4th May Firefighters Day

International Firefighters’ Day is observed each year on 4th May. On this date you are invited to remember the past firefighters who have died while serving our community or dedicated their lives to protecting the safety of us all. At the same time, we can show our support and appreciation to the firefighters world wide who continue to protect us so well throughout the year.

Young children are fascinated by fire engines, the noise they make and the fire station they live in. Preschoolers go on excursions to the fire station. Young students sit very attentively when fire fighters visit their school.

Whenever I need a quick lesson where students can innovate on text, learn about verbs and titles I turn to that versatile poem Fire! Fire! Cried Mrs McGuire. It is also a great provocation for any discussion about fire, and firefighters.

Here's the poem in picture book form, but it is in many poetry anthologies too. 

Any library display devoted to firefighters is quickly decimated. Here's some books that are specifically about firefighters:

Newer books that are for slightly older audiences and that treat fire where you may get a different view of firefighting very differently are:

4th May International Firefighters' Day Greenpeace launched 1971

On this day in 1971 Greenpeace was launched so what better day to share Simon James' Dear Greenpeace. In thispicture book Emily corresponds with Greenpeace about a whale in her pond. Read it and then bounce off into a bigger discussion of what Greenpeace does.

May 4th is also International Firefighters' Day, a day to remember all the good things that firefighters do to help people and communities. This is extremely important in Australia given the number of serious bushfires we experience. There are a large number of nonfiction books about firemen and they are always popular with young boys who think that is what they want to do when they grow up. As soon as the firetruck visits the preschool or school I have lots of children asking for books about firemen. Some picture books in the library that feature firemen and firetrucks are:

• The Firefighters by Sue Whiting and Donna Rawlins. Here a group of preschoolers have fun playing firefighters with their teacher.

• Tito, the Firefighter by Tim Hoppey is the story of a New York firefighter who gets help from a Spanish speaking boy when he attends a fire.

• A Day in the Life of a Firefighter by Linda Hayward is part of the DK series of books about Jobs People Do so perfect for that unit of work many classes do on Community Helpers.

• Firefighters by Katie Daynes is one of that wonderful series Usborne Beginners.

• Where There's Smoke by Robin Lovell and David Miller is the story of an Australian bushfire.

• Flick the Fire Engine by Jamie lawrence and Mark Russel. There is a series of three adventures about Flick, a fire engine from New Zealand.