Water Safety Lesson Plan for Grades 3-5

Learning objectives

By the end of this lesson, participants will be able to:

• Name the five water competency skills and explain that learning them takes practice with an instructor.
• Explain why drowning is often quiet and why a grown-up Water Watcher must keep watching.
• Demonstrate how to help a person in trouble without going in: shout for help, then reach or throw something that floats.
• Check that a life jacket is Coast Guard-approved and fits snugly.
• Practice what to say on a 911 call: what happened, where you are and who needs help.

Materials

• Masking tape to make a 'water's edge' line on the floor
• Reaching items: a pool noodle, broom handle or jump rope
• Throwing items: a soft ball, an empty plastic jug with a rope tied to the handle, or a beanbag
• A child-size life jacket with a U.S. Coast Guard label (borrow one if you can)
• A pretend phone (any block or eraser) and the school's address written on the board
• Copies of the exit ticket in the Assessment step and the Water Safety Pledge to take home

Lesson steps

1. Warm-up: Myth or fact? 5 minutes

   Read each statement. Students stand up for fact and stay seated for myth. Give the answer after each one.

   • You would hear it if someone was drowning. Myth. Drowning is usually quick and quiet.

   • Water wings and pool noodles keep you safe. Myth. They are toys, not safety devices.

   • Kids who can swim still need a grown-up watching. Fact.

   • If your friend is in trouble, you should jump in and save them. Myth. Reach or throw, don't go.

2. Activity 1: Five skills that keep you safe 10 minutes

   Write the five water competency skills from the American Red Cross on the board. Act out each one on dry land as a class (bob down and pop up, starfish float, turn around, swim arms, climb out).

   • Enter water that's over your head, then come back to the surface.

   • Float or tread water for at least 1 minute.

   • Turn over and turn around in the water.

   • Swim at least 25 yards.

   • Get out of the water.

   • Say: These are skills you learn with a swim teacher, in a pool, with a lifeguard. Even people who have all five skills still swim with a buddy and a grown-up watching. Do not ask students who can or can't swim.

3. Activity 2: Reach or throw, don't go (relay) 12 minutes

   Tape a line on the floor: that's the water's edge. One student is the 'swimmer in trouble' sitting a few feet past the line. A team of three practices the steps. Nobody crosses the line.

   • Shout: the first student calls Help! Someone's in the water! and points to a pretend grown-up or lifeguard.

   • Reach: the second student stays behind the line and holds out the pool noodle or broom handle to the swimmer, who grabs it.

   • Throw: the third student tosses the ball, or the jug on a rope, to the swimmer and holds on to the end of the rope.

   • Swap roles. Ask: What if you feel yourself being pulled in? (Let go and start over.) Why don't we go in? (People who go in to rescue can drown too.)

4. Activity 3: Life jacket check and 911 practice 13 minutes

   Split the class: half do the life jacket check with you, half practice 911 calls with a partner, then switch.

   • Life jacket check: find the U.S. Coast Guard approval and the weight range on the label. Buckle a volunteer in, have them raise their arms, and gently lift the jacket at the shoulders. It should not ride up over the chin or face.

   • 911 practice: one partner is the caller, one is the dispatcher. The dispatcher asks: What happened? Where are you? Who needs help? The caller answers using the school address on the board.

5. Assessment: Exit ticket 5 minutes

   Students answer on a half sheet (answer key in the section below).

   • Name two of the five water competency skills.

   • Why does a Water Watcher need to keep watching instead of listening?

   • Your friend is struggling in a pond. Write the three things you do, in order.

   • What two things do you check on a life jacket?

6. Take-home

   Send home the Water Safety Pledge with the family note below. Students teach one skill from today to someone at home.

Standards

• NHES 1: Use functional health information to support health and well-being of self and others. (opens in a new tab)
• NHES 4: Use interpersonal communication skills to support health and well-being of self and others. (opens in a new tab)
• NHES 7: Demonstrate practices and behaviors to support health and well-being of self and others. (opens in a new tab)