Pre-K Mini-Unit: Firefighters

Alicia Osborne
EDU 502
November 15, 2016
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Description

This Social Studies mini-unit about Firefighters is designed for Pre-K students ages 3 to 5

years in a Brookline, MA public school. The mini-unit is designed to be part of a larger ongoing

unit on community and community helpers that includes walking field trips in the school

neighborhood, creating a classroom display of the school neighborhood, and learning about

specific jobs that people in the community have. This may include having a doctor come to visit

the classroom and setting up the dramatic play area to be a pretend doctors office and visiting

a local market and setting up the dramatic play area as a market with a cash register where

children can act out roles as cashier, grocer, shelf-stocker, and customer. The Firefighters mini-

unit will include use of books about firefighters, firefighter-related games, art, and sensory

activities, setting up the dramatic play area like a fire station, having a fire fighter from the

community visit the classroom with his or her gear, and a walking field trip to the local fire

station for a tour.

Rationale

The two main purposes of the social studies, according to Seefeldt, Castle, and Falconer,

are to prepare children for the office of citizen and to integrate knowledge, skills, and

attitudes within and across disciplines (2010, p.2). A unit about community helpers can

provide children with a wide range of learning experiences that meet these purposes.

Successful social studies are based on teachers understanding of the experiences children

have had before coming to school, the interests of each child, individual abilities, special needs,

and the culture in which children live (Seefeldt et al., 2010). I have observed that some

children in my Pre-K class have shown interest in fire trucks and fire stations through their play
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in the block area and some have told me about the fire alarms going off in their apartment

buildings and seeing the fire fighters come in their fire trucks while they are waiting outside. I

think that fire fighters will be a very high-interest mini-unit that can be adapted to meet the

individual abilities, needs, and expand on prior knowledge and experiences of the students in

my class.

I also believe that it is very important to talk to children about fire safety, even if it may

be a scary topic, and expose them to what firefighters look like wearing all of their protective

gear, which can be a frightening sight to a young child. Using things that are naturally

interesting to young children, like fire trucks and fire stations, is a great way to teach important

safety lessons, like what to do in case of a fire, in a less threatening manner. Through this mini-

unit, children will learn not only some fire safety lessons, but learn about what it means to hold

a specialized job in the community.

This mini-unit on firefighters is designed to address four areas of the Social Studies:

Geography, Civics, Economics, and Identity/Diversity. For Geography, children will work toward

the Massachusetts History and Social Science Curriculum Framework goal Pre-K-K.4: Describe

the location and features of places in the immediate neighborhood of the students home or

school (Massachusetts Department of Education, 2003). They will be introduced to the idea of

using a map to navigate their community and be exposed to directional language throughout

the walking field trip to the fire station. After the field trip, children will make a visual

representation of the fire station to add to an ongoing project in the classroom of making a

display of the neighborhood with landmarks that we have visited on our walking trips. By age

4 children have an intuitive sense of space and are able to construct representations of
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spaceMaps are vital tools for locating oneself in space. Children begin developing mapping

skills by making and using maps rather than by reading them (Seefeldt et al., 2010, p. 224).

For Civics, children will work toward the Massachusetts History and Social Science

Curriculum Framework goal PreK-K.6: Identify and describe family or community members who

promote the welfare and safety of children and adults (Massachusetts Department of

Education, 2003). Upon completion of this mini-unit, children should be able to identify and

describe the role of a fire fighter and provide examples of how they help to keep people and

our community safe. Through taking neighborhood field trips to explore the community

outside of the school, children observe how people are interdependent and begin to see that

they and their school are small parts of a larger world (Seefeldt et al., p. 290).

For Economics, children will work toward the Massachusetts History and Social Science

Curriculum Framework goal PreK-K.8: Give examples of different kids of jobs that people do,

including the work they do at home (Massachusetts Department of Education, 2003). Children

will learn that some fire fighters volunteer their time, but for many it is a career that involves

long work hours and specialized training. Through completion of this mini-unit, children should

be able to compare and contrast the work of a fire fighter to other professions that they have

become familiar with through the community helpers unit or their own prior knowledge and

experiences. In learning about fire fighters and the fire department, children will be introduced

to a service that is funded through local taxes.

