Schoolkids Learn to Curb Their Feet

Hueneme Elementary School is putting a new twist on traffic safety for children.

The Port Hueneme school has launched its Footprints on the Corner program, which teaches children to stand a safe distance from the curb along busy Ventura Road and other thoroughfares.

Teacher Lea Standish and 20 kindergarten students were among the nearly 50 participants at a kickoff event Monday at the 3rd Street campus. The participants drew chalk outlines of their feet at the street corner and sang lyrics to the tune of “When the Saints Go Marching In:” “Before you cross, Across the street, Before you cross, Across the street, You always stop, look and listen, before you move your feet.”

Standish, who has taught at the school since 1984, said, “My students had a wonderful time learning where to stand when waiting to cross the street and how to walk safely in the crosswalk.”

Ellen Andrade, president of the Hueneme School Parent Teacher Assn., created the program and wrote the lyrics so even the youngest children would remember what they are supposed to do when they reach a crosswalk.