Please put this page first before any unit as the cover page€¦ · Web viewA drought is when...

Please put this page first before any unit as the cover page

Project GLAD

Santa Ana Unified School District

WICKED WEATHER

Level 5

IDEA PAGES

I. UNIT THEME

· Energy from the sun heats Earth unevenly, causing air movements that result in changing weather patterns.

· Students know the causes and effect of different types of weather.

· Studetns know how to use weather maps and data to predict local weather and know that weather forecasts depend on many variables.

II. FOCUS/MOTIVATION

· Big book: The Important Thing About The Weather

· Picture File Cards

· Observation Charts

· Meteorologist Awards

· Inquiry Chart: What do we know about weather? What do we wonder about weather?

· Various songs, chants, and poems about weather and weather systems

· Signal words to teach vocabulary and concept development (word orignins and abstract, derived roots and affixes from Greek and Latin are used to analyze and determine the meaning of complex words).

III. CLOSURE

· Process all charts

· Present team tasks and weather reports to small groups and to whole class

· Student authored weather system books

· Play Jeopardy with components of weather unit as the categories

· Create a tornado in a bottle

· Create safety posters

IV. CONCEPTS/UNDERSTANDINGS

Content Standards

Life Sciences

· Energy from the sun heats Earth unevenly, causing air movements that result in changing weather patterns.

· Students know uneven heating of earth causes air movements (convection currents)

· Students know the influence that the ocean has on the weather and the role that the water cycle plays in weather patterns.

· Students know the causes and effects of different types of weather.

· Students know how to use weather maps and data to predict local weather and know that weather forecasts depend on many variables.

Idea Pages

Pg. 1

· Students know that the earth’s atmosphere exerts a pressure that decreases with distance above the Earth’s surface, and that at any point it exerts this pressure equally in all directions.

· Scientific progress is made by asking meaningful questions and conducting careful investigations. As a basis for understanding this concept careful investigations. As a basis for understanding this concept, and addressing the content in the other three strands, students should develop their own questions and perform investigation.

· Classify objects in accordance with appropriate criteria

· Develop a testable question

· Plan and conduct a simple investigation based on a student-developed question and write instructions others can follow to carry out the procedure.

· Identify a single independent variable on a specific investigation and explain how this variable can be used to collect information to answer a question about the results of the experiment

· Select appropriate tools and make quantitative observations

· Record data by using appropriate graphic representations and make inferences based on those data

· Draw conclusions from scientific evidence and indicate whether further information is needed to support a specific conclusion

· Write a report of an investigation that includes conducting tests, collecting data or examining evidence, and drawing conclusions

Language Arts

Word Recognition

1.1 Read aloud narrative and expository text fluently and accurately and with appropriate pacing, intonation, and expression.

Vocabulary and Concept Development

1.2 Use word origins to determine the meaning of unknown words.

1.3 Understand and explain frequently used synonyms, antonyms, and homographs.

1.4 Know abstract, derived roots and affixes from Greek and Latin and use this knowledge to analyze the meaning of complex words (e.g., controversial).

2.0 Reading Comprehension (Focus on Information Materials)

Students read and understand grade-level-appropriate material. They describe and connect the essential ideas, arguments, and perspectives of the text by using their knowledge of text structure, organization, and purpose. The selections in Recommended Readings in Literature, Kindergarten through Grade Eight, illustrate the quality and complexity of the materials to be read by students. In addition, by grade eight, students read one million words annually on their own, including a good representation of grade-level appropriate narrative and expository text (e.g., classic and contemporary literature, magazines, newspapers, online information). In grade five, students make progress toward this goal.

Idea Pages

Pg. 2

Structural Features of Informational Materials

2.1 Understand how text features (e.g., format, graphics, sequence, diagrams, illustrations, charts, and maps) make information accessible and usable.

2.2 Analyze text that is organized in sequential or chronological order.

Comprehension and Analysis of Grade-Level-Appropriate Text

2.3 Discern main ideas and concepts presented in texts, identifying and assessing evidence that supports those ideas.

Language Arts

2.4 Draw inferences, conclusions, or generalizations about text and support them with textual evidence and prior knowledge.

Expository Critique

2.5 Distinguish facts, supported inferences, and opinions in text.

Writing

1.0 Writing Strategies

Students write clear, coherent, and focused essays. The writing exhibits the students’ awareness of the audience and purpose. Essays contain formal introductions, supporting evidence, and conclusions. Students progress through the stages of the writing process as needed.

Organization and Focus

1.2 Create multiple-paragraph expository compositions:

a. Establish a topic, important ideas, or events in sequence or chronological order.

b. Provide details and transitional expressions that link one paragraph to another in a clear line of thought.

c. Offer a concluding paragraph that summarized important ideas and details.

Research and Technology

1.3 use organizational features of printed text (e.g., citations, end notes, bibliographic references) to locate relevant information.

1.4 Use a thesaurus to identify alternative word choices and meanings.

Evaluation and Revision

1.5 Edit and revise manuscripts to improve the meaning and focus of writing by adding, deleting, consolidating, clarifyinig, and rearranging words and sentences.

2.0 Writing Applications (Genres and Their Characteristics)

Students write narrative, expository, persuasive, and descriptive texts of atleast 500 to 700 words in each genre. Student writing demonstrates a command of standard American English and the research, organizational, and drafting strategies outlined in Writing Standard 1.0. Using the writing strategies of grade five outlined in Writing Standard 1.0, students:

Idea Pages

Pg. 3

2.3 Write research reports about important ideas, issues, or events by sing the following guidelines:

a. Frame questions that direct the investigation.

b. Establish a controlling idea or topic.

c. Develop the topic with simple facts, details, examples and explanations.

Listening and Speaking

1.0 Listening and Speaking Strategies

Students deliver focused, coherent presentations that convey ideas clearly and relate to the background and interests of the audience. They evaluate the content of oral communication.

VOCABULARY

convection

condensation

atmosphere

troposphere

air pressure

weather

barometer

water cycle

precipitation

water vapor

humidity

evaporation

relative humiditywind

convectional cellsea breeze

land breeze

cariolus effectisobar

weather vane

anemometer

air mass

front

cold front

warm front

occluded frontstationary frontconvection currents

storm surge

tsunami

thunder storminsolation

infiltration

V. English Language Development Standards

Listening and Speaking

Comprehension

Beginning

Begin to speak with a few words or sentences, using some English phonemes rudimentary English grammatical forms (e.g., single words or phrases).

Answer simple questions with one to two word responses.

Retell familiar stories and participate in short conversations by using appropriate gestures, expressions, and illustrative objects.

Early Intermediate

Begin to be understood when speaking, but may have some inconsistent use of Standard English grammatical form and sounds (e.g., plurals, simple past tense, pronouns [he/she]).

Ask and answer questions using phrases or simple sentences.

Restate and execute multi-step oral directions.

Intermediate

Ask and answer instructional questions with some supporting elements (e.g., “Is it your turn to go to the computer lab?”)

Listen attentively to stories/information and identify key details and concepts using both verbal and non-verbal responses.

