This week was "Fire Safety and Prevention" for 2012. Every year I try to cover the topic during the appropriate time (the first week of October). So naturally...that was the "study topic" for this week...
We always try to schedule a visit from our local fire department - they do a great job of talking with the kids about fire safety, prevention, and answering the children's questions. And they usually bring their ladder truck and all their gear. (I think I get just as excited as the kids do!) Well, this year a co-worker attempted, multiple times, to schedule the visit for our center. No luck. So, I said well...I've always had success, let me try. About a week ago, I gave a call to the fire department. I left a voicemail with the appropriate person, explaining that we'd like to invite them to our center this week, although I knew it was really short notice, we would still love for them to come out later in the month if this week wouldn't work. I still haven't heard back - and the fellow teacher tried calling again, too. Talk about a disappointment! What is "Fire Safety and Prevention" week without firefighters?!? Well...
I've been improvising and following my lesson plans as if we never even tried to schedule the visit. We've read non-fiction books about fires, smoke, and safety. We've read fiction stories about firefighters, fire trucks, and fire dogs. We've had daily discussions about stop, drop, and roll, crawl low under smoke, firefighters, and so forth... The children have seemed to not only enjoy our lessons and activities, but they have actually been paying attention and learning, too - YES! Goal number one achieved! (Have I mentioned I have fabulous classes this year and I'm not surprised by their quick-learning?)
Monday's lesson focused on smoke detectors and stop, drop, and roll. I assigned the children "homework" to look for smoke detectors at their houses and around school. Immediately they all pointed out our smoke detector in our classroom, and we conducted an impromptu fire drill - they did great! We come to today...
I asked how many children had done their homework - of course, ALL of the children raised their hands, but when called on, only a few could remember what the homework was. Preschoolers....gotta love their enthusiasm! :-) I got a few "we have two smoke detectors - one in my room, one in the kitchen." Some children explained they also had smoke detectors in their garages. But only one story involved the whole class...
My little boy, the "'tater bugs" little dear, was eager to share his findings from doing his "homework"... The story began like this... "We have two. I have one in my room....and one....one in the....one in my room. And one outside. Yeah, outside. So I have....two (but of course holding three fingers up)." "Oh, I replied, you have three smoke detectors at your house. Is the one outside in a garage?" And the story gets better... "No, I have two. Look, there was this fire and smoke. And I had to run outside and my mom came too." Of course I questioned for further details...."is that where you used to live?" Etc.... This story sounded so believable! A little girl pipes up "did the firefighters come to your house?" And the story takes a turn! Yes, the firefighters had gone to his house and sprayed it with water. And him and his mom and dog all jumped out of the way, out of the house. (These are not exact, but very close to his own words, by the way). And all "these guys" (pointing to all of the other children) were in the house too, and they all had to run out. As the story went on and on, this little boy continued to tell us how our high school student volunteer was also in the house, and he ran out too. Then our volunteer grandparent and my assistant were on the roof, and they needed to get down because they could get hurt. So they jumped and ran away from the fire. The story went on and on like this, mostly repetition of the same details, a few new added here and there. And then it was my turn to be included... I of course had been feeling very left out.
The plot thickened as I joined our Granny and my assistant on the roof. And we were now dancing. He scolded each of us, with his hands on his hips, saying "you guys need to get down because you could get hurt, get down, you will need to be safe." Each of us agreed and thanked him for trying to keep us safe. We all (children included) were quite into his story, and had a good giggle. Well, later in the day - maybe about two hours or so - he brings this event up again. "Hey, you remember when you were dancing on my roof?" "Uhm....yeah?" "Well, you were sleeping too." "I was sleeping?! How was I sleeping on your roof?" "In your bed! Your bed was on my roof, and you were sleeping in it!" I should add, that all the while this story is being told, and continued, the little boy was quite serious. "Oh...well, I'm glad I didn't fall off!" "Yeah." And he continued to eat his snack. Out of nowhere, a little angel pipes up (this little girl rarely speaks, and almost never in front of the group), "Ms. Kristal, if your bed was on the roof and you were sleeping in it, you would just slide right down!" Laughter erupted...
Kids say the darndest things.... :-)