For Identity/Diversity, children should be provided examples of workers who may not

conform to their stereotyped ideas of a certain profession in order to show them that no

matter their gender, skin color, abilities, or background, they have the potential to choose any
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career they desire in the future. According to Seefeldt, Castle, and Falconer (2010), teaching

about careers in the early years acknowledges the need for every child to grow up to become a

productive member of society:

The idea of beginning career education in the preschool-primary classroom,

of asking children who are barely able to comprehend concepts of yesterday,
today, or tomorrow to plan for a vague and distant future, might seem
inappropriate. Intent on living each day fully and developing skills, knowledge
and attitudes required for life in the present, young children have little real
concern for future. Yet the preschool-primary class is the ideal place to begin
education for a career; during these early years, childrens attitudes, values,
and essential skills are formed. These attitudes, values, and skills will remain
with the children and serve to direct their entire lives. Career education
becomes much more a function of attitude, value, and skill development than
an artificial addition to the curriculum. (p.269-270)

The firefighters mini-unit will provide children with varied opportunities to engage in

discussion, movement, sensory activities, and arts. According to Seefeldt et al., children whose

basic needs are met are naturally curious learners and are filled with the desire to learn more

about themselves and their world. Their active minds and bodies demand that they move

about physically and interact with one other. Children need to talk, question, and take things

apart in their attempts to find out about and make sense of their world (2010, p. 27).
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Unit Goals

Content Goals:

1. Community helpers work in our community to ensure the health and safety of children

and adults.

2. Firefighters are community helpers that have specialized training, facilities, and

equipment that help them to ensure the health and safety of everyone in the

community.

3. There are things we need to learn and remember to keep us safe in an emergency

situation.

Process Goals:

1. Work collaboratively and actively participate in group discussions and activities.

2. Show an interest in varied topics and activities and an eagerness to learn.

3. Use and comprehend oral language for communication and conversation.

Attitude/Disposition Goals:

1. Feel connected to the larger community and appreciate the roles of others in the

community.

2. Develop and display a sense of confidence in their abilities.

3. Imagine and speak of future potential for oneself.

4. People with specialized jobs in our community should be valued.

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Schedule/ Outline of Mini-Unit:

1. Week 1 will be an introduction to community helpers. (See Lesson Plan 1).

2. Week 2 will be the firefighters mini-unit.

Day 1: Get sense of childrens current knowledge of firefighters, introduce

childrens lit on firefighters. Find out what children want to learn about

firefighters.

Day 2: Firefighters art project and childrens books. Introduce specialized

vocabulary. Create list of questions for visiting firefighter.

Day 3: Visit from firefighter. (See Lesson Plan 2) Drawing and writing about the

firefighter visit.

Day 4: Make thank you card for visiting firefighter. Preview field trip.

Day 5: Field trip to fire station. (See Lesson Plan 3)

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Lesson Plans

Lesson Plan 1: Who are Helpers in our Community?

Domains: Cognitive, Emotional/ Affective, Social

Content Areas: Social Studies, Literacy

MA Curriculum Frameworks:

Health 9.2: Name persons and community helpers (such as police officers, fire fighters,

and emergency medical personnel) who can be contacted to help with health, safety,

and injury prevention and describe the appropriate procedures for contacting

healthcare personnel in an emergency (Massachusetts Department of Education, 1999).

History and Social Science PreK-K.6: Identify and describe family or community members

who promote the welfare and safety of children and adults (Massachusetts Department

of Education, 2003).

History and Social Science PreK-K.8: Give examples of different kinds of jobs people do,

including the work they do at home (Massachusetts Department of Education, 2003).

Reading PreK: MA.1. With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about a

story or poem read aloud (Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary

Education, 2011).

Reading PreK MA.4. With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about

unfamiliar words in a story or poem read aloud (Massachusetts Department of

Elementary and Secondary Education, 2011).

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Reading PreK MA.10. Listen actively as an individual and as a member of a group to a

variety of age- appropriate literature read aloud (Massachusetts Department of

Elementary and Secondary Education, 2011)..

