2 N D – 3 R D GRADE TEXT SETBY JENNIFER EUBANK

Wild Weather: Severe Weather Storms

Text Set Overview

Grade(s): 2nd – 3rd grade Subject: Science Unit Topic: Weather- Severe Weather & the Influences on Human Activity Rationale: Before second grade, students have not studied severe weather in

depth, nor the safety precautions to take during a severe weather storm. Students will likely experience these various severe weather storms several times throughout their lifetime; therefore, it is vital for students to be aware of how they may be affected by severe weather storms, as well as how the storms affect others, and how we may keep ourselves safe if they occur.There are various weather resources for 2nd-3rd grade students; however, the selections in this text set focus specifically on: diverse types of severe weather storms such as hurricanes, thunderstorms, tornadoes, and blizzards; the influences of these severe storms on society; and how we may be affected by these storms in our own lives.

Guiding Concepts/Objectives: Students will be able to identify common types of storms such as hurricanes,

tornadoes, blizzards, and thunderstorms. Students will recognize that there are different safety precautions to take during

various severe weather storms. Students will understand how various severe weather can influence human

activity and our every day lives.

Linguistic Selection:

Fiction Book

Macken, J. (2010). Waiting out the storm. Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press.

Level: Below (1st grade) | Genre: Fiction Book

In this story, a daughter ask her mother about the sounds she is hears before, during, and after a thunderstorm. The mother answers the little girl’s questions and explains where the animals and people have to go during a thunderstorm to stay protected.

The story follows a repetition and rhyming pattern that composes a text appropriate for struggling readers. The adjectives and descriptions of the thunderstorm in the book, paired with the story’s illustrations, appeals to the students senses and allows them to visualize various aspects of this storm. The text covers detailed information about thunderstorms in a narrative format, as well as different ways humans and animals stay safe during these storms.

Linguistic Selection:

Poem

Franco, B., & Katz, B. (2001). Thunder. Thematic poetry: Whatever the weather . New York, NY: Scholastic, Inc.

Level: Easy (2nd Grade) | Genre: Poetry

The poem Thunder uses several onomatopoeias, or sound words, and adjectives in order to describe what you may hear or see during a thunderstorm. The poem includes a description of the two identifying components of a severe thunderstorm, thunder and lightening.

The rhyming words and short sentences in this poem would appeal to the interest, as well as the level, of below level readers. This selection could be used to activate students background knowledge of thunderstorms by appealing to their senses of sight and hearing. In addition, the poem can be used to predict safety precautions to use during a thunderstorm as well as how a thunderstorm may effect our daily life activities.

Linguistic Selection:

Fiction Book

McDonald, M. (2014). Judy Moody and Stink: The big bad blackout . Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press.

Level: Average (2nd grade) | Genre: Fiction Book

In this selection, the Moody Family experiences an electricity blackout caused by “Hurricane Elmer”. The family in the story is able to cope with the severe storm and the blackout by playing board games & telling stories with each other.

The book’s humorous take on a frightening severe weather storm will present weather information in a different way, while appealing to the interest level of the students. The text will encourage students to infer what it would be like to experience a blackout during a hurricane with their families and how a hurricane would affect their own activities. The text will also invite students to make connections to other texts regarding severe weather and hurricanes.

Linguistic Selection: Graphic Novel

READY: Disaster master. (2006, January 1). Retrieved from http://www.ready.gov/kids

Level: Avg. (2nd grade) | Genre: Online Graphic Novel

FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) launched a campaign called Ready in 2003, which included a disaster readiness website for students ranging from 8-12 years old. Within the website, students can participate in a “Disaster Master” interactive text which allows students to read, and contribute to, their own graphic novels. Students complete different levels, each containing a new natural disaster, to finish different chapters of their extreme weather safety graphic novel.

This graphic novel activity allows students to be exposed to important safety information for different storms in a fun and engaging format. Students are encouraged to synthesize/summarize information & identify main ideas in order to finish chapters of their graphic novels.

Linguistic Selection: Nonfiction

Book

Hopping, L. (1998). Wild weather: Blizzards!. New York, NY: Scholastic, Inc.

Level: Average-Difficult (2nd grade) | Genre: NF Book

This selection is a part of the Wild Weather chapter book series and differentiates severe blizzard storms from regular snow storms. The book uses two examples of blizzards in our country’s history to discuss characteristics of the storm and the effect these storms have had on human activity in the past. The text also includes information for staying warm and safe during this severe weather storm.

In general, students often have misconceptions of a blizzard as being a small snow storm. The material in this selection encourages students to make predictions regarding what they know about this severe weather storm, as well evaluate and revise these predictions as they read, to eliminate their misconceptions of the topic. Additionally, students are able to build background knowledge of an uncommon, but not impossible, type of severe weather storm.

Linguistic Selection: Textbook

Science: A closer look 2nd grade student edition. (2011). New York, NY: School Education Group, a division of the McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Level: Easy (3rd Grade) | Genre: NF/Textbook

Chapter 7 in this textbook, Observing Weather, provides an introduction to changing weather and key concepts regarding identifying different severe weather storms. The text focuses on different cloud types, what they look like, and how they are connected to the various storms we experience.

This textbook allows students to identify and summarize main ideas, as well as build vocabulary, pertaining to the formation of severe weather storms. In addition, the students will be exposed to several different text features throughout the chapter.

Linguistic Selection:

Fiction Book

Barrett, J. (1978). Cloudy with a chance of meatballs. New York, NY: Atheneum Books for Young Readers.

