Very simple book about firemen.  This is a beginner reader so perhaps older children can learn to sound out a read.

Materials

• Pictures of fireman’s gear
• Page with words to copy 911
• Smoke detector
• Spray bottle with water

Vocabulary

• Gear (all the equipment firemen need to put out a fire)

Before Reading the Story

            Color and contact the fireman’s gear pictures.  Bring to the rug and tape them to a flannel board.  Ask the children if they can tell who the story is going to be about by looking at the special equipment that is needed.  State it is about firemen.  Ask the children to help you name all the gear/equipment.  Turn the board around and remove one item, let the children guess what piece of gear is missing.  Play until each item has been removed at least once.

Social & Emotional Development/Knowledge of Families & Communities; develops growing awareness of jobs and what is required to perform them.

Reading the Story

            This book is very simple and full of rhymes on every other page.  Read the first page and then when you get to its rhyming word segment it out.  For example; “Look-smoke and flames.  Kitty is in trouble.  Call 911! Quick-on the d/ou/ble”. Do this slowly to see if any children can hear and discriminate the final word.

Literacy/Phonological Awareness; shows growing ability to hear and discriminate separate syllables in words.

After Reading the Story

            Bring in a smoke detector for the children to see up close and experience the sound of the alarm.  Talk about what you should do in case the smoke detector goes off at school. Do a mock drill if allowed.

Physical Health & Development/Health Status & Practices; builds awareness and ability to follow basic health and safety rules such as fire safety and pedestrian safety, and responding appropriately to potentially harmful objects, substances,and activities.

Discovery

            Put play phones into the center and help the children practice dialing 911, stating their name and what the emergency is.

Mathematics/Number & Operations; begins to associate number concepts, vocabulary, quantities, and written numbers in meaningful ways. AND Language Development/Speaking & Communicating; progresses in clarity of pronunciation and towards speaking in sentences of increasing length and grammatical complexity.

Music and Movement

            Teach the children The Fireman poem.

I am the fireman.

Please check your smoke detector

Because they are your home protector

I am the fireman.

Language Development/Listening & Understanding; understands an increasingly complex and varied vocabulary.

            Use masking tape to make a ladder design on the floor.  Put on music and encourage the children to jump between the rungs, walk heel to toe up the side, walk with one foot on each side bar. 

Creative Arts/Music; participates with increasing interest and enjoyment in a variety of music activities, including listening, singing, finger plays, games, and performances. AND Physical Health & development/Gross Motor Skills; shows increasing levels of proficiency, control, and balance in walking, climbing, running, jumping, hopping, skipping, and galloping.

Blocks

            Add fire trucks and encourage the children to build houses with blocks.

Creative Arts/Dramatic Play; participates in a variety of dramatic play activities that become more extended and complex.

Art

            Have the children draw a picture of a house using water soluble magic markers.  Find a place where you can hang the house pictures up and give each child a spray bottle of water.  They then spray the house pretending to put out the fire.  The markers will run down the page and make a design.

Creative Arts/Art; develops growing abilities to plan, work independently, and demonstrate care and persistence in a variety of art projects.

Library and Writing

            Put out cards that have the numbers 911 written on it.  Encourage the children to copy the numbers. 

Literacy/Early Writing; experiments with a growing variety of writing tools and materials, such as pencils, crayons, and computers. AND Mathematics/Number & Operations; begins to associate number concepts, vocabulary, quantities, and written numerals in meaningful ways.

Sand and Water

Have the children bring their picture from the art center and spray it in the water table today.

Physical Health & Development/Fine Motor Skills; develops growing strength, dexterity, and control needed to use tools such as scissors, paper punch, stapler, and hammer.

Dramatic Play

            Bring in fireman props you may have (3 foot piece of hose, boots, jackets, and plastic helmets. Talk about how the firefighter must put on all the gear before he/she heads out to a fire.

Social & Emotional Development/Knowledge of Families & Communities; develops growing awareness of jobs and what is required to perform them.

Math and Manipulatives

Make two sets of the firefighter gear pages and cut out the pictures to make a memory game to play with the children.

Approaches to Learning/Engagement & Persistence; grows in abilities to persist and complete a variety of tasks, activities, projects, and experiences.

Outdoor Play

            Use bicycles or wagons and pretend that they are fire engines racing to the fire.  Make sure the children are making loud siren noises so that everyone else will move out of the way!

Creative Arts/Drama; shows growing creativity and imagination in using materials and in assuming different roles in dramatic play activities. AND Physical Health & Development/Health Status & Practices; participates actively in games, outdoor play, and other forms of exercise that enhance physical fitness.

Transitions

            Give each child a turn to practice dialing 911 and stating who they are and that there is a fire.  Send a note home today that encourages parents to practice their address and phone number with the children so that they can call for help in an emergency.

Physical Health & Development/Health Status & Practices; builds awareness and ability to follow basic health and safety rules such as fire safety and pedestrian safety, and responding appropriately to potentially harmful objects, substances,and activities.

Resources