HPM (John Hopkins U), author of articles on wellness pertaining to drug rehabilitation.

Course Time: About thirty hours for online study, test taking with course evaluation feedback and certificate printing.

Course Test: Click here for the self-correction test that requires 75% for a passing grade.

D19   DrugFree Kids, 3 CE hours 

DrugFree Kids

 WHEN? Start right now. Teachers, counselors and parents may begin here on this page. This  course is free, simple, easy, fast, convenient and available anywhere and anytime. he course may be conducted in a public or private elementary school for children in Grades 1 and 2, or in home or church settings.

 WHERE? The material may be used in any supplementary way the teacher or leader desires. The course may be used for children in Grades 1 and 2 for a 4-month periods. The basic materials for Grades 1 and 2 are very similar, but the exercises and procedures are different. The Grade 2 materials serve to reinforce the learning that took place in Grade 1.

 WHY? A large number of drug abuse prevention programs that start in Grades 3, 4 or 5 have shown very limited success. Many of these were information-based. The author of this course assumes that children need to develop early a value system that will guide them in their decision-making. Small children can make positive pre-decisions that will help them in later decision-making regarding the use or abuse of drugs.

 HOW DOES IT WORK?
Children are continually exposed to messages and experiences that foster the use and abuse of harmful drugs. This DrugFree USA curriculum called “DrugFree Kids” was developed to counter these messages and experiences with simple, short slogans that are reinforced through specially designed learning activities. The curriculum is based on eight slogans presented on bookmarks, usually one for each month. Here we present four of them. The message on each slogan is taught through 10-15 minute long weekly learning activities. The slogans used in Grade 1 are repeated in Grade 2, but the activities and procedures differ. Thus the message is reinforced and becomes familiar. By presenting new learning activities in Grade 2, the children are challenged to review and advance their learning. 

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Questions about the Curriculum

1. Is this a curriculum in harmony with the Education Code of California and that of other states?

The Education Code of California lists the following in its health content requirements:

Code 44806: “Each teacher shall endeavor to impress upon the minds of the pupils the principles of morality, truth, justice…Code 51202: The adopted course of study shall provide instruction in….the effects of alcohol, narcotics, drugs, and tobacco on the human body. Code 51203: Instruction upon the nature of alcohol, narcotics, restricted drugs, and other dangerous substances and their effect upon the human system shall be included in the curriculum of all elementary and secondary schools. Code 51890: For the purpose of this chapter, ‘comprehensive health education programs’ are…to include…(3) drug use and misuse, including the misuse of tobacco and alcohol…”

2. Is drug prevention education a high priority?

The Education Code of California gives these staff development requirements:

Code 51260: “Instruction shall be given in elementary and secondary schools by appropriately trained instructors on drug education and the effects of the use of tobacco, alcohol, narcotics, dangerous drugs and other dangerous substances. An appropriately trained teacher is one who…demonstrates skills in conducting effective education, which includes methods and techniques for helping children and youth to freely express ideas and opinions in a responsible manner and to gain an awareness of their values as they effect decisions related to drug use and misuse. Code 51265: School districts and county offices of education should give high priority to gang violence and drug  and alcohol abuse prevention in-service training programs, which shall be part of the overall strategy for comprehensive gang violence and drug and alcohol abuse prevention education.”

3. How does DrugFree Kids fit into the K-2 Health Curriculum?

From Seeking Excellence in Education K-2, Health, pp 12- 15.  “Students will practice behaviors that reduce their risk of becoming involved in potentially dangerous situations…(DrugFree Kids Lesson 2). Students will distinguish between helpful and harmful substances. Students will develop and use effective communication skills to cope with emotions (Lesson 3). Students will identify information, products, and services that may be helpful or harmful to their health (Lessons 4-8). Students will identify how advertising, community, peers and family influence their decisions(Lesson 1).” DrugFree Kids helps students in all of this.

4. What does some of the recent research say about early drug abuse education?

The U.S. News & World Report, September 4, 1998, page 10 reports on a study by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University.  The study concludes that parents have more influence on their 12-13 year old children, which is the most critical risk period, “if they started talking about healthy lifestyles when their children were as young as kindergarten.”

