Key Messages

  • Our bodies can tell us when we are feeling unsafe.
  • These feelings are different for everyone.
  • I know what my personal EWS are.

Learning Intention

  • To teach students that their body has signals which can indicate they are feeling unsafe.
  • To develop students' awareness of their own personal EWS.

Time

40 minutes.

Required Resources

  • 1 piece of Butcher’s paper large enough to trace a student's body outline on.
  • Marker pens.
  • Worksheet of body outline (non-gender specific).
  • A selection of sounds collected from the internet that you can play such as – fire engine, car honking, ambulance.
Download Required Resources

Teaching Notes

Learning personal Early Warning Signals is the cornerstone of protective behaviours. This concept, ‘signals our bodies send us when we feel unsafe’, is one of the most important to teach and review.

Procedure

  • Point out the smoke alarms in the classroom. Ask the students if they have seen them before, what they are, what they do, how they sound. Discuss.
  • Use something to demonstrate the number of Warning Signals that are around us. (sounds collected from internet or school alarms).
  • Discuss what they mean and how they help us seek safety.
  • Explain to students that everyone has a special set of alarm signals. You will be discussing something called Early warning signals. These signals may have been activated when you played the alarms.
  • Discuss with students some of the things their bodies did when you played the alarms. Example: heartbeat fast, legs got jumpy, tummy felt sick. Let them know that everyone has these EWS.
  • Explain you are going to document the class's EWS. Ask for a volunteer who is willing to have their body traced around on the butcher's paper.
  • Brainstorm all the body feelings students experience when they don’t feel safe. Draw and label them on the body outline.
  • Refer to teacher's notes to help students identify the range of feelings a person may have when feeling unsafe.
  • Show students the activity sheet of the body outline. Draw in your own EWS and explain that not everyone's signals are the same.
  • Hand out activity sheets and ask students to draw and label their personal Early Warning Signals.

Example EWS

  • goosebumps
  • wobbly legs
  • butterflies in tummy
  • crying
  • wanting the toilet
  • fast breathing
  • going red in the face
  • hairs standing up
  • sweating
  • dry mouth
  • jittery.

Questioning

  1. Does everyone have the same EWS?
  2. Even though we all have personal EWS, what do these tell us
    about ourselves?

Curriculum Information