Lockdown practice

At school we have to practice for some different safety situations. The two "official" ones that we must practice are Fire Drills and Lockdowns.

This week we practiced our Lockdowns in Room 9.  Then the whole school practiced our Lockdown Drill.

Our lockdowns involve securing ourselves in the classroom (i.e. locking the doors and windows and covering all windows), and sitting silently in a safe location away from the windows.

We don't want the children to worry about Lockdowns, so we discuss some scenarios that might happen so we would have to lock the door and stay in the classroom. Perhaps an animal, like a strange dog or raccoon has come into the school. We don't want it in our classroom because we don't know if it is friendly. So we lock the door.
Perhaps some "big kids" are playing outside and get into a fight, or maybe are throwing stones. Then we would have to close our windows and pull down the blinds, just in case a stone hits a window and breaks it (we don't want glass to fall on us).
When we hear someone saying that there is a LOCKDOWN (over the PA), we stop what we are doing, move to our safe spot, and sit quietly like mice. (Meanwhile the teachers check the hallway for stray students, lock the doors and windows and pull down the shades).

We talked about what to do:
If you are in the bathroom finish quickly, then walk quietly to our safe corner (the block corner).
If you are in the hallway, go into the closest classroom.
If you are eating snack, put down your snack and walk quietly to our safe corner (the block corner).

We made an infographic so we would remember what to do.

We did a GREAT JOB during the actual practice lockdown! (and afterwards someone asked what kind it was -- was it a dog or a raccoon? :)

We will discuss and practice our Fire Drill procedures and then let you know how it went!

(if you have any questions about the lockdown or fire drills, please email Ms. Brown)