Firefighters

The Rivers Class has been immersed in a study of firefighting that has grown out of our look at our community.  Emerson brought a firefighter's helmet from her uncle's fire house and we have so enjoyed observing it up close and drawing the details.  Children have been drawing fire trucks as well.  

A small group of children have gathered together to learn more about firefighters.  They began some research and recorded the things that they know about the topic.  We noticed, however, that there was still a lot of space on the paper and we could see that there was room in our understanding to learn more.

The whole class brainstormed some questions.  Sometimes it is difficult for young children to understand that a question represents a gap in your knowledge... a curiosity... something that you do not yet know about.  They like to jump in with a guess and the question is gone.  So, as we gathered the questions, we tried not to offer ideas but to just write the questions in the open areas of the paper in red. This helped us see that some things we do not know yet.

On Friday, Firefighter Zapata, who is the father of a Sky Class student, visited our class.  He answered the questions we had written down and others that we thought of as we heard the new information.  He explained about his gear and about the vehicles and the process of fighting a fire. 

We have begun to write down the new information we learned on our paper, filling it even more.  This is a good visual, even though the children cannot read the words, of the increase in things that we know and the connectedness of the ideas we now understand.  The new facts connect to things we knew before, and they connect to the things that we wondered about as well.  It is like we can see our brains growing. 

After talking with Firefighter Zapata and reading some stories that featured firefighters in action, the drama area has become very busy with firefighters putting on gear, driving trucks, putting out fires, and performing rescues.  

We are so grateful for the ways the families have supported our learning here.