What Does it Mean to be Safe: Discussions With The Lumber Primes (K/1)

Each fall in the Lumber Primes, we facilitate a series of discussions and activities focused on what it means to be safe, who deserves to be safe, and whose responsibility it is to ensure that everyone feels safe in our classroom community. This year the topic of safety feels especially poignant, in light of the Israel-Hamas war and the unfolding devastation in Gaza.

To begin, we asked the class:

What does it mean to be safe? What does the word safe mean? 

 "Safe means not to get damaged or hurt."

"It means you can be Okay."

"Safe means, if you run in the road, you won’t be safe doing that. Not running in the road is safe."

"Safe means you protect something, like protecting yourself."

"If you’re watching a scary movie and you feel scared, your dad might say you’re safe because it isn’t real."

"Being safe means if you’re going somewhere and someone says be safe it means don’t get hurt."

"Like if there’s something not safe outside, but you’re inside then you’re safe because it won’t bother you."

"Be safe means to not do anything dangerous especially if a grown-up you know tells you not to do it."

"Safe means be careful and don’t go somewhere by yourself."

"Being safe means put your life jacket on so that you can go in the deep end."

The Lumber Primes then spent time thinking about what makes them feel safe, focusing on three of our 'question words': who, where, and what. We used the whiteboard to record our brainstorm of the places that the children feel safe, who they feel safe with, and other things that foster feelings of safety. The Lumber Primes reported feeling safe at home, at school, and at our base camp. They also mentioned feeling safe in the forest in general, and at friends' houses. They feel safe with family and friends and pets, with teachers, and with community members they care about. Lumber Primes feel safe when people listen, when others respect their need for space, and when trusted adults reassure them that they are safe. They also feel safe doing fun activities like playing games and watching movies. 

One comment that stuck with teachers was: "I feel safe when my friends and family are safe."

We talked about the shared responsibility we all have to make sure that everyone is safe, and wondered together:

How can we make sure our community is a safe place where we can learn and have fun?

Liam Cleaning up the trash from around base camp.

Rory Fern Checking out our base camp to make sure there isn’t anything that’s not safe.

Isa  Make people feel welcome at base camp. Try not to hurt anyone. If someone asks to play with you, you shouldn’t say “no,” because that is not friendly or welcoming.

Data Yeah! Everyone or no one.

Ruthie  Make sure you don’t go past the boundaries without a teacher.

Ezra We can welcome people when they get here, and ask if they’re ok if they’re sad.

Ramona I have two ideas: Learning from our mistakes and putting supplies away when you’re done.

On another day, we clarified the children's understanding of the word deserve, and asked them:

Who deserves to feel safe?

Rory the world, because litter bugs are making the world unhealthy and people can’t live.

Tuli Everything and everyone because everything is good and everyone is good

Ramona I kind of agree with Tuli. Some people don’t deserve things that are good, if they’re not doing good, like, they shouldn’t get to feel good about what they are doing.  But they do deserve to be safe.  I feel good when I’m being safe… but yeah… Actually, everyone and everything deserves to feel safe, so I guess I do agree with what Tuli said.

Ruthie I feel like every animal and pet deserves to be safe and every, every, every human even if they’re not doing perfect. They deserve it because we don’t want to make that person excluded. You don’t want to make them feel bad.

Ezra I think everybody in the country should be safe. What doesn’t deserve to be safe are the not safe mosquitoes that can injure you and are not safe to people.

Sankara Mosquitoes still  deserve to be safe, they just need blood, they just aren’t safe for humans.

Data 1. Owls deserve to be safe. 2. People who haven’t felt safe before deserve to feel safe.

Liam Everything in the whole wide universe, even wars should be safer.

Mira What is war?

Sandy War is when people use their power to hurt and scare others instead of using their words to solve problems when they disagree.

Over the span of two weeks, students worked in small groups to draw and write about what makes them feel safe. Then, we recorded the children's voices and created a video to share with parents and the Center School community.