ALICE Resources

Dear Families,

This year, your student's school will be taking part in ALICETraining® to prepare both adults and children to respond in the event of a violent critical incident, including an active shooter event. ALICE stands for Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, and Evacuate. Teaching young children about response options for a violent critical incident can seem especially frightening, but ALICE strategies are taught to children in age-appropriate and trauma-informed ways by trained school staff members. The main purpose of ALICE is to help children feel prepared, not scared, and it is important to note that while drills are part of ALICE, children will not be exposed to scenarios or simulations of any kind. Learning about ALICE doesn't have to be scary or anxiety-inducing, and 9 out of 10 students reported feeling prepared and confident after learning about ALICE.

Unlike the traditional lockdown response, which provides only one option, ALICE focuses on empowering adults and children by teaching multiple response options. By learning these options, your student will be equipped with the tools to make informed decisions that could be lifesaving. Children will not only learn what options are available to them during a violent critical incident, they will learn why these options are used.

A family letter will be sent home for each lesson to keep you informed about the topics and strategies presented. Each letter will also include extension activities you and your student can do together to reinforce the skills they are learning. While your student will learn how to use ALICE in a school setting, the information is not specific to schools and can be used any-where, any time there is a need to stay safe. Children's questions and concerns are always welcomed and encouraged before, during, and after the lessons. 

Please reach out to your student's teacher if you or your student have any questions that come up at home. Thank you for taking the time to learn more about the lifesaving lessons your student will be learning.

Dear Families,

In today's ALICE lesson, students learned about the concept of situational awareness, a critical component of ALICE Training®. Simply put, situational awareness means being aware of what is going on around you. Being situationally aware is important because it can help alert an individual to an emergency situation. Students learned to use their five senses to make observations of their environment to help increase their awareness of what is happening around them. This includes paying attention to where they are, who is with them, and what others around them are doing. Students practiced situational awareness both in the classroom and in different areas of the school. Situational awareness is important in both familiar and unfamiliar places. Even in an environment that is familiar to them, it is important for students to be aware of any changes in the environment that could alert them to a potential emergency situation.

Practice at Home

There are many ways to practice situational awareness. When you visit different places outside your home, ask your student to use their senses to make observations about what is going on around them. Making observations can be turned into a game by playing Eye Spy or by asking them to find as many things around them that are a specific color or shape. This could be done at the store, playground, library, community center, or any other place you visit with your student. The following questions can help build situational awareness:

• What do you see around you?

• What sounds do you hear?

• What do you smell?

• What are other people doing?

• Are people doing what they should be doing in this place?

• Is there anything happening that you didn't expect or that seems unusual?

Situational awareness is important even in familiar places, so if your student is in a place that is familiar to them, ask them if they notice any changes. Situational awareness can even be practiced at home by making small changes to the environment and then asking your student to find the changes you made. This will help them increase their awareness in a variety of settings. 

Dear Families,

In today's ALICE Training® lesson, students were introduced to another awareness and communication strategy in the ALICE acronym. The letter I stands for Inform, which refers to the information that needs to be communicated to others during an emergency situation and how that information can be communicated. Providing accurate, real-time information is important because it can help others remain calm and make decisions about how to stay safe. Students learned that intercoms, walkie-talkies, and texts and calls to cell phones can be used to communicate information during an emergency. Students also learned how information is typically communicated at their school.

While younger students may not play a significant role in directly communicating with others during an emergency, students learned there are things they can do to help make communication easier for adults. They learned they can be helpful by remaining quiet so everyone can hear the information and by noticing details that may be helpful to adults. Using clear, plain language and repeating important details are also helpful during an emergency.

Practice at Home

To continue the conversation about Inform at home, talk with your student about the ways you communicate information to one another in your family. To practice communicating details, show

your student an object in your home and ask them to list all the details they can about the appearance and location of the object. In addition, ask your student to select an object in your home without telling you what it is. Then, ask them to provide details about the appearance and location of the object so you can guess what it is. 

Dear Families,

In today's ALICE Training® lesson, students were introduced to a response option strategy in the ALICE acronym. Response option strategies provide students with choices about how they can respond in the event an intruder enters the building. The letter E stands for Evacuate, which refers to the actions a person can take to remove or distance themselves from a dangerous situation if it is safe to do so. In an emergency situation, evacuating is the preferred strategy as long as it does not increase a person's chance of being harmed.

