Lesson Plan: I Survived the Lahaina Fire

Essential Questions

• How can we recover from a big loss? 
• What can neighbors do to help each other in an emergency?

Literature Connection

• Graphic novel: Wildfire by Breena Bard
• Fiction: I Survived the California Wildfires, 2018 by Lauren Tarshis

Build Background Knowledge (10 minutes)

Before reading the article, view our video “Wildfires Up Close.” The video provides information about how wildfires start and how people fight them. After viewing, have students review what they learned. Ask, “What are some causes of wildfires? What problems do wildfires cause? What does it take to fight a wildfire?”

Preview Text Features (15 minutes)

Have students open their magazines to page 4. Guide them to preview the text features by asking the following questions:

• Read the article’s title and subtitle (the text beneath the title). Make a prediction: How do you think the fire changed Kini’s life? Answers may vary. Students might guess that Kini and her family were injured in the fire, lost their home, or lost loved ones.
• Look at the big photo of Kini and read its caption. What does it help you understand about the story? The caption tells you that Kini’s family lost their house in the fire. You can imagine that Kini  and her family, along with many of their neighbors, have been living in temporary housing since then. They probably lost most of their belongings as well. In addition, a fire that destroyed homes may have destroyed Kini’s school and other places that were part of her daily life.

Preview Vocabulary (10 minutes)

• Point out the vocabulary box. Read the words (engulfed, demolished, devastating, devouring, memorial) aloud and discuss their definitions.
• Play the Vocabulary Slideshow.

Make a Plan for Reading 

Before students start to read, walk them through a reading plan:

• Set a purpose for reading by explaining to students that while other news stories might offer general information about the Lahaina fire, the article they’re about to read will show them what the fire was like for a middle schooler who was actually there. 
• Point out the Pause and Think boxes. Tell students they can check their understanding of what they’ve read by answering these questions.
• Point out the activity at the end of the article and tell students they’ll complete it after reading. Encourage students to briefly scan the questions and to keep them in mind as they read.

Read the article. (Higher- and lower-Lexile versions are available on the Story page at Action Online. Click Presentation View to access an audio read-aloud.) Then discuss the following close-reading and critical-thinking questions.

Close-Reading Questions (15 minutes)

• What was Kini’s life like before the fire? How is it different now? (compare and contrast) Kini’s life before the fire sounds peaceful and pleasant: She lived near her grandparents, in the town where her mom had grown up, and had an ocean view. Her life after the fire sounds complicated: Her family lived in one place for a while and is now looking for another, her friends are all in different places, and she isn’t sure when she’ll be able to return to Lahaina.
• How does Kini feel about Lahaina? How can you tell? (inference) You can tell that Kini loves her town: She says she wants to go back and that the memorial event made her grateful that Lahaina was not forgotten.
• What happened at the memorial event for Lahaina? (summarizing) At the memorial event, people paddled out into the ocean on surfboards. They made a circle and chanted, and a helicopter dropped flowers.

Critical-Thinking Question (10 minutes)

• What do you think might be difficult about being a firefighter? What do you think might be satisfying about the job? (critical thinking) Answers may vary. Students might say that the danger firefighters face, as well as the frustration of not being able to save every person or building, likely makes the job difficult. But the ability to save lives and the excitement of battling a powerful force must also make it amazing.

• Have students work in pairs to complete the Spotlight Skill activity at the end of the article.
• Go further: Assign students to work independently on our Summarizing activity, available in higher- and lower-level versions. (Click here to view all your Skill Builders for this article.)
• Writing Prompt: Imagine that you’re working on a podcast about the Lahaina fire. Write a brief description of the podcast with details about when it happened, the damage it did, and what kinds of information people can expect to hear in the podcast (for example, how long it’s taking to rebuild the town and what people are doing to make money if their workplaces have closed).