Ms Green checks a plain clipboard while Grace and Mike wait beside her with their class on a clear open school assembly lawn. Mike looks uncertain and Ms Green speaks gently to him, Grace nearby. School buildings distant, no hazards or damage spectacle, natural calm respectful expressions.

When the Ground Shook

Phase 6 · Book 5
Focus split digraphs in sentences

Grace and Mike play with simple shape cards on a sturdy broad rectangular wooden classroom table; Ms Green sits nearby. Calm classroom, secured low shelves, distant windows, no readable writing. Other students can be softly in background.

Grace and Mike play a shape game at school. They make a wide line of cards on a table. Ms Green sits nearby. “Which shape comes next?” she asks.

An earthquake has just begun: a small cup has slid across the sturdy classroom tabletop and cards are displaced. Grace and Mike immediately lower themselves to hands and knees beside that nearby table to take cover. Ms Green also drops to her knees nearby. No standing or running children, no motion lines, no falling glass.

The room starts to shake. A cup slides on the table. “Drop, Cover, Hold,” says Ms Green. Grace and Mike drop onto their hands and knees.

Clear side view of Grace and Mike wholly sheltered under the sturdy rectangular classroom table. Each child crouches on knees, ONE forearm protects the back of head and neck and the OTHER hand grips a table leg. Ms Green takes cover under a separate nearby sturdy table. All heads safely beneath tabletops, no additional hands, no standing or walking people.

They crawl under the nearby sturdy table. They cover their heads and necks with one arm. They hold a table leg with the other hand. Ms Green takes cover too.

The shaking has stopped but Grace and Mike remain sheltered under the same sturdy table, each protecting head and neck with one arm and holding a leg with the other hand. Ms Green remains under her nearby table and speaks calmly. No one rushing out, no debris, no decorative motion lines.

They stay under cover while the room shakes. Then the shaking stops. Grace wants to get up. “Wait here while we check,” says Ms Green.

After the shaking and safety checks, Ms Green calmly leads Grace, Mike and a small class group along a clear school walkway towards an open designated assembly lawn away from buildings. Everyone walks together, no running, calm daylight and entire people inside frame.

The teacher follows the school’s emergency plan. When it is safe to move, she leads the class outside. They walk to their assembly place. Grace and Mike stay with the group.

Ms Green uses her list to check everyone. “I hope we can go home soon,” says Mike. “I’m here with you while we wait,” she says. Their game can wait too.

When the Ground Shook

Talk Together

Read together