Fire! Fire!

Those were the words we heard during circle time, together with “Cover your nose and mouth! Let’s line up! Follow Sayaka! Let’s go downstairs!” We also heard an alarm at the same time. Both Sayaka and Pauline took one big backpack each. Kai was making sure all the windows and doors were closed. When we got downstairs, we made two lines and Sayaka counted “One… two… three…” as the teachers double- checked that all the Petals class friends were there. After that, our teachers said, “Good job!”

We all went back upstairs and continued on with circle time. Pauline asked if we knew what happened. We were all quiet and looked at each other.

“Do you know what this sound is?” Pauline asked. Again, we heard the same alarm, and reacted immediately, about to stand up and go outside. Our teachers had to stop us and said that they were just playing the sound over the speaker. They then explained that the sound is actually a fire alarm, and what we did a few minutes ago was a fire drill.

“A fire drill is to practice what we need to do when there really is a fire,” Pauline said. “What was the first thing we did?” she asked.

“Cover nose,” H said.

“Do you know why?” Pauline asked. We shook our heads no, so Pauline showed us a book called “I Want to be a Firefighter”. We saw actual pictures of firefighters trying to put out big fires. We also saw something coming out of the fire that looked like a cloud, but it was color black and gray…..

“Do you know what this is?” Pauline asked.

“Smoke,” H said. For example, there’s lots of smoke in the room right now, and then Pauline pretended to take a deep breath through her mouth and nose. Then she started coughing and coughing until she fell down on the floor, as if she suddenly fell asleep. We thought she was trying to be funny, so we laughed. The teachers explained that it was actually very dangerous- we won’t be able to breathe, then we pass out, and THEN we won’t be able to go outside anymore to be away from the fire.

“So why do we have to cover our nose and mouth?” Pauline asked.

“Because fire,” H said.

“Because it’s dangerous,” O said.

Next, our teachers asked if we can run outside when there’s a fire. We shook our heads no.

“Danger!” L said. Yes, if we have running feet, we can possible trip and fall and get--”

“Owie,” C said.

“Ouchie,” K replied. Yes, both are correct. It’s important that we are safe when there’s a fire.

“What if there’s a fire and then I forgot my backpack? My toy? My lunch? Outdoor shoes?” Pauline asked. We shook our heads no. We said that it’s dangerous. Our teachers agreed. They said that we don’t need to go back and get our things because--

“When the fire touches our clothes.. Our skin….” Pauline said. “It’s called getting burned, and it’s very ouchie,” she told us.

Our teachers were proud of how we did so well during the fire drill. Next time, we might have an earthquake drill.

“Do you know what an earthquake is?” Pauline asked. When she was met with silence, Sayaka demonstrated by shaking our toy kitchen.

“It’s shake,” H said. Yes, that’s what happens during an earthquake. Earthquakes and fires are called emergencies, and we actually don’t know when emergencies will happen-- so we have to be prepared! That’s why our teachers said that even during quiet time, we have to keep our shoes on, so that when there’s an emergency, we’re ready to go outside with our teachers! If we don’t have our shoes on--

“Ouchie!” K and O said.

“Big, big ouchie,” H agreed.

“Dangerous,” L said.

We were able to go to the park after our snacks- and again we had the park all to ourselves! We played on the big, yellow slide and on the swings. We thought we couldn’t go to the park as it started raining when we were getting ready! But everything slowed to a drizzle and eventually it was gone. It was just cloudy, and the temperature was cooler. It felt really nice!

Morning free play was busy with finishing our self- portraits, playing on the balcony with Kai, and playing with wooden blocks with Sayaka. Some of us took out some sheets of paper and enjoyed cutting and coloring.

That’s all for today-- how about you? How was your day?

Love,

All the happy children in Petals Class