Rescue Heroes Party Coming Up

Just a reminder about the Rescue Heroes party coming up tomorrow.  The children can dress up as their favorite Rescue Hero, bring books or toys about Rescue Heroes and bring a stuffed animal to "rescue."

Please let me know if your child is going to participate in the Cardboard City instead of the Party.

More Coast Guard

There was so much to talk about with the Coast Guard that we extended it another week.  We read about real Coast Guard heroes.  Did you know the Coast Guard helped out during 9/11?  We watched the end of our video and learned how the Coast Guard spots and marks icebergs, so ships won't hit them, like the Titanic did so long ago.  They still leave a wreath in the same spot to honor the victims of the Titanic.  We learned how to tie a knot--a clove hitch and got to bring home our ropes to practice.  We also got a coloring book published by the Coast Guard that shows what they do, some equipment they use, and terms for different parts of the ship.  Some of the children brought home instructions on how to draw Coast Guard boats, as well.

Next week:  "Hug-a-Tree" or how to get rescued if you are lost in the woods.  (P.S. keep working on memorizing their address and phone numbers.)

In preparation for our Rescue Heroes party on May 14th, the children can come dressed as a rescue hero, bring a book about a rescue hero and bring a favorite stuffed animal "to rescue."  Eli wanted to bring actual Rescue Hero figures.  That is okay, also.

Coast Guard

This week we learned about the  Coast Guard.  They are a fun group to learn about.  They are like the police officers, the fire fighters, the search and rescue and the navy and air force all rolled into one.  They even have Coast Guard dogs that can search for illegal things on boats.  We got a sheet that had pictures of a bunch of Coast Guard vehicles and we watched a video and were able to identify most of them.  Then we learned how to fold sailor hats out of newsprint and finally we learned how to talk like a sailor.  We learned different words like deck, porthole, lookout, etc.

Next week we are going to do more on the Coast Guard.  There is just so much to learn about.  We are also continuing to work on memorizing our phone numbers and addresses.  This is a safety thing in a child gets lost.  I would encourage you to work with them on learning these things.  The car is a good place to practice.  I have a special sticker sheet for the kids than can at least learn their phone number.

Police Officer

This week we got a visit from Officer Shelbie Boyd of the Tacoma Police.  She shared with us some ways to stay safe.  One of the most important was to know our own address and phone number in case we got lost.  She also shared with us not to talk to strangers in our neighborhood and to let our parents know if we have been approached by someone.  She shared a story of when she was a girl and a man followed her.  She ran home and told her mother and described the man's car and the police were able to stop him.  She told us not to share our information with people online either.  Finally she took us outside to see her car.  We got to sit inside it and touch almost everything.  It was pretty impressive!

Because know their addresses and phone numbers is so important, (my own child doesn't know hers either.) we decided to have the children learn their information this week.  I will have a surprise for when the children learn their address and phone. 

We are hoping to do a field trip next week with Lower Core to the Caterpillar Plant.  Shannon Hayes is planning it.  More information to follow. 

Doctors

To follow up with our discussion of nurses, we talked about doctors this week.  We started by reading Froggy Goes to the Doctor.  We thought it was quite funny.  Then we read a book about A to Z doctor things.  It was quite interesting.  We learned some new terms like U is for Urine among other things.  We got to look at some tools that doctors use and then we took our weight and height and did an eye test.  We ended up trying to make our own doctor kit.  (I was going for something like the picture above), but we found out crafts is not the favorite activity of the day, so I don't think any of them made it past the trash can today.  We enjoy "doing" activities better than "making" activities.

Next week:  A visit with a police officer.

We are hoping to join the Core kids on a field trip to the Caterpillar Factory on April 16th.  More information to come.

Nurses

We had a fun week learning about what nurses do.  A big thanks to our visitor Melanie Stucki and her two children, Rachel and Will.  Nurse Stucki told showed us picture of what she dresses like when she is a work.  She works with a surgeon.  She is completely covered up.  We got to practice putting masks on like she wears.  She showed us the tools she uses at work also.  Her stethoscope, otoscope, tiny flashlight, and blood pressure cuff.  Then we learned about parts of our bodies and got to play a game where we guessed where each part was.  We were pretty close.  Finally we all got to make fun first aid kits out of altoids tins.  They are just the right size to carry on a hike.  Everyone agreed we are really prepared now.

Ambulance

Future EMTs in action.

We got a visit this week from a real live ambulance (and we didn't even have to call 911).  Teacher Shannon's sister Katie brought her ambulance to show us.   Unlike our visit to the fire station, this time we got to touch everything.  EMT Katie even let the children sound the siren.  You may have noticed some extra "stickers" stuck to the kids' legs and arms.  Katie did an EKG on each of the children and gave them each a printout to take home.  She showed us 3 different kind of stretchers:  A big one with wheels, a back board and one just for stairs.  To make things even more exciting, there was a real emergency on the other side of Albertsons.  We got to hear them calling for ambulances on the radio and even heard them when they showed up.  Luckily, Katie didn't have to leave because she was off-duty. A huge thanks to Katie for the awesome tour of her mobile hospital.

Spencer and Tristan show off their print outs.  "We're glad to know we are alive.  Here's proof."

Lily gets an EKG.

It's true.  Ambulances do have the name spelled backwards on the front.  The kids ran to the front of the vehicle to make sure.

Judah models the neck stabelizer.

Next week:  Doctors