Hi Everyone,

We wanted to let you know that we had our very first all school fire drill today.  As the teachers were informed of the date and time the fire drill was to take place, we had the opportunity to talk with the children about fire safety and smoke detectors.  We discussed the fact that children should never touch matches, lighters, lit candles, nor fire.  Some of the children were also aware of the practice “Stop, Drop and Roll.”  As we expected the fire drill to take place on Wednesday, we began these discussions on Tuesday.  The actual drill was postponed until today, because of the rainy weather.  We also read some books about fire engines and fire fighters.  After reading the books and initiating these discussions, we talked about what we do at BCD when we hear the fire alarm sound.  We mentioned that the fire alarm is REALLY loud, so everyone can hear it.  We even practiced making the sound with our voices.  When they hear the alarm, the children have been instructed to stop what they are doing, whether it is eating, playing, singing, etc…and put down anything that is in their hands and line up at the door, with no talking.  We shared that the teachers will count the children, to be sure everyone is in line, and the teachers will lead them out to the berm(or tunnel) on the playground.  We also mentioned that while we are walking, we may see siblings, parents or other people we know, but we cannot run to them, nor can we talk; and our hands should remain at our sides.  We explained that we must not talk so that we can hear any important instructions from the teachers or from Mr. Frantz.  Once Mr. Bingham or the Fire Department gives us the “All Clear!”  we will return to the classroom, walking in a line and not talking.  We practiced our own fire drill two times, once, when we were playing and once when we were having snack.  Today, Everyone was prepared and they all did fantastic!  The alarm was really loud!  We will probably have another fire drill in the next few weeks.

This may be a good time to talk about fire safety at home and develop a family plan for evacuating your home when your smoke detectors or fire alarms sound.

With all of the rainy weather, we certainly have had plenty of time to explore the various learning centers in our classroom this week.  Using Responsive Classroom practices of Guided Discovery, we continued to introduce the Block Corner, Sandbox, Pretend Area, Train Table, Puzzles and The Book Corner.    When introducing a new center, we discuss how many students may work or play in that area at one time, how the materials in that area are and can be used and where those materials are stored.  With practice and reminders, the children are doing a fine job of learning to work and be with one another in the classroom.  Next week we will learn about the Small Building Toys Area, the Math Center and the Writing Center.  We will also establish our Hopes and Dreams for the year.  Each child will share what they “hope” to do in Preschool this year.  Once our Hopes and Dreams are posted, we will use them to develop our classroom rules.  These activities are also Responsive Classroom practices.

 

     

 

On Thursday, we read about Annie Apple, from Letterland.  Annie, a talking apple, lives in an apple orchard in Letterland and she sells apples from her apple stand.  Annie has many animal friends, such as the anteater, an alligator and the antelope.  On Friday, the children made Annie Apple head bands by stamping real cut apples with paint on to green bands.  We also had an “apple tasting” party.  We all sampled Gala, Golden Delicious, Granny Smith and MacIntosh slices.  It appears that the Gala slices were the class’ favorite.  Next week, we will meet “Bouncy Ben”, who is a brown bunny.  He loves to play with balls and bounce about. 

 

Books We Read:

A Day with Firefighters, by Jan Kottke

Fire Engines, by Anne Rockwell

Firefighter Fred, by Andrea Beaty and Pascal Lemaitre

My Mom is a Firefighter, by Lois G. Grambling and Jane Manning

School, by Emily Arnold McCully

The Seashore Book, by Charlotte Zolotow and Wendell Minor

Curious George Goes to School, by Margret and H.A. Rey’s

From Head to Toe, by Eric Carle

Dates to Remember:

Friday, September 16th, Pizza Friday

Thursday, September 22nd, Back-to-School-Night, 6:15pm, parents only, no childcare

Thursday, September 29th, No School, Rosh Hashanah

Monday, October 10th, No School, Columbus Day

 

Have a Nice Weekend!

Ellie and Joni