Headed back to school? New guide offers tips for teaching about emergencies

As summer winds down, everyone knows what comes next: back-to-school season. During this exciting yet anxiety-riddled time of year, students aren’t the only ones who are stressed. Teachers, too, can have a rough time of it as they review class lists and prepare lesson plans.

To help equip teachers for the start of the school year, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has added a new feature to its Ready campaign that provides tips and materials for including disaster preparedness in the classroom. Created in partnership with Discovery Education and the Ad Council, Ready Classroom focuses on three steps for emergency preparedness: (1) preparing an emergency supply kit; (2) making an emergency plan; and (3) learning about types of emergencies specific to an area.

Ready Classroom provides teachers with a variety of grade- and age-specific tools such as games, puzzles, bulletin board ideas and videos , ranging from learning how to call 9-1-1 to discovering how an earthquake works. Another great resource is an interactive map where selecting a state reveals the natural disasters most likely to occur in a region along with links to information on preparing for those types of disaster.

Thanks to this new resource, teaching students about emergency preparedness and protecting them from emergencies just got easier.