Objectives:

-         Students will heighten their awareness of fire safety.

-         Students will become familiar with, and practice, escape routes in their school.

-         Students will identify other escape routes that can be taken within their school.

-         Students will discuss the World Trade Center escape routes and why there was trouble getting out on September 11, 2001.

Advance Organizer:

Methods:

-         Show blue print or picture of the World Trade Centers.  Point out the staircases and elevators that may not be easy to identify.  Be sure to discuss the height of the buildings (110 floors) and any other building facts you wish to share. 

-         Discuss how the set-up of the buildings were beneficial (many rooms, space was maximized) and how they were dangerous (only 3 stairwells located in the center of the buildings).

-         Explain how many of the staircases were blocked after the towers were hit with the planes. 

-         Compare your school building to the Trade Centers.  Have students volunteer to draw the school on the board (Time saver – have a pre-drawn overhead of the school building ready or a blue print).

-          As a class, identify the escape route used in the classroom/school in case of a fire alarm (using a different color marker or chalk, highlight the routes that the children suggest).

-         Have volunteers read and discuss the school’s fire posters hanging in the classroom.

-         As a class, or in small groups, have students develop rules that should be followed as a class and school in the event of a fire.

-         Assign different tasks to students that they should be responsible for in the event of a fire drill.

-         Once rules and directions are in place, practice leaving the building with the students.

-         School is a safe place to be when you know what to do in an emergency.

-         Unlike our schools, the World Trade Centers were not designed properly for emergency situations, especially the one that occurred on September 11, 2001.

-         Map of the inside of the World Trade Centers (teacher)

-         Overhead marker (teacher, optional)

-         Map of the school building overhead (teacher)

-         Chalk (teacher)

-         Poster board (1 per group, provided by teacher)

-         Markers (provided by students)

-         Fire Drill chart (provided by school)

-         Students will be informally assessed by how well they contribute to classroom discussion and by how well they participate in their small groups.

-         Students will be informally assessed by how well they follow the rules during the fire drill.

-         As a class, present information learned to the school during an assembly or allow the groups to talk with each class.  It may even be possible for students to videotape what they have learned (rules, escape routes, and example of fire drill) which can be presented in the following years.  

Standards Addressed:

-  C. Contribute to the well-being of one’s school and community.

3C.2a. Identify and perform roles that contribute to the school community.

            -  C: Use communication and social skills to interact effectively with others.

            2C.2b. Analyze ways to work effectively in groups.

- 16.A.2c  Ask questions and seek answers by collecting and analyzing data from historic documents, images and other literary and non-literary sources.