I don't know about you but there are times when my desk may not be in tip top shape. When we are participating in a drill or in the case of a real emergency I don't want to have to worry about finding my class list on top of keeping my students safe. This is always on my beginning of the year to-do list, I create an "Emergency Class List" and place it right by my door.
I place a class list inside a page protector. I have thought about laminating it, but as we all know our class list may change during the year with students leaving or coming in. The page protector allows me to be able to change out my list if needed.
The last thing that I do is place a piece of velcro on the back of the list and attach it to my wall beside the door. I have found the velcro to be the most dependable.
This coming school year I am making a change, and a change it will be. I will be teaching 6th grade and will be departmentalized. So instead of having one class list I will have several. Here is a look at what I am planning on doing. Same idea, but a list for each class and placed on a ring.
If the bell sounds for a drill or an emergency, my class list is always in the same spot and next to the door ready for me to snag. How do you plan for emergency situations?
7 HOOTS:
I do basically the same thing that you do. Except mine is in a binder next to the door. I printed out the contact information for every student and arranged it by classes.
I also made sure to tell all my classes about it. The one real emergency we've had in the 5 years I worked at that school and I was absent. An actual tornado came through our town and I was at home with strep throat. (All our kids were fine.)
Mandy- I love this idea. Mine is printed out in my red emergency bag, but I always forget to update it when a student moves or a new one arrives (we are very transient)...I am going to add this to my "to do" list for when I can finally get back in my classroom next week!
Patti
Tales from a 4th (and 5th) Grade Teacher
This looks great and it is a wonderful idea. I am your newest follower, I found you on TT. I teach 4th and am so excited to connect with other upper grade teachers! I am going to go back and read some of your older post!
Layla
Fancy Free in Fourth
Oh my...I have learned from experience to ALWAYS expect the unexpected. I live in a small North GA town, but in the 18 years of teaching, I have experienced MANY life changing events!!
Just to give a quick overview of things during my teaching career (because you never know what you may face!) -
(1)A man walked in the preschool where I worked demanding his two small children, but there was a restraining order against him. When told NO, he pulled a gun, took his children, drove straight to his ex-wife's job and shot her 6 times in the head and chest. Police said he could easily killed any of the teachers.
(2) While at the same preschool many years later, there was a young mother had been murdered. A man that had been called as a witness had been threatened that he better not take the stand. The witness's daughter was in pre-k at the school and had to be taken into protective custody, while the school was under constant surveillance due to the mafia making threats!
(3)Numerous accounts of custody battles where one parent threatens to kidnap the child from school, drunk parents trying to leave w/them, someone who escaped police custody and was on the run, an earthquake
(4) Last April, we were in the area where the tornados came through destroying thousands of homes.
To be cont...
~Ginger~
Continued...
(5)This is the BIGGEST emergency I have encountered and the one that changed my way of thinking. (Be warned before I start to give details of how I have prepared for an emergency, if it gets too long, I will continue in another post). Oct. 2008 drastically changed how I prepare. At approximately 10:00, there was a loud explosion that WE thought was a transformer. Truth was the lawyer's office across the street had been bombed. We went on immediate lock down, but was NEVER told what was going on. All I knew was SWAT was walking the halls with guns drawn! A few days previous, three men had escaped from a state prison 40 miles away. One had been captured and police suspected the other two were in our area. After several emails from members of our team, I learned that there had been a bomb, two kindergarten classes witnessed two victims still on fire running into the street. We didn't know any details and I kept thinking it was the escaped convicts coming after their lawyers! We were told an hour later, we could continue our "normal" schedule as long as students were escorted every where and never out of sight. 15 minutes after that announcement our principal showed up at the door and said to gather the students book bags that the we had to evacuate - the buses were out front to get out NOW. We had to be taken to a nearby church and students would be released from there. We later learned that there were three containers of explosives in the guys SUV that if it exploded, our school would be flattened! Without boring you of all the details of that day, I will simply say PACK A BAG that is always ready to grab as you go should you have to evacuate the building! After that L-O-N-G eventful afternoon, I knew exactly what needed to be put together and be ready to go. Here is my list (note: I teach kindergarten so your list will be a little different than mine):
-Student data information w/as much info that you can get (every cell number, email address, friend you can call). Include photos! If things had been a little different, they would have had to start identifying everyone. Also include YOUR photo and emergency contact information!!!!!
-A spare phone charger (we had to use our personal phones to try to contact over 900 parents because the church only had two phone lines)
To be continued...
Hopefully I can get the rest on this post! (SORRY!)
-Books to read, pages to color, pencils, crayons, plain paper, laminated paper with tic-tac-toe grids, expos, activity pages in sheet protectors so you don't run out of copies (i.e. mazes, word search puzzles, dot-to-dot, etc)
-A list of games to play, time filler ideas
-Kleenex to dry ALL the tears (students and parents, then YOURS when it is all over!)
-A snack of some kind!! It was almost 2:00 before students had a chance to eat lunch. They had to contact catering companies to help transport food to the evacuation site, but the area to eat was so small only a few classes at a time could eat. Thankfully I had a few things to share.
-If you teach young children, "generic" clothing for any accidents that occur. (there were only 13 total toilets where we were being contained for over 900 students, staff, and parents who were trying to get their child)
-Any of YOUR medications you may need (and include Tylenol - you WILL need it!)Our school nurse took student meds, but if you don't have a nurse, find out what you should do in an emergency
-TAKE YOUR PERSONAL ITEMS!!! Many did not, me included! I was worried about the students and didn't think of myself. My purse and keys were in the building we had to evacuate! At the end of the day, we couldn't leave until we had a police escort in the building and escorted to our vehicles.
These items are kept in a spare "teacher" bag I have collected through the years. I update student data and snacks, but leave everything else. It is kept on a shelf by the door. This is in the event we have to leave the school. "Normal" emergency items are also kept by the door, but it is only a student roster, red, yellow, and green cards to hold up to signal administrators we have a missing student or an extra student.
Again, I live in SMALLtown USA. Truth is, we never know what type of emergency we could be faced with. I now know to expect the unexpected, and to be prepared when you experience the unexpected!
~Ginger~
Whether or not Tylenol is safe to bring or include in an emergency kit, there is no knowing if sleep apnea Memphis would strike so I guess it's okay to take your advise into consideration.
Post a Comment