How's the Weather?

Goals:

  1. Students will learn characteristics and terms of ocean storms: hurricanes, typhoons and tropical cyclones.
  2. Using various forms of media, the students will follow the path of a tropical storm. (This is best done during the late spring, summer and autumn months when ocean storms are at peak intensity. Smaller ocean storms can be traced throughout the year.)
  3. Students will read maps using longitude and latitude, calculate distances from given map scales and locate places the storm has passed, learning about the cultures in the storm's path.
  4. Students will develop their communication skills through presentations.

Resources:

  1. The poem "The Sky and the Sea" by David T. Chappell (1993).
  2. Access to the Internet is essential for this project. Two Internet sources are particularly beneficial for students. Basic information about hurricanes, typhoons and tropical cyclones can be found at http://tropical.atmos.colostate.edu/text/tcfaq1.html . To discover the paths of storms, actual up-to-date weather data can be found from http://banzai.neosoft.com/citylink/blake/tropical.html
  3. A copy of Jump Ship to Freedom by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier
  4. Brief video on the destruction a hurricane caused to a culture (E.g. - Hurricane Hugo on the southeastern United States.)
  5. Access to newspapers and television will be helpful to record the path of hurricanes.
  6. Maps of various parts of the world. Since Kidnapped and Treasure Island are the underlying novels in the curriculum, maps of the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by Africa, Europe, North and South America would help students record the storms path through the Atlantic Ocean and onto land. These maps should have longitude and latitude lines.
  7. Library access to learn about various cultures in the storm's path.

Time:

Besides being a lesson that would probably be best done during the spring or autumn months, this lesson will require between ten and fourteen hours of class time depending on the availability of resources. (The introduction to hurricanes, typhoons and tropical cyclones will take approximately one to two hours. This is followed by finding storms via the Internet, taking about one to two hours. This is followed by daily observations of the storm requiring thirty minutes per day for the life of the lesson along with learning about an affected culture which requires a minimum of four hours. In conclusion, students will give presentations about the path of their storms and the people affected by it.)

Procedure:

  1. To interest the students about ocean storms, read aloud the poem "The Sky and the Sea" by David T. Chappell (1993) found on the Internet. (See Resources)
  2. Read aloud the part of Jump Ship to Freedom pertaining to the ship's trials through a hurricane. The passage runs from page 53 ("'Is a storm coming?' I asked Birdsey.") to the top of page 74 ("We'd ridden her out.")
  3. Through a brief discussion, ask students what they know about ocean storms.
  4. Through direct instruction, introduce the concepts of hurricanes, typhoons and tropical cyclones. The video showing hurricane destruction may be appropriate here. Explain why these are different than thunderstorms and tornadoes. Basic information about these subjects can be found in the references section of the lesson.
  5. Divide students into groups of three or four.
  6. Each team will receive a map of the Atlantic Ocean and the lands surrounding it, allowing them a place to trace the path of the storm. (If there are no major storms in the Atlantic Ocean, other oceans can be used.)
  7. Students will use the Internet to receive up-to-date weather data which allows them to chart the progress of their storm. This will be done on a daily basis for the length of the lesson or the length of the storm.
  8. As the storm approaches land, students will research information regarding the people affected by the storm.
  9. The groups will present a five to ten minute presentation characterizing their storm and background information about the land and people affected by the storm.

Assessment:

  1. Each team must turn in a table listing the similarities and differences between three types of ocean storms: hurricanes, typhoons and tropical cyclones. (Criteria for success - Each team must create a table having at least four similarities and differences among the three types of ocean storms.)
  2. Using longitude and latitude lines, each team must turn in a map with the storm's path and a copy of the materials used to plot the storm's course (e.g. - Internet printout). (Criteria for success - Each team must have correctly plotted the locations of the storm's path and have the reference data for their plotted points.)
  3. Each team must give a presentation about their storm and about the land and people affected by the storm. (Criteria for success - Each team must identify the type of storm, the type of land and the cultural characteristics that give the students clues as to the affect a similar storm or larger storm may have on the culture. [e.g. conclusion - Mountainous terrain protects a well-developed society.])

Curricular Strands and Major Concepts:

  1. Social Studies - Geography of the Atlantic Ocean, reading maps and learning about other cultures affected by the storm.
  2. Math - Understanding how to convert measured distance on a map to actual distance.
  3. Science - Developing a basic knowledge of ocean storms and the destruction they can cause.
  4. Language Arts - Development of oral communication skills through the presentations.

Possible Extensions:

  1. Compare the destruction of a known tornado and a hurricane, showing how people persevere through tough times.
  2. Explore the effects of storms on people. This does not just have to be ocean storms.
  3. Learn about land storms and compare them to ocean storms not only in physical characteristics, but also in the amount of destruction causes.


     

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