Reach Out Now: Talk With Your Fifth Graders About Underage Alcohol Use
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Dear Teachers,
Taking action against underage alcohol use isn’t easy, but knowledge is the first step. School
is a great place to open a dialogue about alcohol with students. As you know, fifth grade isn’t
too early to start this kind of discussion. After all, research shows that underage alcohol
users number 10.8 million youth ages 12–20.1 This publication, targeted specifically to you—
the fifth-grade teacher—will help you and your students, with their parents or guardians as
partners, get the conversation started. Please incorporate the information on these pages
into your teaching curriculum, and remember to send the Family Resource Guide home with
your students.
The benefits of classroom and at-home activities and discussions on this subject can last a
lifetime and make a lifetime last.
Charles G. Curie, SAMHSA Administrator
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Your Students Are at a Critical Age
Sometimes young people start thinking about drinking years before they actually try it.2
Facts for
Teachers
The Good News:
Most children and youths do not drink
alcohol. In fact, nearly 60 percent of
youths ages 12-17 have never had a
drink.8
Delaying Onset Is Key:
Adults who first used alcohol before
age 15 are five times more likely to
become dependent on alcohol than
adults who first used at age 21
or older.9
Easy Access to Alcohol:
In a recent national survey, a little over
60 percent of eighth graders said
alcohol was "fairly easy" or "very easy"
to get.10 In one study, approximately
11.1 percent of 12-year-olds reported
using alcohol at least once in their
lifetimes. By age 13 the percentage
doubles, and by age 15 it is over
50 percent.11
CONTENTS
Lessons
Understanding the Effects of Alcohol
Getting It: A Science Experiment
Making Healthy Decisions
Reproducibles
Understanding the Effects of Alcohol
Making Healthy Decisions
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The earlier a child starts drinking alcohol, the more likely he or she is to develop alcohol dependency
problems.3 It may take less alcohol to damage a young brain than to damage a
mature one, and the young brain may be damaged more quickly.4 The goal of the REACH
OUT NOW: Talk with Your Fifth Graders About Underage Alcohol Use program is
to prevent underage alcohol use.
You Can Make a Difference
As a fifth-grade teacher talking with 10- and 11-year-olds every day, you have opportunities
to influence their understanding of underage alcohol use. These Teacher Pages focus on
three key actions you, as a teacher, can take:
- Provide your students with factual information about the effects of underage alcohol use.
- Encourage your students to use critical-thinking skills to make healthy decisions and to
express themselves effectively.
- Build students’ confidence in their decision-making skills by providing them with
opportunities to share their new knowledge with others.
Your Students’ Families Can Help Meet This Challenge
Families and caregivers also have the power to prevent underage alcohol use. Research
shows that parents are one of the most powerful influences on their children’s behavior.5
Parents’ disapproval of underage alcohol use has been identified as one of the key reasons
youths choose not to drink.6 The REACH OUT NOW Family Resource Guide identifies the
six actions7 parents and caregivers can take to help children make wise decisions about
alcohol use. The six actions are:
- Establish and maintain good
communication with your child.
- Get involved, and stay involved, in your
child’s life.
- Make clear rules and enforce them with
consistency andappropriate consequences.
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- Be a positive role model.
- Teach your child to choose friends wisely.
- Monitor your child’s activities.
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Lessons
Use these three lessons in sequence. Build on students’ understanding of the negative effects of alcohol to
encourage them to make and articulate healthy decisions for themselves. Then help them build communication
skills to share this knowledge with others.
Lesson 1
Understanding the
Effects of Alcohol
National Research Council, National Science Education
Standards 5-8.6
Science in Personal and Social Perspectives-Personal Health,
Risks and Benefits
Joint Committee for National School Health Education Standards
Standards 1, 3, 4
Key Action: Provide your students with facts
about the effects of drinking alcohol.
Curriculum Connections: Life Science, Health
What Students Will Learn: Students will
understand the effects of underage alcohol
use on their bodies.
Rationale: By fifth grade, most students have
studied life science and the human body, and
they are at a cognitive level to understand cause
and effect and to think critically about information
they are given. Knowledge of alcohol's effects can
help them understand the importance of making
healthy decisions about alcohol.
