K-1ST GRADE LESSON My Feelings About Fire

BIG IDEAS• The ignition of wildland fire can be caused

by human activity (e.g., debris burning andother outdoor burning, machine sparks,children playing with matches, power lines,fireworks) or natural sources (e.g., lightning,spontaneous combustion). Human activityis responsible for most wildland fires inWisconsin. (Subconcept 2)

• Individuals have the responsibility to startand stop fires in safe and effective ways.Citizens who illegally start a fire or carelesslyallow a fire to escape may be penalized withfines and even imprisonment. (Subconcept 26)

OBJECTIVESUpon completion of this lesson, students willbe able to:• Explain their feelings about fire.• Distinguish between safe and dangerous

fire situations.• Recognize persons of authority who

should be present when fire is beingused and persons who should be notifiedin case of dangerous fire situations.

SUBJECT AREASHealth, Visual Arts

LESSON/ACTIVITY TIME• Total Lesson Time: 65 minutes• Time Breakdown:

Introduction...........15 minutesActivity 1 ...............15 minutesActivity 2 ...............20 minutesConclusion............15 minutes

TEACHING SITEClassroom

BACKGROUND INFORMATIONImagine a world without fire. It provides light,heat, and the means to cook our food. Firemade human existence more comfortable, if notpossible. Fire, however, can have catastrophiceffects including the loss of life, property andnatural resources. Children are often fascinatedby fire, which can lead to experimentation.Even safe fires, such as a candle burning,can lead to a dangerous fire if left unattended.When children are around fire, they needadult supervision. If a child finds a potentiallydangerous fire, he or she needs to report it toan adult immediately.

For more information on wildland fire, see theWildland Fire Background starting on page 152.

PROCEDUREINTRODUCTION – FIRE CANBE DANGEROUS1. With students seated, place a candle on your

desk in front of the class and light it. Tell thestudents that they are going to talk about avery powerful and sometimes dangerous partof nature – fire.

Ask the students what they see flickeringon the candle. (A flame.) Tell the students aflame is a very small fire. Have studentsraise their hands if they have ever been toa campfire with their parents or relatives, or ifthey have ever been near a fire in a fireplace.

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K-1ST GRADE LESSONMy Feelings About Fire

LEAF Wildland Fire Lesson GuideK-1st Grade Lesson - My Feelings About Fire

NUTSHELLIn this lesson, students relate emotions to a variety of fire situations by gluing drawings thatrepresent specific emotions on fire related pictures. Through group discussion, studentsidentify safe and dangerous fire situations. Finally, students use drawings to identifyresponsible adults to talk to if they feel scared or recognize a dangerous fire condition.

K-1st Grade Lesson - My Feelings About Fire

MATERIALS LIST

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FOR EACH STUDENT• Copy of Student Pages !!1A-B, Emotion

Cards

• One pair of scissors

• Glue or tape

• Copies of Student Pages !!2A-B, FirePictures

• One red and one green marker, crayon, orcolored pencil

• Copy of Student Page !!3, ResponsibleAdults

• Markers, crayons, or colored pencils

FOR THE TEACHER• Candle and matches or lighter

• Copy of Teacher Pages A1A, EmotionPoster: Happy, A1B, Emotion Poster: Safe,A1C, Emotion Poster: Sad, and A1D,Emotion Poster: Scared

TEACHER PREPARATION

• Make posters from Teacher Pages A1A-D,Emotion Posters. You may wish to copy thepictures onto a heavyweight paper.

• Arrange the room so students have spaceto cut out the emotion cards and color theirpictures.

• Create a safe place to light the candle.

SAFETY PRECAUTIONSWhen using the candle, make sure that itis on a saucer and stable on the desk. Movepapers and other objects away from the

candle. Do not let students approach or playwith it. Be sure to extinguish the candle afterits use in the introduction.

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Tell the students that in each of these situationsthe fire is used for a purpose (e.g., heat, fun,and cooking). Have students focus on thecandle and ask them what a candle can beused for. (It can be used for light.) You maywish to turn the lights out to show the amountof light that a candle provides.

