~ Preparing for Emergencies ~
“The birds say there’s a storm coming. GO TO THE EMERGENCY CAVE.”
It is vital that children know how to respond to emergancy situations. Sometimes we get specific instructions, like Jack’s warning to Nim above, and sometimes we don’t.
One of the simplest tasks children should learn is calling for help by dialing 911. We practiced this with the removable cell phone that we made for our Nim poster (A simple piece of foam with a few numbers drawn on it, velcroed to Nim’s hand). Each child took a turn borrowing it from Nim and dialing 911. I pretended to be the emergency operator, asking them to state the problem and their address. You would think that the answers would be fairly routine – not with this age group. When asking them to tell their address we got everything from blank stares, to “the United States of America,” to “No, I don’t wear a dress.” Kids crack me up! :o)
We also talked quite a bit about WHEN to call 911 – and when not to. You can see a short sonic clip here that reinforces the idea that 911 is only for emergencies.
Our next safety topic was fire safety. Isaac’s Fire drillwas a huge hit. My kids love seeing other children in videos. We acted out all of the steps, including touching the doorknob with the BACK of our hands, crawling quickly to safety, and going to our meeting spot. The kids giggled as they raced from one of the house to the other on their knees.
We also discussed using the fastest route to get out of the building after the kids watched the cartoon “Exit Strategy.” I printed these fire safety maps and they drew routes for each of the family members to take. We talked through all of the options – including the silliest ones like “break through the wall to the kitchen” and “jump out the window just for fun.”
Although I didn’t use it with the group, there are lots of fun online games and activities at Sparky the Fire Dog and WebTeach. Hopefully we will have a chance to explore these sites more.
Our craft for this week was sand candles. It could kinda’ tie in to the topic of fire safety, or preparing emergency supplies, but in reality, the main reason I chose it is simply because it looked like a lot of fun. Gail at That Artist Woman has posted easy instructions.
Our craft for this week was sand candles. It could kinda’ tie in to the topic of fire safety, or preparing emergency supplies, but in reality, the main reason I chose it is simply because it looked like a lot of fun. Gail at That Artist Woman has posted easy instructions.Lapbook elements:
Nim’s Island Activities – Chapters 13&14