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Wild Weather

Hurricanes are powerful weather events. Students will learn about the science behind them and create an illustration depicting their formation.

Lesson Plan

Supplies Needed

Gather all the supplies needed to bring your craft ideas to life! From paints and markers to glue and scissors, our crafts section has everything to spark creativity and make every project truly special.

Steps

  • Step 1

    Hurricanes, otherwise known as typhoons or tropical cyclones, are strong weather systems that form over the ocean. Have students learn about how they form, how they're classified, how they're different from tropical storms, and how people can prepare for them.

  • Step 2

    Ask students to create an illustration that gives information about the science of hurricanes. They can depict its actions, draw swirling lines, and use bold lettering when they diagram how a hurricane evolves.

  • Step 3

    Have students present their work and discuss some of the facts they learned about hurricane formation and preparedness.

Standards

SCI: Recognize what is relevant and how changes in scale, proportion, or quantity affect a system’s structure or performance. 

SCI: Ask questions about the features of phenomena observed and conclusions drawn from investigations or models. 

Adaptations

The 1900 hurricane in Galveston, Texas, was the deadliest natural disaster in U.S. history, with an estimated death toll of between 6,000 to 12,000 people. Have students investigate how this monster storm led to improvements in weather detection and preparedness. For example, it exposed the inadequacy of the country's weather forecasting systems. (Cuba, for example, was very adept at predicting the track and strength of hurricanes and tried to warn the U.S., but the U.S. Weather Bureau chose to ignore the warning, possibly due to its strained relations with the country.) It also led to significant changes in building codes and spurred other positive changes as well.

Why do hurricanes have names? Have students explore how this came into being and how names are chosen.