A bicycle bell is not your typical school bell, but it does mean that class is in session as part of the Bike Safety Education Program.

"We know that every summer accidents do happen so we can encourage the kids, keep them busy, the kids love, and teach kids safety, it's a win all around," Principal George Patterson said.

The Meyer Levin School for Performing Arts in Eat Flatbush is one of six city schools hosting the program this summer, a joint effort by the city Education and Transportation departments and Bike New York. The DOT provides bikes and training to teachers who lead six, 45-minute lessons in bike safety.

"It had always been a hope that we could bring bike safety into the schools for kids, especially middle school kids, those are the age when you start venturing out on a bike and parents have more confidence in giving their independence," DOT Assistant Commissioner Kim Wiley-Schwartz said.

It has been a dangerous year for cyclists, with 18 deaths since January, prompting City Hall to issue a bike safety plan called The Green Wave.

These students are able to learn best practices in the safety of the school yard, such as proper signaling.

"Left turn, the right turn and the slowdown, how to check your helmet, your brakes, your tire, your chain," Tory Gates, 13, said.

"They told us how to drive safely and how you're supposed to drive when you're outside the school and who to drive safely," Dariana Cabrera, 13, said.

As part of the city's new bike safety plan, this program will be expanded in the upcoming school year to 25 schools around the city, serving 6,000 students.

The Transportation Department is seeking money to pay for a major cost, new helmets, as the program grows.

"We'll be doing fund-raising in October, looking for people who believe in providing bike education to young people to help us support this program and grow it even more," Wiley-Schwartz said.

At Meyer Levin, the program is a hit with students, who are taking their knowledge beyond the school yard.

"They started going online and looking up bike routes because in East Flatbush, they have some but they're not as plentiful as maybe downtown Brooklyn, Central Brooklyn, so the kids started going on their own and they're off and they're riding," Patterson said.