Idea Pages

Pg. 4

Early Advanced

Listen attentively to more complex stories/information on new topics across content areas, and identify the main points, and supporting details.

Advanced

Listen attentively to stories and subject area topics, and identify the main points and supporting details.

Demonstrate understanding of idiomatic expressions by responding to and using such expressions appropriately (e.g. “Give me a hand.”)

Comprehension/Organization and Delivery of Oral Communication

Beginning

Independently use common social greetings and simple repetitive phrases

(e.g., “May I go and play?”).

Early Intermediate

Orally identify the main points of simple conversations and stories that are

read aloud using phrases or simple sentences

Orally communicate basic needs (e.g., “May I get a drink of water?”).

Recite familiar rhymes, songs, and simple stories.

Intermediate

Be understood when speaking, using consistent Standard English grammatical forms and sounds; however, some rules may not be in evidence (e.g., third person, singular, male and female pronouns).

Actively participate in social conversations with peers and adults on familiar topics by asking and answering questions and soliciting information.

Retell stories and talk about school related activities using expanded vocabulary, descriptive words, and paraphrasing.

Early Advanced

Retell stories in greater detail including characters, setting, and plot, summary, and analysis.

Be understood when speaking using consistent Standard English

grammatical forms, sounds, intonation, pitch, and modulation, but may have random errors.

Actively participate and initiate more extended social conversations with peers and adults on unfamiliar topics by asking and answering questions, restating and soliciting information.

Recognize appropriate ways of speaking that vary based on purpose, audience, and subject matter.

Ask and answer instructional questions with more extensive supporting elements (e.g., “What part of the story was most important?”)

Use simple figurative language and idiomatic expression to communicate ideas to a variety of audiences (e.g., “It’s raining cats and dogs.”)

Advanced

Negotiate and initiate social conversations by questioning restating, soliciting information and paraphrasing.

Idea Pages

Pg. 5

Consistently use appropriate ways of speaking and writing that vary based on purpose, audience, and subject matter.

Identify the main ideas, point of view, and fact/fiction in broadcast and print media.

Speak clearly and comprehensibly using Standard English grammatical forms, sounds, intonation, pitch and modulation.

WORD ANALYSIS

Concepts of Print, Phonemic Awareness, Vocabulary and Concept Development

Beginning

Recognizes English phonemes that correspond to phonemes students already hear and produce while reading aloud

Early Intermediate

While reading orally, recognize and produce English phonemes that do not correspond to phonemes students already hear and produce (e.g., “a” in cat and final consonants).

Intermediate

Pronounce most English phonemes correctly while reading aloud.

Early Advanced

Apply knowledge of common English morphemes in oral and silent reading to

derive meaning from literature and text in content areas.

Advanced

Apply knowledge of word relationships, such as roots and affixes to derive

meaning from literature and texts in content areas.

Phonemic Awareness, Decoding, and Word Recognition

Beginning

Recognizes sound/symbol relationships in own writing.

Early Intermediate

Recognize common English morphemes in phrases and simple sentences

(e.g., basic syllabication rules and phonics).

Intermediate

Pronounce most English morphemes in phrases while reading aloud.

Use common English morphemes in oral and silent reading.

Early Advanced

Apply knowledge of common English morphemes in oral and silent reading to

derive meaning from literature and texts in content areas.

Advanced

Apply knowledge of word relationships, such as roots and affixes to derive

meaning from literature and texts in content areas.

READING

Fluency and Systematic Vocabulary Development

Beginning

Read aloud simple words in stories or games (e.g., nouns and adjectives).

Idea Pages

Pg. 6

Respond appropriately to some social and academic interactions (e.g.,

simple question/answer, negotiate play).

Early Intermediate

Apply knowledge of content related vocabulary to discussions and reading.

Read simple vocabulary phrases and sentences independently.

Use knowledge of English morphemes, phonics, and syntax to decode and

interpret the meaning of unfamiliar words in simple sentences.

Demonstrate internalization of English grammar, usage, and work choice by

recognizing and correcting some errors when speaking or reading aloud.

Read own writing of narrative and expository text aloud with some pacing,

intonation, and expression.

Early Advanced

Use knowledge of English morphemes, phonics and syntax to decode and

interpret the meaning of unfamiliar words.

Recognize words that sometimes have multiple meanings in literature and

texts in content areas (e.g., present (gift), present (time).

Use some common roots and affixes when attached to known vocabulary.

Recognize simple analogies and metaphors in literature and texts in content

areas (e.g., “fly like a bird”).

Use decoding skills and knowledge of academic and social vocabulary to

achieve independently reading.

Use some common idioms in discussions and reading (e.g., “scared silly”).

Read increasingly complex narrative and expository texts aloud with

appropriate pacing, intonation and expression.

Advanced

Apply knowledge of common roots and affixes when attached to known

vocabulary.

Recognize that words sometimes have multiple meanings and apply this

knowledge consistently.

Apply this knowledge of academic and social vocabulary to achieve

independently reading.

Use common idioms, some analogies and metaphors in discussion and

reading.

Use a standard dictionary to determine measuring of unknown words.

Read narrative and expository text aloud with appropriate pacing, intonation,

and expression.

Reading Comprehension

Comprehension & Analysis of Grade-Level Appropriate Text

Beginning

(blank)

Early Intermediate (blank)

Intermediate

Use detailed sentences to orally respond to comprehension questions about

written text (e.g., “The brown bear lives with his family in the forest.”).

Idea Pages

Pg. 7

Read and identify text features such as titles, table of contents, chapter

headings, diagrams, charts, glossaries, and indexes in written texts.

Read and use detailed sentences to orally identify main ideas and use them

to make predictions and provide supporting details for predictions made.

Early Advanced

Describe main ideas and supporting details of a text.

Generate and respond to comprehension questions related to the text.

Describe relationships between text and their experience.

Advanced

Use resources in the text (such as ideas, illustrations, titles, etc.) to draw

inferences, conclusions, and to make generalizations.

Comprehension

Beginning

Respond orally to stories read to them by answering factual comprehension

questions, using one- or two word responses (e.g., “brown bear”). Orally

identify relationship between simple text read to them and their own

experience using key words and/or phrases. Understand and follow simple

one-step directions for classroom or work-related activities.

Early Intermediate

Read and listen to simple stories and demonstrate understanding by using

simple sentences to respond to explicit detailed questions (e.g., “The bear is

brown.”)

Read and orally identify relationships between written text and their own

experience using simple sentences.

Understand and follow simple two-step directions of classroom or work-

related activities.

Intermediate

Read and use more detailed sentences to orally describe relationships

between text and their own experiences.

Understand and follow some multi-step directions for classroom-related

activities.

Early Advanced/Advanced

Locate and identify the function of text features such as format, diagrams,

charts, glossaries, and indexes.

Comprehension and Analysis of Appropriate Text

Beginning

Identify the basic sequences of events in stories read to them, using key

words or pictures.

Identify the main idea in a story read aloud using key words and/or phrases.

Point out text features such as title, table of contents, and chapter headings.

Early Intermediate

Orally identify the basic sequence of written text using simple sentences.

Read and orally identify the main ideas and use them to draw inferences

about written text using simple sentences.