Lesson Goals:

1. Community helpers work in our community to ensure the health and safety of everyone.

2. Actively listen to age-appropriate literature read-aloud and participate in group

discussions.

3. Expand vocabulary through interactions with literature and class discussion.

4. Imagine and speak of future potential for oneself.

Lesson Objectives:

Children will be able to-

1. Identify at least 3 community helpers.

2. Describe the role of community helpers.

3. Demonstrate good listening skills and participate in an interactive read-aloud and

whole-group discussion about community helpers.

Materials:

o Book Whose Hands Are These?: A Community Helper Guessing Book by Miranda

Paul

o Chart Paper and Marker

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Procedures:

1. During large group time, I will ask the children if anyone knows what a community

helper is. I will explain that a community helper is any person who has a job that helps

with our health or wellbeing.

2. I will ask students to name examples of community helpers and I will list them on the

chart paper.

3. I will read the book Whose Hands Are These?: A Community Helper Guessing Book by

Miranda Paul, allowing the students to guess what each occupation will be from the

clues provided in the book, stopping to discuss new or challenging vocabulary, and

allowing time for students comments and discussion.

4. I will ask the students if they have any more community helpers to add to our list after

reading our book.

5. We will read through our community helpers list as a group and come up with

descriptors for each one, for example Farmers grow our food, mail carriers deliver our

mail. I will then re-state the definition of a community helper.

Extensions:

I will provide a variety of other books about community helpers for the classroom library,

including Whose Hat Is This?: A Look at Hats Workers Wear - Hard, Tall, and Shiny (Whose Is It?:

Community Workers) and Whose Tools Are These?: A Look at Tools Workers Use - Big, Sharp,

and Smooth (Whose Is It?: Community Workers), both written by Sharon Katz Cooper. An

optional activity for children will be to draw a community helper they would like to be someday

and write about it or dictate the words for a teacher to transcribe.

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Accommodations:

One learner in my class can read, but has very limited verbal skills, so I will provide him with

visuals to better allow him to participate in the discussion. This will include labeled pictures of

various community helpers that he can match to visuals of the tools that they use. When I ask

children during the read-aloud to use the clues from the book to make a smart guess about

which community helper is being described, I will take note of whether this child chooses the

correct community helper out of the provided visuals. One learner has great difficulty

attending to new books in a group setting, so I will preview and familiarize him with the book

one-on-one before reading it with the whole group.

Evaluation/ Assessment:

I will make notes of how each child contributes to the initial discussion on community helpers

and continue to make notes on throughout the unit to gain an understanding of the knowledge

and skills they have developed throughout the unit. For this specific lesson, I will look for

evidence of childrens understanding of what a community helper is, whether they are able to

provide examples of a community helper, and if they talk about their ideas of a future career

for themselves. I will do this through collection of language samples both during and after the

lesson. I can use a checklist to help me keep track of who participates and specific behaviors I

observe during the read-aloud. Some things I will be looking for are for children to remained

seated in their assigned spots or take appropriate breaks as needed, raise their hands to

respond, make comments relevant to the book and lesson, and show respect to others that are

speaking through remaining quiet and attentive. At the end of the unit, I will ask the children to
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do a self-assessment by asking them to draw (and write with support) about one community

helper that they learned about.

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Lesson 2: Classroom Visitor- A Firefighter

Domains: Cognitive, Social, Emotional/Affective, Physical

Content Areas: Social Studies, Literacy, Health

MA Curriculum Frameworks:

Health 9.1: List rules for fire safety, weapons safety, bus safety, and seatbelt use where

applicable, such as at home, school, community, and play, and explain why the rules are

important (Massachusetts Department of Education, 1999).

Health 9.2: Name persons and community helpers (such as police officers, fire fighters,

and emergency medical personnel) who can be contacted to help with health, safety,

and injury prevention and describe the appropriate procedures for contacting

healthcare personnel in an emergency (Massachusetts Department of Education, 1999).

Health 9.3: Describe personal responsibility for reducing hazards and avoiding accidents

(Massachusetts Department of Education, 1999).

Speaking and Listening PreK MA.1.a.: Observe and use appropriate ways of interacting in

a group (e.g., taking turns in talking, listening to peers, waiting to speak until another

person is finished talking, asking questions and waiting for an answer, gaining the floor

in appropriate ways (Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary

Education, 2011).

