From left, Malachi, 8, Alex, 7, and Jessica in the devastated Randwick School Library which was hit by a simulated earthquake last week.
By Chrys Ayley
Visitors to Randwick School Library last week could be forgiven for thinking vandals had struck as books and chairs were strewn on the floor, furniture upturned and the lights were not working. As noisy non- stop sirens sounded in their library children crawled through a passage way in their devastated library seeking refuge at the front of the room. All around them were scenes of destruction with household items like pegs, pots and pans and milk bottles thrown around the room. It looked like a bomb had hit the place and because it was so dark it was quite scary for some of the children. This term?s theme for learning is disasters and the teachers spent a day making the library look like had been hit by an earthquake but part of the exercise for the children, who inspected the room in turns, was to work out what had happened. School principal Ariana Tyson said each class had a different disaster focus to study this term and the exposure to the earthquake scenario was to get them motivated and excited to learn. Seeing a simulated situation was better than sitting in classroom learning about it, she said. Form three and four teacher Ms Andrews asked her students to take a long look around the room hit by disaster and think about what they were seeing. ?It?s giving them a real view of what can happen,? she said. Jessica, 8, said she thought there really had been an earthquake in the library and Alex said she noticed the broken plates. Their class mate Malachi said he thought it was a real earthquake or made up to look like an earthquake and then he was not sure. The children brainstormed their thoughts and feelings the following day and a trip to the earthquake exhibition at Te Papa is planned for later in the year.
