Young children are constantly exploring their environments. They enlist the help of other children and adults to give them the language to describe what they see. Because hurricanes are not a part of their everyday experience, your child may have a difficult time truly understanding what they are, and what happens when they strike. By creating emergency kits,  your little one was able to integrate concepts from this portion of our theme.

Initially, your little one learned  that for those living in areas frequented by hurricanes, it makes sense to be familiar with emergency procedures put in place by local and national governments. It was then explained to your children that emergency kits are necessary during any natural disaster.

For this component, we had bins and bowls filled with band-aids, plastic food, bottled water, toys, and flashlights. Your little one was given a wooden crate to use as their “kit”, to place their necessary items inside. Before the “hurricane” commenced, your little one was urged to check on their friends, and as a group, go into the playhouse with their kits.

As you may know, dramatic play invites learning and promotes all different kinds of development. By providing a few interesting tools to our classroom, we had writing, communication, social development, fine motor development, cooperation, organization, and the exploration of new material to enjoy.

The Storm Prediction Center is one of nine National Centers for Environmental Prediction. Their mission is to provide timely and accurate forecasts and watches for severe thunderstorms and tornadoes over the contiguous United States.  A tornado watch specifically includes the large hail and damaging wind threats, as well as the possibility of multiple tornadoes.

Typical watches cover about 25,000 square miles. To convey this knowledge to our students, we had a circle time discussion regarding the function of the Storm Prediction Center, followed by a period of dramatic play. Using toy computers, phones, and a variety of other implements, we ventured into the world of meteorologists, call centers, and tornado chasers!

Dramatic play poses as a host for a variety of skill sets. One is that of role playing. This is where your little one imitates behaviors and verbal expressions of someone they are pretending to be. This enables them to practice their social and interaction skills.

As your child climbs the social skill ladder of development through play, they will go from pretending at the same time without any actual interaction, to pretending that involves several children playing different roles and relating to each other from the perspective of their assigned roles.

Waves of energy moving through the earth in an earthquake can be a difficult concept for young children to understand. Pictures of the aftereffects of earthquakes do not clearly show how damage to buildings happen. A pan of Jello can be a simple and engaging classroom model for demonstrating wave motion and explaining how earthquake damage occurs.

To begin with, your little one held a pan of Jello, as it was explained to them that it represents the ground, which moves during an earthquake. They were then directed to gently tap the pan to show the waves moving through the Jello “ground”. We then talked about what we thought would happen to buildings when the ground shakes. Using marshmallows and toothpicks, we created buildings to place on the Jello ground.

We then shook our pans again to observe what happened. We began by shaking gently, and then created a larger earthquake. After the students tested their structures, they redesigned and rebuilt them to test again. As they did this, they were encouraged to discuss how to make them stronger, how long they stood up, and the different shapes they saw. Using paper and markers, they then drew and labeled the shapes in their “designs”.

As a result of this activity, students explored a variety of concepts related to geology and number systems. Students additionally experimented with the physical properties of rocks, seismic events, and steps of the engineering practice. Lastly, your little ones conducted a scientific approach to creative problem solving, finding ways to meet society’s needs.

Engineers frequently use scale models and computer simulations to test concepts without wasting costly resources. Constructing scale models of the Earth assists engineers in the design of instruments that help predict earthquakes.

Engineers also use small-scale models of our planet to understand the relative size of the Earth, model space flight orbits around the Earth, and predict how the Earth might change over time. To teach your little one about the layers of the Earth, students created a 3 dimensional model of the Earth using various colors of Playdoh.

As a result of this activity, students were able to demonstrate an understanding of the shape and physical makeup of the earth including core, mantle, crust, and oceans.