Lock Down Drill With Kindergartners

I looked at the twenty toothless innocent faces
peering at me from their low, green carpeted risers.
"When you hear the fire alarm, I want you to hold hands,
Like playing Follow the Leader only holding hands.
I read, "When Pluto Visted Earth" and a moon phase poem.
The alarm sounded and I said, "Be quiet and hold hands."
The children stood up and began our snake-like procession
to my office. I flipped off the light switch as we went.
I had pre-locked the doors earlier.
I have thirty-seven windows to close
or cover so I did that all week.
I seated them on the carpeted floor against the cupboards
and held up a tiny blue teddy bear. I said softly,
"It's time for you to all look at this bear
and think of a good name for him."
One little girls lip was quivering so
I walked over and handed her the bear
and asked her to hold it up high
so her classmates could get a good look at it.
Then the dreaded question came,
"Is this a fire drill Mrs. Nixon?
We have never done this before."
I certainly wasn't going to talk about
THE INCIDENT.
"We are practicing being quiet and safe
in case a bad guy tries to steal gas
from the gas station and the police need
to catch him. Or a bear might get on our
playground and we don't want him to see us."
Naming the bears took a whopping five minutes.
I passed out my twenty Dr. Seuss picture books
and told them it was time to look at books quietly.
That took a whopping five minutes.
It was then time to trade books with a friend.
That took a whopping five minutes.
Then the fidgeting began.
Finally the principal thanked us
and told us it was over and to e-mail him
feedback. I e-mailed him this feedback:
On the way out of my office and going out into the library,
little Hannah looks up at me and says,
"I think five hours was a little too long."