October 4-10 is National Fire Prevention Week and, in many states, fire safety is a mandated part of the school curriculum. Finding new and exciting ways to teach fire safety to your students can be challenging, especially if you teach older elementary grades. We have gathered some great resources and links for you to help make this month’s fire safety lessons fun for everyone.
Fire Safety and Prevention Lessons and Ideas
The U.S. Fire Administration
A division of Homeland Security, the U.S. Fire Administration has a great resource area of their website for parents and teachers. There are downloadable PDFs of coloring pages, word searches, brochures and more. They also offer free lesson plans on Escape Planning, Home Fire Safety and Smoke Alarms. In addition to their downloadable resources, there are materials that can be requested by schools, fire departments and homeschooling families. Whether you are looking for discussion points to hit with your students, or a Sesame Street theme fire safety guide, the U.S. Fire Administration website offers it.
Thematic Unit Ideas at KinderTeacher
If you are looking for a week of fire safety lessons all on one website, KinderTeacher has it. From a match stick book with fire safety tips, to a list of primary grade reading resources, you will find everything you need to include fire prevention and safety tips in your lessons. Do not let the name of the website fool you; the ideas and resources can easily be used and adapted for any elementary age classroom.
National Fire Protection Association
The familiar face of Sparky the Fire Dog greets you on the National Fire Protection Association’s (NFPA) website. Their teacher and educator section features safety and fact sheets, information about grants, videos and more. While the majority of their resources are free of charge, if you are interested in a more indepth curriculum or other information, they do provide those for a low cost. Watch NFPA’s “stay low” video below and share it with your class as a great reminder for staying safe at home.
Karen B says
Thanks for the wonderful resources you have provided. Another website for getting ready for fire prevention week is scholastic.org. They too have printables and lesson plans for helping next week.
Michelle says
Thank you for posting some “Really Great” links to help us get ready for Fire Prevention Week! I always plan special activities throughout the week to practice fire safety. The video link and matchstick book (from the KinderTeacher link) will be great additions! Thanks Really Good Stuff!
Paul Langley says
These are some really great resources for anyone going through the process of teaching kids fire safety. I’ve been looking for some ways to get my daughter engaged and focused, and to make it fun to learn about fire safety. I’ll definitely have to look into some of these, thanks so much for writing!