A Kinders Garten Vintage Homeschool: fire triangle

Showing posts with label fire triangle. Show all posts

Sunday, October 19, 2014

Smokey the Bear Forest Fire Safety Unit Part 2 & FREEBIE!

Welcome to our Smokey the Bear Forest Fire Safety Unit Part 2 & FREEBIE! We hope you enjoyed our Part 1 introductory post packed full of wildfire information, guides, charts and videos you will NOT want to miss out on!

Smokey the Bear Forest Fire Safety Unit Part 1

We moved on in our unit to learn about the Science of Wildfires. Wildfires are any unplanned fires whether they be started via natural means such as lightening striking dry trees, debris laden forest floor, on rooftops or by human carelessness. Surprisingly enough, 4 out of 5 wildfires are indeed started via human carelessness. They can spread quickly with any type of winds whether strong or weak. Winds then carry embers or debris which "jump" from treetop to treetop or from rooftop to rooftop ahead of the main fire. This is called "spotting". Spotting can quickly turn into "new" fires.

All fires start with ignition which is a chemical reaction resulting when sufficient amounts of fuel, heat & oxygen exists simultaneously. This is called a Fire Triangle. Removing one component will cause the fire to die out.

The picture above is one type of fire triangle. Here is how this fire triangle works:

Dry debris, trees or rooftops are "fuel". The fuel is then ignited by lightening or careless humans, this is the "heat". The resulting fire is then continued and supported via oxygen. Wind can push the debris, embers, sparks or ash toward new fuel sources, which in turn can start "new" fires. These winds also have the ability to dry out moist debris which will allow the fire to burn more easily.

We did an experiment with fire and oxygen. I got a candle, a old cookie tray and a glass. Placing our old cookie tray on our floor tiles for safety, I put the candle on the tray and lit the candle:

Next I placed the glass over the candle:

We all watched as the fire slowly burned out:

It is hard to view the action in these pictures but needless to say, my babes were in such awe, they had me do the experiment over and over again.

Now, let's do an experiment to illustrate how a fire starts. When you strike a match, you are placing friction on the head of the match, which then reacts to the oxygen in the air and ignites causing heat. Have your babes rub their hands together very fast. Ask them if their hands now feel warm. This is friction resulting in heat. The stem of the match is a type of fuel that the heat from the friction needs to keep the fire going.

If any of the three above components are absent, the fire cannot sustain itself and will quickly burn out.

Now, a burning fire can also generate its own "wind". As the air above the flames heat up, it will rise. This movement provides a "fresh" air supply (oxygen) to the fire. As the warm air rises during the day, the air current travels up slopes. As night falls cooling the ground, the air currents flow down the slopes. Moisture or humidity dampens fuels slowing the spread of flames. Since humidity is greater at night, fires slow down more oft than not.

The temperature of fuels also play a part in the speed of ignition to burn. Fires in the shade burn slower than those in the direct sun.

Topography has a major effect on the spreading of wildfires. Area contours, elevations, and slopes influence wind and temperature conditions. Landscape barriers, such as cliffs, rocks, boulders, or bodies of water all help to determine the path of the wildfire. Elevations impact the winds and moisture in an area. Land contours and the steepness of slopes directly relates the speed of a fire. When a fire begins at the bottom of a steep slope, the flames below pre-heat the the fuels above the fire. The result is the fuel catches fire and spreads more quickly.

This is illustrated in this next type of fire triangle:

These two charts illustrate the essentials in the life of a fire, so we made our own Fire Triangle Charts for our Wildfire Chart Center.

First, I drew a large triangle on sheet of tagboard for each child. Then I wrote the element names in their proper place.

Next, I gave them two sheets of mini pictures to color. We discussed each picture and their placement on the fire triangle:

Then each child chose a picture to cut out and placed it in the proper area of their triangle. You can have the children pre-sort the pictures into their proper categories before gluing if you like but since we have a small group, I just gave them the picture sheets to color and cut then guided them on an individual basis when necessary.

They QUICKLY filled their fire triangles:

They all did a GOLD STAR job!!!

