Medicine: Both grade levels started out discussing rules for using medicine. We discussed how medicines can help us in many ways, but when not used properly, medicine can hurt us very badly.
Rule for medicine: Medicine should ONLY be used when given to us by a trusted adult. Medicine should never be shared without a trusted adult's permission and help. Never take more medicine than a trusted adult gives or says to take.
Drugs: We talked about how the word "drug" doesn't always mean something bad. A drug is anything we put into our bodies, other than food, that changes the way we think, feel, or act. Drugs change the way our bodies work. Medicines (cough syrup, tylenol, allergy medicine) are drugs, too.
Poisons: We then discussed poisons, and how poisons are all around -- in the garage, kitchen, bathroom, and more. Medicines, if not used properly, can be poisonous to our bodies. Household cleaners and chemicals, while useful for cleaning or fixing things around the house or yard, can be poisonous if they get into our lungs/eyes/bodies.
Rule for poison: If you aren't sure something is safe, don't sniff, taste, swallow, or play with it.
For parts of these lessons, students saw pictures of examples of each type of substance (medicines and poisons) and we talked about safety rules. Each lesson also had some practice questions/scenarios we discussed.
