Craft: The Firefighter’s Hat

Wednesday (10/01/2010)

a) Questions, questions, questions!
l As we are going to the Fire Station tomorrow, we thought of questions to ask them. Altogether, the kids thought of 14 questions. They came upfront individually to pose their questions. I guided them with the English translations.
l Among:
Jun Hong: Where did they get the hydrant water?
Zheng Yuan: Is the axe heavy?
Jun Yu: What happened when some irresponsible people call 994 for fun?!
Foo Soon: Do they work together with the police officers?
Xing Tong: What happened if our homes have no smoke alarm?
Chun Kit: What can our family do?
Devin: What do firefighters do?
Shi Jie: Do they have rescue dogs?
Qian Joe: What other things are there in the Fire Truck?
Yun Xin: What must we say when we call the firefighters?

b) Firefighters’ cd
* We need to learn about fire safety. What are the things that cause fire?
Class: Never play with matches. Fire crackers too!
* We watched Jun Hong’s CD. Fire can be caused by gas explosion. When the gas cylinder leak, the gas would cause explosion. They saw how Firefighters rushed to the burnt building and save the people. When victims inhale too much smoke, they might die. Thus, they can cover their nose with wet * Cigarette butts can also cause fire.

* Jun Yu’s mother made a firefighter’s hat for him and he showed us the example. That was quite a few weeks a ago. Today, we made the hat together for ourselves. We hoped to wear for our Fire Station trip tomorrow as a surprise for the firefighters!:)
* Each kid took an orange colour paper. Then they folded the paper equally into half. Then, they tested on their head. Each kid then took a small piece of white paper with a badge pattern. They wrote the telephone number 994. Then they cut and pasted onto their orange paper hat.

d) About Haiti
* We watched a video clip on Haiti. Most people were injured and the buildings also collapsed. Many people around the world came to aid them. Example: social workers, firefighters, First Aid Helpers, policemen and people around the area.
Yun Wen: Teacher, Haitians are black. I thought only Indians are black.
* We also have black Americans and people around the world come in many colours.
* We also watched how firefighters did Car Wash Charity to aid fund raising.
* As for us, we baked cookies, made Tiger Puppet Dance, made ice-cream and also sandwiches to raise fund. We know that many people around the world are still raising money to assist the Haitians.

d) Nien Story.
* There are many versions of Nien Story. We watched a video clip from YouTube. The kids saw the scary look of the monster. The story was almost the same as our version (last few lessons) except that the monster was first imprisoned by the God. Then, it escaped and attacked the villagers again. A wise old man advised them that the Nien was afraid of bright red colourand loud noise such as Lion Dance. That was why, until today we continue the tradition of Chinese new year celebration. Some said, the Nien died. Some said, it escaped and would return again.

e) Musical Chair
* The kids formed a circle. Then, a chair was taken away. They had to walk quickly but not run or play foul. Otherwise, they would be disqualified from the game. We sang our English version song and when I stopped, they had to grab a seat. They just loved the game!
“Happy Chinese New Year, We are all so happy, Fire crackers, Red Ang Pow, Tiger, Lion, Dragon dance! Gong Xi, Gong Xi, Gong Xi Ni! Aii! Gong Xi, Gong Xi, Gong Xi Ni!
* After the activity, the kids continue with their colouring on “Stop, Drop and Roll” and “Get Low and Crawl”.