OMG, I am so embarassed. One of my kinders pulled the fire alarm this morning because he wanted to see what would happen. WHo does that?! Guess I have to cover it up somehow. I should have just stayed home today.
I had the same thing happen last year! A boy pulled the alarm one hour after asking me what would happen if someone did it! I was so angry with him. He was suspended for 3 days...policy said he could have been expelled, but he was dealing with some issues. I would not try to cover it up. Kids need to know how serious that is.
Oh gosh, that would be dealt with very seriously here. Our fire alarms spray an inky liquid out when pulled also that gets on the "puller" so it's evident who did it.
Oops! At least it was a Kindergartner who did it. We had someone pull ours last year at the high school, he was caught on the hallway video camera and promptly expelled. You might not need to cover it up though, just have a chat at the beginning of each class this week, explain what it is and that it is NOT to be touched by anyone other than you.
One of my kindergarteners pulled it last year in the lunch line. We had to evacuate the whole cafeteria. That wasn't so much fun. He said it was so he could go outside and see the snow. We were so upset with him, but other than the principal calling home, he was not in real trouble.
We have had fifth graders do it and even a visitor to see what would happen. It is important that your class understands the importance of a fire alarm and why it should not be treated as a joke. Don't strss it. This could be a wonderful teaching experience.
Isn't it illegal to cover a fire alarm? I would just stress the importance of the alarm and the times when it is neccesary to use. :thumb: the great teachable moment.
For a K class, it is definitely a great teachable moment. In fact, one of my students almost pulled one this year and someone caught them in time. I turned it into a social studies lesson. I haven't had a student try it since (knock on wood).
I had a preschooler pull the alarm by accident when his mom picked him up early and he didn't want to leave. He had a tantrum and was fighting his mom who was trying to pull him out the door and he pulled the alarm that was right next to the door. The whole school had to be evacuated and the principal was not on site. No one wanted to make the decision to go back even though I admitted what happend - finally the custodian said it was ridiculous and told us to go back after about 30 minutes in the hot sun waiting for people to decide. Sooooo embarrassing...!!!!
In my district, they have the local fire department come every year and do an assembly for the Kindergarten and First Grade students and teach them about the fire alarm and fire safety. My school also has plastic bubbles over the fire alarms that only the teachers or really tall elementary students can pull.
When they renovated our schools they had to put all the fire alarms down low so people in wheel chairs could pull them. Great for people with disabilities - not so great when you have curious little kids.
At my last school we had a grade 3 student pull the fire alarm in the dead of winter. His consequence was that he had to get up at the next assembly and apologize for inconveniencing everyone and explain why it is unsafe to pull the alarm. He definitely learned a lesson!!
I think that is an appropriate consequence; I know that pulling an alarm is very serious, but I can't quite get my mind around expulsion. Our fire alarms all have a plastic cover that must be lifted in order to pull the lever. When the cover is lifted, a loud, piercing alarm sounds. This, in itself, is quite a deterent; no one has gone on the actually pull the alarm itself.
I agree with cutNglue - teachable moment about impulsively and thinking before you act. I've had a kid pick up the phone in my class which goes right to the office. He said he was trying to order pizza.
I was on a field trip to a Hands-on-Musuem with a group of 3rd graders. One of the children asked her chaperone what the fire alarm was or if it was part of the display, something along those lines. The parent told her she could pull it! Oops! It wasn't part of the display, but the actual fire alarm. Yes we had to evacuate the musuem & wait for the fire department to give the all clear. I just remember the child being scared about getting into trouble.
I had one of my kids knock the plastic bubble off of the alarm last week, but little did I know until then that the plastic bubble had an alarm too! Luckily the bubble alarm was just for the First Grade building. Out we all went for a fire drill. The poor little girl was horrified - but it was an accident and it happens. Now, on the other hand, there was a Kindergarten boy a few years back who just liked to pull it for fun. I don't know what happened to him - he wasn't in my room. Kelly
