So today was our big ole Disaster Drill. It’s called The Great Shakeout. And it has nothing to do with milkshakes, gosh darn it.
I don’t know who all participates in this, but supposedly it’s a state-wide thing, and today was the day.
My school does this every year on whatever day the state decides we’re doing it. For some reason, it’s always on a Thursday and it’s always in October and it’s always WHEN I HAVE A MILLION THINGS I NEED TO DO IN MY CLASSROOM.
The Disaster Drill lasts for about an hour.
AN ENTIRE HOUR.
Our kids practice ducking and covering, and then we walk them to the blacktop where they sit for AN HOUR. We give them packets of fun stuff (word searches, color by sight word and numbers, dot to dots) and let them bring their whiteboards and a book. They bring a beach towel from home to sit on. Or a bath towel. Or whatever. Some don’t and then they share. Whatever we do, we do not bring butcher paper out anymore because it rips and it’s not wide enough, and I never bring enough and IT’S A PAIN. I learned that the hard way.
Then some of us supervise ALL OF THE MILLIONS OF CHILDREN (I mean, hello? It’s the ENTIRE SCHOOL. All 1000 of us!) on the blacktop while the rest of us have jobs we do.
It’s so we can practice.
I don’t supervise the children (thank goodness — that is not a job that I ever want).
I’m on FIRST AID.
That’s right. Mrs. Oldham to the Rescue!!
Plus, I’m CPR certified, blood doesn’t bother me, and I tend to act quickly in an emergency (like the time my neighbor knocked on my door and needed me to drive her to the emergency room, and I did, almost wearing just my socks because I wasn’t wearing shoes, and she had to tell me to put my shoes on, and the next thing I knew I was driving her in her car to the hospital. Quick. Quick like cat.)
The First Aid team and I pretend to work on students and staff who are pretend hurt from the quake. And by pretend to work on students and staff, I mean we sit on a blanket and chit chat for an hour.
After that, we go back inside and that’s the end.
But wait.
One other thing we have to do is set The Bucket outside our doors.
Remember The Bucket?
Well, if you don’t, you need to read THIS STORY.
And if you do, well, maybe you’d like to read it again for a good little laugh.
Because I read it again and it made me laugh (and miss last year’s class).
So that was my Thursday.
How was yours?
Wow, we only had to duck and cover! Yup, Great Shale Out every 10/20 at 10:20…the state of CA is so clever! We were in the computer lab, same place we were for the fire drill in Sept but at least it was air conditioned. We practiced in my room several times this morning of we got all the giggles out and we were perfect angles.. plus, computer lab table are bigger than desks so even I fit!
Washington State also does the Great Shake Out every 10/20 at 10:20. Thankfully our principal just has us hide under our desks & reminds us that in a real earthquake we would have to evacuate.
We had the duck and cover and then walk out to the fire drill area. I have some anxiety issues in my class this year, so I said over and over this is a drill, a drill means practice. When it was over one of the kiddos said, “that wasn’t scary at all.”