Lesson Plan #4: Finding Hurricanes
Grade level: 1st
Concept:
Hurricanes can only develop in certain areas.
Objectives:
Students will analyze what areas are more prone to hurricane activity in order to understand why
they are only found in select locations.
Content Expectations/Technology Standards:
E.ES.01.23 Describe severe weather characteristics.
1. Creativity and Innovation
Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products
and processes using technology. Students:
a. apply existing knowledge to generate new ideas, products, or processes
b. create original works as a means of personal or group expression
c. use models and simulations to explore complex systems and issues
d. identify trends and forecast possibilities
3. Research and Information Fluency
Students apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use information.
Students:
a. plan strategies to guide inquiry
b. locate, organize, analyze, evaluate, synthesize, and ethically use information from a variety of
sources and media
c. evaluate and select information sources and digital tools based on the appropriateness to
specific tasks
d. process data and report results
4. Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making
Students use critical thinking skills to plan and conduct research, manage projects, solve
problems, and make informed decisions using appropriate digital tools and resources. Students:
a. identify and define authentic problems and significant questions for investigation
b. plan and manage activities to develop a solution or complete a project
c. collect and analyze data to identify solutions and/or make informed decisions
d. use multiple processes and diverse perspectives to explore alternative solutions
5. Digital Citizenship
Students understand human, cultural, and societal issues related to technology and practice legal
and ethical behavior. Students:
a. advocate and practice safe, legal, and responsible use of information and technology
b. exhibit a positive attitude toward using technology that supports collaboration, learning, and
productivity
Materials:
One Hurricane Hotspots map, one whiteboard and whiteboard markers for each group,
Promethean Board, computer lab, and internet access.
Technology:
The Promethean Board is used to make charts and videos visible to all students. This makes it
easier for the teacher to display images of a regular size to the entire class at once. The students
use the interactive hurricane maker online to help them understand how a hurricane forms, which
is an obscure concept.
Student Prior Knowledge:
To complete this lesson successfully students should have basic computer skills.
The students in this class have all used the computer before and the hurricane maker is easy to
use.
Teacher Technology, Pedagogy, and Content:
Technology: To complete this lesson successfully the teacher should be familiar with using
Promethean Boards to display physical images as well as digital images off the computer. I am
comfortable using the technology incorporated in this lesson.
Pedagogy: By beginning with a whole group discussion it gives the students the opportunity to
share with the class and build off the ideas of others. The students then complete their
assignments in groups of 4-5 students because they do not know a lot about hurricanes, so they
can benefit more by collaborating ideas. During the lesson students will be doing activities as a
group, watching short video clips, participating in whole class discussion, doing an interactive
online activity, and writing individually, so they are more likely to stay engaged throughout the
lesson. The last step has students completing an individual writing assignment so that the teacher
can assess each individual student’s knowledge.
Content: The teacher should have knowledge of the content which includes where, how, and why
hurricanes occur. I feel very comfortable teaching about this content. I have taught this lesson
before and am familiar with the types of questions students may ask during this lesson.
TPCK: I chose to teach hurricanes through an inquiry-based lesson infused with technology
because I think it will be effective in helping students learn. By using an inquiry approach to
science, students are more likely to develop problem-solving skills and are more likely to have a
more meaningful experience. Additionally, by adding technology to the lesson the students are
able to interactively create a hurricane online which is not possible to do without a computer and
the teacher is able to display resources to the class to assist while teaching.
Engage:
Ask about experiences your students have had with severe weather events. Have any witnessed
hurricanes? If so, where did they occur? If not, why do we not see hurricanes in Michigan? What
makes Michigan different from areas that experience hurricanes? Record responses on
Promethean Board. Focus the students on the question to be explored: What factors make a
location more prone to hurricane activity? Post the question for all to see. Tell the students
that they are going to find these areas of hurricane activity by examining a map that is marked
with hurricane hotspots. They are going to look at where the hurricanes occur in regards to water,
land, and the equator.
