Safety Week

Even though we had a short week of preschool, it was an exciting one!  We welcomed three very special guests to teach us about fire safety.  The firemen showed the preschoolers their equipment, and taught them 9-1-1 and stop, drop, and roll! 

The kids in both the morning and afternoon sessions were very respectful and asked and answered great questions. We were very proud of all of them. It is so important to teach the kids firefighters are there to save them and to help them understand why they look the way they do when they come onto the scene of a fire. 

Many children die each year as a result of hiding in a fire instead of coming to the firefighters because of the masks the firefighters need to wear to breath safely. When the fireman crawled around our room this week we had the children practice giving him a high five in the room while in full gear to help support the concept of not being afraid if they ever are somewhere in need of saving.  

After the firefighters left us badges as honorary firefighters we practiced putting out fires by building 'burning' structures and knocking the fire out of them. We also walked on balance beams as we 'trained' to be fight fighters. 

We used two apps on Wednesday too.  In the morning we used The Fireman and Firefighter Trucks Heroes and in the afternoon we used the 3D Firefighter Game for Kids. With one of the games, the children put together equipment needed to fight fires and the other follows paths on the road to travel through neighborhoods to fight fires.

       

We practiced reciting the numbers 911 as we discussed how and when to call this number. Please know you can have your child practice calling 911 simply by instructing the call operator this is a practice call for your child in case of emergency. 

Discuss with your child what the difference between an emergency and a situation where an adult needs to be notified is and practice emergency evacuation drills with your children so they know where to go and what to do if there is a fire in your home. Discussions like this save lives!

We made hand print fire fighter and police officer troops with out handprints as the bodies of the safety patrollers in their vehicles this week too.  Once they are try we will add faces to them to send home.

For some fun science this week the afternoon preschoolers built buildings then added colored shaving cream to them as fire then the kids squirted water on the buildings to put the fire out. The kids had a blast doing this over and over again!

The morning preschoolers worked with paper flames for science as well and when they tore up red and orange tissue paper and placed it into clear cups then added baking soda scoops.  They poured vinegar into the "fire" to have the tissue paper flames disappear in the cups similar to what they would see with fire extinguishers putting out a fire.

The morning preschool teachers read a story about fire safety and what goes on inside the firehouse as the firefighters live there while they await the time to come to the rescue. 

Then we went to the tables to work on patterns for math time as the children had to place the correct image in pattern sentences.  We will do activities like this throughout the year using images that will pertain to the various themes we will be covering.  

Using images relevant to the theme allows the kids to practice the same skills over and over again throughout the semester without them telling us they don't want to do that activity.  Instead, they tend to enjoy these activities eventually telling us how easy they will become! 

What's Coming Up?

• This week is Spirit Week at Palatine High School so bring your students dressed in their pajamas tomorrow on February 22nd for pajama day!
• Wednesday, February 24th will be Wacky Wednesday where your child can come with mismatched clothes and crazy hair styles. 
• Friday, February 26th will be Pirate Pride day so your student can come in as much red as he or she can wear or in their favorite Palatine High School gear or Pirate clothes to show school spirit.
• This coming spirit week we will also be talking more about careers and will be learning about all kinds of other community helpers as well.