Sunday, June 17, 2012

Firefighters


We were inspired to learn about firefighters because we had the chance to tour a fire station this week.  I wanted them to have a rich understanding of the nature of job.

Monday –

Today was about, not firefighting, but FIRE.  I wanted Lauren to have a respect for the seriousness and danger of fire.  I wanted to show Lauren why firefighters are necessary.  I wanted to give Lauren a sense of history of the evolution of firefighting.

1.       Videos:  I looked for videos relating to firefighters on Netflix and found several.  I chose “Barney: Let's Go to the Fire House” because it was generalized, a good introduction that both could like.  I let them watch this in place of Sesame Street.
2.       Allie:  Had a lesson with Allie.  “Hot and Cold”  I took some stones and I put some in the freezer overnight and I put some in the microwave (not too long).  I gave them to her one at a time, and I told her “This is hot”  “This is cold” etc.  I helped her sort which is hot/cold.
3.       Allie:  Gave Allie a “Touch and Feel” flashcard with a firetruck.

4.       Vocabulary with Lauren:  Firetruck, Firefighter, Fire Hydrant, Smoke Detector.   A note:  Lauren adores flashcards.  I make them myself using cardstock and a free template on Microsoft word.  The reason she LOVES flash cards is the technique we use…
a.       Introduction:  On the first day, I go through the cards and talk about each picture.  I tend to like to include at least one word which is familiar to help her feel successful from the start.  I ask her to repeat the words to help with pronounciation
b.      I use the Montessori 3 Part technique for new vocabulary.         
                                                               i.      Place two cards down, ask her, ie “Which one is smoke detector”
                                                             ii.      Place all cards down, ask her, ie “Which one is smoke detector”  She gets to keep the cards when she gets it right
                                                            iii.      THEN, perhaps after a few days, ask her “What is this”  This gives her a very good chance to hear the vocabulary many times.

5.       Spanish – I printed four cards with the same grammer and different vocabulary.  We discussed it and then used the 3-part technique to learn it.
a.       “Los bomberos estan ayudando”
b.      “Los bomberos estan caminando”
c.       “Los bomberos estan durmiendo”
d.      “Los bomberos estan corriendo"


6.       Main Lesson – Fire.  
a.       I talked to her, I told her how fire is a special and unique type of phenomenon.  I told her how fire spreads very fast.  We talked about what color it is.  I told her that sometimes, fire can spread so fast that it can be very dangerous.
b.      We looked at a video of a house on fire, we watched the entire sequence of it getting bigger and the firefighters coming to put it out.  I specifically avoided talking about firefighters because I wanted to concentrate on the fire itself.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJYRsmqayFo
c.       I told her how a long time ago, fires could grow very, very fast.  I told her that we are lucky that today, firefighters are able to use a lot of good equipment and training to put out fires.  I told her how once there was a very famous fire, The Great Chicago Fire.  We looked at youtube videos of that.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3Q3wwRAGiw (I skipped to the pictures)

7.       Craft – I presented two foam pieces to be the house, a printout of a firefighter and tissue paper.  We used the tissue paper to make it look like there was a fire at the house and blue tissue paper to look like water from the hose.


Tuesday –

Today, I wanted to concentrate on the training of the firefighters.  Different than what is taught in schools, I like to focus on the fact that firefighting is a job that people do and that any person comes to learn to do from training.  I want her to look at a firefighter and see a person, not a job.  Looking at the training was super fun and alluded to a bigger concept in life

1.        We took our scheduled  tour of the fire station. 


2.       We reviewed our vocabulary and Spanish.
3.       Main Lesson – Firefighter training.  We talked about it.  We watched some videos
4.       Fireman Math! – I printed out some cute firetrucks and I used word problems to help teach Lauren math!  I would tell a story, about there being a fire and 1 or 2 firetrucks coming.  Then, I would put the “+” sign down and tell the second half of the story, about more firetrucks coming.  Then I would put the “=” sign and I would ask Lauren, how many fire trucks total.  She LOVED this!!  Some stories were about parades.


5.       Activity – Mock Training.  Put some water bottles on the table outside and had Lauren try to aim the hose and knock them down. 


Wednesday –

Today we talked about firefighters and fire trucks.  We talked about why firefighters are considered real life heros.  We talked about sirens. 

1.        Review flash cards and Spanish.
2.       Firetruck Math again, we just enjoyed it J
3.       Egg Carton Craft – crafts are great for reinforcing vocabulary and helping to encourage further imagining and contemplating what we are talking about.  I found this craft idea online.


1.       Activity – What is that sound?  I used youtube to play different sounds and including sirens several times.  We talked about the purpose of sirens.


4.       Allie craft – printed a picture of a firetruck and had Allie fingerpaint it with red.

5.       We bought a Melissa and Doug firetruck set.  We just played with it and imagined scenarios.  I put it on their toy shelf to return to as the mind desires.

6.       Watched “All About Big Red Engines” on Netflix.  Lauren also discovered “Fireman Sam”


Thursday -
Was tired, did no lesson


Friday - 

Fire safety at home

1.        Review flashcards and Spanish
2.       Main Lesson – talked about fire safety around the home. 
a.       Talked about what to do if there is a fire
b.      Counted all the smoke detectors
c.       Tested the smoke detectors
d.      Took a look at the fire extinguisher and talked about what it is (uses a chemical, not water), where we keep it (in kitchen because most likely to have a fire) how to use it (looked at the instructions and noticed how easy they were to read), the meter showed it was full, the color is red because people know that means fire.


Saturday, we went to the Hall of Flame Museum.  Lauren LOVED looking at the pictures of historical fires.  She loved looking at some of the old fire engines starting from the 1700’s and how they were horse draw.  We noticed the buckets they used instead of hoses.  Mostly, we loved the children’s area, we got to talk about the fire pole and dress up!  J








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