Ask a nursery to donate small potted bushes or trees to each class or grade level. Throughout the week, provide students with red paper ribbons on which to write reasons to stay drug-free. Have students place the ribbons on the tree. By the end of the week, the tree should be covered in red. Keep the trees or bushes inside until spring, then plant them in the schoolyard as a permanent reminder to stay drug-free.
Plan a march around the neighborhood for the entire school. Explain to students that the march is a way to raise awareness about drug prevention in the community. Before the march, have students decorate inexpensive white T-shirts with red tie-dye designs to wear for the march. Ask students to create drug-free and drug prevention slogans to place on posters. Provide red poster board and black markers. Have students create posters to hold during the march. Have students chant the slogans as they march through the neighborhood to draw attention to their message.
Create an attention-getting Red Ribbon Week focal point on a wall where students will see it often during the week, such as a gym or main hallway wall. Cover the wall with red bulletin board paper. Title the wall "Red Ribbon Week ...This Is Why!" in large letters. On part of the wall, create a display containing a picture of Camaren along with information about his life, career and death. Camaren provides an excellent role model for children. He grew up poor, worked through college, served in the Marines and became a police officer. Also on the wall, place age-appropriate, graphic visuals and text examples of how drugs ruin lives. For older students, the wall might also include statistics about car accidents and accidental overdoses.
As a culmination of the week, have a "Red Out" day when staff and students work together to turn the entire school red. Have everyone wear red clothing. Allow students to wear red hats, wigs or hair dye that day. Use red bulletin board paper to cover doors, windows and walls in red paper with a short, repeating slogan in large letters, such as "Be Drug Free." Have students create red art and write in red ink or marker to complete their work. Provide students with red snacks and read books with a red theme, such as "The Little Red Hen." To complete the red-themed day, have students take home red ribbons to hang as a reminder to stay drug-free.