Students learned two key pieces of information that are needed to evacuate safely. First, they need to know the different exits that can be used to evacuate. Second, they need to know the meeting area, or rally point, where they will go after exiting the building. Students identified different exit points in their classroom and different paths they could use to get from their classroom to the rally point. Drills are important because they provide students with the opportunity to practice listening to and following directions from adults about exiting the classroom, to review the location of the rally point, and to identify different routes they can take to get to the rally point. Though it is important for younger students to know the options for exiting their classroom, when evacuating, younger students are expected to listen to and follow directions from adults.

Practice at Home

To continue the conversation about Evacuate, ask your student about the rally point at their school and determine a family rally point you can use at home. Create a map of your home, and together with your student, mark the different ways they could get to your family rally point from different areas of your home.  

Dear Families,

In today's ALICE Training® lesson, students learned additional information about the response option strategy Evacuate. Evacuate refers to the actions a person can take to remove or distance themself from a dangerous situation if it is safe to do so. In an emergency situation, evacuating is the preferred strategy provided that it does not increase a person's chance of being harmed. In the previous lesson, students learned important information about evacuating from their classroom, including the location of class room exits and different routes they can take to the rally point. In today's lesson, students learned about safely evacuating from other areas of the school building.

Drills are important because they provide students with the opportunity to practice listening to and following directions from adults regardless of where they are in the school building, to review the location of the rally point, and to find different routes to get to the rally point. Though it is important for younger students to know the options for exiting the school building, when evacuating, younger students are expected to listen to and follow directions from adults.

Practice at Home

To continue the conversation about Evacuate when you are away from home, point out different exits and explain common ways that exits are marked in public places. Students can recognize signage even if they cannot yet read the words on the signage. Go to different areas within public spaces, and ask your student to find paths to the nearest exits from those different areas. Talk to your student about possible rally points you could use in public places you visit frequently.  

Dear Families,

In today's ALICE Training lesson, students learned about another response option strategy called Lockdown. Lockdown refers to the actions a person can take when an intruder is nearby to prevent the intruder from gaining entry to a specific space. Evacuating is the preferred response option when it is safe to do so, and a lockdown is used when individuals are unable to evacuate.

In ALICE, lockdown does not refer to the traditional practice of locking the doors and gathering individuals in a specific area of the room. In an ALICE lockdown, or enhanced lockdown, four basic actions are taken. First, the door to the room is secured. Second, a barricade is created to prevent or delay the door from being opened. Third, individuals stand spread out around the room. Fourth, individuals prepare to evacuate.

Younger students learned to participate in a lockdown by standing spread out around the room away from doors and windows and remaining quiet to listen for directions while adults secure and barricade the doors. Though younger students do not assist with securing and barricading doors, drills provide an important opportunity for them to practice spacing out around the room, remaining quiet, following directions from adults, and preparing to evacuate. Drills also provide students with an opportunity to practice strategies they can use to remain calm and quiet during a lockdown. Helpful strategies include singing familiar songs in their heads and taking deep breaths.

Practice at Home

To continue the conversation about Lockdown, talk to your student about strategies that help them remain calm that could be used during a lockdown. Help them identify familiar songs that are calming to them, and practice singing them together.

Dear Families,

This year, your student’s school will be taking part in ALICE Training® to prepare both adults and children to respond in the event of a violent critical incident, including an active shooter event. ALICE stands for Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, and Evacuate. Unlike the traditional lockdown response, which provides only one option, ALICE focuses on empowering adults and children by teaching multiple response options. By learning these options, your student will be equipped with the tools to make informed decisions that could be lifesaving.

Teaching young children about response options for a violent critical incident can seem especially frightening, but ALICE is taught to children in age-appropriate and trauma-informed ways by trained school staff members. Children will not only learn what options are available to them during a violent critical incident, they will learn why these options are used. It is important to note that while drills are part of ALICE, children will not be exposed to scenarios or simulations of any kind. Learning about ALICE doesn’t have to be scary or anxiety-inducing, and 9 out of 10 students reported feeling prepared and confident after learning about ALICE.

