Most of my students have lived through a natural disaster. Hurricane Charley hit our area in SW FL almost seven years ago. Most of the children that I teach were in grade school but all can tell you how the hurricane affected them and their families. My children were 8 & 10 at the time and can tell you exactly how Hurricane Charley, which was a direct hit, influenced our lives as well as Hurricane Wilma, which happened the following year.
After playing this SIMS-like website (that Dr. Booth recommended), I thought this would be a great way to get students engaged in natural disasters. I played the tsunami game but there are others like flooding, hurricane, tornadoes, etc. This website has you buy different protectors like sand dunes, mangroves, sensory-protective equipment, concrete buildings to protect your community. The site is:
http://www.stopdisastersgame.org/en/home.html
After playing several of these games, this would be a great teaching segue into how you could help your community after a disaster.
