Community Helpers: Firefighters

We had a very busy month in October, so I couldn't do some of my "normal" lessons I love.  However, the Kindergarten classes are currently studying community helpers, so I loved the fact that even though November is not Fire Safety Month (October), I was still able to fit this in with my first and Kindergarten!

This is such a fun and high interest unit for these kids.  I have several that have parents that are volunteer firefighters in our community, as well as paid firefighters, so it really does make a big impact.

Since I was doing this with my PreK, K, and first grade classes, I used the following books:

*Firefighters A to Z by Chris Demarest (1)

*A Visit to the Fire Station by B.A. Hoena (PK)

*Firefighters at Work by Karen Kenny (K)

The students have been loving the printable books we've been doing this year, as well as some of our poems, so I combined our "5 Little Firefighters" chant into our printable coloring book with sight words about firefighters.  I've been getting a good parent response to these books as well!  I plan on making more of them, so don't be surprised to see me making more and maybe adding our featured poem at the end as well (copyright friendly ones)!  The kids love tracing the words over and over and learning to read them with the picture clues.  It also gives me an excuse to keep up my clipart habit to my husband!

If you'd like to see more, here is the link to {Teacher's Notebook} or click on the pictures below for Teachers Pay Teachers.

Oh, I've Seen Fire and I've Seen....Snow?

Okay, so maybe that wasn't the best take on the song title....but it seemed catchy! :)

I've really enjoyed making centers/activities for my autism and special needs PreK classes (2 and 3 year olds).  I've also kind of developed a pattern as well.  Since what they need is so different, it's taken me in a new direction.  We have been "dressing" kids for Fall, putting faces on scarecrows, and now we're dressing firefighters!  While my 2 and 3 year olds can't really "count the room," I added this activity on as well since my PreK (4 year olds) and K-1 Autism class really enjoy this activity!  In fact, once my first and Kinders saw them up, they wanted to do it, too!

So, once I saw that Krista Wallace at Creative Clips created a "Build a Snowman" clipart....well, knew I had to get that!  I probably will wait to use this activity in January, but got inspired by her clipart...that and looking through the shelves for Christmas/Winter picture books the students are already requesting!  (Of course, maybe that's because all my turkey books are checked out!).

I love the "Snowmen at Night" series, so I put that to the side and thought that would be a great read aloud for that lesson.  Pair that with "Snowmen All Year", and you have a nice review for seasons for K and 1 students!  Throw in a "Write the Room" and "Count the Room" (which work fantastically for Library centers!), and I've got activities for PreK-1 about snowmen!  (I can also see my 2nd graders wanting to do the "Write the Room" as well!).

So, I've included below the pictures of both activity packs.  Click on them if you'd like to see them up close and in more detail! :)