Volume 3, Issue 18
September 30, 2005

THIS ISSUE'S EARLY CHILDHOOD NEWSLETTER THEME:

Fire Safety

WELCOME! to Education World's Early Childhood Newsletter. Every other week, I'll share some ideas on a familiar teaching theme. Hopefully you will find a new activity idea or two -- or a new twist on one of your old favorites! Since I know you are very busy, I'll be short and sweet -- like most of activities I suggest.

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A WORD ABOUT THIS ISSUE'S THEME

Surely, teaching fire safety to young children in a non-threatening way is one of the most important things we, as educators, can do. By teaching our students concepts such as Stop, Drop, and Roll, and other fire safety tips, we give children a sense of empowerment and safety in a sometimes-unpredictable world. We hope you’ll find this issue’s activities and Web sites to be useful resources in your classroom during Fire Prevention Week, October 9 to 15.

Susan LaBella
Editor, Early Childhood Education Newsletter

EGG CARTON FIRE TRUCKS
Give each child the lid from an egg carton. Let each child paint his or her lid red.
While the paint dries, invite children to trace and cut out circles from black construction paper. These can be glued on the lid for the wheels. Give each child a ladder cut out of black paper to glue on top of the “fire engine.” Finally let children glue a small bit of red foil onto the front as a light.

MAKE IT RED
Use the color red as a theme when teaching about fire safety: Invite children to draw red fire trucks, red fire hats, red fire extinguishers, or any other red fire elements you have discussed. At the end of the day, serve children a red treat such as red suckers, red apples, or red juice, for jobs well done.

FIND THE EXITS
Plan to take children on a walk around your school to hunt for EXIT signs. Talk about their purposes and, if possible, turn off other lights to let children see that the EXIT signs remain bright. Follow up by having children create their own EXIT signs to take home and hang in appropriate place.

GET LOW AND GO
Discuss with children the importance of crawling low to the floor when trying to exit through smoke. Explain that the air is cooler and cleaner near the floor. Then ask two children to hold opposite ends of a bed sheet. Those children can shake the bed sheet to make “smoke.” Invite the rest of the children to practice crawling low on their hands and knees to escape through the “smoke.”

DOGS AND DOTS
Cut out one set of ten Dalmatian fire dogs. On each write a different number from 1 to 10. Stick red dots on each dog to correspond to the number written on the dog. Provide a supply of Red Hots? (little red candies) for students to use as counters. Place the dogs and the Red Hots in your math center. Let individual children enjoy using Red Hots to match and count the red spots. Kids love it -- especially because they are using candy as counters.

Check out the following Web sites for more background and activities.

Fire Safety: Activities to Spark Learning
Lesson ideas from Education World.
http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/lesson/lesson026.shtml

National Fire Protection Association
This helpful site is one of the best fire-safety resources.
www.nfpa.org

Sparky the Fire Dog
Share with your students the story of Sparky, the NFPA’s spotted fire dog.
http://www.nfpa.org/sparky/story.html

U.S. Fire Administration for Kids
Coloring pages and other activities teach kids all about home fire safety.
http://www.usfa.fema.gov/kids/flash.shtm

Smokey Kids
Choose from 14 coloring pages featuring Smokey Bear.
http://www.smokeybear.com/kids/games_color.asp

Illinois Firesafe Kids
A comprehensive fire safety site complete with a House of Hazards.
http://www.state.il.us/kids/fire/