Red Ribbon Week Awareness Campaign
Drug Prevention Ideas, Activities, and Classroom Lessons
Oct 17, 2009
Most schools and communities continue to be concerned about the impact of drug use on their young people. Despite prevention and intervention, drug use continues to devastate and destroy not only young lives, but those of their families and friends, as well. Kids alike are concerned about drug use among their friends. Red Ribbon Week provides a yearly, nationally recognized opportunity to highlight drug prevention in a united way, and offers teens the chance to assume leadership roles for a cause they care about. This year, Red Ribbon Week will be observed between October 17-25.
Red Ribbon Week Ideas
Im Drug Free.com highlights a variety of activities that can be used by those who wish to bring the Red Ribbon Week message to their school or community. Ideas such as Recognition Day, Sports Day, Information Day, and Decoration Day provide inspiring ways that organizers can arrange activities around a daily theme. For example, Wear Red Rally Day suggests a variety of ways the color red can be used to bring attention to the Red Ribbon Week message, and Pledge Day gives kids the opportunity to pledge to be drug free and share their visions and views about drug prevention in creative ways.
Red Ribbon Week Classroom Lessons
In the school environment, crossover classroom activities can also be used to help immerse students in the drug-free message. Health classes, for example, are the perfect place for kids to learn about drug education, how to resist peer pressure, and healthy coping skills, for example. Math classes could create lessons using drug use statistics. English classes may offer lessons on media awareness or help students craft poems, essays, songs, or skits about drug abuse awareness. Offering students the chance to explore these issues across the curriculum helps to broaden their understanding and solidify their learning.
Getting Started With Red Ribbon Week
Since Red Ribbon Week is a yearly event, one of the easiest ways to get involved is to start small and layer on additional elements each year. Often, those who want to celebrate awareness weeks become overwhelmed by so many ideas and options, and don’t know how to start. Pick one or two activities, figure out the best way to implement them, and focus on doing a good job. Ideally, kids should be involved in the decision making process; their contributions will help them own the project, and their participation will make the project more meaningful to their peers.
Red Ribbon Week provides the perfect opportunity for schools and communities to take a stand again drug use by offering education and awareness activities. By implementing a few carefully selected activities, organizers can easily plan a successful campaign.
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