Natural Disasters and Their Effects

Contributor: Danielle Childers. Lesson ID: 10144

In this lesson, you learn about the effects of an oil spill by studying a South Korean oil spill, creating one of your own, and making a foldable to report your findings!

categories

World Cultures

subject
Geography
learning style
Auditory, Kinesthetic, Visual
personality style
Beaver
Grade Level
Intermediate (3-5)
Lesson Type
Quick Query

Lesson Plan - Get It!

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Think about what you had for breakfast this morning.

  • Where did all those ingredients come from? 

We count on produce from many countries for our meals. It is a wonderful thing to have a variety of foods from different areas, but when a catastrophe happens, the food supply in that area -- and you and I who rely on the supply -- are affected.

Examine the contents of your kitchen to see from what place the food comes. Many times, the packaging or label will tell you what state or country it is from.

Although you get your food from the neighborhood store, it ultimately comes from some other place. For example, maybe your bananas are from Costa Rica, your avocados are from Mexico, your oranges and grapes are from California, and your hamburger meat is from Kansas. Print out the Printable World Map, found under Downloadable Resources in the right-hand sidebar, and circle the states and countries from where the food comes.

Imagine what would happen if California had a big drought and the majority of their fruit crops did not grow.

  • How would that affect you?
Maybe your grocery store wouldn’t carry them or, if they did carry the fruits, they would cost a lot more money than usualWhen the supply of an item is low, the price goes higher.

A drought is a type of natural disaster or catastropheHurricanes, tornados, floods, and volcanic eruptions are examples of natural disasters.

  • Can you think of more?
  • What kind of natural disasters are common to your area?
  • Have you lived through a natural disaster?
  • Have you heard on the news lately about a natural disaster happening somewhere in the world?
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