Idea Pages

Pg. 8

Read and identify basic text features such as title, table of contents, and

chapter headings.

Intermediate

Read and orally identify examples of fact/opinion and cause/effect in

literature and content area texts.

Early Advanced

Describe main ideas and supporting details of a text.

Generate and respond to comprehension questions related to the text.

Describe relationships between text and their experience.

Advanced

Use resources in the text (such as ideas, illustrations, titles, etc.) to draw

inferences, conclusions, and to make generalizations.

VI. Oral Language/Reading/Writing Skills

· Use complete sentences to communicate oral and written ideas

· Demonstrates respectful listening when others are speaking

· Use capitals and correct punctuation in writing

· Use writing process

· Guess the storm’s game (name of storm taped to student’s back)

· Student tries to guess storm by asking another student questions which can only

· be answered with yes or no.

· Imaginative writing – “A Trip Through a Storm”

· Create a jump rope rhyme about a “Wicked Weather” system and share with the class

· Journaling

· Read charts, poems, stories, and student writings

· Tell the story of the narrative input chart

VII. Math/Science/Social Studies Skills

· Drawing conclusions

· Making inferences

· Predicting

· Scientific observations

· Cause and effect relationships

· Problem solving

· Sorting and classifying pictures of “Wicked Weather” storms

· Process grid

· Graphic organizer

· Classification of storms

· Compare/contrast two “Wicked Weather” storms

VIII. Resources and Materials

Videos:

The Magic School Bus (Inside a Hurricane)

Bill Nye the Science Guy

Idea Pages

Pg. 9

Books:

A Day in the Life of a Meteorologist, Troll Associates

Blizzard, C. Lampton

Blizzards!, Lorraine Jean Hopping

Clouds, Rourke

Dorling Kindersley Eyewitness Books – Weather, Brian Cosgrove

Drought, Catherine Chambers

Earth Science, Instruction Fair, Inc.

Eye of the Storm, Chasing Storms with Warren Faidley, Stephen Kramer

Flash, Crash, Rumble, and Roll, Franklyn M. Branley

Hurricanes, Sandra Markle

Kids Discover Magazine – Hurricanes

Kids Discover Magazine – Rain and Snow

Quinto’s Volcano, Aileen Friedman

Rain, Hail, and Snow, Trudi Strain Trueit

Sunshine Makes the Seasons, Franklyn M. Branley

Storms, Seymour Simon

Storm Warning, Walter Buehr

Storms and Hurricanes, Kathy Giemmel

The Great Johnstown Flood, Lisa Norby

The Science Book of Weather, Ardley

The Sky-Watchers, Patricia Bacher

Thunder and Lightning, David Cutts

Thundercake, Patricia Polacco

Twisters!, Kate Hayden

Weather, Milliken Publishing (Teacher Resource)

Weather, William J. Burroughs, et al.

Weather & Climate, Fiona Watt & Francis Wilson

Weather Forecasting, Gail Gibbons

Weather: What does a Meteorologist Do?, Compton

When a Storm Comes Up, Allan Fowler

Websites:

http://kids.earth.nasa.gov/archive/hurrican/tour.html

www.nss.noaa.gov

www.nsslnoaa.gov/edu/lessons

http://weathereye.kgan.com/expert/blizzard/index.html

http://www.weather.com/encyclopedia/winter/blizzard.html

http://www.ussartf.org/blizzards.htm

http://www.oars.utk.edu/volweb/Schools/sumnercs/ellism/mel.htm

http://nsidec.org/snow/blizzards.htm.

http://kids.earth.nasa.gov/

http://www.weather.com

http://www.drought.unl.edu

Project GLAD


WICKED WEATHER

Level 5

PLANNING PAGES

I. FOCUS/MOTIVATION

· Poetry/Chants

· Important Book About The Weather


· Picture File Sort (weather systems: hurricane, tornado, blizzard, thunderstorm, drought, wave surge)

· Inquiry Chart

· Meteorologist Awards

II. INPUT

· Water Cycle Pictorial

· Hurricane Pictorial

· Tornado Pictorial

· World Map-Depicting location of storm systems

· U.S. Map – Depicting location of storm systems

· Read Aloud –TBD

· Comparative Pictorial – Hurricane/Tornado

· Narrative Input Chart – based on hurricanes

· 10-2 Lecture with primary languages

· Graphic Organizer – Weather systems

III. GUIDED ORAL PRACTICE

· T-Graph for Social Skills – cooperation

· Poetry, Chanting – modeling & highlighting

· Daily Oral Processing of Charts

· Picture File Cards – negotiations

· Personal Interaction

· Process Grid: Graphic organizer on weather systems

· Sentence Patterning Chart

· Story Map

IV. READING/WRITING ACTIVITIES

A.Whole Class:

· Group Frame – Poetry/ Narrative

· Co-op Strip Paragraph – Expository

· Model Editing Process

· Primary Language Group Frame

· Story Mapping

· Poetry Frames

B.Flexible and Cooperative Groupings

Planning Pages

Pg. 2

· Sentence Patterning Chart with word cards

· Ear to Ear Reading with Poetry Booklets

· Group Co-op Strip Paragraph

· Team Tasks: Pictorials, Narrative, Story Map, Sentence Patterning Chart, Graphic Organizers, Cognitive Content Dictionary, Flip Chant

· Expert Groups

· Flip Chants

· Flexible Groupings of EL differentiation, primary language, reading instruction, skill reinforcement

C. Individual Work

· Learning Logs

· Interactive Journals

· Reading/Writing choices: stickies in books, Picture File Cards, add to charts, make word cards, highlight charts, focused reading, poetry booklet, flip chants

D.Writer’s Workshop

· Mini Lessons

· Plan, share, write, revise, edit, publish

· Conferencing, Author’s Chair

V. EXTENDED ACTIVITIES

· Have students discuss which region of the United States they would like to live based on a particular weather system

· Students create their own Big Book About Storm Chasing

· Write a play about living in Tornado Alley

· Write a poem about the different weather systems

· Measurement activities involving weather tools for snow and rain accumulation

· Graph weather conditions in different regions of the United States

· List, label, group picture file cards for further comprehension

· Students create a puppet show to illustrate their learning, in which they perform for First grade

· Write and illustrate an expository text from a meteorologist’s point of view on a certain weather system

· Compose a “Bugaloo”

· Add to the poem “Yes, Ma’am’

· Color pictures on Pictorial Input Chart

· Take a tour of local news station, exploring the weather department

VI. CLOSURE/EVALUATION

· Formative assessments: (much of this is informal and some of the guided experiences can be used as a type of assessment also)

· Revisit the Inquiry Chart

Planning Pages

Pg. 3

· Students do individual “Quick Writes” indicating all they can about weather systems, why energy from the sun heats the earth unevenly, how to use weather maps

· Students individually make an extreme weather web (‘storm system’ in the center). The students write or sketch all they have learned about that system

· Students write or draw all they have learned about the unit

· Students choose a region of the United States and write a weekly weather forecast

· Students create a storm safety poster

· Students choose a weather condition and write a research repost

· Multiple choice (end of chapter tests)

· Expository passages with comprehension questions

· Students give a report on safety during extreme weather conditions

Project GLAD


WICKED WEATHER

Level 5

SAMPLE DAILY LESSON PLANS

DAY 1

FOCUS/MOTIVATION

· Personal Standards/Meteorologist Awards

· Cognitive Content Dictionary with signal word


· Inquiry Chart

· Big Book – “The Important Book About Weather”

INPUT

· Pictorial Input Chart – Angle of Insolation & Sun’s Rays/World Map – 10-2

· Pictorial Water Cycle – 10-2

· Chant – The Water Cycle

· Pictorial – Hurricane – 10-2

· 10-2 Primary Language

· Learning Logs

-Describe 3 factors that interact to cause weather

-Sketch or write about the water cycle

GUIDED ORAL PRACTICE

· T-graph for Social Skills/Team Points

· Picture File Sort Activity; list, group, label

· Team Exploration Report – What picture does your team find the most scientific? Record team’s observations. Record any questions and/or predictions.

