F is for Fire Station

Last week in co-op our young 5's class learned about the letter "F". We learned that F is for fire station, firefighter, fire hat, and fire truck! Leaving the older kids at the house (with an adult) to work on their writing, we walked across the street to a fire station for a tour.



The young 5's class in front of the EMS vehicle.


Firefighter Mike let us take turns sitting inside the fire truck, and pushing the air brakes to hear the "whoosh" sound. It was quite a stretch for some of our children!


Can't. Quite. Reach.


Our son C, because he was the oldest at 7 years, also got to turn on the lights and flip a few more switches. Very cool!




Seeing all the bandaids and equipment on the EMS truck.


After a thorough looking over of all the vehicles, we also got a tour of the fire station itself. Us moms learned alot! We found my friend Sally's house on the huge wall sized map of the city ~ every single address within the city is on that map. They actually received a medical emergency call while we were there, so 2 of the men set out in the EMS vehicle with their lights and siren going, followed by 2 more men in a firetruck. I had asked previously why we always see a firetruck and EMS vehicle traveling together, and was quite surprised at the answer. Can you guess?

Because obesity is such a problem in America now, very often it is impossible for just 2 men to lift the person with the emergency onto the gurney, so they need more bodies. Also, the firetruck carries all the equipment that a small town ER would have, so it can assist the ambulance with supplies as well. Kindof sad about the obesity thing, isn't it? (I sucked in my stomach while he was telling us this answer!)

Before we left, Fireman Mike let us try on a "real" helmet.





Yours truly even got a turn. That helmet was very, very HEAVY.

Back at the house, we learned that "F" can also stand for fish, flower, fall, furnace, fly, and.....

....fruit! Angela brought plastic knives and let the kiddies have at it with soft fruit. They had so much fun! It was another wonderful day at co-op.