Earthquakes and
Volcanoes
Literature Focus Unit
EDU 315
Miranda Fehilly
Literature Selection
• Earthquake in the Early Morning (Magic Tree House #24) by Mary Pope Osborne
• Vacation Under the Volcano (Magic Tree House #13) by Mary Pope Osborne
• Francis,The Earthquake Dog by Judith Enderle and Stephanie Tessler
• Earthshake: Poems from the Ground Up by Lisa Westberg Peters
• The Magic School Bus Blows Its Top: A Book AboutVolcanoes (Magic School Bus) by Gail
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Herman
Volcano & Earthquake (DK Eyewitness Books) by Susanna Van Rose
Earthquake!: A Story of the San Francisco Earthquake (Once Upon America) by Kathleen V.
Kudlinski
Volcanoes by Seymour Simon
Earthquakes by Seymour Simon
Volcanoes by Brenda Thompson and Cynthia Overbeck
Volcanoes by Franklin M. Branley
DiscoverVolcanoes & Earthquakes by Martin F.J. Flower, Ph. D.
Theme Study
• Students will take part in a thematic unit on earthquakes and
volcanoes. This unit will integrate reading and writing with
social studies, science, mathematics, art, music, and physical
education.
• Students will develop an understanding of the earthly
phenomenon of earthquakes and volcanoes, causes, effects,
and earth formations.
Language Arts: Reading Activities
• Students will read various fiction and non-fiction books and
poetry about earthquakes and volcanoes through silent reading,
partner reading, guided reading, and reading aloud.
• Students will share papers written on a volcano or earthquake of
their choice as well as a volcano poem.
• Students will read their classmates daily volcano and earthquake
journal entries.
• Teacher will read aloud from Earthquake in the Early Morning and
Vacation Under theVolcano by Mary Pope Osborne.
Language Arts: Writing Activities
• Students will write entries in a personal journal as they read
Earthquake!: A Story of the San Francisco Earthquake (Once Upon America) by Kathleen V. Kudlinski.
• Students will write a letter to someone who lives in a region
(students will be assigned different regions) with
earthquakes or volcanoes and
ask descriptive questions about these natural occurrences (student will
respond with researched answers).
• Students will write cause and effect reflections on what they have
learned about earthquakes and volcanoes.
• Students will write a earthquake haiku and volcano concrete poem.
• Students will add earthquake and volcano vocabulary to the word
wall.
Language Arts: Speaking Activities
• Students will participate in class discussion on what they have
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researched about earthquakes and volcanoes.
Students will take turns presenting their informative replies to
letters.
Students will join in a grand conversation on whether or not they
think they would like to live in an area with volcanoes or
earthquakes.
Students will use the authors chair to read volcano poems and
fictional volcano/earthquake stories.
Students will participate in small group discussions on
Earthquake!: A Story of the San Francisco Earthquake .
Language Arts: Listening Activities
• Students will listen as the teacher reads the Magic Tree House
books aloud.
• Students will listen as the teacher discusses earthquakes and
volcanoes and why they occur. They will listen as teacher
shares personal experiences with these occurrences.
• Students will listen respectfully to their peers as they share
their illustrated stories, poems, letter presentations, and
journal entries.
• Students will listen to songs inspired by the natural
phenomena of earthquakes and volcanoes.
Language Arts: Viewing Activities
 Students will view famous art pieces inspired by volcanoes and
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earthquakes.
Students will view the Earthquake and Volcano Word Wall.
Students will take part in a virtual nature walk with the class to
observe the regions where volcanoes and earthquakes occur.
Students will view volcano art made by their peers.
Students will view photographs of the destruction and devastation
caused by volcanoes and earthquakes.
Students will view educational volcano and earthquake videos (See
technology ideas).
Students will view educational websites on volcanoes and
earthquakes.
Language Arts: Visually Representing Activities
• Students will create an Earthquake and Volcano Word
Wall.
• Students will display their poems in an artistic
presentation.
• Students will construct their own paper mache
volcano in small groups.
• Students will make a volcano/earthquake collage
using pictures from the Eyewitness Book and
appropriate internet sites.
Science Activities
• Students will read the following text in groups: Volcanoes
by Seymour Simon, fill out a KWL Chart, and label a
blank diagram of a volcano.
• Students will listen as the teacher reads out of Discover
Volcanoes & Earthquakes and participate as the class
completes a table about the layers of the earth.
• Students will participate in an earthquake experiment in
small groups.
• Students will simulate a volcano by using their paper
mâché volcanoes.
