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Pre-Reading Activities
Ask students to think
about what they already know about tornadoes and earthquakes.
Discuss what types of environmental conditions are typically
associated with each. As a group, brainstorm and chart the effects
that these natural disasters might have on the local community.
Spend some time discussing
the late 1800s and early 1900s. What events of this time period
have the children studied? Read the back jacket of each book
and have students imagine what life on the prairie might have
been like. What do they imagine California would have been like
in 1906?
Classroom
Connections
Activities
for use with
Earthquake
in the Early Morning
Signs for Saftey
- Science
- Art
- Organizational/Reasearch Skills
After discussing with the class what they already know
about earthquakes, ask them to research on their own to
discover other interesting facts. Have students look into
safety information about earthquakes using the facts found
in the back of the book as well as outside resources. Encourage
them to organize their research in the most efficient way.
Spend time discussing with the class how to distinguish
the most important information from less significant
material. Lastly, have students each design a poster with
relevant safety information based on their research for
display in the classroom.
Eyewitness Accounts
As Jack and Annie
experience the San Francisco earthquake of 1906, they encounter
many interesting characters.
Ask each child to
imagine that they were present during the terrible events
of April 18, 1906. They may imagine themselves as a child
or perhaps as one of the characters in the book. What did
they see, hear, smell, and feel? How did this extraordinary
day affect their life? Have each child write an "eyewitness
account" of that day. When final copies have been written,
ask students to share their accounts with the class and then
prepare a class diary.
Printable Activities
 Click
here for Earthquakes Word
Search and Answer Key
Activites
for use with
Twister
on Tuesday
All Aboard
One of the first things
Jack and Annie witness when arriving on the prairie is a train
with billowing black smoke. Jack notes that after the Civil
War, the United States government built railroads to link the
eastern and western parts of the country.
Ask students to
think about the effects of this new mode of transportation.
How do they imagine life changed with these industrial improvements?
Have students pretend that they are first-time train passengers
on a cross-country trip. Ask the children to use their journals
to record their feelings during this exciting adventure.
News at School
As Jack and Annie
leave the schoolhouse, they begin to see signs of trouble in
the changing sky and know a storm is brewing.
Have the class break
up into teams to investigate typical temperature and atmospheric
changes during a tornado. Using classroom texts and the Internet
to conduct their research, each team can prepare a script
for their own weather forecast and "broadcast." Encourage
the students to be creative, using visuals and descriptive
language to prepare their "viewers" for the twister ahead!
If at First
You Don't Succeed, Try, Try Again
When Jack and Annie
arrive in Miss Neely's class, one of their assignments is to
copy the words written on her slate. She wrote, "'Tis a lesson
you should heed,/Try, try again;/If at first you don't succeed,/Try,
try again."
Discuss this saying
with your class and ask them to share what they think it means.
After you have gone over the statement as a group, have the
children independently write about a time they did not accomplish
something at first, but with continued effort were able to
reach their goal. Share a few of their responses with the
class.
Certificate
of Achievement
* All activities
require Adobe
Acrobat |
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