History and Social Science PreK-K.6: Identify and describe family or community members

who promote the welfare and safety of children and adults (Massachusetts Department

of Education, 2003).

.
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Lesson Goals:

1. Firefighters are people who promote the safety and welfare of children and adults in

our community.

2. Firefighters have specialized training and use special clothing and equipment to help

them do their job and keep them safe.

3. There are things we need to learn and remember to keep us safe in an emergency

situation.

4. People with specialized roles in our community should be valued and appreciated.

Lesson Objectives:

Children will be able to-

1. Describe fire safety rules and the procedure for contacting first-responders in the case

of an emergency.

2. Use specialized vocabulary to label a firefighters tools, clothing, and equipment.

3. Use good listening skills to attend to a presentation given by a helper in our community.

Materials:

o List of questions for the firefighter

o Materials provided by firefighter, including fire safety teaching materials, tools and gear

Procedures:

1. We will spend a few days reading books and doing activities related to firefighters and

then, as a class, will formulate a list of questions that we want to ask the firefighter.

2. We will preview what to expect having a visiting community helper in our classroom and

will review rules for good listening and group discussion times.
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3. The firefighter will come in and talk about her job and about fire safety.

4. The class will ask the firefighter questions from the list we generated in anticipation of

the visit.

5. Children will get a turn to try on part of the firefighters gear and watch the firefighter

get dressed up in all of her gear.

6. After the visit, I will tell the children that next time, it will be our turn to visit the

firefighter at the local fire station and that we will bring her a thank you card for coming

to visit our class. I will ask the children to think about some things we could write for

the thank you card.

Adjustments/ Accommodations: There are three children in my class who are challenged

by changes in the daily routine, so I will provide a lot of support in previewing with them

what to expect on the day we have our visitor. During the week of our visiting firefighter, I

will use a countdown chain to countdown the days until her visit.

Evaluation/ Assessment: Anecdotal observations will be used throughout the fire-fighters

mini-unit to record childrens developments in learning. For this lesson, I wiIl use a checklist

to keep track of students use of whole-body listening behaviors, but know that a visit from

a real firefighter will be especially exciting for children. After the visit, I will ask children to

draw about the experience and tell me about their drawings to get an idea of what things

stood out for them about the visit. I will ask them to verbally label parts of their drawing

and will transcribe each childs words. This will allow me to see which children have learned

some of the specialized vocabulary that was introduced in this mini-unit and gain an

understanding of the childrens appreciation for what firefighters do. I will review the fire
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safety rules taught by the firefighter to reinforce them and to look for whether children

understand them. I will ask children to volunteer to come up to the front of the class and

tell the class one fire safety rule or tip they learned and will record their responses.
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Lesson 3: A Fire Station Field Trip

Domains: Physical, Social, Emotional/ Affective

Content areas: Social Studies, Health

MA Curriculum Frameworks:

Health 9.1: List rules for fire safety, weapons safety, bus safety, and seatbelt use where

applicable, such as at home, school, community, and play, and explain why the rules are

important (Massachusetts Department of Education, 1999).

Health 9.2: Name persons and community helpers (such as police officers, fire fighters,

and emergency medical personnel) who can be contacted to help with health, safety,

and injury prevention and describe the appropriate procedures for contacting

healthcare personnel in an emergency (Massachusetts Department of Education, 1999).

Health 9.3: Describe personal responsibility for reducing hazards and avoiding accidents

(Massachusetts Department of Education, 1999).

History and Social Science PreK-K.6: Identify and describe family or community members

who promote the welfare and safety of children and adults (Massachusetts Department

of Education, 2003).

History and Social Science PreK-K.4: Describe the location and features of places in the

immediate neighborhood of the students home or school (Massachusetts Department

of Education, 2003).

Health 2.7 Demonstrate responsible personal and social conduct used in physical activity

settings (Massachusetts Department of Education, 1999).

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Lesson Goals:

1. Firefighters are people who promote the welfare and safety of children and adults in

our community.

2. Fire stations are specialized workplaces with critical characteristics that allow them to

assist in emergencies.

