Online Learning Activities

Earthquakes: A Severe Weather and Natural Disasters Activity

Scholastic’s online activities bring students face-to-face with earthquakes, sharing how they’re formed, measured, located, and much more.

  • Grades: 3–5, 6–8

The “Earthquakes” online learning activity, part of the “Weather Watch: Severe Weather and Natural Disasters” series, offers students a comprehensive look at earthquakes through compelling reading and interactive activities.

  • The Basics: Students read a brief definition of earthquakes and learn what causes them.
  • In-Depth: This three-page reading activity covers the following topics…
  1. How are earthquakes formed?
  2. What happens when an earthquake starts?
  3. What happens to the waves earthquakes form?
  4. How do you measure seismic waves?
  5. How do you locate an earthquake? o How is its size measured?
  6. How frequently do earthquakes occur?
  7. Can you predict an earthquake?
  • Experiments: Students learn how to make their own Quake Detector!
  • Witness Account: A woman who was 11 years old during the 1994 Northridge, CA earthquake shares her family’s harrowing experience – they lived just six miles away from where the earthquake was the strongest. •
  • Words to Know: This interactive activity tests students’ know-how. They must read an article on earthquakes and fill in missing key words to complete sentences.
  • Be Ready!: A how-to for earthquake readiness, including what to put in an emergency kit.
  • Famous Earthquakes: Here, the world’s most notorious earthquakes are outlined, including the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. ?

  • Subjects:
    Reading, Language Arts, Science, Social Studies, Earthquakes, Tsunamis, Volcanoes, Content Area Reading, Independent Reading, Research Skills, Vocabulary, Earth Science, Natural Disasters, Real-World Science, Science Experiments and Projects, Geography and Map Skills, Seasons and Weather, Maps and Globes, Technology, Communication and the Internet, Computers, Educational Technology, Teaching with Technology
  • Skills:
    Nonfiction Texts, Diagrams, Maps, Online Sources, Science, Research Skills, Vocabulary
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