Download Lesson One: School Safety - Whatcom Unified Emergency

Lesson One: School Safety
Grade Level: 5
WA State Science Education Standards: 4-5 APPD, 4-5 APPE, 4-5 APPF
Estimated Time: 45-60 minutes
Materials:
 For the Birds Pixar Short film (provided)
 School Safety PowerPoint (provided)
 Copy of Earthquake Threats and Safety Strategies Worksheet for each student pair or
team (provided)
General Overview and Purpose: Traditionally, earthquake drills take place while students are in
the classroom. An earthquake can happen at any time throughout the day; therefore it is
important for students to know what to do outside of the classroom. This lesson aims to teach
students about earthquake threats they may come in contact with and demonstrates actions
students can take to protect themselves.
Objective: Students will identify earthquake threats and learn specific actions to take before
and after an earthquake to keep them safe.
Step Estimated Time
1
4 minutes
Task Description
Play For the Birds Pixar Short film
This short film can be found on YouTube.
2
5 minutes
Discuss the film:
Suggested questions and possible answers are listed in
the teacher notes.
3
5 minutes
Ask the class to list the natural threats experienced in
Whatcom County, like earthquakes for example.
4
5 minutes
Ask the students to brainstorm the potential threats
caused by an earthquake. [Project the COGGS Mother
Slide Show photo for inspiration]
5
5 minutes
Have the students practice drop, cover, and hold on by
getting under their desks, covering their neck, and
holding on tight to their desk.
6
15-20 minutes
Earthquake Safety Exercise: Use the “School Safety”
PowerPoint to project images of several locations around
an elementary school. Instruct the students to identify
the safe places to be during an earthquake and the
potential earthquake threats.
7
7-10 minutes
Divide the students into pairs or teams. Pass out the
Earthquake Threats and Safety Strategies worksheet to
each group. After the students have completed the
worksheet or 10 minutes have elapsed, go over the
correct answers as a class.
Teacher Notes
Vocabulary
Threat: Anything with the potential to cause harm.1
Prevent: To stop something from happening or existing.2
______________________________________________________________________________
Step 1:
Play the film For the Birds. The film is just under three minutes long.
Step 2:
This film is intended to introduce the concept of threats and to get students thinking if and how
threats can be prevented.
Pause the film when the big bird lands on the wire (time). Ask the students if they see anything
that could become a threat. Play the film again and pause it when the small birds start pecking
at the big birds claws (time). Ask the students what they think is going to happen. Play the
remaining seconds of the film.
Strategic questions to direct the students’ attention to this discussion:
 What is the threat in this film?
o The threat in this film is the big bird weighing the wire down.
 Why is this a threat?
o This is a threat because it has the potential to hurt the smaller birds.
 What could the birds have done to protect themselves?
o The birds could have flown away before the big bird let go of the wire or held on
to the wire very tight.
 Could this threat have been prevented all together? How?
o Yes! This threat could have been prevented if the smaller birds did not peck and
the big bird’s claws.
Step 3:
Ask the students to brainstorm the natural threats experienced in Whatcom County. Provide
the students with an example of a natural threat, like an earthquake, to prompt the brainstorm.
Write down the threats the students list on the board. If the students do not mention all of the
natural threats listed below, write down the remaining threats on the board. When the
students are finished brainstorming, circle earthquakes on the board.
Suggested Dialog: Today’s lesson will focus on earthquakes. Out of the natural threats we listed,
earthquakes are the most unpredictable. Earthquakes can occur at any time with little to no
warning. Therefore, it is important to know what to do when an earthquake happens.
Today we will talk about the earthquake dangers, what to do during an earthquake and easy
safety strategies to take before an earthquake happens.
Natural threats experienced in Whatcom County are floods, earthquakes, severe storms,
landslides, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, and wild fires.3
Step 4:
Project Slide X of the “School Safety” PowerPoint. Ask the students to list the earthquake
threats they see in the picture. After the students have listed the threats in the picture, ask the
students to list other potential earthquake threats.
