Stop, Drop, and Roll!

October is National Fire Prevention Month, so Miss K's Circle Time theme for this week is Fire Safety. After saying the Pledge, singing the National Anthem, and reviewing the calendar/weather/season, Miss K talked to the kids about fire and that fire does good things (warms us, cooks our food, roasts our marshmallows :) and bad things (can hurt us, etc.).

She showed the kids pictures of matches and lighters and explained that they are tools, not toys, and that children should never touch them. She explained that, although their house likely would never be involved in a fire, they needed to know what to do just in case it ever were: First, they should never, ever hide from the fire. If they hear a smoke detector, they should "Get out and stay out." She had the kids repeat that phrase several times and explained that, even if their very favorite blankie in the whole wide world were inside the house, they should never, ever go back inside to get it. She asked the kids to identify exits from the classroom and explained that smoke rises, so if a room is filled with smoke, they should crawl on their hands and knees to an exit because the air is cleaner there.

Then Miss K lit a big jar candle and explained that, just like we breathe air, fire does too. She put the lid on the jar and the kids watched as the flame slowly burned itself out. She explained that if the kids' clothes ever were to catch fire, they shouldn't run around, because that would simply feed the fire lots of air, helping it to grow. Instead, they should "Stop, Drop, and Roll." She led the kids in this song (to the tune of "Hot Cross Buns"): "Stop, Drop, and Roll; Stop, Drop, and Roll; If your clothes ever catch on fire, Stop, Drop, and Roll." She also explained that the kids should call 9-1-1 if they were ever in a dangerous situation without an adult.

Next she reminded the kids that fire, matches, and lighters are tools adults use and that they are not safe for children to use. She had the kids take turns pulling pictures of various tools (oven, saw, lighter, matches) and toys (teddy bear, tricycle) out of a bag, and then they sorted them into the tool or toy category.

These kinds of lessons always give me a big lump in my throat, and I'm so grateful that Miss K is teaching the kids such important stuff.

We were very excited to have Miss C and her family back today. After Miss K finished Circle Time, the kids got right to work.

I recently read this post at The Learning Ark, and I knew a daily plan would totally appeal to my daughter. This morning before school, I asked her, "What work do you want to do today," and she immediately rattled off, "Word Drawers 2, 4, and 9; metal insets; and mystery bag." Well OK then! We wrote out her To Do List, and I drew a small square next to each item so that she could check off each thing as she went (right up her alley!). When we started our Independent Work time, she immediately got her list and got to work on the Word Drawers:



Miss K's daughter worked with the knobless cylinders, Miss D's son worked with the number cards (unfortunately, my flash stopped working right here, so I didn't get any good shots), and Miss C's son worked with the latches board:



Miss D's son wanted to do Word Drawers, too, so I asked him to get Word Drawer 1, which has words made up of the first 8 "red" letters, r/a/m/f/b/i/t/g. We laid out the pictures and then sounded out the words and matched them. We did the same thing with Word Drawer 2, which has words made up of the first 8 red letters, as well as the 8 "yellow" letters, p/o/n/l/h/u/s/c. To this point, though, I hadn't introduced h/u/s/c, so this was more of a challenge for him. Tomorrow I plan to introduce h/u/s/c, as well as review the previous 12 letters. I also will ask him if he would like to make a plan for his day.

At this point, my daughter had finished everything but the mystery bag (actually this sensorial game), which she and Miss D's son played together.



Miss K's daughter busied herself with dominoes and the latches board while Miss C's son worked with the knobless cylinders:



Miss K's daughter took a turn with the mystery bag game, as well. Here she is holding the bag as Miss D's son closes his eyes and tries to pull the proper piece out of the bag:



For Music Time, Miss D had many different songs prepared, including Stop, Drop, and Roll (only this time, we sang it to the tune of "Shake, Rattle, and Roll"), and she included movement with it. She also had the kids pretend they were trees, and they sang a song about leaves falling to the ground.

Finally, we read the "G" verse and story from My ABC Bible Verses: "Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature," Mark 16:15. We discussed that "Gospel" means good news, and that the good news is: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life," John 3:16. Of course, that's the "F" verse we did last week, which is one thing I absolutely love about My ABC Bible Verses - the verses build on and reinforce the previous ones - it's a very well thought-out book, and I highly recommend it.