Officer Phil Program Presents 2013-2014 Programs

CAPE MAY — The Officer Phil Program is thrilled to present their 2013-2014 programs to Carl Mitnick Elementary School and Maud Abrams Elementary School. With the involvement of Lower Township Police Department, the Officer Phil Program will focus on some important topics. Since the program will be geared to the elementary grade students, the lessons will be taught in a fun, energized way. Much to the children’s delight, one of Officer Phil’s Pals, Lucky Duck, will be there to help teach the important safety lessons.
The program begins with an introduction of the Lower Township Police Officers in attendance. It’s important for the children to know that the officers are friendly and work to keep us safe every day. They are always around to help the children if they need it.
The program will capture the children’s attention with the first magic trick. It is a coin trick. How did he do that? This trick will get the children focused and reinforce some valuable safety tips such as. . . . wearing a bike helmet, always fasten your seat belt, and listen and follow the bus driver’s rules . . .
The next illustration is called Strat-O-Spheres: The three colored balls immediately remind you of a traffic light, but for the illustration, the balls represent different safety rules. Green = Go The Safety Rule is “When walking, make sure you follow all the safety rules” (when possible walk on the sidewalk) Yellow = Caution “Use caution when meeting strangers.” Strangers can be in person or online. If you don’t know them, don’t go with them. Red = Stop “Don’t give your phone number, address or send pictures to anyone unless your grownups are with you and say it’s okay.” The colored balls will placed into a tube one at a time, each time reminding the children of the safety rules associated with that color. When the children say the magic words, “Be Safe”, the balls will disappear. The children will be wondering where they went. The Officer Phil Performer will make them reappear when the children are reminded again of what each ball signifies.
This year the Officer Phil Program will also talk about being healthy on the inside. This means eating healthy and exercising. The children will be reminded of the good foods they should eat such as fruits and vegetables. Besides eating good foods like fruits, vegetables, fish and protein, they need to exercise in order to stay physically fit. Eating right also means that they need to eat the most important meal of the day, breakfast! A funny thing will happen when the performer wants to share his “breakfast” with someone in the audience. The can is not filled with good food, but rather snakes pop out of the can. The performer will emphasize that in order to be healthy on the inside; we need to take care of our bodies by eating right and exercising.
As mentioned earlier, Officer Phil’s Special Pal this year is Lucky Duck. Lucky will be welcomed with great enthusiasm. Since Lucky loves to visit the elementary students, he will come out singing and telling duck jokes. The children will be immediately enthralled with Lucky and will pay close attention so as not to miss a thing Lucky was saying. Lucky will talk to the children about being safe. Lucky reminds the children that the police officers are there to help keep them safe. Sometimes with everything on the news and TV children don’t always feel safe. Lucky will reiterate to them that school is safe. If they know how to be safe they will feel safe. The children should feel safe at school and at home. If they are not feeling safe, they will be reminded that they can talk to their grownups, their teacher, or a police officer.
The final review of all the safety lessons learned will happen when the children participate in a game. “What would Officer Phil do?” The children will be given different scenarios and asked to think about the answer. The children will be divided into two teams and they will have lots of fun coming up with the right answers. The program will end with Lucky singing a song that will sum up all the lessons the children will be taught.
As a post assembly activity for a job well done, teachers, parents and children will be encouraged to go to the website officerphil.com and request additional materials. There are Values in Action cards and a VIP poster that will reinforce the lessons taught in the program and in the activity books that the children receive after the program.
The Lower Township Police Department and The Officer Phil Program also want to thank the businesses that make this program possible.