· 10-2 Primary language

· Poetry/Chant

INPUT

· Narrative Input Chart


-Have you ever experienced a violent storm?

-How did you feel?

-What was the like?

-Did it cause damage?

READING/WRITING

· Flexible group reading

· Primary Language review

Sample Daily Lesson Plan Pages

Pg. 2

· Writer’s Workshop

-mini lesson

-how to get started

-planning and sharing

-writing choices

-Author’s chair

CLOSURE

· Poetry/Chants

· Home/School Connection #1

-Interview a family member who has been in a violent storm.

DAY 2

FOCUS/MOTIVATION


· Review Home/School Connection

· Poetry – highlight words

· Read Aloud

· Super Scientist Awards


· Review Angle of Insolation/Water Cycle Pictorial Input Chart with word cards

· Poetry/Chant

· Review Hurricane Pictorial Input Chart with word cards

· ELD Review

INPUT

· Narrative Input Chart – Review with word cards and speech bubbles


· Sentence Patterning Chart

-Reading

-Trading

-Flip Chant

READING/WRITING

· Review T-Graph for Social Skills/Team Points

· Flexible Group Reading

-Expert Groups: tornadoes, blizzards (guided reading strategies &

study skills)

· Learning Log – sketch and label 3 scientific facts about hurricanes

· Team Tasks


Pg. 3

-Team Cognitive Content Dictionary

-Team Pictorial-Angle of Insolation

-Team Pictorial-Water Cycle

-Team Exploration Report

-Team Sentence Patterning Chart

· Process Grid

CLOSURE

· Interactive Journal

· Poetry/Chants


-With help of family, call weather station and find data (information)

on average relative humidity for your area during different seasons.

DAY 3

FOCUS/MOTIVATION


· Process Home/School Connection

· Read Aloud

INPUT

· Mind Map on Hurricanes

READING/WRITING

· Narrative Review with Story Map

· Team Tasks – Add the following:

-Team Story Map

-Team Mind Map

-Team Flip Chant or Found Poem

· Flexible Reading Groups

-Complete Expert Groups – Tornadoes and Blizzards

-Clunkers and Links

· Process Grid


· Poetry/Chants

READING/WRITING

· Cooperative Strip Paragraph from Process Grid

-Expository

-Respond

-Revise

-Edit


Pg. 4


-Mini lesson

-Model planning and sharing

-Writing Choices

-Author’s Chair

CLOSURE


-Interview a member of your family or a friend. Do they remember

any sayings, superstitions or stories about the weather.

· Poetry/Chants

DAY 4

FOCUS/MOTIVATION


· Read Aloud - Primary Sources

· Revisit Process Grid/Input charts

· Poetry/Chants – highlight vocabulary

INPUT

· Challenge Question (integrating math)

-Storms and Lightning

-Every day, an average of 45,000 storms occur across the Earth’s

surface. How many storms occur in one year.

-Lightning can occur with or without a thunderstorm. Lightning

strikes somewhere in the United States about 50 million times a

year. On the average, how many times does lightning strike the

United States each year?

· Personal Interaction – What career in weather might interest you? Why?

READING/WRITING

· Coop. Strip Paragraph

-Review, model responding, editing

· Team Tasks – Add the following:

-Team Coop. Strip Paragraph


-Coop. Strip Paragraph

-ELD Group Frame

· Ear to Ear Reading, Poetry Book

· Listen and Sketch

· Read the Walls – Personal Cognitive Content Dictionary

· Process Inquiry Chart


Pg. 5

CLOSURE

· Team Presentations

· Process the week

· Letter home to parents

· Choral reading of Poetry/Chants


-Get a weather map from a newspaper. Explain four features of the

map to your family.

DAY 5

FOCUS/MOTIVATION

· Read Aloud – Native American Legend of “Red at Night”

· Total Class – Story Map of legend

INPUT

· Greenhouse effect and what causes it


-What do you think about the greenhouse effect?

-What can we do to stop the growing holes in the ozone layer?

READING/WRITING

· Team Guided Exploration

-Heating Land and Water

-Obtain the following materials: 2 beakers, sand, water, a

thermometer, a watch/clock, and a bright light bulb (or a sunny

window). Using these materials design an experiment to answer

these questions:

· Which heats up faster: land or water?

· Which one cools down faster?

· Which one holds heat longer?

· Based on the results of your experiment, explain why land and sea breezes occur.


-Processing Literature Circles

-Team Tasks

-Found Poetry


-Mini Lesson

-Editing Checklist

-Publishing

-Author’s Chair


Pg. 6

CLOSURE

· Team exploration with rubric

· Personal exploration with rubric

· Evaluate week

· Choral reading of chants

Project GLAD


WICKED WEATHER

Level 5

BIG BOOKS

The Important Book About Weather

By Linda Carta, Sandy Chung, Judy Barden, Kathy Gomez,

Bianca Barquin, and Pat Ingles

The most important thing about the weather is that the Sun’s energy helps create our weather patterns.

· Have you ever wondered what causes the weather that you and I enjoy every day? If you think about it, weather plays an important part in our daily lives. When you go to school you dress according to the weather. If it’s cold, you take a sweater or coat with you. If it is going to be hot you may wear your uniform shorts instead of pants to school.

· Weather also determines what you will eat or will not eat each day. Certain foods are only available during certain times of the year.

· What causes the weather that we enjoy? What about severe storms like hurricanes, tornadoes, blizzards, and thunder storms? We hear about them on the radio and see their destruction on TV newscasts every day.

· Weather is such an important part of our lives. While you are enjoying a nice spring day in California, other areas of the United States are experiencing tornado alerts and other parts of the world are enduring hurricanes or blizzards.

But, the most important think about the weather is that the Sun’s energy helps create our weather patterns.


· Without the Sun there would be no weather. It heats the air and keeps it in constant motion. This is called insolation.

· Insolation stands for incoming solar radiation.

· When the Sun is high in the sky, the sun’s rays strike the earth directly and it becomes very hot. But when the sun is rising or setting its heat is spread out over a larger area and it’s not as hot.

· The Earth’s equator receives most of the Sun’s energy because it is directly overhead.

