Fire Drills at 18 degrees. . . . . . . .

Picture this . . . . . . . . .it's the Wednesday before Winter Break.  I am {finally} done with my assessments and can work with small groups during Work Stations.  I send my TA down to the work room to finish up our calendars {gifts to the parents}.  My kiddos are doing fabulous, working hard and following directions and then the dreaded sound. . . . . . . .the fire alarm.

My kiddos line up at the back door, I grab our two emergency backpacks and we head out.  As we are round the corner to head to the front of the building and our line up spot, my TA meets us and whispers "it's not a planned drill", which means that we now have to wait for the Fire Department to show up. . . . .  outside. . . . . . . .in the cold. . . . . .the snow. . . . . . .and the wind.

We line up, I pull out the green "everyone's here" card and we wait. . . .and wait. . .and wait.  We have fleece blankets in our emergency packs, so we pull those out and wrap them around kiddos.  My TA {thank goodness she was there} and I each take half of the kiddos and have them huddle up and we turned our backs so the wind was hitting us, instead of them.

Thanks to some quick thinking by our BPO, we were able to call off the Fire Department {he accidentally set off the alarm}, but we were still outside in the cold and wind for about 10 minutes.   All in a days work teaching in the frozen tundra of Alaska {thankfully it was on the warmest day that week}.