World Tsunami Day
Saturday 5 November is World Tsunami Day. It’s a chance for us to prepare for, and learn more about, our tsunami risk. There are lots of ideas for teaching about tsunami at whatstheplanstan.govt.nz, including:
Experiment - Big waves, big effect
Start this experiment on a table that can easily be shaken. Ask the students to create a "beach" using a mixture of sand and corn flour in one end of a rectangular container, and build little paper houses to add to it. Add water to the empty end of the container, making sure not to wash all the beach away. A good shake of the table will create an "earthquake" that results in a tsunami. This will provide children with an idea of how destructive tsunamis can be, as the houses become waterlogged and the sandy ground shifts.
Read - “The Race” by Rose Quilter in School Journal Part 3, No. 1, 2011
“The Race” appears to be an exciting story about a girl who is running a race – competing against her brother, with encouragement from Dad. As the story progresses, though, details show a different scenario. By the last page, it is clear that this is no ordinary race: the family is running to escape a tsunami that destroys the area where they have been. Teacher support material is available.
Work it out
Find out the speed of disasters such as tsunami and floods, and compare these to the speeds of different types of transport. Research the height of various tsunami around the world and graph the results.
More
- See page 35 of the original Stan resource for more tsunami activities and homework ideas.
- Read Dan’s Tsunami Story
- Download and share these posters to help students find out more about tsunami.
- Visit www.whatstheplanstan.govt.nz/tsunami/ and find out more about tsunami.