Timothy W. Manning, deputy administrator for national preparedness at FEMA, talks with Victoria Nunez, 10.

The Providence Journal / Bob Thayer

NORTH PROVIDENCE — Some high-ranking officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency squeezed into tiny chairs at Marieville Elementary School here Thursday to watch fourth graders plan how they will save their families from the next natural disaster.

Each student drew a map on his or her desk that showed their houses and showed the place family members would meet if they had to evacuate.

Amber Marzocchi, 9, is directing her family to a shed out back. Maria Florio, 9, is sending her family to her grandmother’s house, just down the street. More than one student picked an iconic and practical location in town, Twin’s Pizza on Mineral Spring Avenue.

The students were taking part in a model program called STEP (Student Tools for Emergency Planning) that has been organized by their teachers, the state Emergency Management Agency and experts from FEMA.

The idea is to have the kids spend the year studying disasters such as hurricanes, snowstorms and lightning strikes, and involving their families in efforts to stock backpacks with emergency supplies, plan evacuation routes and share emergency telephone numbers.

Adults just don’t seem to get the message and get prepared, say the experts. But over the years, educators have prompted millions of people to quit smoking, use their seat belts or take shelter from nuclear attacks by appealing to children. Now the idea has moved to emergency preparedness.

Rhode Island has been a forerunner of the program, started just last year. And it has been working so successfully that Timothy W. Manning, deputy administrator for National Preparedness at FEMA, visited a classroom yesterday. He was joined by Paul Ford, the acting FEMA director for New England, local EMA officials, Schools Supt. Donna Ottaviano and Lt. Gov. Elizabeth H. Roberts.

Despite all the outsiders, the students kept working for their teachers, Carol Zona and Mary DiFilippo. Manning said he was impressed.

Getting people to prepare for disasters has become a big focus at FEMA, Manning said.

Looking around the classroom, Manning said, “I have never seen such an engaged group of kids. I think this is a great idea for us. It’s great to find a great idea and take it to Washington, rather than create something in Washington and then try to tell people to do it.”

Manning said he is where he is because an elementary schools science teacher created a spark for him. He was happy to see the emergency response instruction was incorporated throughout the fourth grade’s curriculum during the year.

Michelle Collins, a former teacher who worked with kids affected by Hurricane Katrina and who now works for FEMA, developing the STEP program, said she was proud of the effort.

“Kids are capable human beings,” she said as she visited the classroom. “If they have some knowledge, it reduces stress and they can help.”

So far, the program has been offered throughout New England, to 110 students in Vermont and as many as 4,554 in Connecticut. But Rhode Island has done the most, teaching nearly 8,000 young people.

Manning and Collins made it clear that they hope to take the model developed here and offer it around the country.

To learn more about the STEP program at the Rhode Island Emergency Management Agency, go to: www.riema.ri.gov/step.

plord@projo.com