VB Fire Station - 911

Over the course of the year, we have discussed various community helpers in our classroom. However, during the month of February, we turned one of our theme centers into a fire station!  The preschoolers have really enjoyed learning about what fire fighters do to help the members of our community.

We talked about the importance of addresses, phone numbers and about a very important phone number to call in the event of an emergency, 911.  We also discussed where to find fire hydrants around our neighborhoods.  

The preschoolers acted out various scenarios in the fire station.  They received emergency calls from community members who were telling them about fires that were nearby.  The preschoolers put out fires in buildings, cars and even in homes.  Of course, the Paw Patrol rescue animals were also an important part of their dramatizations.  Chase the police dog and Marshall the dalmation were always on call to help out our friendly heroes.

We talked about what a uniform was as well as the different ones that were worn by police officers and fire fighters.  We also discussed their job descriptions and decided which job we thought would be fun to do when we grew up.  Lastly, we had fun singing about a fire truck and reading many books on the topic, as well.  In the end, the preschoolers are still working on learning their addresses and phone numbers.  However, they definitely know that fires are hot and dangerous and that fire fighters and police officers are community helpers that are here to keep us safe.

 

 

 

All Aboard!

The train station theme center was a big success!  While the preschoolers learned a lot about the different types of trains, they also learned many life skills that will help them to navigate public transportation in the future.  The preschoolers dramatized the act of buying (and selling) tickets to potential passengers, looking at a clock to see what time their train would be leaving, looking for a train's identification number and how to board (and exit) a train safely and carefully.  The preschoolers were also able to dramatize the jobs of employees who work at a train station and passengers who would be riding the train.  Their favorite roles were that of a conductor, an engineer and of course, the busy passenger.

Building trains and combining various kinds of train tracks increased the preschoolers' problem solving skills as well as their cooperation skills.  Of course, we also learned how to communicate with our friends while we were interacting in the center in a positive manner.  Lastly, the train station theme center encouraged our class to form some "people trains."  This helped us to move around the classroom using our gross motor skills and to use our listening skills to know when to stop/go to the music.