This week we will be celebrating Red Ribbon Week. I will be coming into the classes and conducting lessons on tobacco prevention and keeping our bodies strong and healthy. Students will meet two new puppets "Ciggie" and "L.J". They will also get to see and/or touch a model of the human lungs (a healthy one and an unhealthy one) and a model of the human mouth (with yellow teeth and an unhealthy tongue). Each day we have a superhero theme: Monday, everyone is encouraged to wear Red to kick off the week and we will be visited by some local heroes from the fire department to "wash out drugs!"; Tuesday, students can wear black, like Batman; Wednesday they can wear green as we celebrate having strong bodies like the Incredible Hulk; Thursday they can wear red, blue or black like Spiderman as we celebrate not getting caught in the web of drugs; and on Friday they can dress up as their favorite superhero. I believe students are never too young to start drug and alcohol prevention and that the most appropriate way to get started is with the concept of keeping our bodies healthy and focusing on tobacco prevention because I believe this is the most common substance students are first exposed to and that tobacco is a gateway substance that can lead to other chemical use. Here are some interesting facts about cigarettes: Did you know that cigarette tobacco contains over 4,000 different chemicals some of which include formaldehyde (used to preserve dead bodies) acetone (used in fingernail polish remover), arsenic, lead, ammonia, carbon monoxide and 43 known carcinogens? One in three adults smoke with over 1 billion people worldwide. One out of every five deaths is caused by tobacco. The average smoker will lose 14 years of their life due to smoking. Almost 50,000 non-smokers die from diseases caused by second hand smoke each year in the U.S. Please, educate your child about the dangers of smoking and encourage your child to keep his or her body strong and healthy. If you are a smoker and are ready to quit, there are many different programs available to help. Follow the link below to get started!
OK Tobacco Helpline
