Explaining lockdown drills to first graders

[Tiacsophno]

There was a school shooting at a high school in our state last week. At my daughter's elementary school, the students occasionallty practice drills for emergencies such as fire, earthquake, tsunami, industrial gas leak, and unauthorized intruder. Two of the drills are called "code yellow", meaning students are to stay in their classrooms and continue to work quietly, and "code red", meaning the teacher will lock the classroom door and students are to lie under their desks quietly. What is the *appropriate* way to explain the rationale for the "code red" drill to a FIRST GRADE classroom?

[saintmom]

I'm afraid I can't begin to fathom that one.So different from my own first grade experience of sticking our heads under our desks for a-bomb drills.
They did assure us of course that we would be perfectly safe and of course my first grade mind never questioned that assumption!

[Irishmommy]

The truth. I was there for a lockdown drill last week, and ended up in the Grade one class. They all know why, and were fine. I was amazed at how quiet they were.

Oh, and the soft explanation above is the truth, it's not always necessarily gun related.

[joycenjackiesmom]

As a teacher we have had to participate in many different types of drills--many more than the fire drills I remember as a child. We have had tornado drill, evacuation drill and most recently a lock down. I use the soft explanation with my k-3 students, that way I'm not lying to them but they are not creating nightmares in their imaginations either. This seems to work as they stay calm and follow the directions given. We actually have a little more difficulty with fire drills because the alarm itself bothers a few of my students--and they seem to have more of a concept what a fire is.

[Tiacsophno]

So as of this posting 100% (9 people) are going with the soft explanation. That would be my choice, too. The reason I posted this poll was because my dd's teacher went with the graphic explanation, and I found this to be deeply disturbing. My dd came home with lots of details about how the children need to lie down in order to "look dead" and "not get shot". When the kids started getting silly in class and suggesting that they keep ketchup handy in their desks in order to make their deaths look more authentic, the teacher sternly warned them that this was serious... that she had personally experienced teaching in a school where a person was shooting on campus, etc. I guess she wanted to scare them sober? Seems too dark for first grade, IMHO.

[nimamom]

My DD's school had a lock down drill last week and I was a little nervous about how it was presented. But her teacher was great. She told the kids its a drill to practice what they would do if something dangerous was going on outside. And that was it. That seemed to make sense to my daughter whose in Kindergarten-- without being overly fear based.

[boongirl]

Before my dd was born, I taught in an elementary school that experienced real lockdowns relatively often. (two or three in my two years there) The neighborhood was kind of dangerous and we had police chases occasionally. The high school two blocks away once had a student on the loose with a gun. And, before I worked there, the daycare across the street from the elementary school had a man walk in and gun down the two teachers (his ex and her mom). So, this was sadly a part of the life in this neighborhood. The kids had often experienced more real violence in their short lives in this neighborhood than I ever have in my whole life. But, still, when we had a lockdown for whatever reason, at any elementary grade, I would never get graphic in explaining what could happen or what had happened in the past, here or elsewhere. Kids will either get really scared and cry and/or get out of hand or they will make a joke out of it and get silly. The best thing to do is to explain that the school is locking down because something is happening outside and we want to keep you safe from it. Let their parents be the ones to tell, or not to tell, them the details. They know how much their own children can handle and they will have to face the repurcussions of the knowledge at home anyway. The other way to handle disseminating the information about the event is to have the school counselor write a note for all students to take home explaining the event in the most gentle manner and offering parents suggestions about how to answer questions.

Tiacsophno - If I were you, I would call the principal and complain about how inappropriately graphic your child's teacher was during the drill. Telling children that they

need to lie down in order to "look dead" and "not get shot"

is totally inappropriate. That teacher needs to have her boss, the principal, talk to her about handling the situation in a more age appropriate and calmer manner.

My vote, by the way, is for soft explanation but not to tell the kids there is an intruder in the schools. That my not even be the case. I would tell the kids simply that the school and classrooms are being locked because something is happening and we need to stay in the safest place we have right now, our classroom. If they ask what that means, I would tell them that we will find out more information later.

[lilyka]

We actually have a similar "drill" (for lack of a better word) in our home. we have the secret hiding spot and they know that when i say get there they are to go there, stay put and stay quiet until they are found. and they know that is for "if someone breaks into our house" and they know they are hiding from someone bad. they get it. they don't ned to know all the ways it can go bad. They just need to know how to stay safe if it does.

[LiamnEmma]

That teacher sounds like she was traumatized and is now responding inappropriately, not having worked through her previous trauma. Sad. Awful for your dd and her classmates too. I think I'd also request a meeting with the principal and the teacher and address your concerns. Normally I'd suggest starting with the teacher herself, but I'd guess you'll get nowhere with this in this case.

Rumors abound on playgrounds, and while during an actual lockdown it's probably best to keep information to a minimum (just because you rarely know what's actually occurring), later, I do believe it's entirely appropriate to have a prepared statement given to each classroom to decrease the rumors--which invariably become more graphic and violent as they proliferate. It's not that difficult to have your school psychologist or counselor walk through each classroom and spend a few minutes reading the prepared statement, responding to questions and perhaps triaging for trauma with a real crisis. In such an instance, that person would likely have realized your dd's teacher requires outside assistance for such events.

[CarrieMF]

That teacher sounds like she was traumatized and is now responding inappropriately, not having worked through her previous trauma

I agree. The teacher needs some trauma counselling. With all she told them I'm surprised she didn't bring a gun in to show them what they looked like or played a tape so they knew what gunfire sounded like.

Here the only drills they do are fire drills.

[Llyra]

I taught first grade in California in a school that had regular lockdowns, and then second grade in a school here in NJ that also had lockdowns. We were in busy urban areas with frequent police chases and people wandering in off the street and stuff like that. My kids, however, lived in those very same neighborhoods, and so they came to school already disturbingly aware of how necessary it was to keep still and quiet. Nothing I could have said to them would have been worse than what they'd already seen with their own eyes, and so they calmly accepted what I said. I went with a soft explanation: if somebody came into the school who was a stranger and didn't belong here, we need to know how to keep quiet while the principal makes that personal leave.

We also tried to soften the experience a bit by making it into a bit of a game-- let's see how quiet you can be, let's see if we can go ten whole minutes without making a sound, keeping a set of puzzles and games in their desks for them to work on quietly while they were under their desks, etc. Kind of making some fun out of the inevitable. It helped pass the time. It's HARD for kids that age to keep still and quiet so long.

[ImoKit]

I wasn't sure which response to use. My instinct would be to offer as little information as possible (so I answered no explanation). If asked I would probably make into a game saying that we have to be quiet and lie under desks so that if anyone happened to beoutside the classroom, wouldn't know we were there. I would never go as far as saying that there was actually outside, for a start during one of these drills in 99% of cases there would be no way of knowing for a sure, and even if you did it would be unneccesary.
But then I live in England, have never heard a gunshot (except on Tv), and go to school where we only have fire drills (usually timed so that someone is changing from sports and goes out in PE kit when its raining or snowing ).

[Ellien C]

The explanation she gave is horrible. Definitely have a talk with the principal and the teacher if you feel comfortable. You are NOT overreacting.

I'd feel the principal out first, too. Kind of ask him FIRST what explanation he feels is appropriate to the first graders. Then ask what instructions he gave to his teachers, THEN report what your child told you the teacher said. It's also possible that she's reporting what the OTHER kids said, not necessarily what the teacher said.

To SM: so glad I'm not the only one who remembers Duck and Cov-er!