· The Earth’s polar regions receive less heat because of angle of the Sun’s rays are lower and not as direct.

But, the most important thing about the weather is that the Sun’s energy helps create our weather patterns.


· Weather is a term that describes the day to day changes that take place in our atmosphere. Meteorologists record these changes as temperature, humidity, precipitation, cloud cover, and wind. We feel these changes as cold, heat, wind, rain, snow, etc.

· All of the weather we experience occurs in the lowest layer of the atmosphere. This layer is called the troposphere, which extends from ground level to between 5 and 10 miles above the Earth’s surface.



· Meteorologists use special instruments to help them gather data on the weather.

· Aneroid barometers measure air pressure and thermometers measure temperature with the Fahrenheit and Celsius scales.

· Land based weather stations in all parts of the world help meteorologists gather measurements of weather patterns.

· Ships and radio signals from floating weather buoys report weather conditions from the oceans of the world.

· Out in space weather satellites send back pictures of cloud and temperature patterns.

· All this information is fed into a supercomputer to assist the meteorologist observe patterns and predict the weather for the next twenty-four hours or up to a week. It also helps them spot potential severe storms that could cost lives and destroy property.



· The water cycle plays an important part in creating our weather. Our atmosphere if full of water that evaporates form oceans, lakes, rivers and transpires, which means sweats, from trees, grass and other plants.

· Clouds form because of the uneven heating of the ground. Warm air rises and as it rises into the cooler air it slowly cools and the moisture forms clouds.

· When the water condenses it forms into different types of clouds that may or may not shower the ground.

· Most of the moisture is vapor and when the air is cool enough it condenses into tiny droplets of rain, snow, fog or hail.

But the most important thing about the weather is that the Sun’s energy helps create our weather patterns.

The Important Book of Thunderstorms

Adapted by Judy Barden

The most important thing about a thunderstorm is that it has visible lightning and audible thunder.

· Thunderstorms are the most common kind of severe storm.

· They form in cumulonimbus clouds, called thunderheads.

· The storms cause lightning.

· The lightning heats the air and causes thunder.

· Thunderstorms usually have heavy rains and winds of at least 58 miles per hour (mph).

But the most important thing about a thunderstorm is that it has visible lightning and audible thunder.


· A thunderstorm starts when intense heating causes air to rise very quickly.

· A cloud forms where there is an upward rush of heated air, called an updraft.

· As more and more warm, moist air is carried upward, the cloud grows larger.



· Updrafts can be as strong as 90 mph.

· Strong updrafts keep droplets of water and ice crystals in the cloud and they grow in size.

· When the updrafts can’t support them anymore, they fall as heavy rain or hail.



· When the rain falls, it causes downdrafts in the cloud.

· When the air going up touches the air going down, it creates static electricity.

· When the static electricity builds up, it causes a huge spark.

· That huge spark is called lightning.



· Lightning heats the air so rapidly that the air expands suddenly.

· The air molecules slam into one another with such force that it makes the loud noise we call thunder.



· Thunderstorms usually form in the warm air just ahead of a cold front.

· The cold, dense air wedges under the warm, moist air and causes the warm air to rise rapidly.



· Thunderstorms can cause floods when the downpour of rain is too quick and heavy for the earth to absorb the water.

· In fact, flash floods from thunderstorms cause more deaths than any other severe storm.



· There are 18,000 thunderstorms taking place somewhere in the world each and every day.

· They occur most often in April, May, and June.

· In the United States, thunderstorms are more prevalent east of the Rocky Mountains.



· What should you do if you are caught in a thunderstorm? Avoid water, metal, tall trees, and the high point of the area.

· Do not take a bath or shower.

· Never ride a bike, push a lawn mower, or play baseball outside.

· Stay indoors and stay away from the windows.


Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Tornadoes

By Kathy Gomez

Did you know…

· Tornadoes are one of nature’s most violent storms

· A tornado is a violent rotating column of air extending from a thunderstorm to the ground.

· Some tornadoes can cause massive destruction.

· The wind speed of a tornado can reach in excess of 250 miles per hour.

· The damage path left by a tornado can be more than a mile wide and 50 miles long.

I just thought you might like to know.

Did you know…

· Before thunderstorms develop, wind directions change and wind speeds increase causing air in the lower atmosphere to spin horizontally.

· Fast rising air in the thunderstorm tilts the rotating air from horizontal to vertical.

· The vertical rotating air is known as a funnel.

· As the air rushes faster and faster atmospheric pressure surrounding the funnel lowers and the funnel gets stronger and longer.

· When the funnel touches the ground a tornado is formed.


Did you know…

· Damage from tornadoes comes from strong winds.

· Debris is the biggest threat to living creatures.

· Tornadoes are classified by wind speed (F-0 to F-5) and damage hey cause (light to incredible destruction) based on the Fujita Scale.

Category:

Wind Speed (mph)

Damage Level

Effect

40-70

Light

Broken branches, chimney damage

73-112

Moderate

Mobilehomes overturned

113-157

Considerate

Mobilehomes demolished,

trees uprooted

158-205

Severe

Roofs and walls torn down, trains overturned

206-260

Devastating

Heavy construction leveled

261-318

Incredible

Entire homes lifted

and carried considerable distances


Did you know…

· Tornadoes form where dry, cold air masses mix with warm, moist air masses.

· Tornadoes can occur at any time of the year in many parts of the world including Australia, Europe, Africa and South America.

· Tornadoes are most frequent in the United States in the central plains during spring and summer.

· States in “Tornado Alley” (Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska) are most at risk.


Did you know…

· You must take shelter when a tornado is nearby as they can be deadly.

· You should move to a pre-designated shelter (a basement or interior room).

· You should keep windows closed.

· If you are outdoors, abandon your cars, lie flat in a ditch or ravine, lie face down and cover your head with your hands.

· If you see injured people, do not move them unless they are in immediate danger. Call for help right away.


Did you know…

· Tornadoes can be detected using a Doppler radar.

· Storm Spotters watch for approaching tornadoes and relay their information to the National Weather Service.

· Before a tornado hits, the wind may die down or the air may become very still.

· On average, nationwide, 800 tornadoes are reported resulting in over 1,500 injuries and 80 deaths each year.

· Tornadoes can occur just about anywhere.

· On March 18, 1925, the Tri-State tornado passed through Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana killing 695 people along a 219 mile path in approximately three and a half hours. This was the most deadly tornado on record.


Project GLAD


WICKED WEATHER

Level 5

NARRATIVE INPUT

“Speaking From Experience”

by

Judy Barden and Bianca Barquin

I helped my dad board up all of the windows in our house. I’ve never seen him look so worried. The wind was starting to pick up and I could hear it howling outside the boarded windows. Dad ran out one last time to try and find Gracie, who had run off that morning.

I ran outside to try and help Dad and I couldn’t believe my eyes. The sky, as far as one could see, was filled with dark, ominous clouds. It was so dark that it looked like the middle of the night even though it was lunchtime. I could hardly see through the sheets of water pouring around. The winds had pulled our gigantic oak out by its roots, toppling it into the power lines. Bright sparks illuminated the darkness. At first, I thought it was lightning but then I realized the sparks were flying from the dangling power line. I knew enough to stay away from the line and I also knew it wasn’t safe to be outside. I didn’t want to go back into the house without my dad and Gracie.

