Watch Out! It’s an Earthquake!

In the kindergarten grades, students are encouraged to take their education to another level in learning about their world all around them. Students at the Philadelphia School District of Philadelphia are engaged in learning to read on grade level, and students are encouraged to add in counting their numbers, but there are little curriculum units in the subject area of Earth Science, much less a curriculum unit on Earthquakes. Although learning about earthquakes may not have a direct effect on the improvement of the literacy goals and standards that are mandated for educators to follow, it can definitely breathe a love for learning about science topics in nature, which can create avid readers with a concentration and love for the Earth and their natural environment. This paper will present and discuss a curriculum unit on earthquakes, within the Earth Science course for Kindergarteners. By the end of this curriculum unit, students will be able to define what earthquakes are, how earthquakes occur, and where they mostly occur using everyday materials to explain earthquake occurrences.