Now for your FREEBIE!! I put together a picture sheet for your babes to make their own fire triangle. You can get it here at our Teacher's Notebook store:

Build a Fire Triangle Chart FREEBIE

Here are some links for more Wildfire information, guides, charts and activities:

Smokey Patrol PDF

Wildfire Activities - Scroll down to Section 2

Fire Triangle Activity Sheet - Older Elementary

Fire Facts Activities and Aps

Tennessee Wildfire Prevention Guide PDF

Ignition Graph PDF - High School - Adult

The Force of Fire Primary PDF

Minnesota Wildfire Prevention Lesson Plans PDF

Firewise Guide for Arizona PDF

The Science of Fire

Fire Regimes of the Conterminous United States

Wildfire Fighter Jargon

How to Create a Fire Evacuation Plan

Evacuating Pets & Large Animals

Wildfire Evacuation Checklist

Forest Fires and Lung Health

Fireproofing Your Home: Safety Measures to Take Inside and Outside

Preventing and Extinguishing Kitchen Fires

How to Clean Soot After a Fire

How To Remove Smoke Smell after a Fire

How to Handle Fire Hazards in Your Restaurant’s Kitchen

Well, hope you enjoyed learning about the fire triangle in Part 2 of our Smokey the Bear Forest Fire Safety Unit! Be sure to check out all parts 3 & 4 as well for MORE FREEBIES!!

Smokey Bear Forest Fire Safety Unit Part 3

Smokey Bear Forest Fire Safety Unit Part 4

C.S. Calkins

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Monday, October 13, 2014

Smokey the Bear Forest Fire Safety Unit Part 1 & FREEBIE!

Smokey the Bear Forest Fire Safety Unit Part 1 & FREEBIE!

Being located in the National Forest we do a Smokey the Bear Forest Fire Safety Unit every Autumn. For us, Autumn is the driest season which makes it the most fire prone season for us. As one can imagine, covering a Forest Fire Safety Unit during this season promotes fire awareness and preparedness, which in turn could very possibly save our home and our lives from danger.

Being in fire country we are STOKED to possess a fairly large swimming pool. It is a HUGE plus as it can be quickly transformed into a water source for hosing down our roofs if deemed necessary. WHEW!!!

In Southern California, Autumn brings strong winds along with dry drought conditions. These are grave concerns for all who live in fire prone areas. The 2003 Cedar Fire was the largest fire in recorded California history up to that time. Beginning on October 25, contained on November 3, fully contained on December 5, this destructive fire burned 280,278 acres (1,134.2 km²) 2,820 buildings (including 2,232 homes) and killed 15 people. Also it did not matter if you lived rural or in the city, this fire was no respecter. It jumped highways, burned along major freeways, wiped out entire possessions and swaths of land in a moments time.

In the year 2013, The San Diego Union - Tribune did a 10 year anniversary tribute. You can view a slide show of photos they compiled here:

2003 Cedar Fire Photo Gallery

UNREAL !!! Yet, these photos are a mere glimpse of the devastation that fire brought. Safety preparedness precautions is PARAMOUNT whether you live in fire country, earthquake country, flood areas or other natural disaster prone areas! This is something that most people are aware of yet do nothing to prepare themselves...then it is too LATE as Smokey reminds us in 1957:

For those of you who live in disaster prone areas , we hope our Wildfire Safety Unit with Smokey the Bear prompts you to PREPARE YOUR FAMILY ahead of time for any/all natural disasters that may come your way in this unpredictable world.

