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Day 2: Emergency Essentials Kit Design

Lesson Overview
Time 50 minutes
Objectives Apply critical thinking and public-service mindset by designing a 10-item emergency kit for a specific disaster scenario; explain why each item is essential
TEKS d(1)(C)
Deliverable Completed Emergency Kit design (10 items selected, drawn or labeled, with rationale for top 3 items)
Materials Chromebooks, H&L Workbook Ch 13 (pp. 210-212), printed Emergency Kit Design worksheet (or blank paper), projector

Warm-Up (5 min)

WARM-UP: A flood is coming and you have 5 minutes to grab 10 things from your house. What do you grab first, and why?

Take 3-4 student responses. Most students will name comfort items (phone, charger). Bridge to the workbook's framing: emergency-services professionals plan for survival, not comfort.

Activity 1: Emergency Essentials — Choose a Kit (10 min)

Source: H&L Workbook Ch 13, pp. 210-211, "Emergency Essentials: Kit Design" (Career Climb)

Introduce the activity by reading the workbook scenario aloud: "Imagine you are a firefighter who works for your local fire department and you need to create an emergency kit that citizens can use. This kit is designed to help people during an emergency, and you will need to choose the right items to put in your kit."

Connect this to the Law cluster: emergency services (Fire Science, Law Enforcement) sit inside the Law cluster, and these careers require the same critical thinking that lawyers and detectives use, just in a different context.

Step 1: Each student chooses ONE emergency scenario (workbook p. 210):

  • Earthquake Survival Kit: for a home that could be affected by a large earthquake
  • Fire Kit: for a home that has caught fire and needs to evacuate quickly
  • Flood Response Kit: for people often affected by severe floods

Facilitation Tip

Encourage students to pick a scenario they have not personally experienced. It forces them to research rather than rely on assumptions. Project a quick map showing which Texas regions face which hazards (Houston = floods, West Texas = wildfires).

Activity 2: Select 10 Items + Justify Choices (25 min)

Source: H&L Workbook Ch 13, pp. 211, Item list and design step

Students review the workbook's item list (p. 211). They must choose exactly 10 items for their scenario from the workbook list (or add their own). The workbook list includes:

  • Flashlight, Bottles of Water, Map, Multi-tool, Dust Mask, Solar Phone Charger, First Aid Kit, Gloves, Pry Bar, Strobe Light, Portable Water Filter, Emergency Flare, Can Opener, Rope, Tent, Change of Clothes, Blankets, Non-perishable food, Whistle, Compass, Duct Tape, Batteries, Matches, Pen/Marker

Students then complete Step 3: Design Your Kit (workbook p. 211):

  • Draw the kit using symbols or sketches (or use a digital tool like Google Drawings or Canva)
  • Label each item
  • Write a 1-sentence explanation for the top 3 items: why is this item essential for the chosen emergency?

Students should do quick research (5 min cap) on their scenario to verify their choices. For example, a Flood Response Kit needs water purification because tap water becomes contaminated; a Fire Kit needs a dust mask because smoke inhalation is a top hazard.

DOK 3: Why is the same item (a flashlight) more critical in one scenario than another? Use your research to defend your top 3 picks.

Facilitation Tip

Watch for students who pick all 10 "fun" items. Redirect with: "If you had to give up one item to save someone's life, which would it be?" That question forces prioritization. The workbook explicitly says: "while one item might help in one scenario, it may not be as effective in another."

Activity 3: Pair Discussion (8 min)

Source: H&L Workbook Ch 13, p. 212, Discussion step

Students pair up (with a partner who chose a different scenario if possible) and ask each other the workbook discussion questions:

  • "What scenario did you choose?"
  • "What items did you choose for your kit and why? What item do you think is the most essential for your kit?"
  • "Is there anything about your kit that you would want to change if you had more time?"

Each partner takes notes on one improvement they would make based on the conversation.

Exit Ticket (2 min)

EXIT TICKET (Ranked Justification) · Printable PDF:

My emergency scenario (circle one): earthquake / fire / flood

From my Day 2 kit, rank MY TOP 3 items from MOST critical (1) to least critical (3). Use my research to back each rank.

  • Rank 1 (most critical): _____. One sentence why: _____________

  • Rank 2: _____. One sentence why: _____________

  • Rank 3: _____. One sentence why: _____________

Bottom line: If I could fit an 11th item, what would I ADD, and why is it less critical than my Rank 1 but still worth packing? (d(1)(C))

Differentiation

  • Support: Provide a pre-filled item list with checkboxes. Students just check 10. Provide a sentence stem for the rationale: "I chose _ because in a , you need to __."
  • Extension: Students design TWO kits for the same scenario but for different audiences (a family with a baby vs. an elderly person living alone). What changes? They write a 3-sentence comparison.
  • ELL: Bilingual item list (Flashlight = Linterna, Water = Agua, First Aid Kit = Botiquín, Whistle = Silbato, Compass = Brújula, Map = Mapa, Tent = Tienda de Campaña). Visual icons on the worksheet help non-readers.