It’s been a busy few months, but I can’t let the school year come to an end without letting you know how proud I am of the 4th and 5th grade students from Cabarrus, Catawba, Iredell, Forsyth, and Mecklenburg counties who participated in their county and/or state Fire and Life Safety Bowls. These students studied a 100+ page safety manual and learned valuable fire safety, as well as, injury prevention information.

As part of the state competition (which was for the top three teams from each county) students were encouraged to write a safety story about a topic in their student Fire & Life Safety Manual. Below is one that I though ought to be shared with you. (*** parental permission granted)

STOPPING THE SMOKE

“What’s that smell,” Maria questioned to herself. Then, she heard a loud “chirp.”

“Oh no! That’s the smoke alarm, Maria shouted in alarm. Maria quickly opened her door and gasped. The smoke was filling up the hallway!

Maria shut her door and went to her closet. She pulled out a blanket. Maria put her blanket under the door and took a deep breath. She lifted the back of her hand to her door and it wasn’t that hot.

Maria smiled. “I stopped the smoke.”

Her parents came into her room and made sure she was okay. “I’m great,” Maria told them. ” I stopped the smoke,” she said proudly.

“You can tell the fire department that you saved your family from the fire,” her mother said proudly.

“I like saving people,” Maria said confidently.

“I think you would be an amazing firefighter,” Maria’s dad said.

“I’ll look into it,” Maris told him thoughtfully.  -The end

I was so excited to read this entry. The author really thought about fire safety and wrote an entire story about keeping smoke out of the room by covering the opening under the door. She also did a great job using lots of quotes and adverbs.

What do you think about this story?

*** This story was written by CEK a 5th grade student from Iredell County.

Do you have a child that knows important safety rules and would like to share them with others in the form of artwork, poetry, or story? With parental permission, I’d love to post additional examples of children’s interpretations of safety messages this summer. Feel free to contact me at mjbostian@gmail.com for more information.