Semiserious Chefs

The Materials (All Pictured Below)

“Fighting Fire!” is a great book. The stories are engaging, but they are little long if there is any distraction. We read the first 3 stories and will continue to read them through the school year. It will be a nice way to break-up the detailed reading of several of the units.

“Fire Fighting Lore” is great in that each chapter is much shorter than “Fighting Fire.” There are a lot of great stories about specific fires and also apparatus changes over time.

Both of these books are great worked together.

I also burrowed “The Ultimate Book of Fire Engines and Firefighting.” This book has a TON of photos and information, but I knew we weren’t going to be able to take the time required to read through it. Instead we simply enjoyed looking at the pictures and reviewing some of the things we have been learning.

Lastly, two books I will be referencing the most often through this journey, are “Fundamentals of Fire Fighter Skills; Third Edition” (The FFS Book), and “Fire Service Pump Operator: Principles and Practice” (The PO Book).

For a little review I used a few tests in “Barron’s Firefighter Exams: 6th Edition.” I chose the 6th addition because it included several ‘working with the public’ sections. This book is also a great learning resource, with chapters that include a general overview of the job, applying information and help, a LOT about test taking skills, and a very nice section about how to prepare for the physical test, the CPAT, that I particularly like. I’m using it to build a PE curriculum.

More Specifically

We read from chapter one of each The PO and FSS Books. The PO Book has a great breakdown with photos for some history teaching, where as The FFS Book has some history overview but we also used it to touch on an brief orientation and the skill requirements for a Fire Fighter 1.

I felt like this unit worked out well with the flexibility needed to start the year. History in general can get really detailed and for a young child it can sometimes be better to run with just a few ideas. With added distraction from extra daycare friends these first two weeks it was okay to not have any particularly detailed learning.

The other half, (or perhaps 1/3), ‘orientation and overview,’ covered the general mission of the Fire Department and the skill requirements for a Fire Fighter 1, as well as the very basics about chain of command and different company types. Each of these will be gone over again and again as we enter more specific studies, so once again a ‘gentle’ start to the school year has worked out great through this first unit of Elementary Fire Fighter Skills.

The Details

• History:
  • “Fire Fighter Lore” Pages 25-60
  • The FFS Book* – Page 13-18
  • The PO Book** – Pages 1-9
    • Chapter 2 will  be covered in ‘The Truck’ Unit
  •  “Fighting Fire!” – Back Chapter
  • Ultimate Fire Engines and Firefighting – Look Through
• Orientation:
  • FFS Book- Parts of Pages 4, 5-6, 8-10, and 11
• Review:
  • Barron’s Firefighter Exams: 6th Edition – Pages 333-35 and 419
    • I had page 399 listed but didn’t use it, and many of the questions in the test on page 335 were really over Nathan’s head but the reading had interesting learning parts.

*“Fundamentals of Fire Fighter Skills; Third Edition”
**”Fire Service Pump Operator: Principles and Practice”