Before I get into the presentation, let me tell you a little bit about the composition of Marshall's class. First of all, he goes to Head Start, hurray for free, government funded preschool! So most of the kids he is with are low-income. But most importantly (for this story) most of them are girls. There are 5 boys in the class and about 9 girls. Marshall is the only blond-haired, blue-gray eyed boy and there were only 3 boys the day I volunteered. The girls are all adorable! So, we walk in, late as usual, and I hear about 3 say the following "Marshall, come sit by me!" "No! Me!" "I saved a spot for him!!!" Then again at lunch, "No, you can't sit here, this is Marshall's seat." And the poor kid didn't know what to do or where to sit he was so confused! At free-time when they got to choose their centers, every center had a girl calling his name. Finally the teacher intervened and said, "Let Marshall choose where he wants to go!" At recess, it was the same story, "Marshall, come slide down with me!" "Marshall come over here!" It was hilarious! The teachers had told me this was going on, but I didn't know they were so serious about it. Oh, it cracked me up. Just think...if it's this bad now, how will it be in high school?!
Anyway, on with the fire department. This was awesome! If you have a play group or preschool or something that you'd like to have the fire department come to, I highly recommend it. They did a great job. They were all dads themselves and knew how to relay their message to a kid's level of understanding.
First, they showed them the smoke detector and told them what to do when they hear one- Check the door with the back of your arm and if it's hot, find a window to go out of, if it's cool, slowly open it and get outside. Talk to your family about a place to meet. They taught them that firemen aren't scary and that they're there to help you if there's a fire. One of them showed how he was just a regular person, in regular clothes and told them he was "Anna's Daddy." Then he showed them, step by step, how he gets ready when he goes to a fire by putting on all his clothing and gear and kept telling them "I'm still just Anna's Daddy." Then when he had the mask on he told them his voice would sound funny and asked if anyone knew who Darth Vader was. Of course, my son the Star Wars Fanatic raised his hand. Then he told them if they see him when their house is on fire not to run and hide under the bed or the closet but to come hug him like a teddy bear and invited them all up to touch his clothes. They also taught and showed the kids how to Stop, Drop, and Roll. All the kids got to practice on the floor with their hands covering their face. We had Marshall demonstrate twice, to my mom and John, to help it stick in his head. Next, they took them outside to show them their fire engine. They showed them all the tools, hoses, and knobs. Then they turned on the siren while the kids plugged their ears. The kids were in heaven!