Examples of earthquake threats:4 5
 Broken glass - windows, lights, pictures (could fall or pierce a student during or after an
earthquake)
 Unsecured furniture and contents (could fall on a student during or after an earthquake)
 Projectors (could fall or a student during or after an earthquake)
 High voltage power lines (could electrocute or fall on a student during or after an
earthquake)
 Streetlights (could fall on a student or potentially electrocute during or after an
earthquake)
 Utility wires – telephone, cable, electricity (could fall on or electrocute a student during
or after an earthquake)
 Water mains running under or near the school (if water mains are damaged, limited
access to potable water)
 Gas stations or industries with potentially explosive materials nearby (fires)
 Parapets (could fall on a student during or after an earthquake)
 Speakers (could fall on a student during or after an earthquake)
Step 5:
Have one or two students demonstrate how to drop, cover, and hold on. After the
demonstration, go over how to drop, cover, and hold on. Additionally, go over what to do
outside during an earthquake (see descriptions below). Then, have the whole class drop, cover,
and hold on (including the facilitator).
Drop, cover, and hold on (inside): 6 7
1. DROP – Drop down to the ground!
2. COVER – Take cover under your desk. Cover your neck with your arm. If there is no
sturdy furniture to crouch under, situate yourself in an inside corner of a building away
from windows, light fixtures, and unsecured furniture. Cover your head and neck with
your arms.
3. HOLD ON – Hold on tight to your desk or a sturdy piece of furniture. Stay there until you
are told it is safe to move.
If you are outside during an earthquake:
1. Move to an open space away from buildings and other objects that may fall (e.g. fences,
trees, play ground equipment, street lights, and utility wires).
2. Drop to the ground and cover your head and neck with your arms
3. Stay where you are until the shaking stops and you are told it is safe to move.
Step 6:
Earthquake Safety Exercise
The purpose of this exercise is for students to identify the earthquake threats and the safe
locations to be during an earthquake in multiple locations around their school. [Take pictures of
locations around each participating school. Alternatively, I can use the pictures from last
quarter.]. Each location has two images; one with the image of the location and another with
the earthquake dangers and the safe places circled. The earthquake threats are circled with a
red dotted line and the safe places are circled in green.
Open the “School Safety” PowerPoint to Slide X. Instruct the students to identify the
earthquake threats in each location. Then, instruct the students to locate the safest place to be
during an earthquake in each location. After brainstorming the potential earthquake threats
and the safe places in each location, show the students the correct answers on the next slide.
This section will have detailed explanations of the dangers and safe places in each location
Step 7:
Earthquake Threats and Safety Strategies worksheet
Divide the students into pairs or teams. Provide each group the “Earthquake Threats and Safety
Strategies” worksheet. Give the students roughly 5-10 minutes to complete the worksheet.
Once the students have completed the worksheet or 10 minutes have elapsed go over the
correct answers as a class using Slide X in the School Safety PowerPoint.
Note: This worksheet can be given as a homework assignment if time has run out.
References
1
Merriam Webster. (2012). Dictionary. Retrieved from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/threat
2
Merriam Webster. (2012). Dictionary. Retrieved from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/prevent
3
Whatcom County Division of Emergency Management, Whatcom County Sheriffs Office (2011). Whatcom county
natural hazards mitigation plan (p. 20)
4
Scientists of the U.S. Geological Survey. (1994). The magnitude of the 6.7 Northridge, California, earthquake of 17
January 1994. Science, 226(5184), 389-397. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/2885318.pdf
(p.395)
5
Petal, M. (2009). Urban disaster mitigation and preparedness: The 1999 Kocaeli earthquake. (Dissertation)
(p.244)
Note: The sources for 4 and 5 contain general descriptions of earthquake threats and similar examples to those
listed above.
6
FEMA. Federal Emergency Management Agency, (2006). Earthquake Preparedness: What every childcare provider
needs to know. Retrieved from website:
http://www.fema.gov/library/file;jsessionid=FD4806BF35750D96DBE9491FD808474A.Worker2Library?type=publis
hedFile&file=fema-240.pdf&fileid=e51ae4c0-1e55-11db-b486-000bdba87d5b (p.5)
7
American Red Cross. (2012). Preparedness fast facts: Earthquakes. Retrieved from
http://www.redcross.org/portal/site/en/menuitem.53fabf6cc033f17a2b1ecfbf43181aa0/?vgnextoid=6f461c99b5c
cb110VgnVCM10000089f0870aRCRD&currPage=13cbb969ae282210VgnVCM10000089f0870aRCRD