Materials Needed: Copies of Understanding
the Effects of Alcohol Reproducible 1
Procedure: Discuss how the media portrays
drinkers and the effects of drinking. Distribute the
reproducible. Read aloud the description of
alcohol's effects, defining unfamiliar words and
correcting students' misconceptions. Students
should understand that drinking alcohol can
result in a loss of control and can make drinkers
do things they do not want to do. They should
understand that alcohol affects different people
in different ways and that even one drink can
have negative consequences. List any questions
students have on the board and assign teams of
students to research the answers in reference
books.
Follow-Up: Ask students to complete the at-home
activity Alcohol: A True/False Quiz (on the
Family Resource Guide) with their families.
Have them bring the quiz into class and review
the answers together. Invite students to take the
Understanding the Effects of Alcohol reproducible home to share with their parents
and caregivers. |
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Lesson 2
Getting It: A Science
Experiment
National Research Council, National Science Education
Standards 5-8.1
Science as Inquiry
Joint Committee for National School Health Education Standards,
Standards 7, 9
Key Action: Help your students visualize the
effects of drinking alcohol on the developing brain
using a simple science experiment.
Curriculum Connections: Life Science, Health
What Students Will Learn: Students will
better understand the effects of alcohol on the
developing brain.
Rationale: Students have a hard time visualizing
just how alcohol can affect the developing brain.
Teachers can help students better understand this
with the following experiment.
Materials Needed: Glass lab dishes, bottles of
rubbing alcohol, eggs
Procedure: Ask students what they remember
about the class discussion about the effects of
alcohol. Prompt them to describe some of the
effects of alcohol that they reviewed on the
Lesson 1 reproducible. Have students get into
groups of two or three. Give each group an egg, a
lab dish, and enough rubbing alcohol to cover the
egg in the dish. Ask each group to crack the egg
without breaking the yolk and to place it in the
dish. One student in each group should pour the
rubbing alcohol over the egg until it is covered.
Ask students to leave the dishes alone while you
continue your conversation. After 5 minutes, ask
the students to look at their eggs. What changes
have taken place in the eggs' color, consistency,
etc.?
Follow-Up: Have students discuss what the
changes in the eggs mean and how they relate to
what you've been talking about. What effect does
alcohol have on the cells of our bodies and
brains? |
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Lesson 3
Making Healthy
Decisions
National Council of Teachers of English, International Reading
Association Standards for the English Language Arts-5, 12
Joint Committee for National School Health Education Standards,
Standards 3, 5, 6
National Research Council, National Science Education
Standards 5-8.6
Science in Personal and Social Perspectives-Personal Health,
Risks and Benefits
Key Action: Encourage your students to use
critical-thinking skills to make healthy decisions
and express themselves effectively.
Curriculum Connections: Health, Life Skills,
Language Arts
What Students Will Learn: Students will analyze
how they make decisions, practice refusal
strategies, and discuss the consequences of
saying "No" to a friend.
Rationale: Students at school are surrounded
by peers for hours every day. Teachers can help
students cope with peer selection and peer
influence.
Materials Needed: Copies of Making Healthy
Decisions Reproducible 2
Procedure: Explain to students that this roleplaying
lesson will help them:
1. Identify situations in which the decisions they
make can affect their health.
2. Answer the question: What is the worst thing
that can happen when you say "No"?
3. Develop refusal strategies that work.
Distribute the reproducible. As you read through
the page with students, share some of the steps
that you follow when making a decision, such as
getting the facts, considering options, telling others
your decision, and accepting their responses.
Allow students time to complete the writing
assignment on the reproducible page. Then review
student answers and select pairs of students to
act out one of their dialogues. Discuss what might
be the worst thing that can happen when you say "No." Make sure students understand that saying
"No" to a friend can have more than one
outcome and that taking a stand about one's
health can be more important than friendship.
Follow-Up: Have students take the reproducible
home and talk with their parents or guardians
about the ways in which their family makes decisions. |
1, 8. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), National Survey on Drug Use & Health,2004. 2. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA),
National Household Survey on Drug Abuse,2000. 3, 6. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), Make a Difference: Talk to Your Child About Alcohol,2002. 4. H. S. Swartzwelder,
W. A. Wilson, and M. T. Tayyeb, "Age-dependent Inhibition of Long-Term Potentiation by Ethanol in Immature Versus Mature Hippocampus," Alcohol Clin Exp Res 19, no. 6 (1995): 1480-1485.
