Graduation

Hi 3K,

I just wanted to post this picture of my class before our graduation from school. Thank you all for keeping in touch with me while I was gone. See you on Monday.

Ms. Pardoe

Extrication

Hi 3K,

I know I used a really big word as the title to this blog but that was for you to look it up incase you don't know what it means. I had a great day at school today. You can tell when you look at the pictures of what I got to do. It isn't everyday that you get to see how a car is put together by taking it a part in pieces. The pictures are before/after. As you can see there wasn't much left of the car when my class was finished learning how to use the tools. You have probably heard of the jaws of life. Well that is what we were using to cut/pry/tear apart this car. Don't try this at home, epecially breaking car windows.
Have fun bowling this week.

Ms. Pardoe

Class outside...

Hi 3K and LS,

I finally had the chance to get some pictures of us fire fighting outside of the burn building where we normally fight fires. Here I am learning how to put out a gas vapor fire on a big tank. This was really hot. A lot hotter than the fires we have been putting out. I hope your having fun learning new things at school as well. How is play practice coming along? I should get going, I am enjoying my weekend. Saturday afternoon and Sunday are my only days off.

Bye,

Ms. Pardoe

April 28, 2009

Hi 3K and LS,

I hope you all are enjoying the last few days of the YMCA being played with the announcements. I had something special happen to me yesterday. As you can see in the first picture I am holding a little baby and a little girl. My sister Sylvia, who you all met on Veteran's Day had a baby boy. His name is Troy. I got to watch him be born. I also had a fun day at school. It was hot, so we set up the really big fire nozzle and hose for us to play with. It can spray water really far. I put a picture of the fire truck up just for Aimee. It is from the near by Army base Fort Detrick. You all must be working hard or having too much recess time on these nice days because I don't hear from you all very much. Hope your not having too much fun without me.

See you in a couple weeks.

Ms. Pardoe

Walk through video

Hi 3K,

I took this video during the walk through of the burn building. They showed us how the building was set up and you can see that they only burn stuff that looks like hay. It is a lot like hay that you have on a farm but this is special, it is made just to burn. The teachers have racks that they pile the hay on and then set it on fire. They aren't allowed to burn anything besides this hay and pallets. The fires are going to get a little bigger this week because I am now in Fire Fighter II. I finished Fire Fighter I last week. They could only burn this hay during FFI so we could learn on small fires that go out easy. Now we get to put out pallets which are made up of wood so it will be a little harder to put them out. We won't get to do all of that until almost this weekend and most of next week.

I forgot to tell you about what I get to look forward to this week. We have a class on how to get into cars. They have some junkers here and we will learn how to cut into them, break the glass and all that sort of thing to learn how to get people out of them if they are in an accident.

Have fun, and enjoy this nice weather, get outside and play after you finish your homework of course. :)

Ms. Pardoe

Hi 3K,

I heard there was a birthday party this weekend but it was a bit early. I guess Lucas and I won't be celebrating our birthdays together if he has already celebrated his. How are the soccer and tee ball/little league games going? Did you guys have a better soccer game this weekend? I went home for 24 hours to visit my family this weekend. I have class on Saturdays too so I can't leave very early. I do have some new pictures of what I have been doing so I will share them with you today. I hope you all had a great time on the field trip. Let me know how that show went.

These pictures aren't in the order I want them but you will get the idea. My friend Ruth and I had to put the ladder up by working together and then our team of 4 had to climb it with a tool in one hand. I went first so I had to open up the "window" where we had to climb in. It was fun. They had real fires in the building at the time when I was climbing in but they weren't on the same floor I was on. Once our team all got up to the second floor, we all had to come back down the ladder again. It was a lot harder to come out because the window was about 3 feet up off of the floor so you didn't want to jump too hard and fall out the window. We did it all safely and no body got hurt. All of the guys in tan gear are the teachers, and my classmates and I wear the black ones.

The burn building you see in the pictures has special walls that don't burn so it looks different than a normal building. I think I have a video of the inside of it so you all can see how it looks before they set small fires.

Ms. Pardoe

Half Way

Hey Kids,
Guess what today is besides field trip day for you? I am half way done with my school as of today. Three weeks down, three more to go. I am getting better at crawling around dark rooms looking for "people" to rescue, climbing ladders, tying knots, and putting out small fires. They aren't allowed to build bigger fires until we get into the next part of the school which starts on Monday. I have lots of pictures to show you and hopefully I will get a chance when I get back to school with you all. So, who is going to tell me about what happens when you "Feed a Pig a Pancake"?
Ms. Pardoe
Good luck at your soccer game this weekend.

Meeting fire

Hi 3K,

On Saturday while some of you were playing soccer, I was learning about fire and the way it behaves. I finally got to see, and feel it up close, very close. But don't worry, the teachers don't let us get too close to it. They don't want us to get hurt. It was still pretty warm. This week and the rest of the time I am at school, I will be working more with fire fighting, search and rescue and that sort of stuff. I learned how to make a ventilation (air hole) in a roof with an axe, as you can see from the pictures. The older man in the picture with me, his name is Bob. He is 72 and is still working hard at teaching others everything he knows about fire fighting. The pictures of me and 3 other people, we are a team. We work together. All of the other teams have 5 people and are made up of all guys. My team is 4 people and we have both me and the other lady in the class on the same team.

I hope you guys are enjoying the pictures I have been posting of the stuff I get to do while I am at school. Remember don't do or try any of this at home. I almost thought you forgot about me, I hadn't heard from you all in a few days. I was told that you had to do 4 sight tests again, and your field trips are keeping you busy. Have fun, and be nice to Joey's new aide. She should be with him the rest of the time I am gone.