A family letter will be sent home for each lesson to keep you informed about the topics and strategies presented. Each letter will also include extension activities you and your student can do together to reinforce the skills they are learning. While your student will learn how to use ALICE in a school setting, the information is not specific to schools and can be used anywhere, any time there is a need to stay safe. Students’ questions and concerns are always welcomed and encouraged before, during, and after the lessons. Please reach out to your student’s teacher if you or your student have any questions that come up at home. Thank you for taking the time to learn more about the lifesaving lessons your student will be learning.

Dear Families,

In today’s ALICE Training® lesson, students learned about the concept of situational awareness, a critical component of ALICE. Simply put, situational awareness means being aware of what is going on around you. Being situationally aware is important because it can help alert an individual to an emergency situation. Students learned to use their five senses to make observations of their environment to help increase their awareness of what is happening around them. This includes paying attention to where they are, who is with them, and what others around them are doing. Students practiced situational awareness both in the classroom and in different areas of the school. Situational awareness is important in both familiar and unfamiliar places. Even when students are in an environment that is familiar to them, it is important for them to be aware of any changes in the environment that could alert them to a potential emergency situation.

Practice at Home

There are many ways to practice situational awareness. When you visit different places outside your home, ask your student to use their senses to make observations about what is going on around them. This could be done at the store, playground, library, community center, or any other place you visit. Here are some helpful questions:

• What do you see around you?

• What sounds do you hear?

• What do you smell?

• What are other people doing?

• Are people doing what they should be doing in this place?

• Is there anything happening that you didn’t expect or that seems unusual?

Situational awareness is important even in familiar places, so if your student is in a place that is familiar to them, ask them if they notice any changes. Situational awareness can even be practiced at home by making small changes to the environment and then asking your student to find the changes you made. This will help them increase their situational awareness in a variety of settings.

Dear Families,

In today’s ALICE Training® lesson, students were introduced to the concept of Alert. Alert refers to the different ways a person may be made aware of an emergency situation. Situational awareness may alert them to something in their environment that doesn’t seem right, or they may receive an alert through communication from others. Students learned about common methods of communication that are used in school to alert the school community about an emergency situation. Students identified sounds they would likely hear that may indicate an emergency, like a fire alarm sounding, a whistle blowing, or an announcement being made over the intercom system. Younger students are often alerted to an emergency situation through communication from the adults in their environment, so they learned that the most important thing to do is listen to and follow directions from adults quickly. These directions could be given in person or over an intercom system. Students also learned the difference between a drill and an emergency and how drills help everyone feel more prepared.

Practice at Home

To continue the conversation about Alert at home, talk with your student about the sounds they might hear if there were an emergency at home and what they should do if they hear those sounds. If possible, conduct practice drills at home, and allow your student to hear what an alert might sound like. To help children remember the methods of communication used for alerting people to an emergency situation in their school, ask them what an alert might sound like at their school.

For younger students, an important part of Alert is listening to and following directions from adults quickly. Playing common children’s movement games at home like Follow the Leader; Red Light, Green Light; Simon Says; and Freeze Dance can help provide practice listening to and following directions.

Dear Families,

In today’s ALICE Training® lesson, students were introduced to another awareness and communication strategy in the ALICE acronym. The letter I stands for Inform, which refers to the information that needs to be communicated to others during an emergency situation and how that information can be communicated. Providing accurate, real-time information is important because it can help others remain calm and make decisions about how to stay safe. Students learned that intercoms, walkie-talkies, and texts and calls to cell phones can be used to communicate information during an emergency. Students also learned how information is typically communicated at their school.

While younger students may not play a significant role in directly communicating with others during an emergency, students learned that there are actions they can take to help make communication easier for adults. They learned they can be helpful by remaining quiet so everyone can hear information and by noticing details about an intruder’s appearance and location that may be helpful to adults. Using clear, plain language and repeating important details are also helpful during an emergency.

Practice at Home

To continue the conversation about Inform at home, talk with your student about the ways you communicate information to one another in your family. To practice communicating details, show your student an object in your home and ask them to list all the details they can about the appearance and location of the object. In addition, ask your student to select an object in your home without telling you what it is. Then, ask them to provide details about the appearance and location of the object so you can guess what it is.

Dear Families,

In today’s ALICE Training® lesson, students were introduced to a response option strategy in the ALICE acronym. Response option strategies provide students with choices about how they can respond in the event an intruder enters the building. The letter E stands for Evacuate, which refers to the actions a person can take to remove or distance themself from an intruder or other dangerous situation if it is safe to do so. In an emergency situation, evacuating is the preferred strategy provided that it does not increase a person’s chance of being harmed.

