Unit Theme: Fire Safety

This week was Fire Prevention Week, so that was our focus...fire safety/prevention, as well as firefighters and fire trucks. =)

Fire Books:

There are so many great children's books out there related to these topics.  Here are the few that we read this week:

Song - Five Brave Firefighters

I printed off/laminated some images that go along with this song for some visuals, as well as practice with sequencing.

Hot/Not Hot Sorting Printable:

I came across this interactive website, and we used this cut and paste sorting activity to aid our discussion about things that are safe to touch/play with and things that are not.

 Fire Truck Craft:

I cut out very simple fire truck parts (no laughing, please!), and the kids had to piece them together.  We talked about some of the most important parts of a firetruck (hose, ladder, siren) and what those parts are used for, and they labeled them.  Meredith traced the word "Fire Truck" and Caleb had all of the letters to spell "Fire Truck", and he had to figure out which order they went in.

911 With Dot Markers:

The kids really like using their dot markers, so after we talked about how 911 is the number we will call in an emergency (and ONLY in an emergency!), such as if there's a fire in our house, they made these:

Printables:

I found some really great (and FREE!) printables at Homeschool Creations.  I chose some pages from the preschool pack and some from the Kindergarten pack and laminated them all.

Click the picture to be directed to the original site.

I turned most of the pages I printed into a book that the kiddos can work through (and reuse with dry erase markers, since it's laminated).  Since I chose pages from both the preschool and the Kinder packs, there is a varying level of difficulty within the book, which was the goal.  The kids can pick and choose what they want to work on.

I turned another one of the printable activities into a little flip activity book and used another as a picture-to-word matching game.

We brainstormed (and talked about what the word "brainstorm" even means!) what firefighters WEAR and DO:

I put together this simple color-by-letter page for Meredith:

And Caleb wrote a bit about what he might do if he were a firefighter:

"I put fire out!  I clim (climb) big laders (ladders).  I put holes in hosis (houses) with a ax."

 Toilet Paper Roll Firefighters:

The template for these can be found here.

 Okay, this has nothing to do with fire safety....BUT, how cute is Shane, helping us with the Pledge one morning this week?! 

He proudly waved the flag around as we recited it, and tried so hard to keep his other hand on his heart (nevermind it's his left hand).

 Bible Verse:

Psalm 56:3 - When I am afraid, I put my trust in You.

 Field Trip to the Fire Station:

Perhaps the major highlight of our week was our field trip to the Fire Station! The kids loved it.  They got to see the places where the firefighters sleep and eat and relax, the different tools and gadgets they use, as well as where they keep their bunker gear.  And of course, they got to see the trucks - which was most definitely the best part.  The firefighters were very impressed with all of the fire facts that Caleb knew, and we all learned a lot of new things.  Firefighters Sam & Billy were great with the kids.