Earthquake Preparedness FHE

Here is the FHE lesson I taught last night on earthquake preparedness. I have young children, so it's pretty basic, but this can be adjusted to suit any age level.

Let me know if you would like to borrow the items I prepared for this lesson. There's no need for us all to hot glue power lines and make shoeboxes for the experiments!

Feel free to change any of this to meet your family's needs, just PLEASE prepare with your families.

Earthquake Preparedness
"If ye are prepared, ye shall not fear."

(D&C 38:30)

INTRO:
Do you know how to shake? Let me see how you shake! Good! Now we’re going to dance to some shakin’ music and I’m going to be watching for good shakers!

(Play music “Hippy Hippy Shake” {sample of song} by Georgia Satellites and DANCE.)

Wow! You really do know how to shake. Can you think of another word that means the same thing as shake? (Take suggestions *tremble, wobble, quiver, shudder, shiver* and gently guide to the word quake.)

The word quake means the same thing as shake. What do you think an EARTH quake would be? (When the earth shakes…)

DEFINITION:
An earthquake is a “sudden, rapid shaking of the earth caused by the breaking and shifting of rock beneath the earth’s surface.” (1)

We are going to learn about earthquakes so that when we have one, we will know what to do. The scriptures teach us in D&C 38:30 (read from scriptures) that "...If ye are prepared, ye shall not fear."

When we have an earthquake it might be a little scary because everything will be shaking, but we will be brave because we will know what to do and we will be ready.

GLOBE ACTIVITY: (We didn't have time for this part.)
There have recently been several earthquakes that have occurred in various areas of the world. Find each location on the globe and mark with small post-it note.

• Chile, 8.8 magnitude, 02/27/10
• Solomon Islands, 7.1 magnitude, 01/03/10
• Haiti, 7.0 magnitude, 01/15/10
• Ryukyu Islands (Japan), 7.0 magnitude, 03/08/10

Find where we live on the globe and discuss that an earthquake could happen here too.

Earthquakes can happen in the day or night. Since they can occur anytime, we might be doing lots of different things when the earthquake comes. We might be sleeping in our beds. We might be at school, or in the car, or at the store, or at work.

EXPERIMENTS:
We are going to do some experiments to help us understand what we should do during an earthquake.

Let’s pretend we were outside during an earthquake. Maybe you are at recess at school or playing outside. Demonstrate experiment #1. (2)

Let’s pretend we were in a building during an earthquake. Maybe we are at home or maybe at school. Demonstrate experiment #2 (2). Practice drop, cover, and hold! Talk about the safest places in each room of the house and practice, practice, practice. DROP, COVER, HOLD!

PREPARATIONS:

Place shoes and flashlight by each bed.
(Other ideas: Put together to-go bags, discuss family plan...)

CLOSING:
We have learned about earthquakes and our family is getting ready for an earthquake. We will be prepared so we won't fear. We can always pray and Heavenly Father will help comfort us. We know what to do during an earthquake and we will be ready.

REFRESHMENT IDEAS:

• Milk Shakes
• Rocky Road Ice Cream
• Jell-O Jigglers

RESOURCES:
(1) Earthquake definition and checklist: (http://www.redcross.org/www-files/Documents/pdf/Preparedness/checklists/Earthquake.pdf)
(2) Experiments: http://www.fema.gov/kids/jessnsam/index.htm

ADDITIONAL IDEAS:

• Earthquake Safety Activities for Children and Teachers is a booklet for teachers and includes maps, simulation script, "Shimmy-Shimmy-Shake" song to the tune of Old MacDonald, worksheets, etc. GREAT especially if need to adjust for older children. (Note, the master copies are at the end.)


• FEMA Earthquake page has just about all the information you'll ever want to know about earthquakes if you need more research material.

*Let me know if you come up with any other ideas or how this works when you try this on your own!