Students learned two key pieces of information they need in order to evacuate safely. First, they need to know the different exits that can be used to evacuate. Second, they need to know the meeting area, or rally point, where they will go after exiting the building. Students identified different exit points in their classroom and different paths they can use to get from their classroom to the rally point.Drills are important because they provide students with the opportunity to practice listening to and following directions from adults about exiting the classroom, to review the location of the rally point, and to identify different routes they can take to get to the rally point. Though it is important for younger students to know the options for exiting their classroom, when evacuating, younger students are expected to listen to and follow directions from adults.

Practice at Home

To continue the conversation about Evacuate, ask your student about the rally point at their school and determine a family rally point you can use at home. Create a map of your home, and together with your student, mark the different ways they could get to your family rally point from different areas of your home.

Dear Families,

In today’s ALICE Training® lesson, students learned additional information about the response option strategy Evacuate. Evacuate refers to the actions a person can take to remove or distance themself from a dangerous situation if it is safe to do so. In an emergency situation, evacuating is the preferred strategy provided that it does not increase a person’s chance of being harmed. In the previous lesson, students learned important information about evacuating from their classroom, including the location of the classroom exits and different routes they can take to the rally point. In this lesson, students expanded their knowledge by identifying different exit points from other areas of the school and different paths they could use to get to the rally point.

Drills are important because they provide students with the opportunity to practice listening to and following directions from adults regardless of where they are in the school building, to review the location of the rally point, and to find different routes to get to the rally point. Though it is important for younger students to know the options for exiting the school building, when evacuating, younger students are expected to listen to and follow directions from adults.

Practice at Home

To continue the conversation about Evacuate when you are away from home, point out different exits and explain common ways that exits are marked in public places using words and images. Go to different areas within public spaces, and ask your student to find paths to the nearest exits from those different areas. Talk to your student about possible rally points you could use in public places you visit frequently.

Dear Families,

In today’s ALICE Training® lesson, students learned about another response option strategy called Lockdown. Lockdown refers to the actions a person can take when an intruder is nearby to prevent the intruder from gaining entry to a specific space. Evacuating is the preferred response option when it is safe to do so, and a lockdown is used when individuals are unable to evacuate.

In ALICE, lockdown does not refer to the traditional practice of locking the doors and gathering individuals in a specific area of the room. In an ALICE lockdown, or enhanced lockdown, four basic actions are taken. First, the door to the room is secured. Second, a barricade is created to prevent or delay the door from being opened. Third, individuals stand spread out around the room. Fourth, individuals prepare to evacuate.

Younger students learned to participate in a lockdown by standing spread out around the room away from doors and windows and remaining quiet to listen for directions while adults secure and barricade the doors. Though younger students do not assist with securing and barricading doors, drills provide an important opportunity for them to practice spreading out around the room, remaining quiet, following directions from adults, and preparing to evacuate. Drills also provide students with an opportunity to practice strate- gies they can use to remain calm and quiet during a lockdown. Helpful strategies include singing familiar songs in their heads, counting forward or backward, and taking deep breaths.

Practice at Home

To continue the conversation about Lockdown, talk to your student about strategies that help them remain calm that could be used during a lockdown. Help them identify familiar songs that are calming to them, and practice singing them together.

Dear Families,

This year, your student’s school will be taking part in ALICE Training® to prepare both adults and children to respond in the event of a violent critical incident, including an active shooter event. Unlike the traditional, single-option lockdown response, ALICE (an acronym for Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, and Evacuate) focuses on empowering adults and children by teaching them multiple response strategies. By learning these strategies, children will be equipped with the tools to make informed decisions that could be lifesaving. Strategies are taught to children in age-appropriate and trauma-informed ways by trained school staff members. Children will not only learn what options are available to them during a violent critical incident, they will learn why certain options are used. It is important to note that while drills are part of the ALICE lessons, children will not be exposed to scenarios or simulations of any kind. Learning about ALICE doesn’t have to be scary or anxiety-inducing, and 9 out of 10 students reported feeling prepared and confident after learning about ALICE.

