How Educators Can Help Students Cope After Disaster

How Disaster Recovery in Schools Is Evolving

Disasters are no longer rare or isolated. Across the U.S., schools are increasingly disrupted by wildfires, floods, hurricanes, heat waves, and even smoke-related closures. Scientists—including NASA climate researchers—have linked this rise in extreme weather to climate change, and students are noticing.

These climate-related events don’t just damage buildings. They destabilize daily routines, interrupt learning, and can leave lasting emotional effects. For students already navigating poverty, housing insecurity, mental health issues, or trauma, disasters add even more stress and uncertainty.

Understanding the link between climate change and disaster risk is becoming a vital part of K–12 education. Whether you teach science, social studies, health, or counseling, these conversations are critical. Share My Lesson’s Climate Change Education Collection includes ready-to-use lessons, activities, and classroom discussion guides to help build climate literacy and support student resilience.

The better we understand what’s changing—and why—the better prepared we are to support students. Disasters don’t just damage infrastructure; they disrupt lives. Every school needs a trauma-informed plan to guide students through emotional recovery.

How Educators Can Support Students After Disasters

Disaster recovery in schools isn’t just about rebuilding classrooms and repairing damage. It’s about restoring a sense of safety, connection, and trust—especially for children and teens. Educators, counselors, and school staff play a key role in helping students feel grounded, emotionally supported, and ready to return to learning. Whether you're working through immediate disruptions or planning for long-term healing, trauma-informed, school-based strategies make all the difference.

Trauma-Informed Teaching Strategies for Post-Disaster Recovery

These classroom-ready resources offer practical, trauma-informed strategies to help students feel safe, supported, and ready to learn after a disaster. Use them to guide classroom discussions, support emotional recovery, and build a stable learning environment. Whether you're teaching after a wildfire, flood, hurricane, or other crisis, these tips can help you respond with empathy, structure, and confidence.

🧠 Acknowledge the Emotional Impact

Give students space to process what they’ve experienced. Even young children can benefit from expressing their emotions through writing, drawing, or open discussion. Normalize feelings like fear, sadness, or anger—and reassure students that they’re not alone. Experts emphasize the importance of mental health support after disasters, including events like the recent floods in Texas.

🧑‍🏫 Use Trauma-Informed Teaching Strategies

Create a calm, predictable classroom environment. Keep expectations clear but flexible. Students recovering from a disaster may be tired, anxious, or emotionally reactive. A trauma-informed classroom can offer the stability they need. Explore trauma-informed resources for schools.

🤝 Connect Families with Recovery Support

After a disaster, families may need help with basic needs like housing, food, counseling, or emergency aid. Work with school counselors and social workers to share a community resource list, or post hotline numbers in visible places. Consider distributing a printed guide or digital sheet tailored to your school.

🌱 Integrate SEL and Climate Resilience Conversations

Social-emotional learning (SEL) builds student resilience and coping skills. When appropriate, help students connect their experiences to broader topics like climate change and community action. Try these ready-to-use lessons and activities from the SEL Collection, the Climate Education Collection, and the Disaster Recovery and Preparedness Collection.

🧰 Teach Emergency Preparedness Together

Hold age-appropriate classroom discussions on emergency preparedness. Practice drills with compassion and context. Involve students in creating classroom safety plans or building emergency kits. When students know the plan, they feel more secure and confident. Try the FEMA emergency planning toolkit for students or the Build a Kit game to make it interactive.

Recovery Starts with Educators: Leading After a Crisis

No school community is immune to disaster—but we can be better prepared, more compassionate, and more connected when a crisis strikes.

To support your school’s planning and recovery efforts, explore the Disaster Recovery and Preparedness Collection on Share My Lesson. You’ll find free lesson plans, trauma-informed teaching strategies, checklists, SEL tools, and professional development resources—all designed to help educators, families, and staff respond with care and confidence.

Disasters may leave damage behind, but recovery begins with people. When students return to school after a crisis, it’s the calm, consistent presence of trusted educators and staff that helps them feel safe again. You don’t need to have all the answers—you just need to show up, listen, and lead with compassion.