First, let me say, three out of the four firefighters were women. I loved that. We’ve been talking a lot about the gender stereotypes in many professions and really trying to hit home the idea that anyone can do anything, so seeing these three phenomenal women in the flesh talking about their jobs was amazing.
Now let me be perfectly clear. Firefighters are brave, courageous people. They risk their very lives to help others. I have the utmost respect and reverence for them and the job they perform. After their presentation on fire safety (they covered all the basics: stop drop and roll, practicing an exit strategy at home, having a meeting place outside your home, not hiding from the firefighters, etc.) they made a grave mistake. They asked a group of kindergarteners (over thirty sprouts), “Does anyone have any questions?”
Gulp. Yikes.
We reminded the group that a question is an asking sentence… it’s something you want the answer to.
“What if there are no windows in your house?”
“What if your meeting place is on fire too?”
“What if my phone is on fire?”
“What if your smoke detector doesn’t wake you up?”
“We don’t have fire at my house.”
“How do you know if you should jump out your window?”
“Why is the fire so hot?”
“What if you’re in the bath when there’s a fire?”
I have to give the firefighters credit. They didn’t giggle or laugh and really did their best to give answers to some really ridiculous questions. I wasn’t as admiral. I laughed at least once… I just couldn’t help it. Those firefighters have one of the hardest jobs in the world. They face dangers we can’t ever fathom. I think they might think twice before asking a group of five-year-olds “Does anyone have any questions?”
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8 comments:
Haha - You never know what children will say or ask? You got to have a sense of humor:)
We had the firefighter visit our K classes too. They also asked for questions even, though we warned them ahead of time :) Most of our kids are still working on questions SO a lot of them wanted to share stories!
That sounds awfully familiar...though for my class it was a trip to the police station. I dropped off a list of questions we had been thinking about at the station before our trip, so that the officers could get the laughs out ahead of time! After all, Kindergarteners have to know "how and where" prisoners/police dogs/police officers use the bathroom!
Hahaha! SO typical! This made my day! We always cringe when (even though there's been advance warning), our visitors ask that dreaded question!
I laugh at the things my 1st grade friends say all the time. Every Monday we do share day, and thank goodness they know how to go in number order and can manage it themselves. I sit with my back turned a little and pretend to file papers so I can get my Monday laughs in.
At our school, we use the "show me five" signal to get the children quiet. Well I mentioned this to our firefighter visitors and they thought that was the most amazing thing. He used the signal a lot and was so impressed that it worked. So even though firefighting is an amazing job, so it teaching a large group of kindergarteners.
Haha. I had a class once that had a police visit. After going through all the stranger danger stuff, don't get in cars, don't take things etc, the police officer asked what they should do if offered a lolly. The answer one of my kids gave? Say thank you!
As a PreK teacher, I loved it when visitors asked if they had any questions. The offer was generous but the person offering did not usually know what a quandary he could be getting himself into. I would always give the same reminder that a question is something that needs an answer.
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