A family letter will be sent home for each lesson to keep you informed about the topics and strategies presented. Each letter will also include extension activities you and your student can do together to reinforce the skills they are learning. While your student will learn how to use ALICE in a school setting, the information is not specific to schools and can be used anywhere, any time there is a need to stay safe. Children’s questions and concerns are always welcomed and encouraged before, during, and after the lessons. Please reach out to your student’s teacher if you or your student have any questions that come up at home. Thank you for taking the time to learn more about the lifesaving lessons your student will be learning.

Dear Families,

In today’s ALICE Training® lesson, students learned about the concept of situational awareness, a critical component of ALICE. Simply put, situational awareness means being aware of what is going on around you. Being situationally aware is important because it can help alert an individual to an emergency situation. One way students develop situational awareness is by using their senses to make observations about their environment. Through these sensory observations, students are encouraged to pay attention to where they are, who is with them, and what others around them are doing. They can then compare the information from their sensory observations with their prior knowledge about what is expected and appropriate in a given situation. For example, hearing loud voices in a library may be unexpected based on what they know about typical behavior in that environment. In addition to sensory observations, students are also encouraged to be aware of changes, differences, and things that seem out of place in their environment, especially if the environment is one they are familiar with. For example, they may use their situational awareness to notice when a door that is normally closed has been propped open. Noticing these differences and changes can potentially alert them to an emergency situation.

Practice at Home

There are many ways to practice situational awareness with your student in different environments. When you visit different places outside your home, ask your student to use their senses to make observations about what is going on around them. This could be done at the store, playground, library, community center, or any other place you visit with your student. Here are some helpful questions:

• What do you see around you?

• What sounds do you hear?

• What do you smell?

• What are other people doing?

• Are people doing what they should be doing in this place?

• Is there anything happening that you didn’t expect or that seems unusual?

Situational awareness is important even in an environment that is familiar, so if your student is in an environment that is familiar to them, ask them if they notice any changes or things they haven’t noticed before. Situational awareness can even be practiced at home by making small changes to the environment and then asking your student to find the changes you made. This can be turned into a game with other family members competing to see who notices the most changes. Activities like this can help all family members increase their situational awareness in a variety of settings.

Dear Families,

In today’s ALICE Training® lesson, students were introduced to one of the strategies in the ALICE acronym. The strategies taught in ALICE are divided into awareness and communication strategies and response option strategies. In this lesson, students were introduced to the letter A in the ALICE acronym, which stands for Alert. Alert is an awareness and communication strategy that refers to the different ways a person may be alerted to, or made aware of, an emergency situation. An alert could come from signs in the environment by using situational awareness or through communication received from others. One common way that students are alerted to emergency situations is through the sounds in their environment. Students identified sounds they would likely hear in their school environment that could alert them to an emergency like a fire alarm sounding, a whistle blowing, or an announcement being made over the intercom system. Students learned that drills are conducted to familiarize adults and students with the specific sounds they will hear in an emergency situation and to help everyone feel more prepared.

Practice at Home

To continue the conversation about Alert at home, talk with your student about the sounds they might hear if there were an emergency at home and what they should do if they hear those sounds. If possible, conduct practice drills at home, and allow your student to hear what an alert might sound like at home.

Dear Families,

In today’s ALICE Training® lesson, students were introduced to another awareness and communication strategy in the ALICE acronym. The letter I stands for Inform, which refers to the information that needs to be communicated to others during an emergency situation and how that information can be communicated. Providing accurate, real-time information is important because it can help others remain calm and make decisions about how to stay safe. Students learned that intercoms, walkie-talkies, and texts and calls to cell phones can be used to communicate information during an emergency. Students also learned how information is typically communicated at their school. While younger students may not play a significant role in directly communicating with others during an emergency, students learned that there are actions they can take to help make communication easier for adults. They learned they can be helpful by remaining quiet so everyone can hear information and by noticing details that may be helpful to adults. It can be helpful if they notice the number of intruders, their location in the building, details about the intruder’s appearance, and if anyone has been hurt and how they have been hurt. Using clear, plain language and repeating important details are also helpful during an emergency.

Practice at Home

To continue the conversation about Inform at home, talk with your student about the ways you communicate information to one another in your family. To practice communicating details, show your student an object in your home and ask them to list all the details they can about the appearance and location of the object. Then, ask your student to select an object in your home without telling you what it is. Have them provide details about the appearance and location of the object so you can guess what it is. Repeat this activity in different environments outside of the home, but instead of choosing an object to describe, ask them to choose a person. They can provide you with details about the person’s appearance, location, and activity so you can determine who they are describing.

