What if it Rains?

TEACHER'S NOTES

What if it Rains? is a musical comedy, written in association with 3M UK, which promotes the positive aspects of walking to school and how to do it safely. The story centres around Mason who, whilst walking to school, finds his computer game seems to have become inextricably intertwined with real life and enlists the help of the audience to answer a number of road safety related questions in order to get to the school gates in time.

PREPARING WELL FOR WALKING TO SCHOOL

We meet our hero, Mason, and his friend Tilly at the start of their journey to school in National Walking to School Week. Tilly has been counting cars to show how many are being used to ferry children to school and she and Mason discuss how to plan a safe route and what to wear to be seen.

She has prepared an assembly on the subject and sings a song she has written specially for it:

SONG

Walk to your school

Don’t be a fool

Give up the car

It’s not very far

Cos outside is best

If it’s dark wear a vest

You’ve got the drift

Give up your lift

And walk to your school

Mason is not impressed! However, this song is repeated throughout the play and the audience get to know it well and join in. The children also learn the phrase ‘Be safe, be seen’ and repeat it throughout the play to remind them that they must be able to be seen when walking to school.

BASIC SAFETY TIPS WHEN WALKING TO SCHOOL

Mason has no idea how to walk to school safely so Tilly takes him through the basics. Learn by example and go out with an adult first.

When you are walking to school always walk on a footpath or pavement if there is one and keep as far from the kerb as possible. If there is no footpath then walk on the right hand side of the road facing the traffic and walk in single file.

Wear clothes that are as visible as possible such as 3M’s reflective jackets. Tilly sports hers on the journey to school.

The children repeat the phrase ‘Be safe, be seen’ and then sing Tilly’s song with the actions.

REFLECTOMAN

Here the first question and answer section occurs. We meet Reflectoman, Mason’s computer game character, who sets Mason and the audience a series of questions covering aspects of road safety and related subjects:

· What percentage of children walk to school now

· What percentage of children walked to school 30 years ago.

· Where should you walk safely when walking to school.

The children help Mason choose his answers and any questions answered incorrectly are given a time penalty which affects the final journey time.

If you log onto our website you can pit your wits against Reflectomon and take up his challenge. The questions asked are those posed in the play and only by answering all questions correctly can you complete the challenge. Quantum’s website can be found at www.quantumtheatre.co.uk

WALKING BUS AND THE GREEN CROSS CODE

The Head Teacher appears. He is in charge of the walking bus and sings a song on the subject. He then explains that a walking bus walks children to school safely and discusses with Tilly how walking makes you fit.

Tilly explains the green Cross Code using a volunteer from the audience. Firstly she dresses the child in a reflective jacket so s/he can be seen and the audience repeats the phrase ‘Be safe, be seen’. She tells us to :

· Find a safe place to cross. This could be at a Pelican or Zebra crossing but if there is no crossing nearby then find a place where you can see and be seen clearly.

· Never cross on a bend in the road or on the brow of a hill.

· Stop away from the kerb and have a good look around. Use your eyes and ears to look in every direction and to listen for the sound of oncoming traffic.

·

· If something is coming wait for it to pass.

· When there is a safe gap in the traffic you can cross. Keep looking and listening, walk straight over and don’t run.

Tilly recaps the steps: Think first – safest place to cross. Stop stand on the pavement near the curb. Use your eyes and ears – look around for traffic. Wait till it’s safe to cross – if traffic is coming let it pass. Look and Listen – when there’s no traffic walk straight don’t run.

REFLECTOMAN

Tilly now meets Reflectoman for the first time and has to answer another series of questions summing up the green cross code:

· Where the safest place is to cross the road – where you can be seen clearly

· What one should do before crossing - look and listen

· How one should cross – walking sensibly, looking and listening

Again, a time penalty is given for each wrong answer.

These questions are also posed in the Reflectomon challenge where you can meet up once more with our shiny superhero.

REFECTION AND HOW LIGHT BEHAVES

In order to understand why reflective jackets are important we look at where light comes from and how it behaves:

With the audience Mason discusses where light comes from and the children are encouraged to list some light sources – the sun, the moon, lights etc.

Here we see the light from the sun bouncing off the moon so we can see it.

Mason asks how we can see something if it doesn’t give off light and he concludes that light bounces off objects and into our eyes so we can see them.

Here we see how the light bounces off a surface, this time paper

Thus to be seen crossing the road it is best to wear something that reflects the light well.

Here is a diagram showing how the light bounces off in many directions when shining on 3M reflective material, increasing markedly the visibility of the clothing.

You can find out more about 3M’s reflective material and how it works at: www.3m.com/scotchlite

With the help of a volunteer from the audience Mason experiments with different clothing to see which outfit reflects the light the best. He starts with a black sweatshirt and we see that the light is absorbed by the colour black.

He then tries a white outfit and we see that it reflects the light fairly well. Finally Mason tries the reflective jacket and we see that the light bounces off the reflective material the best. Mason concludes that in order to be seen a high visibility piece of reflective clothing would be the best outfit to wear when walking in the dark.

REFLECTOMAN

For the last time we encounter Reflectoman. This time his questions are about reflectivity:

· It is best to wear light or reflective clothing

· The reason is that they reflect the light the best

The time penalties are given as before.

Tilly and Mason finally make it to the school gates in one piece. Any time penalties that have been accrued are totted up and the school is given its road safety score. Along the way Tilly and Mason have learned how to behave sensibly by the road, how to cross safely, how light behaves with different materials, how walking benefits our bodies and finally that walking to school is fun.

AT THE END OF THE PLAY

These are the topics covered in the production. At the end of the play the actors will answer any questions the audience may have about the show and, as a brief revision of the topics, will ask a few questions of their own about the science covered. During this session they will quiz the audience on road safety and will be giving out a few small prizes for the best answers.

Finally, 3M reflective jackets will be donated to each school to use as they wish and the children will be encouraged to come up with their own ideas of how the garments can be used.

We hope you all enjoy the show and welcome your comments and suggestions.