Explore:
1. Display the map on the Promethean Board and instruct students to examine where the
hurricanes are located. In their groups, have a student record possible factors that these areas
have in common on a whiteboard.
Hurricane Hotspots
2. Have students present what factors their group thought might affect a location’s hurricane
activity.
3. Have students comment on the other responses and decide as a class what they feel are the
most likely reasons.
Explain:
From previous class: hurricanes never start on land, they are always over water, they sometimes
move toward land, they are all near the equator, and none are far North or South. Hurricanes
might be located in these places because they need heat and water.
1. A hurricane can be up to 600 miles in diameter and can reach eight miles into the air. Warm
water is the engine that creates and sustains the storm. Water vapor, sucked upward around a
tropical depression, creates heat energy when it condenses to form rain. The high-altitude heat
triggers exaggerated updrafts, which suck up even more water vapor. Once the chain is started,
nothing but land and cooler water or high-altitude shearing winds can stop the fierce buildup.
2. Show the 6 one minute clips: http://www.theweatherchannelkids.com/cool-clips/
3. Islands and coastal areas are more vulnerable to hurricanes since they have oceans next to, or
surrounding them.
Extend and Apply:
1. Initiate a discussion with students about the locations that have hurricanes and what time of
year would be best to visit them if you did not want to encounter a hurricane.
2. Initiate a discussion with students about why a hurricane might lose its strength when it travels
over land. What is slowing down? What factor was needed that is no longer present?
3. Go to the computer lab and have students go to: http://www.sunsentinel.com/broadband/theedge/sfl-edge-t-canemaker,0,4142989.flash to make their own
hurricane. As they go through, remind them that depending on the weather conditions they
choose they may or may not make a hurricane. When they have finished making their hurricanes,
return to class.
4. Have students each choose a location and determine if that place has a time of year when
hurricanes are predictable and write a short paragraph about it.
Performance Assessment:
The teacher should read the paragraphs that the students have written and assess their knowledge
based on what they write. They should include what time of year that location would have
hurricanes and 2 reasons why they think that.
Example of an acceptable paragraph for assessment (display for students to see): The island of
St. Thomas is vulnerable to hurricanes in August and September. These months would have high
temperatures and lots of warm moist air, which is needed for a hurricane. Due to the location of
St. Thomas, it is prone to hurricanes. It is surrounded by water and is near the equator.
Grading Rubric:
Category
3 points
Paragraph- Included location, time
Content
of year it is most likely
to have a hurricane and
at least 2 correct
reasons why.
Paragraph- Paragraph has no more
Spelling than 2 spelling errors.
Paragraph- Paragraph has no more
Grammar than 2 grammatical
errors.
Total: __ / 9
2 points
Included location, time
of year it is most likely
to have a hurricane and
1 correct reason why.
1 point
Included location,
time of year it is
most likely to have a
hurricane.
Paragraph has no more
than 5 spelling errors.
Paragraph has no
more than 8 spelling
errors.
Paragraph has no
more than 8
grammatical errors.
Paragraph has no more
than 5 grammatical
errors.
Score
Sources:
Atwater, M., Baptiste, H. P., Daniel, L., Hackett, J., Moyer, R., Takemoto, C., et al. (1995). Our
big wet world. New York: Macmillan/McGraw-Hill Inc.
National Geographic Society (1996-2006). Hurricane Paths. Retrieved November 16, 2007,
from http://www.ngtraveler.com/ngkids/0308/hurricane/path.html.
Sun Sentinel. Make your own Hurricane. Retrieved October 9, 2010, from http://www.sunsentinel.com/broadband/theedge/sfl-edge-t-canemaker,0,4142989.flash.
St. Petersburg Times Online(1998). A hurricane in the making. Retrieved December 7, 2007,
from http://www.sptimes.com/StormWatch/HF.2.html.
The Weather Channel Kids! Hurricane Minute. Retrieved October 9, 2010, from
http://www.theweatherchannelkids.com/cool-clips/.