Dear Families,

In today’s ALICE Training® lesson, students were introduced to a response option strategy in the ALICE acronym. Response option strategies provide students with choices about how they can respond in the event an intruder enters the building. The letter E stands for Evacuate, which refers to the actions a person can take to remove or distance themself from an intruder or other dangerous situation if it is safe to do so. In an emergency situation, evacuating is the preferred strategy provided that it does not increase a person’s chance of being harmed.

Students learned two key pieces of information individuals need in order to evacuate safely. First, they need to know the different exits that can be used to evacuate. Second, they need to know the meeting area, or rally point, where they will go after exiting the building. Students identified different exit points in their classroom and different paths they can use to get from their classroom to the rally point. Drills provide students with the opportunity to familiarize themselves with their options for exiting the classroom, the location of the rally point, and different routes they can take to get to the rally point.

Practice at Home

To continue the conversation about Evacuate, ask your student about the rally point at their school and determine a family rally point you can use at home. Create a map of your home, and together with your student, mark the different ways they could get to your family rally point from different areas of your home.

Dear Families,

In today’s ALICE Training® lesson, students learned additional information about the response option strategy Evacuate. Evacuate refers to the actions a person can take to remove or distance themself from a dangerous situation if it is safe to do so. In an emergency situation, evacuating is the preferred strategy provided that it does not increase a person’s chance of being harmed. In the previous lesson, students learned important information about evacuating from their classroom, including the location of classroom exits and different routes they can take to the rally point. In this lesson, students learned about safely evacuating from other areas of the school building and how to determine which exit route is best based on the information they have. Drills are important because they provide students with the opportunity to practice locating exits throughout the school, review the location of the rally point, and determine the best route to the rally point based on different situations.

Practice at Home

To continue the conversation about Evacuate when you are away from home, ask your student to explain common ways that exits are marked and find different exits in public places. Go to different areas within public spaces, and ask your student to find paths to the nearest exits from those different areas. Talk with your student about what could make one route better than another during an emergency and places that could be used as a rally point.

Dear Families, In today’s ALICE Training® lesson, students learned about another response option strategy called Lockdown. Lockdown refers to the actions a person can take when an intruder is nearby to prevent the intruder from gaining entry to a specific space. Evacuating is the preferred response option when it is safe to do so, and a lockdown is used when individuals are unable to evacuate. In ALICE, lockdown does not refer to the traditional practice of locking the doors and gathering individuals in a specific area of the room. In an ALICE lockdown, or enhanced lockdown, four basic actions are taken. First, the door to the room is secured. Second, a barricade is created to prevent or delay the door from being opened. Third, individuals stand spread out around the room. Fourth, individuals prepare to evacuate. Older elementary students learn to participate in a lockdown by bringing objects to adults that can be used to create a barricade, standing spread out around the room away from doors and windows, and preparing to evacuate. Though older elementary students do not secure and barricade doors themselves, drills provide an important opportunity for them to identify objects that could be useful for creating a barricade. Drills also provide students with an opportunity to practice effectively positioning themselves throughout the classroom to maximize their safety.

Practice at Home

To continue the conversation about Lockdown, ask your student to consider their surroundings and identify furniture and objects in different areas of your home that could be useful in creating a barricade and those that would not be useful. Consider asking your student to explain what makes certain items more useful than others.

Dear Families,

This year, your student’s school will be taking part in ALICE Training® to prepare both adults and students to respond in the event of a violent critical incident, including an active shooter event. ALICE (an acronym for Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, and Evacuate) offers a proactive and empowering approach to enhance an individual’s response options during a crisis. Unlike the traditional, single-option lockdown response, ALICE focuses on teaching students multiple response strategies. By learning ALICE strategies, students will be equipped with the tools to make informed decisions that could be life-saving. Strategies are taught to students in age-appropriate and trauma-informed ways by trained school staff members.Students will not only learn what options are available to them during a violent critical incident, they will learn why certain options are used. Learning about ALICE doesn’t have to be scary or anxiety-inducing, and 9 out of 10 students reported feeling prepared and confident after learning about ALICE.

A family letter will be sent home for each lesson to keep you informed about the topics and strategies presented. Each letter will also include extension activities you and your student can do together to reinforce the skills they are learning. While your student will learn how to use ALICE in a school setting, the information is not specific to schools and can be used anywhere, any time there is a need to stay safe. Students’ questions and concerns are always welcomed and encouraged before, during, and after the lessons. Please reach out to your student’s teacher if you or your student have any questions that come up at home. Thank you for taking the time to learn more about the lifesaving lessons your student will be learning.