California has an alert fire system in place. Take a gander at this
video of Boucher Hill Lookout:

Smokey the Bear visits us every year during our Descanso Parade:

Then in October, we begin our Wildfire Safety Unit with various vintage Smokey the Bear media. First we played our story record:

You can get one for your children here on Amazon:

or here on eBay:

Smokey the Bear Book and Record

I got out my box of Smokey doll puppets and gave one to each child:

Then I played another record. This one has just the song on it:

They danced their Smokey puppets while they sang the song:

You can get the Smokey the Bear Song Sheet PDF here:

Smokey the Bear Song Sheet

You can sing along with Eddie Arnold:

Next we got out our Doug & Melissa Theater and my babes re-enacted the story in their own version using Smokey & other stuffed animals in their story:

Aren't these Smokey doll puppets cute?! You may want to incorporate these dolls for your children's Fire Unit. Here is a collectable you can get from Amazon:

eBay has a fine array of Smokey dolls:

Smokey the Bear Plush Doll

And what do you think about our colorful and versatile Doug & Melissa Puppet Time Theater? We just LOVE it!!! It has a chalkboard under the clock to write the title of your play. The clock has movable hands to tell the time your play begins. The curtains have tie backs for opening or closing. My babes have HOURS of fun with this theater and so will yours!! Here is one from Amazon:

eBay has quite a selection of Doug & Melissa Puppet Time Theater's to choose from:

Doug & Melissa Puppet Time Theater

I played these other Smokey story and song 33 PM records while we did our play:

While these records are overall non-existant on Amazon, once again eBay has a nice assortment of Smokey the Bear records:

Smokey the Bear Record

Download Smokey's Story PDF, print it out, staple the pages in order to make a book and read it to your class from the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources:

Smokey's Story

This is a wonderful National Park resource record from Disney. At 33 RPM's, it contains a bounty of National Park Songs packed with fun and adventure:

Amazon has only one of these currently:

Overall, you can trust eBay to pull through with a good selection:

Disney's Songs of the National Parks

Do you remember View Master? Well we have a very rare vintage View Master Wall Projector. This projector is an excellent medium for a homeschool class. We use ours often:

With the accompanying booklet, I read each reel as my babes listened and looked at the projections.

As you can see, the projections did not photograph very good. This location may not appear to be ideal but in reality this dark hallway does work well for our View Master projections. While it is a bit cramped, it is the best viewing spot we can hope for during daylight hours, so we make do:

Want to add a View Master to your classroom media? You can get individual viewers on Amazon:

Or you can find one just like ours on eBay:

View Master Projector

Here is a link for Smokey the Bear View Master Reels from eBay. Good 'ol eBay comes through once again! SWEEEEEEEEEEET!!!

Smokey the Bear View Master Reels

You may want to show this vintage 1953 Little Smokey: The True Story of America's Fire Prevention Bear narrated by that famous cowboy Hopalong Cassidy to your class. This was a A Public Service Program from Your State Forestry Department and the U.S. Forest Service Sponsored by The Advertising Council. Produced by United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service:

Here are some more Smokey videos for your babes to watch:

Smokey & Bambi Prevent Forest Fires Ad Council:

Smokey Commercial Mix:

1971 Public Service Short featuring Dennis Weaver:

Smokey the Bear in "Fire Fighters Convention"

While this is a silent film, it is the REAL Smokey:

Here are some cutie pie baby bears at play in Yosemite National Park:

Next I introduced my Smokey the Bear Wildfire Prevention charts.* In 1944 Smokey told us that care will prevent 9 out of 10 forest fires:

After the war many new families formed. These new families were in need of homes as the greatest baby boom in U.S. history was about to take place. Smokey reminded us in 1945 forest fires prevents the building of homes due to lack of timber:

This one from 1955 reminds us that our carelessness can KILL the trees of tomorrow as well:

More reasons promoted in 1962 to take care:

Smokey asks us ALL in 1960 WHY?:

In 1954, the Girl Scouts joined Smokey in promoting fire prevention:

Working together we CAN prevent forest fires like these 2 pals did in 1956:

In 1962, the Girl Scouts joined Smokey on their 50th birthday:

1960 Smokey shows us via Reader's Digest how his fire prevention program had helped bring down the amount of fire damage in our forests:

In 1962 Smokey displays his rules:

In 1964, Smokey reminded us to enjoy NOT destroy:

This 1965 Smokey the Bear poster tells us that BEFORE you start a fire, follow these steps:

Smokey's Fire Prevention ABC's hit the scene in 1966:

Smokey thanks us for our fire prevention care in 1967:

Smokey invites us to be his guests in this 1967 poster and asks us to PLEASE prevent forest fires:

1969 reminds children to NEVER play with matches:

In the 70's, a good majority of American's were "flicking their Bics" so Smokey reminds us that BEFORE we do:

In 1978, Smokey set American's up with these Fire Safety Tools:

1979 reminds us that crits cannot help us prevent forest fires:

The Boy Scouts join Smokey in 1980 thanking us for our fire prevention activities:

1981 features Smokey's famous saying:

Smokey reminds us to THINK in 1982:

in 1995 Smokey counts on us for fire prevention:

In 2004, Smokey celebrates 60 years of his fire prevention promotion:

This 2007 Smokey close up is a good forest fire prevention reminder during the new millennium:

Smokey the Bear goes LIVE in 2011:

2014 Smokey celebrates his 70th birthday with huge celebrations throughout the USA:

Get a Smokey the Bear fire prevention hug:

YOU can help Smokey to sleep soundly by following his fire prevention rules & tips:

Take Smokey's Conservation Pledge TODAY!!

This years elections are coming upon us. Check out this 1969 Vote for Smokey-Take His Pledge:

* The charts on this post are watermarked with our Homeschool logo as they are from my personal collection. I do NOT own the rights, my intent is to protect my collection on our AKGVH blog ONLY.

South Carolina's Forestry Commission has MORE of these vintage posters for further fire prevention encouragement:

South Carolina Forestry Commission Vintage Smokey the Bear Posters

You can get a Wildfire Prevention Sign & Posters PDF Guide from the National Wildfire Coordinating Group to add to your Wildfire Unit:

Wildfire Prevention Guide PDF

Then we put together our Smokey the Bear Fire Prevention bulletin boards:

You can get our Smokey Fire Danger and Forest Fire Levels Indicator Wheel along with Fire Prevention Coloring Pages FREEBIE from our Teacher's Notebook Store:

Fire Prevention Indicator Wheel and Fire Prevention Coloring Pages

Included in our Smokey Fire Danger and Forest Fire Levels Indicator Wheel along with Fire Prevention Coloring Pages FREEBIE is this cute poem The Unusual Forest Ranger:

So do NOT miss out on this bundle FULL of Smokey the Bear Fire Prevention teaching resources and grab your FREEBIE today!!
Fire Prevention Indicator Wheel and Fire Prevention Coloring Pages

Here are some dyno Smokey the Bear Teaching Guide links for your further unit enhancement:

Smokey Bear - Bear on a Mission - Very Informative Historical &Current Info

Pennsylvania Dept of Conservation and Natural Resources Teaching Guide PDF

Smokey Bear's Official Site has the following teaching guides and activities:

Smokey Bear Teaching Resources K-Gr 2

Smokey Bear Teaching Resources Middle School

Teaching tools from Calfire:

Cal Fire Just for Kids

Calfire Teacher's Tools

Learning to Live with Fire

Check out our Fire Safety Fingerplays and Songs post as you will want to add some of them to your unit:

Fire Safety Fingerplays and Songs

Or you may want to print them out. You can get them on a PDF for FREE from our Teacher's Notebook Store:

Fire Safety Fingerplays and Songs FREEBIE PDF Printables

This is my FAV vintage Smokey the Bear fire prevention chart, the perfect end to our Smokey the Bear Forest Fire Safety Unit Part 1:

You can get this rare vintage chart for yourself as it is also included in our Smokey the Bear Fire Prevention teaching resources FREEBIE. Just click on the link below!

Fire Prevention Indicator Wheel and Fire Prevention Coloring Pages

Well, l@@ks like thus far we have ROCKED our Smokey the Bear Unit with a good start. If you have liked or done some of our Smokey the Bear Part 1 activities, we would DIG hearin' from YOU!!

Come back and visit us soon for MORE Smokey the Bear Forest Fire Safety Unit MORE FREEBIES!

Smokey Bear Forest Fire Safety Unit Part 2

Smokey Bear Forest Fire Safety Unit Part 3

Smokey Bear Forest Fire Safety Unit Part 4

See you there!

C.S. Calkins