This past week the kindergarten class went to the fire station in Pasadena near St. Philip the Apostle School. The purpose of the trip was for children to learn about fire safety and explore the fire station itself. Like the rest of the other classes that have gone to the station, the children walked to the station, toured, and walked back in about an hour. Not only did I want to find out if the children were  educated at the station, but if they had fun, and if this school tradition should continue.

To find my answers, I went to the KB classroom to ask the children what they thought of the trip, what they did, and so on. I first asked the basics, what they liked about the trip. Many jumpy kindergarteners raised their hands, and a few lucky ones told me that they enjoyed going upstairs, seeing the kitchen, and seeing the bedrooms. However, three kids didn’t have fun, but all of the other kids did, indicating that this trip is worth continuing. The kids also said that what they didn’t like about the trip was that the trip was too long, they were not given any breaks, there were no stickers, and they did not enjoy going to the exercise room. However, most kids did enjoy the trip.

I then began to ask how many kids would go again to the station, and only five students said they would not go back. That does not mean, however, that the kids would not like to change anything about the trip. They would like to have a shorter trip, more breaks, go into the fire truck, and have food. These kids also would have liked to arrive to the station by going with friends on a bus, on a bike, in their dad’s car, on a motorcycle, on a horse, on a bus, or walk with family instead of walking, which about a dozen did not enjoy. But what was more important was not how they got there, but what they did.

As I remember from going to the station, we toured the kitchen, bedrooms, and saw the fire truck. Not much has changed since then. The kindergarteners still take pictures, go to the kitchen, upstairs, talk about fire safety, see the fire truck, and see the fire engine.

Going to the fire station is a great way for young kids to learn about fire safety while still having a great time and being interacted with their surroundings. These children have fun, enjoy going, and have proved that this tradition of going to the station is worth continuing.