In the darkness I could barely make out the outline of our shed, but the roofline was gone, as was our neighbors. I felt like the howling wind would take me with it and was about to retreat into the house when Gracie bolted past me. My dad was right behind her and he swooped me up into his arms and into the house, slamming and bolting the door behind us.

I’ll never forget that fateful day. I was eight years old and my family and I had survived a category 5 hurricane but my neighbor did not! Ever since that day, I wanted to learn all I could about wicked weather, especially hurricanes. I wanted to teach my family and community how to be safe when a hurricane hits.

Did you know that hurricanes are powerful swirling storms with driving rain and winds that reach 186 miles per hour? Hurricanes form only above tropical seas. The conditions of heat and moisture are extreme where hurricanes are forming. As the pressure falls rapidly, strong surface winds are formed as air is sucked in towards the center of the low. At the center, air speeds up and spirals upward. Massive amounts of water vapor in the rising air condense and form immense cumulonimbus clouds. S the water vapor condenses; vast amounts of heat are given out. This energy makes the air rise even faster and also increases the speed of the surface wind. They are one of the most destructive of nature’s severe storms. And to me, hurricanes are also the most fascinating.

I’ve been invited to schools, parent club meetings, libraries, and community forums to teach about hurricane safety. Did you know that it is necessary to board up all windows with shudders or pieces of plywood? Remember tape will not prevent windows from breaking. It’s best to stay indoors and away from window, even when boarded. You and your family should know your evacuation route and be prepared to follow it if an order is issued. After the storm has passed, go outside only when necessary. If you need to go outside, it is important to watch, carefully, for flooded areas, fallen wires, and scattered debris.

As a meteorologist, this part of the work I do. I also forecast the weather for our local television station. Although it may seem glamorous to be seen on television, I know visiting groups and speaking about safety is equally important as forecasting the weather.

WICKED WEATHER

POETRY BOOKLET

Name: __________________________________________________________

Severe Weather Yes Ma’am

Is this a thunderstorm?

Yes ma’am!

Is this a thunderstorm?

Yes ma’am!

How do you know?

Warm air rising quickly

How do you know?

Thunder and lightning

Where do they hit?

Texas and Louisiana

Where do they hit?

Bahamas and Tropics

Is this a blizzard?

Yes ma’am!

Is this a blizzard?

Yes ma’am!

How do you know?

Below 20 degrees Fahrenheit

How do you know?

Winds exceed 35mph

Where do they hit?

Minnesota and Illinois

Where do they hit?

In the Northeast

Is this a tsunami?

Yes ma’am!

Is this a tsunami?

Yes ma’am!

How do you know?

Undersea earthquakes

How do you know?

Undersea eruptions

Where do they hit?

Japan and the Philippines

Where do they hit?

Hawaii and Pacific Northwest

Is this a hurricane?

Yes ma’am!

Is this a hurricane?

Yes ma’am!

How do you know?

It has an eye at the center!

How do you know?

It has a huge storm surge!

Give me some examples.

Typhoon and cyclone

Where do they hit?

The Atlantic and Pacific

Is this a tornado?

Yes ma’am!

Is this a tornado?

Yes ma’am!

How do you know?

It’s a twisting, whirling wind

How do you know?

It’s like a dark, violent vacuum

Give me some examples.

Twisters and whirlwinds

Where do they hit?

Mostly over land

Where do they hit?

Waterspouts over oceans

Is this a drought?

Yes ma’am!

Is this a drought?

Yes ma’am!

How do you know?

No rain or humidity

How do you know?

High temperatures and winds

What does it do?

Causes drought and famine

What does it do?

Causes fewer crop yields

Where does it hit?

South Africa and Asia

Where does it hit?

New Zealand and Australia

Is this severe weather?

Yes ma’am!

Is this severe weather?

Yes ma’am!

Did you tell me all?

Yes ma’am!

Did you tell me all?

Yes ma’am!

Original by M. Brechtel

Adapted by L. Carta

Meteorologist Bugaloo

I’m a meteorologist and here to say

I study the weather everyday.

Sometimes, I read my instruments

Sometimes a map or book

Sometimes with weather satellites, I take a look.

Thermometer, barometer, hygrometer, too

Doing the weather forecasting bugaloo.

I study warm air rising air rising

‘cause its lighter, you see

I watch the cool air falling

‘cause of its density.

Sometimes it causes thunderstorms

Sometimes it results in snow

Sometimes it may be a hurricane

Or even a tornado

Thermometer, barometer, hygrometer, too

Doing the weather forecasting bugaloo.

Original by M. Brechtel

Adapted by L. Carta and S. Chung

I Know a Storm Tracker

I know a storm tracker,

An inquisitive storm tracker


Who questions the weather.

He flies in an airplane.

She drives a truck.

He enters the eye of a hurricane.

She measures the intensity of the winds.

I know a storm tracker,



Who investigates severe storms.

Written by L. Carta

I Know a Meteorologist

I know a meteorologist,

A busy meteorologist


Who studies the troposphere

She launches huge weather balloons.

He measures water vapor to find humidity.

She tracks the temperature on a thermometer.

He studies air pressure on a barometer.

I know a meteorologist,



Who studies the troposphere.

Written by A. Filipek

Meteorology Cadence

We just know what we’ve been told,

Meteorology’s worth its weight in gold.

Studying weather here and there,

Forecasting weather everywhere.

Sound off-Meteorology

Sound off-Weather forecasting

Sound off-One, two, three, four I’M COOL!

Tornadoes circle round and round,

Lift those houses off the ground.

On the land, tornadoes we fear.

They move our houses everywhere.

Sound off-Tornadoes

Sound off-Twisters

Sound off-One, two, three, four DUCK LOW!

Hurricanes almost the same,

Circle-round with a different name.

The difference is quite plain to see,

Hurricanes start out in the deep blue sea.

Sound off-Hurricanes

Sound off-Cyclone

Sound off-one, two, three, four RUN FAST!

Written by M. Brechtel

Meteorologists

Meteorologists here, meteorologists there

Meteorologists, meteorologists everywhere.

Brave meteorologists investigating

Intelligent meteorologists researching

Observant meteorologists forecasting

And studious meteorologists recording

Meteorologists in the eye of the hurricane

Meteorologists at the university

Meteorologists during the newscast

And meteorologists on the weather map

Meteorologists here, meteorologists there

Meteorologists, meteorologists everywhere.

METEOROLOGISTS! METEOROLOGISTS! METEOROLOGISTS!

Adaptation by

S. Chung and L. Carta

Weather Bugaloo

We’re all meteorologists and we’re here to say,

We study weather patterns every day.

We make observations and check the satellite,

And make our forecast on the news at night.

Storms, clouds, precipitation, too,

Doing the weather bugaloo!

I’m looking up and what do I spy?

Lots of different types of clouds in the sky.

Cirrus clouds are white like a feather,

When they get thicker it means warmer weather.



Stratus clouds are gray, layered, and low,

They sometimes can give us rain or snow.

