August 30th, 2017 Shelter in Place Drill Today we practiced two of our drills, the lock down drill and the shelter in place drill. As a class, we talked about when we would need to use these drills and what to do if there was an actual emergency. When it came time for the shelter in place drill, the students were prepared! They noticed me asking for jackets and started bringing me all the jackets in the room so we could really seal the room. Then one student had the idea to bring her backpack and threw that onto the pile so 'we could be safer'. A few other students thought that was a great idea and grabbed their backpacks too! They told me that our room was the safest one in the school after all that!
February 14th, 2017 Tornado Watch Valentine's Day was a whirlwind of excitement. The students came to school buzzing about the possible tornado as well as their card exchange later in the day. My Cooperating Teacher was not able to come into class that day so it was going to be me and the aide in the room. Due to the weather, I immediately went to speak with the principal to learn what the emergency procedures were since I had not been taught them yet. She told me there was going to be a drill shortly and thanked me for coming to ask her. It showed that I was proactive and truly cared about the safety of my students. However, I should ask my team leader for the procedures so that I could help with the drill which I did after leaving her office. About 45 minutes later the drill began and I had to line my students up, lead them into the hallway, and make sure they were in the correct position to protect themselves if an actual tornado was to touch down. The drill lasted for about 15 minutes before we were told that it was over and we could resume class. I led my students back into the classroom and got them back on track with their morning work for a short while before leading them to their music class. During Music, an alert appeared on my phone saying that we were under a tornado watch and to take shelter. Since my students were with the music teacher, I helped the other second grade teachers prepare for a possible tornado. We waited for nearly an hour for the watch to end, worrying if there would be a real tornado. Luckily, one never touched down and the watch passed so we were able to retrieve our students from Music and have a successful remainder of the day.
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