Take care,

Ms. Pardoe

Ladders and Hoses

Hi 3K,

Noah told me that you guys went to see the play and that it was really funny. I hope you all had a good time and will tell me about it when I get back. I have already been in school for 10 days. Time is flying by for me. I will be back before I know it.

Today, I had to learn how to pick up and carry really big ladders. The one was so big it took 4 people to carry. Then they put that big ladder up against the building and we had to climb it to the 3rd floor and climb in a window. That was the easy part. They we had to take turns being "unconscious" which is like unwillingly being asleep. It isn't a good state for your body to be in but your still alive. So, we pretended to be that and someone else had to get us down the ladder. I had to be "unconscious" 3 times and I had to be the rescuer once. Then we went to the burn building to learn how to climb a ladder and carry a fire hose with you. That was fun too because we got to turn the water on once we got to a certain window. I am going to post some pictures, just don't try any of these things at home.

Ms. Pardoe

First day in gear

Hi 3K,

The pictures are in reverse order of how my day went today. I got my turn out gear this morning and from then on I was in it. It is like getting ready for recess on a winter's day. The tank on my back is called a SCBA and that is an air tank. It weighs 20 lbs which is about like carrying your science, math, reading, and english books all at the same time in your back pack. But don't try that. We had fun today. We went through a maze that was completely dark and had to feel around the whole way. We also had to figure our way out of a building that was dark and the only thing we had was our fire hose. So, I had to crawl along 175 feet of hose to find the door to the outside. Plus I had my friend following me and he was holding on to one of my boots the whole time. Well I have to get going, I got out of work late today and the library is closing soon.

Hope you have a great day at school,

Ms. Pardoe

Hi 3K,

Today in class I learned about the diffrent types of fires and buildings. We also learned about knots that fire fighters use for different things. I have homework tonight. It is to practice tying these knots. I did alright, but I have to practice so I don't forget the names. If your in boy scouts you might know some of the knots I am learning. Hope you all enjoyed your Spring Break and Easter.

The pictures are of my teacher Bob showing me how to do the knot.

Ms. Pardoe

Mrs. S's class

Hi Mrs. S's class,

I loved reading the Skippyjonjones book to my niece. She loved it too. She pointed to him on almost every page. I hope you are having fun without me and don't buy the store out until I get back. Here are some pictures of my niece and I reading the book.

Bye,

Ms. Pardoe

Another day at school...

Hey 3K,

You guys are complaining about snow. They were mowing the grass around here today. My school is a couple blocks from the University of Maryland, which is a really, really big college. My fire fighting school is actually a part the of U of MD. Today, I sat in class all day again except we finally got to see what some of the protective clothing they wear when they work with hazardous material. I keep saying that but I am not sure if you guys know what that is. It is stuff that will make you sick or worse, like chemicals and other things you shouldn't go near. Tomorrow is my last day of it though. I take my test after lunch and then start on Fire Fighter 1. I have to learn stuff before lunch and take a test on it after lunch. That isn't my idea of a fun day. I hope you guys are having fun though.

How is play practice going? Are you all practicing your lines and learning the songs? Tomorrow is your spring break so I hope you all enjoy your one day off. I will be enjoying my Sunday off.

I drove through Washington D.C. a few days ago but I haven't gone back yet. I plan on going on one of my few days off to check out the rest of the monuments. So, I haven't seen the president yet. He just got back in town the other morning really early so I didn't get to see his plane land either.

I am posting a few more pictures from todays class. We went outside to check out what they wear for containing a spill of haz mat. After this week, I will be learning more stuff about fires, and how to fight them. This week hasn't been very exciting at all.

I hope you guys learn to not lose the cork so much. I never thought you guys would have so much fun with that cork and bottle.

I uploaded some pictures from today. I am usually the one taking pictures so I am not in any of these pictures. As you can see my classmates are from all over, CA, FL, TX and PA. I am one of only two women in the class. There are 19 of us total.

I have to get going now. Have a Happy first sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox aka Easter.

Bye,

Ms. Pardoe

School so far

These are some pictures I took when I was riding in the car. Can you identify these buildings?

Hi 3K,

I am learning a lot of stuff at school. I have to sit in class from 7 am to 3 pm, no recesses but I do get an hour off for lunch. Yesterday, I learned first aid, and today I learned CPR and started Hazmat. I have to read a book the size of your science book in 3 days. It is a good thing it has a lot of pictures. I have lots of reading to do for homework tonight. Hazmat is Hazardous Materials.

I had an adventure yesterday with some of my new classmates. We had to go to the airport and pick up a rental car. I got to go to Washington D.C. and see some of the sites.

I hope you all are having fun without me. Did you get snow today? I didn't get snow. The flowers are blooming down here and it is spring already.

If you can't find the cork, get the kindergarteners to find it. If your losing it that much, your hitting it too hard. I am glad I got to see you too Quincy at the egg hunt. I had a lot of fun doing that. Jonas Brothers, that sounds like a good concert. Do a good job on your Starry Nights paintings, I wanted to do one. As you can see I have my computer up and running on wireless. I found it at the library of all places. I will write more another day. I have some more pictures of today to post as well.

Bye,

Ms. Pardoe

Hi 3K,
I got my laptop computer Saturday. It is really cool.
Have a great 4 day week at school this week, mine will be 6 days. I will have to get up at 5 A.M. to leave for school at 6 A.M., because it takes an hour with all the traffic. My school starts at 7 A.M. and I don't get free time before my school starts.
Talk to you soon,
Sandy

Hi 3K,
Thanks for the great going away party I had a great time. Talk to you soon. I will post news and pictures as soon as I can.
Take care,
Ms. Pardoe