Local government

Police and Firefighters

What first responders do and how the two roles differ. Students sort real scenarios into police, firefighter, or both — and find out how often the answer is both.

Grades 3–5~35 minNonpartisan

Word document — open it in Word, Pages, or Google Docs and adapt it for your class.

01 Warm-up 5 min

Warm-up:

    • Question: What is one word you think of when you hear police or firefighter?
02 Lecture 10 min

Lecture:

    • Open up a quick 10 minute slide show: Canva Slide Show
    • Info in the slide show:
      • What are police?
        • Brief explanation of what they do
      • What are firefighters?
        • Brief explanation of what they do
      • 2-3 minute video explaining first responders
      • Close off with comparing: 3 similarities and 3 differences
03 Games 2 activities

2 interactive games:

    • After the lecture, the students will be asked to draw a police or a firefighter and next to the drawing, they will need to list the top 3 things they would focus on if they were to be one.
    • Then the second game would be the students will be given scenarios on and they have to sort them under “police” or “firefighter” or both depending on what they think it belongs to.
      • (Ex: Someone’s bike is stolen; firefighter or police or both?)
04 Wrap-up 5 min

Wrap-up:

    • What is something new or interesting you learned today?