Cumulus clouds are puffy and round,

Soon after you’ve seen them good weather can be found.



Some kinds of weather you should know,

Are rain, hail, sleet, and snow.

Hurricanes and tornadoes come on fast,

You’d better stay tuned to your weather forecast.



Written by C. Woita

Name:__________________________________________ Date:___________

Home/School Connection #1

Wicked Weather

Interview a family member or friend who has been in a violent storm. Where were they? What kind of storm was it? How did they feel? Did it cause damage?

Parent Comments:

_______________________________

__________________________

Parent Signature

Student Signature

Project GLAD

Nombre:________________________________________ Fecha:___________

Conexión de hogar y escuela #1

Tiempo

Entreviste a un miembro de su familia o a un amigo que ha tenido la experiencia de estar en una tormenta violenta. ¿Causó la tormenta mucho daño?

Commentarios de los padres:

_______________________________

__________________________

Firma de padres

Firma del estudiante

Project GLAD

Name:__________________________________________ Date:___________


Wicked Weather

Interview a member of your family or a friend. Do they remember any sayings, superstitions, or stories about the weather? Have them tell you. Write down the story.

Parent Comments:

_______________________________

__________________________

Parent Signature

Student Signature

Project GLAD

Nombre:________________________________________ Fecha:___________


Tiempo

Entreviste a un miembro de su familia o a un amigo/a. ¿Se recuerdan ellos de algunos dichos, supersticiones, o cuento del tiempo? Pídele que te los cuenten. Escribelo en esta hoja.


_______________________________

__________________________

Firma de padres


Project GLAD

Name:__________________________________________ Date:___________


Wicked Weather

Get a weather map from a newspaper (or the teacher). Explain four features on the map to your family. Write down their reaction or what they learned from your explanation.

Parent Comments:

_______________________________

__________________________

Parent Signature

Student Signature

Project GLAD

Nombre:________________________________________ Fecha:___________


Tiempo

Busca en el periódico un mapa del tiempo (o de la maestro). Explícale cuatro características en el mapa a tu familia. Escribe su reacción o sobre lo que aprendieron.


_______________________________

__________________________

Firma de padres


Project GLAD

Expert Pages

Blizzards

Description

A blizzard isn’t just a bad snowstorm; it is a heavy snowstorm with blowing winds that are above 35 miles per hour and lasts at least three hours. Blizzards blow tons of snow into the air and can cause dangerous whiteout conditions. This means that there is so much snow falling and blowing around that you cannot tell where the ground ends and the sky begins. Snow is measured the old-fashioned way, with a ruler or yardstick. Snow pillows collect snow so that the weight of it can be records.

Cause

In winter, Artic air masses sweep into the United States from Canada. The air masses can travel as fast as a speeding car. At the same time, warm air masses enter the United States from the south. They are full of moisture. The cold and warm air swirl around each other which leads to the production of snow.

Effect

When the two air masses crash, there is a winter storm. That means cold temperatures, wind, and snow. The temperature drops as the Artic air pushes the warm air out of the way. The two types of air blow around each other. The lighter warm air rolls over the heavy, cold air. We feel this moving, shoving, swirling air as wind. As the wet, warm air cools off the clouds begin to shrink. This process is similar to squeezing a wet sponge. These shrunken clouds can’t hold as much moisture.

The result is snowflakes or ice crystals, and when they are accompanied by high winds the result is a blizzard.

Where it Occurs

Blizzards are common in Canada and north central United States. They also occur throughout northern Europe and Russia. They are more common on mountains and in the Polar Regions, but they can sometimes occur in warm climates.

Safety Rules

When blizzards occur it is usually very cold and windy outside. For this reason, people sometimes use space heaters and they need to be very careful with them. If there is not heat, either because there is no electricity due to the blizzard or if it breaks down, a wise thing to do is to close the doors of the unneeded rooms to reserve whatever remaining heat there is. Then, it would be a good idea to wear layers of loose fitting, lightweight clothing. It is very important to have a reserve of food and water to prevent dehydration.

Interesting Facts

In 1977, a blizzard occurred in Buffalo, New York. The snow drifts were over 30 feet high. The drifts were so high that deer escaped from the zoo. They just walked over a snow covered fence. When the snow from a blizzard begins to melt, there can sometimes be dangerous flooding that can hurt people and ruin their property.

Another interesting fact is that the snow on mountains can cause a major hazard. If all the snow falls on the top of a mountain, the snow can start to slide or fall down a slope causing an avalanche. The snow can travel faster than a speeding train. Skiers, climbers and others can get caught in an avalanche and get buried underneath the snow.

Expert Pages

Thunderstorms

Description

Technically, a thunderstorm occurs when it has visible lightning and audible thunder. Thunderstorms are the most common kind of severe storms. Tremendous amounts of energy are released in the torrential rain, strong winds, thunder and lightning that accompany thunderstorms. The most energetic storms may create hail, or even tornadoes. Thunderstorms usually have heavy rains and winds of at least 58 miles per hour (mph).

Thunderstorms carry the sun’s energy from the surface into the cooler upper reaches of the atmosphere. Without this “convective heat transport” it is estimated that the mean, or average, temperature of the earth would increase by over 20 degrees Fahrenheit, making many areas of the planet uninhabitable.

Cause

A thunderstorm starts when intense heating causes air to rise very quickly. A cloud forms where there is an upward rush of heated air, called an updraft. Updrafts can be as strong as 90 miles per hour. Strong updrafts keep droplets of water and ice crystals. Thunderstorms form in cumulonimbus clouds, called thunderheads. The storms cause lightning. The lightning heats the air and causes thunder. As more and more warm, moist air is carried upward, the cloud grows larger.

Effect

When water droplets and ice crystals in the clouds bump together and break up as they rub against each other in the strong currents of air. This action builds up positive electrical charges at the top of the clouds and negative charges at the base. When the charge at the base of the cloud gets to a certain strength, electrical energy is released and passes through the air to another point with the opposite charge, such as the ground. When the droplets become large enough, rain or hail begins to fall in a heavy thunderstorm. The final stage of a thunderstorm is the most intense. The downpour of rain or hail causes strong downdrafts of wind. The updraft-down draft combinations called a single storm.

Where it Occurs

Thunderstorms often occur at the end of a hot summer day, when air that has been warmed by the hot ground rises quickly into the cooling air. There are 18,000 thunderstorms taking place somewhere in the world each and every day. They occur most often in April, May, and June. In the United States, thunderstorms are more prevalent east of the Rocky Mountains.

Safety Rules

If there is no indoor shelter, you need to stay away from high points of the area and stay away from trees, metal and water. While a thunderstorm is going on you should never ride a bike, push a lawn mower, or play baseball outside. Stay indoors and stay away from the windows. Do not take a bath or a shower during a thunderstorm.

Interesting Facts

Each year, there are about 16 million thunderstorms around the world. Every minute, thousands of newly formed thunderstorms sweep across the earth’s surface and lightning bolts flash 100 times a second.