Ask the class if they think that the candle flameis dangerous. (Yes. Even the small flamecan burn your hand, and it could easily startother things on fire if used the wrong way.)

2. Tell the students that since the candle isdangerous, someone must be responsible forit. Ask the students to help you describe whatresponsible means. (Responsible means thata person has to take care of it and use itsafely.) Ask the class who is responsible forthe candle on your desk. (You, the teacher,are responsible for making sure the candle isused correctly and safely.)

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Tell the students that the candle is notdangerous now because you are an adult,you understand the small flame is powerful,you understand it can be dangerous, and youhave taken responsibility to use it in a safe way.

3. Blow the candle out. Ask the students if theyhave had any experiences with fire, either safeor dangerous. Let the students share theirexperiences. Tell the students that they aregoing to learn about different uses of fire,discuss if they are safe or dangerous, andexplore how they feel about them.

ACTIVITY 1 – EMOTIONS1. Tell the students that each of us has feelings

about the people, things, and events in ourlives. Ask the students if anyone would like toshare a happy, safe, sad, or scared momentin their life. Show the students each of theemotions found in Teacher Pages A1A-D,Emotion Posters. Have the students identifythe cards as happy, safe, sad, and scared.

2. Hand each student copies of Student Pages!!1A-B, Emotion Cards and have them cutout the cards. Have them form a pile ofeach emotion and review the emotions thateach of the cards represents.

3. Present the students with the followingexamples. Have students select an emotioncard that goes with each example and holdit up in the air.

• Ask students how they would feel at abirthday party. (Happy.)

• Ask students how they would feel if theywere lost and couldn’t find their parents.(Scared.)

• Ask students how they feel when theyget tucked in by their parent or guardianat night. (Safe.)

• Ask students how they would feel if theylost or broke their favorite toy. (Sad.)

VOCABULARYDangerous: Something that can hurt you.

Responsible Adult: A grown-up who takescare of something and uses it safely.

Safe: Something that won’t hurt you.

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ACTIVITY 2 – MY FEELINGS ABOUT FIRE1. Tell students that they are going to look at

pictures of different activities that involvefire. They will show how they feel about theactivities by gluing one of the emotion cardsbelow the picture.

Hand each student copies of Student Pages!!2A-B, Fire Pictures. Discuss the pictureswith the class and help them identify theactivities taking place in each. Be sure topoint out that adults are present in somepictures and not in others. Ask the studentswhether the activities are safe or dangerous.As the class identifies each situation as safeor dangerous, have each student draw agreen smiley face on safe pictures and ared frowning face on dangerous pictures.Be sure to place special emphasis on thedangers of playing with fire.

2. Once you have discussed each picture, havestudents glue an appropriate emotion card inthe box below each.

3. Once students have finished, discuss withthe whole class how students feel about fireand why. In general, there are no right orwrong answers, but students should be ableto correctly identify each emotion and explainwhy they feel that way.

CONCLUSION – RESPONSIBLE ADULTS1. Ask the students to look at the pictures that

they marked as a safe pictures. Point out thatan adult is present in every safe picture(green smiley face).

Hand each student a copy of Student Page!!3, Responsible Adults. Ask the students toidentify the adults in the pictures. (Parent orguardian, teacher, police officer, firefighter.)

2. Discuss with students the meaning of theterm “responsible adult.” (A responsibleadult is a grown-up who takes care ofsomething and uses it safely.) Point outthat all of the people in the pictures areresponsible adults and that the studentsshould find one of them if they see a fire.

3. Hand out crayons, markers, or coloredpencils to students and have them colortheir pictures.

4. After the students have colored theirresponsible adult pictures, have themlook back at the pictures of the dangeroussituations. For each dangerous situation,have students identify which responsibleadult they would go to if they saw the eventin the picture happening.

SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENTHave the students come up with somescenarios that may be safe or dangerous.Have them share their ideas with the class,and have the class decide if they are safe ordangerous by holding their thumb up if it issafe or their thumb down if it is dangerous.You may wish to present the students withthe scenarios outlined below as ideas.