5, 7. Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (SAMHSA/CSAP), Keeping Youth Drug Free,2004. 9. The NSDUH Report, Alcohol Dependence or Abuse and Age at First Use, October 22, 2004, SAMHSA;
http://oas.samhsa.gov/2k4/ageDependence/ageDependence.htm. 10. Johnston, L. D., O'Malley, P. M., Bachman, J. G., & Schulenberg, J. E. (2004), Monitoring the Future national survey results on drug
use, 1975-2003, Volume I: Secondary school students (Bethesda, MD: National Institute on Drug Abuse), p. 33. 11. Results from the 2004 NSDUH, SAMHSA, 2005. 12. Substance Abuse and Mental
Health Services (SAMHSA), Tips for Teens: The Truth About Alcohol,2004.
Understanding the Effects of Alcohol
Introduction:
You have probably seen people drinking alcohol in real
life, on television, in videos, or in the movies. The alcohol
might have been beer, wine, or a cocktail. It may have
been served in a glass, in a bottle, or in a can. On TV, in
videos, and in the movies, people drinking alcohol may
seem to be happy, rich, and famous. Some may seem
silly. Some may appear sad, angry, or even violent. In
real life, you may have seen people act like this when
they have been drinking. Or maybe not. The truth is that
alcohol affects different people in different ways. But
one thing is sure. Alcohol is very dangerous for a young
person like you, and it is illegal, too.
Learn How Alcohol
Affects the Body:12
- A single drink of alcohol can affect you.
- Alcohol passes through the lining of the
stomach into the bloodstream. It irritates the
stomach lining, which can make a person feel
sick. If drinking continues, the person may vomit.
- Alcohol moves through the bloodstream to every
organ in the body, including the brain.
- Once alcohol enters the brain, it can change the way a
person behaves. Alcohol can make people do things they
do not want to do.
- As a person drinks more alcohol, the ability to make
decisions is affected. The drinker also may lose balance
and be unable to see or speak clearly. The more alcohol
a person drinks, the worse the effects can be.
- Alcohol can have lasting effects on the brain, impairing
how a person learns, thinks, and remembers.
- Alcohol can kill. When a person drinks too much alcohol
in a very short period, alcohol poisoning can occur.
Breathing gets difficult. A person can vomit, pass out, or
even die.
- Some people become addicted to alcohol. They drink
more and more as they get used to the alcohol. But they
can stop and recover.
The List of "No's"
Here are some of the many ways to say
"No."
Repeat: "No, I don't want to." "No, thanks."
"No, I can't."
Justify: "I can't. I have to _______." (Make
an excuse.)
Substitute: "No, let's ______."
(Substitute another activity.)
Walk Away: "No. I have to go."
Your teacher will ask you to pair up and
read your dialogue with a classmate.
Remember to make eye contact, speak
clearly, and be confident.
Which way of saying "No" worked best, in
your opinion? Why was it effective?
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Remember: Just one drink can have negative consequences.
Your age, weight, height, and gender will affect how you
react to alcohol. For young people whose bodies are still
developing, the effects of even a little alcohol can be worse
than they are for older people.
Making Healthy Decisions
Activities:
1. With other students in your class, choose one of the following
health-threatening situations or think of another situation that
could be harmful to your health.
An older friend dares you to:
• ride a bike without a helmet
• run across a multilane highway
• hitchhike
• drink a beer
2. Write your answers to the questions below on the back of this page.
How would you decide whether to do what your friend is
asking?
What would be the healthiest decision in each case?
What might happen if you said “Yes”?
What are the best and worst things that might happen if
you said “No”?
3. Pick a strategy from the list of “No’s” in the box to the
right. Then finish this dialogue:
Friend: So, do you want to ______________________?
(Write in the situation you chose.)
You: No. Are you ________? My parents would lock me up.
Friend: You are such a baby. Come on. They won’t find out.
You: _____________________________________
Friend: __________________________________
You: _____________________________________
Last Updated on 9/19/2006
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