Extreme Weather
Welcome to the Extreme Weather Interest Center!
Here, you will explore hurricanes, earthquakes, and/or tsunamis. You will
become the expert and present your new knowledge to the class in a variety of
ways.
Resources:
Fiction Texts:
● Earthquake Terror by Peg Kehret
● Night of the Howling Dogs by Graham Salisbury
● Ninth Ward by Jewell Parker Rhodes
● Hurricane Song by Paul Volponi
● The Killing Sea by Richard Lewis
● Escaping the Giant Wave by Peg Kehret
● The Living by Matt de la Pena
● I Survived: The San Francisco Earthquake, 1906
● I Survived: Hurricane Katrina, 2005
● I Survived: The Japanese Tsunami, 2011
Nonfiction Texts:
● Violent Weather by National Geographic
● Forces of Nature: The Awesome Power of Vocanoes, Earthquakes, and
Tornadoes
● A Daredevil’s Guide to Storm Chasing by Amie Jane Leavitt
● Earthquakes: Witness to Disaster by National Geographic
● The Earth-Shaking Facts About Earthquakes by Katherine Krohn
● Hurricanes: Witness to Disaster by National Geographic
● Lightning, Hurricanes, and Blizzards: The Science of Storms by Paul
Fleisher
● Eye of the Storm: Chasing Storms with Warren Faidley by Stephen Kramer
● Tsunamis: Witness to Disaster by National Geographic
● Hurricane Katrina by Blake Hoena
● Everything Volcanoes and Earthquakes by Kathy Furgang
● ReadAbout: Help is on the Way! Disaster Hits a Moroccan Village, and the
World Comes to Help
● ReadAbout: Living in a Quake Zone
● ReadAbout:The Terrifying Twister
Videos (via PBSLearningMedia):
● “Hurricanes: New Tools for Predicting”
http://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/ess05.sci.ess.watcyc.hurricane/
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hurricanes-new-tools-for-predicting/
“How Hurricanes Form”
http://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/ess05.sci.ess.watcyc.hurrlife/ho
w-hurricanes-form/
“Forecasting Earthquakes”
http://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/nvsn5.sci.earth.forecast/forecas
ting-earthquakes/
“Predicting Earthquakes”
http://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/kqed07.sci.ess.earthsys.quake/
predicting-earthquakes/
“Nepal Devastated by Deadly Earthquake”
http://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/e59f6ffe-64fd-4b8c-9cb89b563440b167/nepal-devastated-by-deadly-earthquake/
“Birth of a Tsunami”
http://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/nvkq.vid.earth.tsunami/birth-ofa-tsunami/
“Anatomy of a Tsunami”
http://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/ess05.sci.ess.watcyc.anatomyts
unami/anatomy-of-a-tsunami/
Extreme Weather of our Time:
Tsunamis
Indian Ocean Earthquake/Tsunami 12/26/2004
Tohoku Earthquake/Tsunami (Japan) 3/11/2011
Earthquakes
Indian Ocean Earthquake/Tsunami 12/26/2004
Tohoku Earthquake/Tsunami (Japan) 3/11/2011
Haiti Earthquake 2010
Offshore Maule, Chile Earthquake 2/27/2010
Northern Sumatra, Indonesia Earthquake 3/28/2005
Hurricanes
Hurricane Rita: Cuba, US Gulf Coast 2005
Hurricane Charley: Jamaica, Cayman Islands, Cuba, Florida, Carolinas 2004
Hurricane Irene: Caribbean, US East Coast, Eastern Canada 2011
Hurricane Ivan: Caribbean, US Gulf Coast, Venezuela 2004
Hurricane Wilma: Greater Antilles, Central America, Florida 2005
Hurricane Ike: Texas, Louisiana, Midwestern US, Greater Antilles 2008
Hurricane Sandy: US East Coast, Eastern Canada, Caribbean 2012
Hurricane Katrina: Bahamas, US Gulf Coast 2005
Presentation Options:
1. Write the script for and record a weather newscast telling viewers it is essential to
evacuate due to a disaster. Consider the tone of voice a newscaster would use and any
helpful information he/she would share with the viewers. (RI.8.1, W.8.2, SL.8.5)