Dear Families,

In today’s ALICE Training® lesson, students learned about the concept of situational awareness, a critical component of ALICE. Simply put, situational awareness means being aware of what is going on around you. Being situationally aware is important because it can help alert an individual to an emergency situation. One way students develop situational awareness is by using their senses to make observations about their environment. Through these sensory observations, students are encouraged to pay attention to where they are, who is with them, and what others around them are doing. They can then compare the information from their sensory observations with their expectations about what is typical and appropriate in a given situation or environment. They can think about what “fits” in a given situation and what does not. For example, hearing loud voices in a library may be unexpected based on what they know about typical behavior in that environment. In other words, loud voices may not “fit” in a library. In addition to sensory observations, students are also encouraged to be aware of changes, differences, and things that seem out of place in their environment, especially if the environment is one they are familiar with. For example, they may use situational awareness to notice when a door that is normally closed has been propped open. In other words, the propped door may not “fit” with what normally occurs. Noticing these differences and changes can alert students to a potential emergency situation.

Practice at Home

There are many ways to practice situational awareness in different environments. When you visit different places outside your home, ask your student to use their senses to make observations about what is going on around them. This could be done at the store, playground, library, community center, or any other place you visit with your student. Here are some helpful questions:

• What do you see around you?
• What sounds do you hear?
• What do you smell?
• What are other people doing?
• What would you expect people to be doing here?
• Are people doing what you would expect?
• Is there anything happening that you didn’t expect, seems unusual, or doesn’t fit the situation?

Situational awareness is important even in an environment that is familiar, so if your student is in a place that is familiar to them, ask them if they notice any changes or things they haven’t noticed before. Situational awareness can even be practiced at home by making small changes to the environment and then asking your student to find the changes you made. This can be turned into a game with other family members competing to see who notices the most changes. Activities like this can help all family members increase their situational awareness in a variety of settings.

Dear Families,

Today, students participated in an ALICE Training® lesson providing information about one of the ALICE strategies. The strategies taught in ALICE are divided into awareness and communication strategies and response option strategies. In this lesson, students were introduced to the letter A in the ALICE acronym, which stands for Alert. Alert is an awareness and communication strategy that refers to the different ways a person may be alerted to, or made aware of, an emergency situation. Students learned there are three main ways alerts are received. An alert might be received through an individual’s sensory observations if they hear or see signs that indicate the presence of an intruder. An alert may also be received when an individual uses situational awareness to notice changes in the environment or in another person’s behavior or movement. Individuals may also be alerted to a situation through the use of technology like the school intercom system or electronic alerts communicated through text or email. Students learned about the specific methods of communication used in their school as well as the importance of conducting drills to familiarize adults and students with the specific sounds they will hear and procedures they will use in an emergency situation.

Practice at Home

To continue the conversation about Alert at home, talk with your student about the sounds they might hear if there were an emergency at home and what they should do if they hear those sounds. If possible, conduct practice drills at home, and allow your student to hear what an alert might sound like.

Dear Families,

In today’s ALICE Training® lesson, students were introduced to another awareness and communication strategy in the ALICE acronym. The letter I stands for Inform, which refers to the information that needs to be communicated to others during an emergency situation and how that information can be communicated. Providing accurate, real-time information is important because it can help others remain calm and make decisions about how to stay safe. While this information is important, students were also taught to ensure their own safety before informing others. Students learned that intercoms, walkie-talkies, and texts and calls to cell phones can be used to communicate information during an emergency and how information is typically communicated at their school. Students also learned ways to communicate information effectively during an emergency situation. Providing details about an intruder’s physical appearance, location, and actions can help others make important decisions about their own actions and safety. Using clear, plain language rather than codes to communicate information helps ensure that everyone understands what is being said. To improve clarity, it is also helpful to repeat important details during an emergency so others have multiple opportunities to hear the information and be certain about what they heard.