Mathematics Activities
• Students will graph volcanic or earthquake activity in a region
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over a period of 5 years.
Students will take a survey on who is more interested in either
an earthquake or volcano.
Students will graph the results found in survey.
Students will create their own pie charts on the make up of the
earth’s layers.
Students will make play dough to construct their own volcanoes
by following a recipe.
Social Studies Activities
• Students will identify areas in the world that are known for their
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volcanic or earthquake activity.
Students will learn how people of an earthquake or volcanic area
learn to cope with the these potential threats.
Students will listen as the teacher gives a first hand account of
personal experience with volcanoes and earthquakes during stay
in Costa Rica.
Students will create a Venn Diagram by comparing natural
disasters in our region vs. those that have volcanoes and
earthquakes.
Students will be able to locate “The Ring of Fire” on a world
map.
Music and Art Activities
• Students will create sounds for an earthquake.
• Students will write lyrics about a volcano.
• Students will listen and view music and arts inspired by
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earthquakes and volcanoes.
Students will create a volcano picture collage.
Students will create a landscape water color painting
featuring volcanoes.
Students will decorate poems.
Students will create paper mâché volcanoes.
Physical Education Activities
• Students will play Volcanoes and Craters:
– Divide children into two teams. Start off with all discs/markers placed randomly
around an area facing upwards and facing downwards. One team must try to get all
discs/markers the correct way up - volcanoes, and at the same time the other team are
turning them over - craters.
• Human Waves:
– Students will get in lines to create giant waves to teach the concepts of s-waves and p-
waves that travel through different materials on earth.
http://jclahr.com/science/earth_science/human_waves/index.html
• Safe Place:
– With props set up students will play “musical chairs” every time the music stops they go to
a safe place ( ex. Doorway, under a table). One safe place is eliminated every round.
• Volcano/Earthquake Tag:
– Two student will be it. The game is played like freeze tag, but once the tagger tags someone
they say “Volcano” or “Earthquake.” The student who is tagged has to act like a volcano
exploding or like someone shaking in an earthquake until they are untagged.
Technology
• Volcanoes and Math
– http://education2.uvic.ca/Faculty/mroth/438/volcano/mathvol.htm
• Earthquakes for Kids
– http://earthquake.usgs.gov/learn/kids/
• Seismology Animations
– http://jclahr.com/science/earth_science/animate/summary.html
• Volcanoes
– www.fema.gov/kids/volcano.htm
• VolcanoExplorer
– http://kids.discovery.com/games/pompeii/pompeii.html
• A Journey to the Center of the Earth- DVD
• Eyewitness Book Clip Art CD
• The Magic School Bus: Blows Its Top VHS
• Masters of Disaster by American Red Cross VHS
Language Arts Strategies
• Activating background knowledge: Students will think of what
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they already know about volcanoes and earthquakes.
Brainstorming: Students will think of many ideas related to
volcanoes and earthquakes through writing activities.
Connecting: Students will relate topics to the world around them
by journaling and researching volcano and earthquake regions.
Monitoring: Students will monitor current earthquake and
volcano activities around the world.
Playing with Language: Students will use language creatively
through stories, poems, and journals.
Revising: Students will make changes to written activities.
Visualizing: Students will draw pictures in their minds.
Language Arts Skills
• Print: Students will recognize words on the Earthquakes and
Volcanoes Word Wall.
• Comprehension: Students will recognize literary genres of
fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. Students will determine
cause and effects of earthquakes and volcanoes around the
globe.
• Language: Students will apply various skills in their writing
activities: stories, letters, poems, journal, and lyrics.
• Reference: Students will make Venn diagrams, graphs, and
read online articles.
Grouping Patterns
• Large Group: grand conversations, virtual nature walks, human
waves, singing songs, viewing videos, word wall, and Venn
Diagram.
• Small Group: Peer conferencing, volcano and earthquake
experiments, small group discussions, creating earthquake
sounds, writing volcano song lyrics, identification of different
types and parts of a volcano, and creating a volcano/earthquake
collage.
• Individual: Writing stories, poems, letters, journal entries,
making volcano paintings, and presenting volcano/earthquake
letters.
Assessments
• Journal Entries
• Participation in grand conversations
• Analytical Writing Traits Rubrics and peer conferences for stories,
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poems, and letters
Informal observation of author’s chair and group science
experiments
Math graphs, Venn diagrams, and Social studies maps: checklist
Spelling test with words from Earthquake/Volcano Word Wall
Active participation in music and PE activities.
Portfolio of artwork.