Risk Watch® Virginia

Teachers are the key to a safer future. By teaching children to recognize and avoid risks, we can help them lead fuller and more productive lives.

What is Risk Watch®?

•Risk Watch, devloped by NFPA, is the first comprehensive injury prevention curriculum available for use in schools.
•Risk Watch is correlated to the Virginia Standards of Learning for Health Education, English and Language Arts
•Risk Watch is based on an integrative, experiential approach to learning.  It is age-appropriate and utilizes the latest educational theory and practice.
•Risk Watch is an injury prevention curriculum developed for pre-school through sixth grade students.
•Risk Watch has been field-tested and proven to be successful.
•Risk Watch is fun for both teachers and students.
•Risk Watch involves caregivers in the learning experience.
•Risk Watch is designed for maximum teacher flexibility.
•Risk Watch can be customized based on local need.
•Risk Watch addresses the eight major risk areas that kill or injure children in Virginia and accross the nation: motor vehicle crashes, unintentional firearm incidents, fires and burns, choking, suffocation, and strangulation, poisoning, falls, bike and pedestrian hazards, water hazards

How does Risk Watch® Work?

Giving kids the opportunity to practice what they've learned is key and in Risk Watch, students will find themselves placed in various situations, and it will be up to them to decide what risks they face, and what they must do to be safe. The program will get kids up and out of their seats and, through practice, builds important decision-making skills that can help them resist peer pressure to try something risky and gives them confidence to access risky situations. It is also an opportunity to process all of the information they have learned throughout the Risk Watch program.

What materials are provided?

Each participating school receives a Risk Watch: Unintentional Injury Prevention Curriculum Kit valued at $360. Virginia schools may obtain this kit free of charge through the Virginia Department of Health. See details below.

The kit , based on a "Getting Into Character" theme, contains risk area lesson plans, printable worksheets, risk area icon cards, Risk Watch In Action, caregiver letters, evaluation instruments, instruction on accessing resources.

How to get involved in Risk Watch®?

The Virginia Department of Health's Division of Injury and Violence Prevention purchased a large number of Risk Watch curricula using federal grant funds. The kits are valued at $360 each. However, VDH is providing them to schools free of charge when a school representative attends a two-hour training session. This session details how to use the curriculum and the resource provided to you. The training is fun and interactive and shows you just how easy Risk Watch is to use in your classroom. The Risk Watch Trainer will travel to school districts as requested. To establish a training date or to learn more contact Shannon Wright at shannon.wright@vdh.virginia.gov or 804-864-7743.