Fire Prevention Week

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While October is often equated with fall and pumpkin themes, I like to always include the topic of fire safety. With Fire Prevention Week typically falling during the first week of October, I believe it's an important topic to cover with kids even as young as Pre-K!

And it's not just stop, drop, and roll. We want to build early awareness that helps children make safe choices in every situations.

First things first, we always discuss in length what a fire drill is. We create a chart with simple steps to follow and post it up in the classroom for students to read throughout the week. But more importantly, we practice it!!!

If you need an idea of what steps to list out, here's what I write on my "Fire Drill" Chart:

• Stop what I'm doing.

• Quickly line up. No talking.

• Follow the teacher to the safe meeting spot.

• Stay until it's safe to return.

It's important to elaborate on what each step means and to practice until students are comfortable with what to do. It's also great practice for me as a teacher to remember to bring our emergency go-bag and my class roster. I think it's great to have fire drills periodically throughout the year to ensure students remember what to do.

Tip: I also encourage my parents to practice what to do if their families experience a fire in their home. Students love to come back to school and share their families' game plan of what to do.

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Of course, we read books that are on theme with Fire Safety. Here are a few of my favorites!

I also highly recommend reaching out to your local firefighters to see if they can visit! Every year, we have them come out to speak with our kids about fire safety. They also show and teach us about the gear they wear and use. And of course, the kids get an up close view of what a real firetruck looks like!

Here's also an activity idea include in your lessons that teach students about items that are safe or not safe to touch. They'll cut and paste various pictures to sort. It's great for independent work or to even come together to complete and discuss why items are safe/not safe to touch or play with.

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Fire safety doesn’t have to be scary — it can actually be really fun and empowering!

When we teach it with visuals, sorting games, and real-life connections, our students walk away with knowledge that sticks.

If you implement any of these ideas in your classroom, let me know! I'd love to hear how it went or if you'd like to share any favorite activities your class likes to do for Fire Prevention Week. I always love getting new ideas to try.

Happy teaching!