EARTHQUAKE ABC

Guide For Elementary School Teachers

by Paula Rao

 This book is appropriate to use with children of all ages. How you share it will depend on the age of the child, the setting, and your personal way of responding to books. You may wish to skip around informally or you may choose to read straight through and  return to favorite parts for discussion. This guide suggests possible ways to use the book in a classroom setting. It would be useful to peruse the glossary (A Parent's Guide to Earthquakes ) to gain some background before you read the book to the class; then you could add bits of appropriate information when you pause to discuss children's  questions or comments. The bullets below indicate questions or challenges you might  pose to your students. You will need to decide which are appropriate for the students you teach.

 

BEFORE YOU READ

  • Read or paraphrase the portion of the preface that tells why this book was written.
  • Does this book remind you of any projects you've done before?
  • What are some words you think of when you hear the word "earthquake"? (Record student responses.)

 

AFTER THE FIRST READING

  • Do you feel any differently about earthquakes after reading this book?
  • What surprised you most?
  • What question would you like to ask the author/artist of (a chosen page) in this book?

EXPLORING FURTHER

  • The children who made this book tried to include science, feeling, and  preparedness words. In which group would (your chosen word) be? Can you sort  other words into these three categories?
  • What do you know about this word that the author didn't say? What else would you  write if you were the author of this page?
  • Pick an earthquake science word to research and write about.
  • Make a model of one of the science words. See Baker: Make it Work! Earth for  useful ideas on modeling several concepts in this book. Refer also to "Jello" in the  glossary.
  • Pick a feeling word to explore through poetry. See Stolz: Storm in the Night for  beautiful descriptions of natural forces at work.
  • Make a list of preparedness plans that you learned from these pages to share with your family.
  • Make your own drawing for one of these words. (Indicate a page) Do you agree or disagree? Why? How would you rewrite that entry?
  • If you chose a topic to make an ABC book about, what would it be?