Level: Average (3rd Grade) | Genre: Fiction Book

This book is a fictional book about a town of “Chewandswallow” and the bizarre weather that the people of the town encounter. The town experiences severe weather in the form of food and illustrates the chaos of the town as the townspeople deal with the storms.

This selection contains fictional storms caused by meatballs and various food items; however, students can make connections to different types of storms such as hurricanes and thunderstorms throughout the book. The story invites students to make connections to what they are learning about severe weather and make predictions about how severe weather can cause chaos in our own lives.

Linguistic Selection:

Non-Fiction Book

Rachel, E. (2011). When a flood strikes. Flood and monsoon alert! (pp. 24-25). New York, NY: Crabtree Publishing Company.

Level: Difficult (3rd Grade) | Genre: Non-Fiction Book

The “When a Flood Strikes” section of this selected text explains how a flood can form from severe weather storms. The text describes how we can prepare for floods by giving details on creating food supplies kits, planning an escape route, and following safety tips during flash floods.

This text is significant to students because flash floods are fairly common in our area of Virginia due to severe thunderstorms. Students will need to be aware of how they can stay safe if one should occur. This non-fiction selection exposes students to various types of text structures (headings, subheadings, illustrations, and captions). Additionally, students are encouraged to connect the information in the text with the severe weather storms in other content texts.

Linguistic Selection:

Article

Severe weather and natural disasters: Witness account. Scholastic scope, 49, 13. Retrieved from http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/wwatch/hurricanes/witnesses.htm

Level: Above (4th grade) | Genre: Article

This article is of a teenager’s first hand account of experiencing Hurricane Floyd and the aftermath of the storm floods in North Carolina during September of 1999. The girl describes her feelings during the storm, her father’s resistance to listen to evacuation officials, and the loss of a best friend due to the disaster.

This text encourages students to use questioning strategies throughout their reading to gain understanding into how severe weather can effect different people. The article gives students a young child’s perspective into experiencing a severe flood caused by a hurricane. At this age, the students probably have not yet gained background knowledge of how it feels to be in a hurricane because they most likely have yet to experience a hurricane themselves.

Linguistic Selection: Brochure

Watch out... Tornadoes ahead!. (2014). Retrieved from http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/brochures/owlie-tornado.pdf

Level: All, Read Aloud | Genre: Brochure

This brochure was created by the National Weather Service to inform students of how to stay safe both at home and at school during a tornado. The brochure also offers interesting tornado facts that would appeal to 2nd and 3rd grade students. The facts include people who have remained protected during a storm because they followed storm safety rules.

The material found in the brochure allows students to summarize main ideas and important severe weather information. In addition, the text encourages students to make connections to tornado drills at school. The information may spark conversation of the importance of these drills.

This one-minute video published by National Geographic Online compiles severe storm photographs shot by readers of the magazine in different places around the country.

This video allows students to visualize the different types of severe weather storms through the eyes of people from around the country. In addition, students are able to make different connections with the photographs and the individuals taking the photos (i.e. text-to-self and text-to-world connections). Also, the video invites discussion about what the individuals taking the photographs may have felt in the moment before, during, or after the storm.

Non-Linguistic Selection: Video

National Geographic: Stormy weather Retrieved from

http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/my-shot-minute/msm_storms?

source=relatedvideo

This photograph shows a model of a tornado. Water begins in the top soda bottle The tornado is created by turning the bottles in a circular motion until a vortex is formed. The water continues to swirl in a vortex to create a tornado until in drains into the bottom soda bottle.

This model can be used to spark student interests about tornados or reinforce key ideas about the severe weather storm. The students will experience a hands-on model in which they can visualize the vortex and the creation of a tornado.

Non-Linguistic Selection: Model

Tornado in a Bottle Picture retrieved from

http://www.paksc.org/pk/science-experiments/fun-science/543-bottle-tornado

This photograph taken by Donn Young was titled Hurricane Katrina Aftermath at Sunrise. The photograph portrays a community affected by this country’s largest natural disaster on the fifth anniversary of the storm.

Through this photograph, students are given the opportunity to visualize and understand how severe weather can impact people and communities. The picture will encourage conversation about how severe weather can effect society and what we can do to stay safe from storms, such as a hurricane like Katrina.

Non-Linguistic Selection: Photograph

Photo by Donn Young (2010)Retrieved from

http://renci.org/news/hurricane-katrina-five-years-later-a-humanities-focused-observance/

The KidWeather computer program is designed for an application download. The program was designed by a six year old and his father, who is a meteorologist. Within the program, students can view several features such as: current & daily weather conditions; what to wear for the weather; severe weather facts & safety tips; and various weather graphs & charts.

This program allows students of all ages to easily access weather information that will be helpful to them in their daily lives, while also exposing them to technology resources. Additionally, the information in the application is presented in an illustrated format that is both engaging and relevant for students.

Non-Linguistic Selection: Computer Program/App.

Download the computer program athttp://www.kidweatherapp.com/#slideshow

Additional Resources

Directions to Create a Tornado in a Bottle: http://www.brighthubeducation.com/lesson-plans-grades-1-2/9867-make-tornadoes-with-soda-bottles/

Weather Songs & Storm Safety Information: http://www.wxdude.com/songmap/singalongwiththeweatherdude/index.html

Interactive Web Game to Build Storm Safety Kit: http://www.ready.gov/kids/games/data/bak-english/index.html

SMART Board Presentation with Collection of Links, Games, and Weather Terms: http://exchange.smarttech.com/details.html?id=22b2d14c-770e-4e30-95eb-39d12c2f0804