3. Firefighters have specialized training, facilities, and equipment to help them do their

job.

4. We can visit people in our community and express our appreciation for their work.

Lesson Objectives:

Children will be able to-

1. Participate in a walking field trip within the community of their schools neighborhood.

2. Using age-appropriate language, describe the location and features of the local fire

station.

3. Describe the importance of firefighters and their specialized facilities, equipment, and

training.

Materials:

o Emergency bag- first-aid supplies, emergency contact information, epi-pens, cell

phone

o Camera

o Hold-a-ring walking rope

o Thank-you card for firefighter that gave presentation at the school

o Walking field trip rules social story

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Procedures:

1. I will have obtained field trip permission slips for all students in the class and request

that parents of two particular children in my class serve as chaperones due to flight-

risk and safety concerns. I also will have established a time with the local fire station to

come for a tour, coordinating a time that our guest speaker firefighter will be there.

2. Leading up to the field trip, we will practice using our walking field trip rules by taking

neighborhood walks close to school, gradually increasing the lengths of our walks. We

will review the rules before the trip to the fire station.

3. I will ask students to predict what kinds of things they will see, hear, and experience at

the fire station and we will talk about what we might want to record as evidence of our

learning about the fire station as well as the behavior that is expected of guests to the

fire station.

4. We will walk to the fire station, using directional language and talking about landmarks

and things we see on the way.

5. I will document the walk and the visit to the fire station through taking photographs and

video.

6. The children will get a tour of the fire station, an up-close look at the fire trucks, and will

get to meet more firefighters. I will allow the children to take turns with the camera to

help document our trip. I will also have a notebook and writing instruments available

for myself or the children to take notes on what we want to remember about our field

trip.
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Accommodations/ Adjustments: I have one student who has been reported by his parents to

have bolted and been destructive while out in the community and another student who will

sometimes refuse to transition and will flop to the ground, so I will need to rely on having these

students parents or caregivers attend the field trip to help ensure their safety during the walk.

These two children may need to have the option of traveling in a stroller or wagon. These same

students will benefit from use of a social story about the field trip being frequently reviewed

with them leading up to it.

Assessment/ Evaluation: After the field trip, I will print the photos I took and engage students

in a picture walk with the photos on the following day. I will ask them to tell me about what

was happening at the time I took the photos and to sequence some of the photos. We will work

as a class to put labels with the photos and make a display to hang up for children and their

families to see I will culminate the mini-unit by having a group discussion with children and

listing all of things they tell me that they learned about firefighters on large chart paper.
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Resources and Materials

Brookline firefighter (classroom visitor)

Brookline fire station (field trip site)

Childrens librarian at the public library (Firefighter books)

Whose Hands Are These?: A Community Helper Guessing Book by Miranda Paul

Whose Hat Is This?: A Look at Hats Workers Wear - Hard, Tall, and Shiny (Whose Is It?:

Community Workers) by Sharon Katz Cooper

Whose Tools Are These?: A Look at Tools Workers Use - Big, Sharp, and Smooth (Whose

Is It?: Community Workers), by Sharon Katz Cooper

DK Readers: Jobs People Do -- A Day in a Life of a Firefighter (Level 1: Beginning to Read)

by Linda Hayward

Firefighters A to Z by Chris Demarest

My Mom is a Firefighter by Lois G. Grambling

Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks

http://www.doe.mass.edu/frameworks/current.html
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References

o Massachusetts Department of Education (1999). Massachusetts comprehensive health

curriculum framework. http://www.doe.mass.edu/frameworks/health/1999/1099.pdf.

o Massachusetts Department of Education (2003). Massachusetts history and social

science curriculum framework. http://www.doe.mass.edu/frameworks/hss/final.pdf.

o Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (2011).

Massachusetts curriculum framework for English language arts and literacy.

http://www.doe.mass.edu/frameworks/ela/0311.pdf.

o National Council for the Social Studies (1994). Expectations of excellence: Curriculum

standards for social studies. Silver Spring MD: NCSS.

o Seefeldt, C., Castle, S. & Falconer, R. (2010). Social Studies for the preschool-primary

child (8th Ed.). Upper Sadle River, NJ: Merrill.