Have you ever had a fire drill failure? Fire drills in any early childhood classroom are so chaotic it’s difficult not to fail. Getting the kids out of the building at lightning speed is next to impossible, especially in the beginning of the year when all they want to do is cry or wander aimlessly into the street. Have you ever tried to get an entire class of 4 and 5 year olds anywhere quickly? Don’t get me wrong, I think fire drills are necessary safeguards against disaster, but that doesn’t make them any less stressful for teachers and kids.
Many years ago I worked for a Head Start program in New England. Those of you who live in colder climates know there is a law mandating that you open any and all windows whenever the temperature rises above 60 degrees. You also know that along with nice weather in the north comes the dreaded “construction season”. So, one fine day in May there I was in my classroom with the windows open serving lunch with my assistant to our sixteen students. The ancient building that housed our Head Start program was in the process of having a new wing constructed- right outside my classroom window. The new wing would house the administrators of course, not the classrooms- that would make too much sense! Picture the classroom windows open and the delightful sounds of backhoes and earthmovers doing their thing outside.
Suddenly, the school nurse burst into the classroom red-faced and ringing a miniature dinner bell. The only reason I knew it was ringing is because I saw her hand moving, the noise coming from outside the window masked the delicate tinkling of the tiny bell. She was screaming “We’re having a fire drill and you’re just sitting here! I’ve been ringing this bell for five minutes!” Now, you’re probably wondering a few things, 1) why is the nurse ringing a miniature dinner bell to signal a fire drill? and 2) why is she the one in charge of the fire drill? The reason she was using a dinner bell is because the building we were housed in was so old it didn’t have a real fire alarm (yes, I’m aware that’s 8 kinds of crazy and dangerous). She was in charge of the fire drill because she was in charge of everything and that’s the way she liked it uh-huh uh-huh.
Despite my explanations and the fact that the assistant didn’t hear the bell either Nurse Ratched insisted on writing me up for “failure to follow school policy”, making this an official Fire Drill Fail.
Do you have a Fire Drill Fail story?
Stay tuned for a “Fire Drill Fix” post later this week and find out how to tame the fire drill monster.
You certainly have some stories to tell!
Vanessa,
Loved that story! Now why in the world is there a law mandating that windows must be opened if the tempature rises above 60 degrees? In CA, that’s pretty cold, you know!
🙂
Heidi
I have never failed a fire drill but I did get written up for causing a “testing irregularity” during the state testing becasue my children made too much noise OUT ON THE PLAYGROUND outside the teacher’s lounge window, where inside, unbeknownst to me, they were testing some students. As a result we cannot go out on the playground during testing week anymore.
I don’t have a disaster but I do have a procedure that helps us get out of the classroom in an orderly manner…I play a marching song that helps us leave the classroom…the kids walk around the carpet and the leader leads us out…to lunch, to restroom, to go home, outside, etc. Well it becomes such a habit that when the alarm goes off, I just play the march and the kids walk out without disorder.
ugh, fire drills. That story cracked me up!! I could just picture the teeny bell being rung. lol. I also was picturing a bit of the Kindergarten cop scene in my head.
OK a few years ago I didn’t “fail” the fire drill but I did use the wrong exit! I was new to the school and exits were not covered in our training. There were two red lines on the emergency escape routes posted by my door. I picked the dotted red line which was the “secondary” emergency exit (silly because it was closer than the first exit). Well at least we were outside right? LOL!!!
We do 8 fire drills in the fall and 8 in the spring. And we always always always have one the first week of school. (When the 3 and 4 yr. olds have been in school for 2 days!) We actually had one nice day about a week ago and one student already starting asking about fire drills-” ’cause i will be scared”
Last year the second grade students were directly above us on the second floor. As they passed my door-each 2nd grader grabbed the hand of a pre-k kid. It worked great to help my students understand what to do.
Except those who already nervous about it-the spring fire drills usually go pretty well.
HA! IT was kind of funny, but not. We have been doing pretty great on fire drills, but this past one, a child decided to TURN around and go back to the room to use the bathroom.