A CAMPFIRE WITH FRIENDS (SAFE)On the second night of summer camp, thecounselors and parents took a small groupof kindergarten children to a campfire. Theytold stories, played games, and ate roastedmarshmallows. The children were escortedback to their rooms by their parents and thecounselors stayed behind to put out the fire.

AN UNSUPERVISED CHILD PLAYING WITHFIREWORKS (DANGEROUS)Two first-grade students were found in the parkwith a book of matches and some fireworks.One of the children had taken the matches andfireworks from the table when his older brotherwasn’t looking.

AN UNSUPERVISED BURN BARREL(DANGEROUS)At a house near the edge of town, a man useda match to light a fire to burn old papers andboxes in a barrel. The barrel was at the edge ofhis property near an open field. After the barrelwas lit, the man went inside.

REFERENCESWebster’s College Dictionary. (1991). New York:Random House.


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FORESTERS IN THE CLASSROOMWisconsin Department of Natural Resourcesfire personnel make classroom visits. To finda staff member in your county, go on-line towww.dnr.state.wi.us/staffdir/SearchCounty.asp,click on your county, and type “fire” into thesubject box.

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RECOMMENDED RESOURCES

ACTIVITY GUIDESSmokey and Friends: What You Can Do toPrevent Forest Fires (Lifetime LearningSystems, Inc. 2002). This booklet is a smallbut well organized and effective collection ofSmokey Bear fire prevention activities. Thisand other Smokey resources are available forfree at www.smokeybear.com/resources.asp.

Wildland Fire Primer: A Guide for Educatorsprepared by John Owen and Pat Durland.(Boise, Idaho: U.S. Department of the InteriorBureau of Land Management, NationalInteragency Fire Center, 2002.) The WildlandFire Primer presents the concepts andmessages that the National InteragencyFire Center determines necessary for effectivewildland fire education. The guide is wellorganized and provides a comprehensiveoverview of the fundamentals of wildlandfire education.

BOOKFire! Fire! by Gail Gibbons. (HarperCollins,1987.) This book depicts how firefighters dotheir job in city, country, forest, and waterfrontsettings. Also discussed are the ways differenttypes of fires are fought.

WEBSITESFEMA for Kids: Wildfireswww.fema.gov/kids/wldfire.htmThe Federal Emergency Management Agencywebsite provides links to a variety of classroomresources for fire prevention and fire safety.

Firepup Programwww.firepupmki.com/index1.htmlThis website from the National Fire SafetyCouncil, Inc. contains information for parents,safety tips for kids, materials for preschoolthrough sixth-grade educators, and more.

Minnesota Department of NaturalResources Wildfire Prevention Educationwww.dnr.state.mn.us/education/wildfire/index.htmlThe Minnesota DNR’s wildfire preventioneducation page provides links to a variety ofeducational resources for teaching about fireprevention and the use of prescribed fire.

Project Learning Treehttp://plt.orgThe Project Learning Tree website has aresources section featuring special initiativesincluding fire education. The Fire Initiativepage includes links to a fire educationcurriculum, a glossary of wildland fire terms,and links to information on current wildlandfire issues.

Smokey Bearwww.smokeybear.comCheck out all of the pictures, activities, andclassroom resources available at SmokeyBear’s official website.

Sparky the Great Fire Dogwww.sparky.orgThe National Fire Prevention Organization hasdeveloped this website with interactive gamesfor kids on fire safety and prevention andactivities for teachers.

Wisconsin Department of NaturalResources Fire Prevention and Safetywww.dnr.state.wi.us/org/land/forestry/Fire/fire-ps.htmThe Wisconsin DNR Fire Prevention andSafety page has links to fire statistics, issuesummaries, and public service announcements.

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EMOTION POSTER: HAPPY

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14 LEAF Wildland Fire Lesson GuideK-1st Grade Lesson - My Feelings About Fire

EMOTION POSTER: SAFE

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RESPONSIBLE ADULTS

K-1ST GRADE LESSON My Feelings About Fire

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