5. What are some ground rules for class discussions?

1. Agree, or agree to disagree. 2. No interrupting 3. No put-downs.

Grade 1 & 2 Health: DrugFree Kids – Scope and Sequence
PROBLEMS/VALUES	SCIENCE PROCESS	STORY LINE
Advertising, Lesson 1	Observing, Communicating, Comparing	There are differences between true and false ads.
Tobacco, Lessons 2	Observing, Communicating.Comparing, Ordering	Smoking is harmful and very difficult to stop.
Honesty, Lesson 3	Observing, Communicating, Comparing	Kids who use tobacco lie about it.
Alcohol, Lessons 4	Observing, Communicating.Comparing, Ordering	Alcohol harms the mind and body.

 Assignments  for Children

Each of the four major topics is designed to be used for a month.  The following assignments for children are suggestive and may be arranged as needed. The weekly suggestions may or may not be followed and some activities may be extended and others omitted.

Explore online courses on wellness, tobacco, alcohol, and drug abuse.

Key Point: Comparing honest and dishonest advertising. 
Objectives: To develop comparing skills and thus be able to distinguish between helpful and harmful advertising and substances/drugs.
Time-line: First month of the program, 10-15 minutes weekly. 
 GRADE 1 Procedures: 
1st week: Write the slogan on the white-board or on a large sheet of paper.  Read it aloud. Ask the children to        repeat it, first quietly, then normal, then very loud. Pass out the bookmarks and ask the children to read it daily for  a week.
2nd week: Read the Story 1: Don’t buy that lie.
3rd week: Children memorize the slogan and repeat it in group when given the last word of the slogan.
4th week: Have the children sign the Health Decision Card and have them tell how they will share their decision with others. 
5th week: Children memorize the slogan and repeat it individually when given the last word of the slogan.

 STORY 1. Don’t Buy That Lie:
Jim was looking through one of the magazines at home. He came across a big wonderful advertising. And he was wondering: “Are people who smoke really as happy as they look in the advertising?” “Does smoking make them happy?” “Does smoking make them successful and healthy?”
Then he remembered what his mom had told him: “Don’t you ever start smoking. It is a dirty habit. Once you start, it is very difficult to stop. And it kills you slowly but surely.”
Somehow the picture of the happy smoker and the coughing nicotine addict did not match. The advertising was false. Smoking does not make one happy and glamorous. Jim’s teacher summarized it well by saying: “Don’t buy that lie.”

 GRADE 2 Procedures: 
1st week: Children prepare for speech choir described below.
2nd week: Children perform in the speech choir.

1. (girls) Enjoy your health,
it is your wealth.
So hear our plea
and live DrugFree.

(boys) Don’t buy that lie.

2. (girls) Enjoy your day,
in every way.
So hear our plea
and live DrugFree.

(boys) Don’t buy that lie.

3. (girls) Enjoy your school,
it’s really cool.
So hear our plea
and live DrugFree.

(boys) Don’t buy that lie.

Next: Girls and boys change parts.
For each month, substitute a new slogan.

3rd week: Children cut out advertising from newspapers and evaluate them.
4th week: Children list and tell the harms of false advertising.
5th week or optional: Children give other examples of false ads.

Key Point: Communicating that smoking is harmful and very difficult to stop. 
Objectives: To help the children realize that smoking is dangerous and that it seriously harms the body.  To make a pre-decision not to smoke or use drugs. Smoking  and chewing tobacco is drug-use.
Time-line: Second month of the program, 10-15 minutes weekly.

 GRADE 1 Procedures: 
1st week: Write the slogan on the white-board or on a large sheet of paper.  Read it aloud. Ask the children to repeat it, first quietly, then normal, then very loud. Pass out the bookmarks and ask the children to read the bookmark daily for a week.
2nd week: Read Story 2 in the book.
3rd week: Discuss the Tobacco Decision Card and have the children tell what it means to them.
4th week: Have the children sign the Tobacco Pre-Decision Card and have them tell how they will share their pre-decision with others.
5th week or optional: Review and evaluate.

 STORY 2. To Smoke is no Joke:
Jack thought it would be fun to sneak off behind the tree to share his first cigarette with his best friend Billy.

“We’ll do it just once for fun,” he promised. But it wasn’t just for once. It turned out to be not for fun either.

Jack felt he wanted to smoke often. He couldn’t leave that weed alone. He became hooked. Now the joke was on him. He just had to have his cigarettes. And it wasn’t fun anymore. Jack was trapped: “To smoke is no joke.”

