Still time to register your soon-to-be kindergartener for Safety Town

Louie the Lightning Bug talks about electrical safety at a previous Safety Town. Photo courtesy of Beckie Brewis.

The week of August 15th Klager cafeteria will come alive with Manchester’s 2016 Safety Town Program. The program runs from 8:30 - 11:30 am each day that week, culminating in a graduation ceremony at the end of the session on Friday. This will be Beckie Brewis’ 14th year of coordinating and teaching the program.

Safety Town is designed to teach many areas of personal safety to children entering kindergarten in the fall. Students learn traffic and bus safety as well as fire, seatbelt, stranger, water, gun, poison, and electrical safety through stories, projects, songs, games, movies and excursions. Brewis stated, "The Injury Prevention Program from Mott Children’s Hospital will talk to the children about car seat safety and will fit each child’s bike helmet to wear when they ride their bikes during the week. If a child does not yet own a helmet or has outgrown theirs, this program makes helmets available for purchase at a low cost. We are also very excited that this organization has enabled us to provide scholarships to five local students."

This year Safety Town will also have guests from Manchester Township Fire Department, Huron Valley Ambulance, Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Department, Manchester Community Schools Transportation Department, GTE with Louie the Lightning Bug, as well as Klager Elementary's principal, Karin Villarreal. And for the first time, they have added a presenter who will talk about being safe around dogs.

If you need full day, day care for your child, Safety Town organizers work in collaboration with Manchester Kids' Club Summer Camp to provide a full day of child care that week when needed by parents who work full time. In order to register for this extended program, parents must contact Danielle VanBogelen at 428-9711 x1013 to register their child for this care option, ensuring appropriate staffing will be in place.

Children must be pre-registered to attend. If your child is entering kindergarten this fall and has not yet registered for Safety Town, you can still do so by contacting Beckie at 428-9711 x1343 or via email at bbrewis@mcs.k12.mi.us. The early bird rate of $59 has been extended through June 10th. After June 10th the cost of the program is $69. If you do not have a flyer/registration form, you can access one here.

photos courtesy of Beckie Brewis

by Sara Swanson

Sara Swanson is an editor, writer and a founder of the Manchester Mirror.