I was in her class very recently when all of the sudden the principle comes on the intercom and announces that he is a kind person and wants to warn the kids and teachers that there will be a fire drill in the next fifteen minutes and because it is sub zero temperatures outsides he wanted to let everyone know to have their coats on. What a nice thing for him to do, send all of these small children outside in the middle of the freezing winter to pretend that there is a fire in the building somewhere when clearly there is not. Oh and don't forget your coats, it seems a little silly to me. Don't get me wrong I do understand that they are required to practice these little drills on a monthly basis, but come on I don't want to walk outside with these kids I wear flip flops year round!
So before the teacher could even speak there were 22 kids running for the coat rack scrambling to get their coats and hats and gloves (although the principle did not specify these last two items, the 8 year olds deemed it necessary to bundle up like Ralphy from a Christmas Story). That's when I decided it might not be so bad to trudge outside in the freezing cold to see the udder chaos that is sure to ensue! If I think one class is funny imagine what 25 classes is going to look like!!!
While we are waiting for this obnoxious fire alarm to go off the teacher is making feeble attempts at getting all of these bundled up children to focus on their work, obviously she did not schedule in 45 minutes for a fire drill in today's agenda. I don't know why?
All of the sudden the fire alarm is screaming and the kids are jumping over desks and knocking down chairs to get in line behind the teacher at the door. I decide I will follow up the rear. I don't want to chance missing anything! So we quickly walk to the nearest exit from the building and proceed to the back of the school where everyone is supposed to meet.
I didn't notice it right away I just followed quietly behind waiting for something hilarious to happen but it didn't. So I asked one of Alaina's classmates where we were supposed to stand and I was met with glaring eyes from not only the kids in Alaina's class, but the entire second grade, and I swear every single one of them SHHHHHH'ed me! It was like something from the Twilight Zone, there had to have been 900 kids standing in a field all in perfect lines, with the front person holding up a green paper stating "all students are accounted for" and it was SILENT! I mean there wasn't a single sound out there even the birds stopped chirping.
I remember when we had fire drills in elementary school it was like an extra recess. We'd meet up with all of our friends, our teachers would scramble frantically to figure out if they had left any of their students in the burning building. We would make grass nests to sit in because we knew if we spread out it would be a while before we were forced to go back into the school and resume our studies. It was a nut house and I LOVED IT!!!
Once the principle saw that all students in all lines had been accounted for and that no child had been left to an early fiery grave he spoke into his megaphone and informed all of the children they had done a great job and were released to head back to their classrooms.
I decided to investigate and walked back to the building with the teacher so I could ask why that was the most organized fire drill there ever was on the whole face of this planet for all time and eternity. Apparently when our principle came to this school last year the first fire drill he ever conducted was interesting. They repeated the fire drill several times that day, right in a row. He sent all of the kids back into the burning building because they weren't quiet enough. I guess it was enough to scare every one of those kids into doing EXACTLY as they were told. Maybe not because the principle told them to do it, but because who wants to be the kid that makes the rest of the school redo something. I don't want to be the kid the rest of the whole school hates. It's a really good thing that I know the drill now so that I'm prepared for next time!
And as for the principle, he gets a gold star! I think I could learn a thing or two from that guy!!
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