Fire Station visit and Arisugawa park

Today we had another great and eventful day in the classroom, at the fire station and at Arisugawa Park. When we arrived in the morning we saw our balloons we have been decorating over the last few days on the table. Next to the balloons were some rolls of shiny metallic tape in lots of colors. We put our final touches to the hot air balloon by putting a ring of tape around the middle of the balloon and then attaching the baskets we made using tape. With the teachers help we could then decide where we wanted to hang them in the classroom and put them up on the ceiling. We needed to pack away early today, have our snack and then get ready for our visit to the fire station. It was beautiful in the sunshine and we all walked together to the fire station and played a colour game on the way trying to think of as many things as we could that were red, green or orange. There were so many things we could see and think of for each colour! We arrived a few minutes early and had a look at one if the fire trucks and all the big hoses lined up on the wall. Soon our friends arrived from petals and buds classes and we got to look at a smaller fire van which they told us was a mobile command center with radios and computers etc. We then got to go through an ambulance which had two beds set up for people who are not well. We then saw a big ladder fire truck which they told us could extend the ladder up to 10 floors from the ground. We were very lucky as we then got to watch how quickly a real firefighter could put on his equipment for fighting fires. He was very fast and he even put an air tank on his back too. The firefighter then asked us all some questions with picture cards asking us if the children in the pictures were playing safely or not and why. We answered correctly every time that we should not play with fire, we should be careful when climbing, near windows etc. The teachers then had the chance to practice using a fire extinguisher with some metal targets. We sprayed the water at the targets and they all fell down! We then were very lucky to dress up in firefighter’s jackets and helmets for a photo session. The jackets were very heavy and so were the helmets but we looked great in these. We could then climb through the fire truck and look at all the gloves, air bottles and other equipment in the cab of the truck. Finally we had the chance to ask some questions. We asked: “How big an area does the fire station cover”? – “Azabu and Roppongi area, we try to get to the fire within 5 minutes but can go to other areas if there is a big fire”.

“How long does the air in the tank last”? – “About 20 minutes”.

We then got to high 5 all the firefighters before leaving. We said a big “thank you” and headed for Arisugawa Park. It was great to be at a different park and played on the swings, slide, see-saw, climbing frame and wooden rocking horses. We also tried to catch the falling leaves as there were so many of them when the wind blew across the park. It was a long walk back and we were very thirsty and hungry but made it back to class in time for lunch.

Have a great afternoon.

All our love, Darren, Ayaka and Goh