Fire Safety Week - FREE activities - Kindergarten and First Grade
This page contains affiliate links. Read Full Disclosure
We celebrate fire safety week in October!
This year, I am excited to incorporate some activities I have done for years, but I am also adding quite a few new ideas.
I am so excited to share them with you.
Plus, you can print a FREE virtual field trip activity plus a FREE firefighter printable on this blog post.
I use these activities throughout the entire month of October, but I designed this unit so you can use everything included or you can pick and choose what works for your students.
My favorite part about teaching fire safety is that children absolutely love learning about firefighters and the important ways they serve our community.
Teaching children fire safety is an absolute critical life skill, and they are 100% engaged!
Let’s get started!
This slideshow comes in a PDF format to make it each to project on your front whiteboard from your computer.
Students love the real life pictures and discussing what they see. Each slide teaches one new vocabulary word.
VIRTUAL FIELD TRIP
This five minute video is the perfect way to get students excited to learn about fire safety and firefighters!
I pass out these field trip printables before we start the movie, and then pause the video to check for understanding and students can fill in their activity page as we watch our “virtual field trip”.
I hope you love this activity as much as we do!
This mini book and the vocabulary words match the slideshow perfectly!
Students love having their own book, and they practice their fluency reading with a partner.
Then, students can take these home to show their families.
This is such an important lesson! Kids forget that fire can be very helpful for us.
When kids think fire, they automatically seem to think it is always hurtful. This is a powerful lesson to remind them we need fire and it can be a wonderful tool to celebrate holidays, birthdays, keep our homes warm, etc.
We go through the picture cards and then students brainstorm other examples of how fire can be both hurtful or helpful.
The Forest of Fire is an excellent read aloud to explain the difference between healthy fires versus harmful fires (example: forest fires).
With more and more wildfires now, this book discusses what happens when humans interfere with the natural landscape.
What happens when there is a wildfire? How can humans help prevent fires?
I always love to focus on the positive behavior, and these awards do just that!
I always tell my kiddos I am looking for students who are doing the right thing without being asked.
Tip: I have these filled out for all of my students and keep them in a drawer. This way they are ready to go and you can pass them out as soon as you get back to the classroom and aren’t scrambling to write names.
Here is a quick video that reviews the vocabulary words we have been learning, goes over calling getting out if there is a fire and having a safe meeting spot, calling 911 and the kids love getting to see firefighters in their gear.
I get out my own cellphone and show students how to unlock it and press the numbers.
It is a little confusing to kids that they have to press to number 1 two times, so I show them how they can see what numbers are displayed. They also forget to press the call button.
I send home the letter to families so kiddos can practice at home and make a fire safety plan with their families. Parents can sign it and send it back and we all share our safe meeting spots.
This lesson will bring to light a lot of misconceptions students have, and your discussions will be so insightful!
The recording sheet below matches the slides perfectly, so students can follow along and circle the correct answers. This is the perfect activity for think, pair share.
This next lesson is short and sweet, but it is an important discussion to have.
Remind students that firefighters can seem scary looking in all their gear, especially if you’re trapped in smoke… but do not be scared! They are here to help you.
I love using the book Plan and Prepare for this lesson!
It comes with music and a read aloud (I love saving my voice!)
We actually read this book several times throughout the unit because the kids love it so much.
Get the wiggles out and let them get up, dance and make signs for the words as they sing along. This helps them remember the rules for fire safety.
If you do not own this book, you can watch it here:
If you use my animal reports, you will love these next lessons!
We are writing reports about firefighters, and everything you need is included.
The reading passage, graphic organizers and writing papers make it so easy for students to learn how to write reports.
It may be early in the school year for kindergarteners to complete these on their own, but you can do this whole group, and then students can make their own craft.
Another option for kindergarten is for them to draw pictures in the graphic organizer instead of writing.
These always turn out super cute, and if you’re lucky enough to have visiting firefighters during fire safety week, it is so fun to send these letters home with them.
If your students are not writing yet, I use the letter where they can trace (far right shown above), and then I have them tell me what they want to say. I finish writing the letter in front of them modeling how to write each letter/word.
Then I have them touch each word and read it back to me.
Then they can sign their name at the bottom and draw a picture to match!
If you have used my labeling unit, students will know exactly what to do and can get right to work!
What I love about this unit is you can mix and match the activities. If some of your students are not ready to write a letter to a firefighter, then they can complete this labeling activity while your higher students write letters.
You can easily adapt these lessons to fit the needs of all of your students.
We have been learning so much, and as I begin to wind the unit down, we review safety tips and fire prevention. This is the perfect note to wrap this unit up.
Making this flip book helps student learn and remember how they can be responsible and help prevent fires.
In case students are ever faced with this kind of emergency, we learn what stop, drop and roll means!
You can laminate the color version for a center activity or students and complete the black and white option.
It is time to review our key vocabulary words and practice our fluency!
These activities are no prep for you and can easily be incorporated into your reading block.
Students feel so successful reading, and it is fun to see.
Here is another fun way to review vocabulary words and work on handwriting.
This game can be played anytime throughout the unit, or save it until the end to as a review game.
It is time to summarize the big ideas we have learned about fire safety!
I would suggest modeling first and/or completing together. Once you start by giving the main idea, students are quick to suggest all the details.
I often give the main idea to get them going, and then they can write or draw the details.
For kindergarten, I would complete this activity whole group, but first and second graders can complete their own paper.
I love thematic teaching and switching things up.
These games and activities are perfect to include in our math center rotations for October, or to play when I need a fifteen minute filler.
The bonus activities are geared for pre-k, kindergarten and first grade.
I also make Fire Safety Packets for students to keep in their desks for a couple weeks.
If they get finished early with their assignments, they can pull these out to work on.
Plus… for your fast finishers, there are these activities to differentiate:
21 LESSONS + BONUS GAMES AND ACTIVITIES
Fire safety week is so much fun, and everything is planned for you!
TRY THESE FREEBIES!
These come in both color and black and white.
We love to use them with both bingo daubers and circle stickers.
Looking for additional lessons for October?
