Literature Selection Theme Study Students will learn about severe weather through this thematic unit. They will learn a little bit about each subject.

Severe Weather

Literature Selection

Theme Study•Students will learn about severe weather through this thematic unit. They will learn a little bit about each subject including reading and writing, social studies, science, math, art, music, and physical education.

•They will also learn safety tips and how to react when a severe storm approaches.

Language Arts: Reading•Read Blizzard’s Wake by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor out loud to the students•Read an assortment of books talking about severe weather of their interest• Read interesting facts about each storm book•Research poems about severe weather online•Find newspaper article about recent severe weather

Language Arts: Speaking

•Each student has a day to give a weather report•Discussion about their personal severe weather books•Talk about personal experiences with storms•Interview classmate about another experience not shared•Share information on their researched storm

Language Arts: Writing•Name Blizzards and Hurricanes•Write down a personal experience or stories heard as a narrative of a severe storm•Write a poem using onomatopoeia•Write reflections on a current severe weather disaster (ex. 2009 flood)•Write a journal about each day’s weather and how they feel about the weather that day

Language Arts: Listening

•Listen to a story about a severe storm told by a survivor•Listen to different wind, lightning, and other storm sounds•Have a guest speaker such as a weather person speak to the class•Listen while their peers read their stories to the class•Listen to upcoming weather forecasts

Language Arts: Viewing•Watch weather channel for updates when applicable• Look at a live radar during severe weather (not only where they live but around the globe)•Watch Bill Nye the Science Guy and Storms•Research storm pictures online (either as a class on the board or online and share with class later)•Take a field trip to local weather forecasting station•Watch videos of storms occurring

Language Arts: Visually Representing

•Make a collage of the pictures the students found on the internet or at home•Decorate the room with severe weather pictures or other decorations•Display their projects from the unit around the room and hallway•Create a presentation of their favorite storm •Picture wall of storm photos and newspaper or magazine articles

Science•How storms are formed•How snowflakes look under a microscope•What the differences between a tornado and a hurricane•What causes thunder and lightning•Inspect hail and how it is formed•All different types of severe weather (tornado, blizzard, hurricane, flood, ect.)•Types of clouds and what they do•Write down what kinds of clouds they have seen after being taught how to identify them

Mathematics•Add Lightning bolts in a pictures of two different storms on a worksheet•Learn how to tell how far away lightning is•How much faster is one tornado going than the next•Graph daily precipitation•Measure wind speeds of certain hurricanes and tornados by using researched information of a certain hurricane or tornado•Learn the degree of which the precipitation is falling and apply it to triangles•Measure temperature before, during, and after storm

Social Studies•Use maps to determine distance one tornado traveled on the ground•Study a specific vicious storm in history and write a research paper•Choose a year and find out some of the most severe weather in that year•Learn what to do during each specific storm•Color a map of where a selected severe weather pattern occurs•Compare states of average precipitation each year on a bar graph•Create Venn Diagram of the differences and likenesses of Tornados and Hurricanes

Music, PE, and Art•Make wind chimes•Make rain sticks•Storm Noise Activity (patting knees, clapping, snapping ect.)•Make paper snowflakes•Compose a storm song•Have a relay to each ‘storm’ and do an activity that goes along with safety during that ‘storm’•Create picture journal of favorite storms•Play basketball ‘Lightning’ game•Play ‘snowball’ (dodge ball like game with mats as protection around the gym)

Technology

•Bill Nye the Science Guy and Storms Video•Twister•PBS Home Video: Tornado Glory•Tornadoes: How They Form Video•Google Search Engine•http://www.ussartf.org/predicting_weather.htm•http://www.tornadohistoryproject.com/•http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHKOT4K7hO4•http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guQB_-Nper4

Language Arts Strategies•Brainstorm what kind of storms that they have or haven’t been through•Remembering things they already know about storms to learn more•Predicting weather and seeing how to monitor weather •Using severe weather to relate to the whole world, not just North Dakota (or USA)•Using visualizing to view a storm in their minds before it happens

Language Arts Skills

•Students will understand new words and how they fit in with severe storms and everyday life•Students will write and understand how to write a narrative, a poem, and conduct an interview•Students will recognize words learned during this unit and use them outside of the classroom•Students will have used graphs, diagrams, pictures, and much more to visualize each severe weather storm

Grouping Patterns•Large Group: classroom discussions, videos, snowball game, videos, guest speakers, daily forecast, relays, storm noises•Small Group: interviews, map colorings, picture researching, composing songs, experiments•Individual: making snowflakes, making rain sticks, writing poems, personal journals, weather forecast per day, survival information

Assessments•Personal Journal Entries•Evaluate mapping skills•Poetry informal assessment•Participation in all activities•Observe as students complete their picture journal•Assess narrative story using 6+1 writing traits•Quiz on Science and Math content•Use rubric to score research report

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

LanguageArts

•Start reading Blizzards wake•Daily weather reporter•Write journal about a personal storm experience

•Read a short story book•Start research on certain storm•Decorate room with storm photos

•Read short story•Present research•Find newspaper articles and bring Thursday to present

•Read short story•Write storm poem•Watch Bill Nye•Watch video clips of live storms

•Read short story•Finish Blizzards Wake•Learn about current or recent disasters•Journal reaction

Math•Start graphing daily temps•Look at the weekly forecast

•Distance between lightning and you•Make graph of last months precipitation

•Take temperature difference from before, during, and after a storm•Report on a graph

•Use triangles to figure out the angle of the falling precipitation.

•Finish weekly graph•Calculate two different hurricane and see how much faster each is going

SocialStudies

•Venn diagram for tornado vs. hurricane•Pick research storm

•Use map to determine the distance tornado traveled

•Choose year and find out as much about severe weather that happened that year

•Learn safety during each storm•Compare states average precipitation from this year to previous years

•Predict future precipitation and storms forming•Color map of where a selected severe pattern occurs

Science•How storms are formed•Many different types

•Cloud formations•Keep track of all the clouds analyzed throughout the week

•Causes of thunder and lightning •Specifics about hurricanes and tornadoes and their similarities and differences

•How hail forms•Specifics about blizzards and floods

•Look at snowflake differences

ArtMusic

Physical Education

•Make wind chimes•Play “lightning”

•Make rain sticks•Storm safety relay

•Storm noise activity•Create picture journal

•Compose a song about storms•Play “snowball”

•Make paper snowflakes