Practice at Home

To continue the conversation about Inform at home, talk with your student about the ways you communicate information to one another in your family. To practice communicating details, show your student an object in your home and ask them to list all the details they can about the appearance and location of the object. Then, ask your student to select an object in your home without telling you what it is. Have them provide details about the appearance and location of the object so you can guess what it is. Repeat this activity in different environments outside of the home, but instead of choosing an object to describe, ask them to choose a person. They can provide you with details about the person’s appearance, location, and activity so you can determine who they are describing.

Dear Families,

In today’s ALICE Training® lesson, students were introduced to a response option strategy in the ALICE acronym. Response option strategies provide students with choices about how they can respond in the event an intruder enters the building. The letter E stands for Evacuate, which refers to the actions a person can take to remove or distance themself from an intruder or other dangerous situation if it is safe to do so. In an emergency situation, evacuating is the preferred strategy provided that it does not increase a person’s chance of being harmed.

Students learned about two key pieces of information needed to evacuate safely. First, they need to know the different exits that can be used to evacuate. Second, they need to know the meeting area, or rally point, where they will go after exiting the building. Students identified different exit points in their classrooms and different paths they can use to get from their classroom to the rally point.

Older students are encouraged to make decisions for themselves based on the information they have received, and drills are important opportunities for students to practice making these decisions. Drills provide students with the opportunity to familiarize themselves with their options for exiting different classrooms, the location of the rally point, different routes they can take to get to the rally point, and other best practices like leaving belongings behind and avoiding elevators or escalators. In addition, older students learn what to expect from law enforcement officials responding to an emergency situation.

Practice at Home

To continue the conversation about Evacuate, work with your student and other family members to come up with a family evacuation plan that could be used at home. Determine a family rally point, and create a map showing different ways family members could get to the rally point from different areas of your home.

When you visit public places, ask your student to identify the different exits and discuss multiple ways to get to the exits. Talk to your student about possible rally points you could use in public places you visit frequently.

Dear Families,

In today’s ALICE Training® lesson, students learned about the response option strategy Lockdown. Lockdown refers to the actions a person can take when an intruder is nearby to prevent the intruder from gaining entry to a specific space. Evacuating is the preferred response option when it is safe to do so, and lockdown is used when individuals are unable to evacuate.

In ALICE, Lockdown does not refer to the traditional practice of locking the doors and gathering individuals in a specific area of the room. In an ALICE lockdown, students are taught to take four basic preventative measures. First, secure the door to the room. Second, create a barricade to prevent or delay the door from being opened. Third, spread out around the room. Fourth, be prepared to evacuate.

Older students are able to assist adults with securing and barricading doors. Drills provide an important opportunity for students to practice the different techniques used to secure doors that open inward and doors that open outward as well as how to build an effective barricade using furniture and objects in their immediate environment.

Practice at Home

To continue the conversation about Lockdown, identify which doors in your home open inward and which open outward. Ask your student to explain the different ways a door can be secured based on the direction it opens. In addition, ask your student to consider their surroundings and identify furniture and objects in different areas of your home that could be useful in creating a barricade and those that would not be useful. Consider asking your student to explain what makes certain items more useful than others.

Dear Families,

In today’s ALICE Training® lesson, students learned about another response option strategy called Counter. Counter refers to the actions a person can take to distract an intruder when evacuating and locking down are not possible. Counter is based on overwhelming the intruder’s thought and decision-making processes, which can provide time for individuals to take other actions. It is important to note that strategies taught to students in this lesson do not involve physically engaging with or attempting to overwhelm an intruder. Counter is taught as an option students have available to them, and not an action they must take.

Students learned that unexpected interruptions and distractions take additional time for the brain to process and that distracting an intruder can provide individuals with time to take measures to promote their safety. When students make loud noises and unpredictable movements or knock things over, they can disrupt the intruder’s thinking thus making it more difficult for the intruder to cause harm. None of these actions require students to have physical contact with the intruder, but all of these actions can provide individuals with additional time to act.

Practice at Home

To continue the conversation about Counter and to help students understand the usefulness of distraction techniques, talk with them about their own experiences of being distracted. Consider asking the following questions:

• Have you ever been distracted while you were concentrating on something?
• What happened when you were distracted?
• How did you feel?
• What happened when you tried to return to the task after being distracted?
• How difficult was it to return to the task?
• How could distraction help you stay safe in a situation involving an intruder?

It is important to note that students are taught that Counter is a choice they can make rather than an action they must take. Talk with your student about their feelings around the Counter strategy and their level of comfort. Remind them that it is an option and not an expectation.