In minutes, the cumulonimbus clouds, or thunderheads, may grow several miles wide and 40,000 or more feet high. Thunderstorms are part of the earth’s air-conditioning system. They pump heat from the surface high into the atmosphere, where it is released into space cooling the earth’s surface. Thunderstorms also cleanse the air and carry life-giving water fro seas and lakes to dry lands.

You can judge the distance of a lightning stroke by timing how long it takes you to hear the thunder. Count the number between the flash and the thunder. Divide the number of seconds by five. The number you get is the number of miles away the lightning.

Expert Pages

Tornadoes

Description:

Tornadoes are one of nature’s most violent storms. They are violent rotating columns of air extending from a thunderstorm in the sky and extend all the way to the ground. Some have created paths of damage more than a mile wide and more than fifty miles long. Tornado wind speeds can reach in excess 250 miles per hour. The average lifespan of a tornado is approximately 15 minutes but they can last up to an hour. Like deadly whirling brooms, they can sweep away mostly anything in their path.

Cause:

Tornadoes come from energy released by a thunderstorm. As thunderstorms develop, a change in wind direction along with an increase of wind speed and height create an invisible horizontal spinning effect in the lower atmosphere. Rising air moving at high speeds within the thunderstorm, updrafts, tilt the rotating air from horizontal to a vertical. As this happens and as the atmospheric pressure is lowered the air begins to rush faster and faster. The center of the funnel is a low pressure area. Air rushes into the column and rises. The air is cooled as it rises and water vapor condenses for form the familiar funnel shaped cloud. A strong funnel extends from the cloud and grows downward touching the ground and a tornado is formed.

Effect:

Damage fro tornadoes comes from the strong winds it produces. The biggest threat to living creatures from tornadoes is from flying debris and from being tossed about in the sky. Tornadoes are classified by wind speed and damage they cause (Fujita Scale):

Category:

Wind Speed (mph)

Damage Level

Effect

F-0

40-70

Light

Broken Branches, chimney damage

F-1

73-112

Considerate

Mobile homes overturned or pushed off foundation

F-3

158-205

Severe

Roofs and walls torn down, trains overturned

F-4

206-260

Devastating

Heavy construction leveled

F-5

261-318

Incredible

Entire homes lifted and carried considerable distances

Where It Occurs:

Tornadoes form where dry, cold air masses mix with warm, moist air masses. Because of this, they can occur at any time of the year in many parts of the world including Australia, Europe, Africa, and South America. Tornadoes are most frequently found in the United States in the central plains states; east of the Rocky Mountains and west of the Appalachian Mountains, especially during the spring and summer months. States in “Tornado Alley” (Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska) are most at risk.

Safety Tips:

Take shelter when a tornado is nearby because they can be deadly. Move to a predesignated shelter such as a basement or move to an interior room or hallway. Keep windows closed. If outdoors, abandon cars and lie flat in a ditch or ravine face down covering your head with your hands. After a tornado, watch for broken glass and power lines hat are down. If you see people are injured, don’t move them unless they are in immediate danger. Call for help. Pay attention to National Weather Service warnings:

Tornado watch (tornadoes are possible in the area)

Tornado warning (tornadoes have been sighted or are indicated by radar)

Interesting Facts:

Tornadoes can be detected using a Doppler radar. Storm spotters watch out for approaching tornadoes and relay their information to the National Weather Service. Before a tornado hits, the wind may die down and the air may become very still. In an average year, 800 tornadoes are reported nationwide resulting in over 1,500 injuries and 80 deaths. No place is safe from tornadoes. In the late 1980’s, a tornado swept through Yellowstone National Park leaving a path of destruction up and down a 10,000 foot mountain. The deadliest tornado was the Tri-State tornado which passed through Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana in the United States on March 18, 1925. In three and half hours it killed 695 people along a 219 mile path.

Expert Pages

Drought

Description

A drought is when there is an extended period of below-normal rainfall. Although “normal” rainfall varies from one region to another, droughts occur in almost all the climatic regions of the world. There are four main types of drought: Meteorological drought, Agricultural drought, Physiological drought, and Hydrological drought. When we think of droughts, though, we usually are referring to Meteorological drought in which there is below average precipitation, or rainfall. During the time of drought, the land turns arid and vegetation or plant life may not have enough moisture to support life or growth. Droughts do not just occur when it is hot out; cold winters with little precipitation or snow fall, can also be a period of drought.

Cause

Drought has many causes. A lack of rainfall is one obvious cause. A lack of snowfall may also be a cause. Another cause of drought is when there is not enough water supply to meet everyone’s needs. In order to understand why drought occurs, it is important to understand both weather and climate. Winds cause weather patterns to move around the Earth and over time, those patterns become a “routine” creating what we call “climate”. Sometimes, patterns change and cause unusual weather with some areas getting more precipitation than expected, and in the case of a drought, far less precipitation than expected.

Effect

The effects of drought are far reaching and severe affecting environments, economies and societies. Common consequences are wildfires or bushfires, “desertification”, loss of agricultural production, disease, thirst, famine, social unrest or upheaval, threats to public safety, migration or relocation of those impacted (people and wildlife), and war. Not all places experiencing drought conditions share the same effects. Although the United States may deal with economic impacts, it does usually suffer from food shortages. Prices may go up, but people are not starving. Other countries, however, do experience severe food shortages resulting in famine and malnutrition.

Where It Occurs

Drought occurs all over the world. There have been many droughts affecting the United States and North America. “The Dust Bowl” was a series of droughts affecting the U.S. and Canada during 1930-1937. Many areas were depopulated because people fled to other places because the conditions were so dire. China, India, Ukraine and Volga Regions of the former Soviet Union also had very severe droughts during the early 20th century. Presently, there are significant drought conditions in Australia and China.

Safety Rules

Everyone is vulnerable to drought conditions and their effects. The safety rules are more preventative or proactive than reactive. It is important to monitor and observe rainfall and compare that to the needs of the people in that area. People, who may be affected by famine, may need to relocate and stockpile medicine to prevent famine related illness. Conserving water through rain water harvesting helps maintain agriculture. Creative planning like growing crops not requiring much water in areas more susceptible to drought is also something to consider.

Interesting Facts

There have been several significant droughts that occurred during the 20th century. In 1936, the worst drought in modern history happened in Sichuan Province, China. 34 million farmers were displaced, forced to move, and 5 million people starved to death. Presently, Australia is experiencing drought. Although it typically has low rainfall, there have been major deficiencies of precipitation across much of Australia. In response, the government has placed heavy restrictions on water usage and some places even import water from other countries. China is again experiencing severe drought. Two thirds of all rivers have dried up and many people and cattle are facing water shortage. Because the temperature was high, people used air conditioning more straining the electricity supply.

Project GLAD

Wicked Weather

Process Grid

Severe Weather

Description

Cause

Effect

Where it occurs

Safety

Tips

Interesting Facts

Hurricanes

Tornadoes

Blizzards

Drought

Wicked Weather - Level 5 CA

4

Santa Ana Unified School District - Project G.L.A.D (02/07 JB)

Please put this page first before any unit as the cover page€¦ · Web viewA drought is when...

Documents

Transcript of Please put this page first before any unit as the cover page€¦ · Web viewA drought is when...