Today was an exciting day at Robinson–ok, well every day is exciting, but today was a more-than-exciting-day because the firemen came!  It is Fire Prevention Week, so we got a visit from some fantastic Kirkwood Firefighters.  They came with a message for us to STAY LOW AND JUST GO if we hear the smoke detector.  We watched a video and were able to have some questions answered, as well as being reminded to STOP, DROP and ROLL!

Check it out!

At the end of the presentation, they showed us what the smoke detector sounded like so that we would know if we heard the sound at home (I must add here that it was funny as the friend next to me said, “I know what that thing sounds like–it always goes off when we’re cooking!”  Ha ha ha ha!!). We even practiced getting in to the “stay low” position so we could crawl out.

I thought it was great that Nate wore just the right shirt for the day, without even knowing what today was!  Do we see a future firefighter here?

After this, we did a little bit of writing, drawing and wondering about the presentation.  I will share these once everyone is finished!  For now, here’s how you can help your first grader process through our learning today:

1) Make sure you have smoke detectors, and that they work!

2) Talk with your family about your fire safety plan.  Do you know what to do in case of a fire?  Does everyone know how to get out?  Do you have a “safe spot” outside where your family will gather?

3) Many kiddos were concerned about their “second exit.”  We learned about how to feel the door with the back of our hands, and if it’s hot, to go out the second exit of the room.  I had many worried faces with wonderings about what they should do since they are on the 2nd or 3rd floors of the house.  Help calm these fears with reassurance that they CAN get out and that they WILL be safe!

4) My son saw this very same video last year and was suddenly very worried about fires in our house.  He had never been afraid before, but obviously talking about prevention and safety can bring up some fears in little ones.  This is normal, and your (ours really–I’ll help, too!) job is to reassure them that just like all the drills we have at school, it’s important to know what to do in case of an emergency.  Remind them that it’s VERY UNLIKELY that it would ever happen, that they ARE SAFE, but how lucky they are that they would know exactly what to do if they were ever in that situation!  Knowledge is power.

Oh the joys of childhood! 🙂