Elementary School Science

Input:
What is the most important content in this lesson?
To reach this lesson’s objective, students need to understand:

• The definition and cause of a: hurricane, tornado, tropical storm, typhoon, tsunami, and blizzard

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How will the learning of this content be facilitated?

• The teacher should begin class by showing the YouTube Video: “Southern Indiana Tornado” by predatorylizard. The video is about two minutes long and shows a tornado. After the video is over, the teacher should hand out the “What Would You Do?” worksheet. The teacher should allow the students about 5 minutes to write what they would do to prepare for a storm (i.e., what they need to buy, how to take shelter, what needs to be done after a storm). After the students have finished, begin a discussion about some of the responses. Transition into the topic of stormy weather/severe weather by explaining that not all storms are the same. Some storms involve rain and wind, while others involve snow and/or ice. The teacher should explain that the video the students watched showed a tornado.

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• After the activity discussion  is done, the teacher will begin presenting the information on weather. If it is possible, project each page of the teacher’s copy of the “All About Weather” Science Journal worksheet onto the board using a projector or put into a PowerPoint document and project.  The teacher’s copy of the journal has certain words/phrases that are bolded red and highlighted. It is important the teacher explain to the students those words/phrases are to be highlighted in their (students) journal. For this lesson, the teacher should review these pages:

  • Pages 32-33: Severe Weather

  • ** These page review the different types of severe weather and what causes each**

  • Page 34: Categorizing Hurricanes: The Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale

  • **This page reviews the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale and the characteristics of each category**

  • Page 35: Categorizing Tornados: The Fujita Tornado Intensity Scale

  • **This page reviews the Fujita Tornado Intensity Scale and the characteristics of each category/group**

  • Pages 36-37: Historical Storms

  • **These pages review some of history’s most notable/memorable storms**

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• After the information has been presented, the students will participate in the activity “Storms of History”. The teacher should instruct the students to break into groups of two or three. Each group will choose a type of storm (i.e., hurricane, tornado, tropical storm, typhoon, tsunami, and blizzard). Each group will be given a “Notable Storm” information worksheet. As a group, the students will research a notable storm associated with the type of storm they chose (i.e., if the group chose “hurricane” they can research the storm “Hurricane Andrew- 1992”. (Information on how to research the storm is provided in the “Materials” section). The teacher should instruct the students to complete the “Notable Storm” information worksheet first. Once the worksheet is completed, the students will create a poster board explaining the information about their storm. The teacher should allow the students about 20 minutes to research their storm, gather information, and create their poster board. Once all the groups have finished their poster, the groups should begin presenting.

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• For the closure, when the presentations are over, meet again as a whole group and have the students share what they learned from the other groups’ presentations.