2. Record a weather newscast telling viewers it is essential to evacuate due to a disaster.
Consider the tone of voice the newscaster should have in such an experience. (RI.8.1,
W.8.2, SL.8.4)
3. Using Inspiration Maps, create a cluster map of ideas and vocabulary related to natural
disasters, while demonstrating how they are related to each other. You may choose one
topic to focus on (like tornadoes or hurricanes) or you may give an overview of natural
disasters. (RI.8.21, L.8.6)
4. After reading one of the fiction texts, create a found poem from a random page of the
text conveying a meaning, feeling, definition, response, etc. from the text. Do this by
creatively covering some text, while leaving some words/phrases visible. (RL.8.2,
W.8.10, SL.8.5)
5. Create an Animoto video using photos, videos, and text to tell the story one of the
featured natural disasters. (RI.8.1, W.8.7, SL.8.5)
6. Using Piktochart, create an infographic describing one or more natural disaster.
Remember to include statistics, images, and text to present information to your
audience. (RI.8.1, W.8.7, SL.8.5)
7. Become a photojournalist and chronicle what happened in one of the featured disasters.
Use Keynote to present powerful photos and text that give an in-depth look at the
disaster (RI.8.1, W.8.2, W.8.7, SL.8.5)
8. Using Dipity, create a digital timeline to chronicle what happened in one of the featured
disasters. (RI.8.1, W.8.7, SL.8.5)
9. Analyze and explain how a natural disaster affected its area from one of the following
lenses: economical, social, political. (RI.8.1, W.8.2, W.8.7)
10. Consider what role global warming plays in these natural disasters. Create a PSA
explaining to the public the cause and effect relationship global warming has on natural
disasters. (RI.8.1, W.8.2, W.8.7, SL.8.5)
11. Using the templates available in Lucid Chart, compare and contrast two super storms.
You may choose specific storms, like Hurricane Sandy and the Tohoku Tsunami, or you
may compare/contrast hurricanes, tsunamis, and/or earthquakes in general (RI.8.1,
RL.8.1, W.8.2, W.8.7, SL.8.5)
12. After reading a novel featuring a natural disaster, analyze how the disaster changed the
character(s) in the book. (RL.8.1, RL.8.3, W.8.2)
13. Create a cross section model of an earthquake, hurricane, or tsunami. Your cross
section may be 2D or 3D. Make sure you label important information. (RI.8.1, SL.8.5,
L.8.5b)
14. Using actual news clippings, images, paper clippings, etc, create a collage that captures
the emotion behind one of the featured storms. (RI.8.1, W.8.7, SL.8.5)
15. Write the script of, or record an interview with a storm chaser. You will have to do some
outside research to fuel questions and logical answers for your interview. (RI.8.1, W.8.2)
16. Write the resume and cover letter of a person applying to be a storm chaser. Remember
to include any personal qualities or past experience that would help him/her get the job!
You will need to do some outside research to learn how to become a storm chaser and
what he/she does on a day to day basis. (RI.8.1, W.8.2, W.8.7)
17. Pretend that you are a storm. Write a monologue of what you’re experiencing, thinking,
feeling while you are following your designated path. (RI.8.1, W.8.3, W.8.7)
18. After reading one of the I Survived novels, research the historic disaster. Then, explain
which events in the novel stayed true to the disaster, and which parts of the novel are
complete fiction. If some parts are complete fiction, explain how the author could make it
more accurate.(RI.8.1, RL.8.1, RI.8.9, W.8.2)
19. Create an ABC book for extreme weather. For each letter, A-Z, you must designate one
idea that you’ve learned about from your research. Each page should include a picture,
your topic, and a short paragraph providing more details about your topic. (RI.8.1,
RL.8.1, W.8.2, W.8.7, SL.8.5)