- "Good idea or bad idea?"
- "What will happen if I touch that?"
- "Will my actions cause anyone to have to leave the bathroom in such a hurry they sill have two handfuls of soap suds?"
- or "What does that little white handle on this small red box do?"
Well wonder no more.
- Bad, bad, very bad idea.
- An extremely loud noise, followed by the emptying of the entire school.
- YES
- It sounds the FIRE ALARM, that's what it does!
We were lined up in the hallway earlier this week, mid-bathroom break, when the fire alarm rang at full volume. Usually we get an email ahead of time if there is to be a fire drill and I make sure to rearrange our bathroom time if it happens to conflict, precisely so we aren't in this situation! I mean--there's business to finish up in there that might take a minute!
Surprisingly, though, we were all out the door in record time. Those kids dashed out of the bathroom like the school was on fire--oh, right. It was. So quickly did we beat feet, actually, that a few kids were left hanging without washing their hands. As I did a head count while the kids streamed out of the building, Marcus walked past me with his hands held up in the air, full of foaming soap. "Uh. You'll just have to....wash them when we get inside." I said. "Or...you could wipe them on your pants."
Later, after the Startled to Death portion of the fire situation, after the Exit at Top Speed and the Head Count, and during the Wait Around portion, Trent raised his hand. "I didn't have time to wash my hands!" he said, very concerned. I thanked him for his help in making a speedy lavatory departure, and told him to just not touch anybody until we got back to a sink.
The Wait Around portion lasted for longer than usual, and I began to get suspicious about how much of this was a drill. The fire trucks came. We waited. My kids noticed something fascinating and apparently web-like on a bush outside of one of the neighborhood houses. "It's just like Charlotte's Web!" exclaimed Tyrell.
We waited some more. The fire truck passed us on its way out and one firefighter waved to the awestruck line of kids.
On our way back in, I found out that this lengthy diversion that left us with germy, soapy hands and threw off our schedule for the morning had been brought to us by one curious little kindergartener.
Image: www.janicaelectronics.co.in/images/fire.jpg
5 comments:
Priceless! We had an unexpected drill a few years back when a heating duct caught on fire when a heating fellow was doing some work on it. After about an hour of entertaining lines of children, buses were loaded and we all went home! But, that waiting, tough!
Oh boy! Those curious kindergartners at it again! At my old school in Michigan, the single teachers used to threaten to pull that thing all the time -- apparently the local firefighters were HOT!! :)
So a consequence of a pulled (or legitimately activated!) fire drill could involve going home early for the day or a date with a hot firefighter? Not too shabby! That's too funny about the single teachers :)
Leave it to the little ones to pull that big, red lever! They say curiosity killed the cat.....but not the kindergartner, I guess.
Back when I was in third grade or so, we couldn't have cared less about clean hands. Sign of the times!
I was wondering how that came about!
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