●Fire Project No.4

By this point, our impromptu fire safety project was in full swing. Mr. Machi, being the kid’s/teacher’s best friend that he is, suggested we actually visit a near by fire station for real. “Oh, really, we can do that?” I asked in astonishment. “When do you want to go?” was the reply I got with a smile. Now we could really finish off this project with something special that the kids would most definitely enjoy.  We had to be quite and get some experiments out of the first thought. We started by posing a question….What is fire?  How can something like fire start out the size of a lighter and then consume an entire house? How does it move?  Does it breath? Using the old science teacher’s favorite, baking soda and some redish vinegar, we were about to find out!. First I ask the kids to draw me a picture of what they thought would happen if something, say a chair caught on fire.

●Fire Project final

Finally, the day that everyone had been waiting for, and some of us stayed up all night for(right Hikaru?) Mr. Machi loaded us all in the Happy bus and we were off. On the way to the station, the kids told me all their experiences with fire fighters, trucks, and stations. “I saw a fire truck once!” , “I talked to a fire fighter once”! The excitement was palpable. I asked the kids to think of some questions that they might want to ask the fire fighters when we arrived. And there were many. “What do we do if the school bus catches fire?”, “Is if scary being a fighting a fire?”, “Why are you a fire fighter?” (my personal favorites). Of course when we arrived, they were WAAAYYY too excited to remember their questions. So they thought of new ones. “Can we get in the drivers’ seat”, “Do you have a Ladder Truck?”, “Can we get on that!?!?!” It was a lot of fun. for all of us.

Our thanks to the Den en Chofu Fire Department, for these smiles. Priceless.