 GRADE 2 Procedures: 
1st week: Children in pairs pantomime refusing cigarettes.
2nd week: Children make non-smoking signs and put them up in places they choose.
3rd week: Children tell which famous people smoke and which do not.
4th week: Children make anti-smoking posters.
5th week or optional: Children write a letter to someone who smokes.

Key Point: Kids who smoke or use drugs lie about it. They feel that they cannot tell their teachers or parents. 
Objectives: To develop habits of truth and honesty and to avoid deception, lying and cheating.
Time-line: Third month of the program, 10-15 minutes weekly.

GRADE 1 Procedures: 
1st week: Write the slogan on the white-board or on a large sheet of paper.  Read it aloud. Ask the children to repeat it, first quietly, then normal, then very loud. Pass out the bookmarks and ask the children to read them daily for a week.
2nd week: Read Story 3 in the book.
3rd week: Collect relevant materials and bring it to a kind of show and tell in the 4th week. Discuss what to collect.
4th week: Have show and tell.
5th week or optional: Review, evaluate or brainstorm ways to be honest.

STORY 3. It’s not Neat to Cheat:
Jane liked to hide things. She had all kinds of secrets. Some she shared with her friend Maxine, others she shared with no one.

Once she took a dollar from her mother’s purse and hid it. And later a cigarette from a visitor and smoked it. And then she hid her answers to her test under her skirt and copied them. She became a cheater. When asked, she always denied it.

Soon even her good friend Maxine could not trust her any more and stopped playing with her. Jane, alone and without friends, lamented: “It’s not neat to cheat.”

 GRADE 2 Procedures: 
1st week: Children design puzzles about cheating.
2nd week: Children write a short slogan of their own..
3rd week: Children list reasons for not cheating.
4th week: Children tell about the time they were tempted to cheat but did not.
5th week or optional: Children give examples of cheating and tell how each harms.

Key Point: Alcohol impairs thinking and body functions and for some, the ability to stop drinking. 
Objectives: To recognize that alcohol is a drug and that it is harmful. To make a pre-decision not to drink.
Time-line: Fourth month of the program, 10-15 minutes weekly.

 GRADE 1 Procedures: 
1st week: Write the slogan on the white-board or on a large sheet of paper.  Read it aloud. Ask the children to repeat it, first quietly, then normal, then very loud. Pass out the bookmarks and ask the children to read them daily for a week.
2nd week: Read the 4th story in the book.
3rd week: Children draw a picture about the abuse of alcohol.
4th week: Have the children sign the Alcohol Decision Card and have them tell how they will share their decision with others. 
5th week: Children make a mobile about drinking and driving.

 STORY 4. Do Think! Don’t Drink:
Some cook kids were tasting it and to Bill it just looked like plain water. It tasted “yuck” but Bill wanted to be in with his friends and so he drank some. But it wasn’t water.  It came in a special bottle and it was whisky.

He soon learned that it was a powerful drug. Those who drank a glass of it couldn’t walk straight. They could not think straight. They could not drive without endangering others. And their liver had a hard time getting rid off all that poison. Their stomach did not like it either. Was drinking alcohol suppose to be cool? Bill’s whole body told him; “Do think! Don’t drink.” 

 GRADE 2 Procedures: 
1st week: Children prepare for speech choir described below.
2nd week: Children perform in the speech choir.
3rd week: Children calculate how much a drinker spends a year.
4th week: Children change the words of a well-know song to give an anti-alcohol message.
5th week or optional: Children draw an anti-alcohol picture and add a slogan underneath.

 1. assessment, 2. treatment planning, 3. changing behavior, 4. groups and families, 5. maintaining behavioral changes, and 6. rehabilitation.

DrugFree U  Smoke-Free Kids Home Page  

Here’s Looking At You, 2000, by Comprehensive Health Education Foundation, 22323 Pacific Highway South, Seattle, Washington, 98198.   Discover Skills for Life,Educational Assessment Publishing Company, 1713 Kettner Blvd, San Diego, CA 92101.   Skills for Growing, Quest, 537 Jones Rd. PO Box 566, Granville OH 43023.

 lement the curriculum with one or more kids and then take the CE test. 

TEST

Study this web-site for 3 hours for an approved 3-hours Continuing Education Certificate (0.3 CEUs). Click here for the self-correcting test