October is Fire Safety Month! I make sure my students are well educated on the topic because I am married to a firefighter. My son thinks first responders are the most amazing super heroes! We've recently added a few more books to our rotation as we learn more about the technical aspects of the job and a push to include more women and minorities in the profession.
The Amazon book listing for Send a Girl: The True Story of How Women Joined the FDNY says, "Brenda Berkman was often told that she couldn't do certain things because she was a girl. When she grew up, she longed for a job that was challenging, different every day, and required physical and mental strength. In 1977 when the New York City Fire Department finally complied with the Civil Rights Act (from 1964) by allowing women to take the FDNY exam, Brenda jumped at the chance. But the FDNY changed the rules of the exam so women wouldn't be able to pass it. Even a lot of men couldn't pass this new exam. So Brenda Berkman took the FDNY to court. In 1982, they finally made a fair test, and Brenda and 40 other women passed. She then founded the United Women Firefighters, an organization that helps train and prepare women to be firefighters. Brenda went on to serve in the FDNY for 25 years, reaching the positions of Lieutenant and Captain, and was a first responder during the attacks on the Twin Towers on 9/11. Send a Girl! is Brenda Berkman's inspiring story."
Want to use this book for a lesson, or need something a bit more mature for middle and high schoolers? Check out this Sutori timeline I made. It's great for Fire Safety Month, Women's History Month, or learning about the Civil Rights Act.
We also read another non-fiction story to learn more about the career as well as get ideas for building with LEGOs. The Amazon listing says,
"Join the LEGO minifigures on an exciting adventure as firefighters race to the rescue around LEGO City in Firefighters to the Rescue. Learn amazing facts about their rescue vehicles, daily tasks, and heroic rescues. Bursting with stunning photographs, fun facts, mini comics, building ideas, and stickers, Firefighters to the Rescue is the perfect book for any young reader."
I made this fun printable pack when we learned about the letter F. It includes a do-a-dot page, a maze, a vocabulary page for memory match, and word search,
We know part of the job is reading signs, so we revisited an old post of mine about environmental print. In our neighborhood and home, we look at and read signs for fire hydrants and extinguishers, and standpipes.
We also practice making emergency calls to get help from first responders. Here is what we determined my son (and your children / students) should know.
Read more about fire safety and Fire Safety Month!
