Hurricanes/Seymour Simon/Created by Atlanta District

Unit 4/Week 4
Title: Hurricanes
Suggested Time: 5 days (45 minutes/day)
Common Core ELA Standards: RI.5.1, RI.5.2, RI.5.3, RI.5.9; W.5.2 W.5.4, W.5.9; SL.5.1; L.5.1, L.5.2

Teacher Instructions
Refer to the Introduction for further details.
Before Teaching
1. Read the Big Ideas and Key Understandings and the Synopsis. Please do not read this to the students. This is a description for
teachers, about the big ideas and key understanding that students should take away after completing this task.
Big Ideas and Key Understandings
By researching natural disasters like hurricanes, scientists can learn about how to help save human lives.
Synopsis
This nonfiction story presents facts and details about how and where hurricanes are formed, the ways in which people are
warned of hurricanes, and tips on how to stay safe during a hurricane. Hurricanes are the only weather disasters that have been
given their own names.
2. Read entire main selection text, keeping in mind the Big Ideas and Key Understandings.
3. Re-read the main selection text while noting the stopping points for the Text Dependent Questions and teaching Vocabulary.
 Hurricanes/Seymour Simon/Created by Atlanta District

During Teaching
1. Students read the entire main selection text independently.
2. Teacher reads the main selection text aloud with students following along. (Depending on how complex the text is and the
amount of support needed by students, the teacher may choose to reverse the order of steps 1 and 2.)
3. Students and teacher re-read the text while stopping to respond to and discuss the questions and returning to the text. A variety
of methods can be used to structure the reading and discussion (i.e.: whole class discussion, think-pair-share, independent
written response, group work, etc.)

Text Dependent Questions

Text-dependent Questions Evidence-based Answers

In the first sentence on page 465, the author writes, “Hurricanes The strong winds of a hurricane would create large waves.
are huge spinning storms that develop in warm areas around the Coastal areas and islands would suffer both wind and water
equator.” Why are islands and coastal areas in the most danger damage.
during a hurricane?
Reread page 465. Using evidence from the text, list some of the People can expect strong winds, heavy rains, storm surges,
things that people can expect if they are in a hurricane. flooding, and sometimes tornadoes.
Use the descriptive details on page 467 to explain the origin of The word hurricane comes from the people who lived in the
the word hurricane. Include facts and characteristics from the Tropics in earlier times. The ancient Mayan people of South and
article in your answer. Central America called their storm god Hunraken. An evil god of
the Taino people of the Caribbean was called Huracan.
Hurricanes are not really evil, but they can cause terrible
destruction and great loss of life.
Reread the first two paragraphs on page 468. Describe each step First, the atmosphere gathers heat energy. Next, moisture enters
in the formation of a hurricane. the atmosphere and begins to power the hurricane. Then, the
hurricane forms bands of clouds and winds that spiral inward.
 Hurricanes/Seymour Simon/Created by Atlanta District

After that, thunderstorms form, heating the air and forcing the
winds to rise higher and the spinning to increase.
Explain why Hurricane Andrew was so destructive. (Pg. 470) Hurricane Andrew dropped about seven inches of rain across
Florida, it caused storm tides reaching seventeen feet, and had
wind speeds of 120 miles per hour. Thousands of people lost
their homes.
Why is Doppler radar a valuable tool for the National Hurricane The Doppler radar can quickly detect changes in a hurricane’s
Center and the NOAA. (Pg. 472) wind and location. It can also tell the path, speed, and strength
of the hurricane.
If you are ever caught in a hurricane, what does the author Listen for updates from the NOAA, leave if told to leave the area,
advise that you should do to keep as safe as possible? stay away from moving water, don’t play in flooded areas, use a
flashlight for emergency lighting instead of a candle or lantern
because of fire hazards, use only bottled water as tap water may
be contaminated, and use the telephone only for emergencies.
The text says that hurricanes are a fact of life, but we are saving Page 472 - Doppler radar can quickly detect changes in hurricane
lives. Use information from the text and cite factors that Page 472 - National Weather Service (NWS) radios can give
contributed to fewer lives being lost in hurricanes. immediate information about hurricanes
Page 472 - Early warnings
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Vocabulary

KEY WORDS ESSENTIAL TO UNDERSTANDING WORDS WORTH KNOWING

General teaching suggestions are provided in the Introduction
not enough contextual clues provided in
TEACHER PROVIDES DEFINITION

Page 467 - destruction

*Please note there are a number of Tier III, domain-specific
Page 468 - atmosphere, contact, property
the text

words pertaining to storms in this story that will need to be

Page 470 - damages
addressed with students; however, they are not listed in this
Page 472 - available
vocabulary chart, as this chart only focuses on Tier II words.
Page 474 - surge
STUDENTS FIGURE OUT THE MEANING
sufficient context clues are provided in
the text

Culminating Task
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 Re-Read, Think, Discuss, Write

 Through years of research and observing hurricanes, scientists have found ways to provide us with information about how
hurricanes form, what they can do when they hit land, and how people can stay as safe as they can during a hurricane. Using
evidence from the text, create a short book of illustrations to show:
o The formation of a hurricane over the ocean,
o What happens when that hurricane hits land, and
o What people should do in order to stay safe.
Each of the illustrations must be detailed, labeled, and use details from the text to support it.

Additional Tasks
 Use the Internet to research (from multiple sources) the ways in which communities learn to protect themselves from future
natural disasters. Select a natural disaster that hit your community or nearby area. Make a chart to explain safety measures that
have gone into effect since the disaster occurred.

 Research an infamous hurricane such as Camille in 1969 or Katrina in 2005. Using multiple sources, write a magazine article
about its effects. Give specific details about where the event happened, when the event happened, how many people lost their
lives or were injured, and what the property damage was.
Answer: Students should be given an article template to use for their article. To help with scaffolding, students should read
articles in the newspaper to help with how their article should be formatted. To extend this activity, students can give
accounts from survivors and they can also create a class book about weather-related disasters.
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Hurricane in a Bottle:
Materials Needed:
• Two plastic soda bottles (1 or 2 liter size)
• Pitcher of water
• Stopwatch or watch with a second hand to record your times
• Tornado Tube

Instructions:
• Fill the soda bottle to the top with water. If you do not have access to a sink nearby to use a large pitcher to fill the bottle.
• Here’s the challenge: How long will it take to empty all of the water in the bottle into the pitcher on the table? Record your
prediction on a piece of paper.
• Without squeezing the sides of the bottle, time how long it takes to empty all of the water. You might want to repeat this several
times to validate your time.
• Fill the bottle to the top with water just as you did before. However, this time swirl the water by moving the bottle in a clockwise
or counter- clockwise motion while the water is pouring out. Keep swirling the water until you see the formation of what looks to
be a tornado! The water begins to swirl in the shape of a vortex and flows out of the bottle very quickly. To everyone’s
amazement, you have now created a hurricane!

Note to Teacher
 Please see the note in the vocabulary chart.
 Students could be given some background information on recent hurricanes such as Sandy and Isaac.
 Hurricanes/Seymour Simon/Created by Atlanta District

Supports for English Language Learners (ELLs)

to use with Basal Alignment Project Lessons
When teaching any lesson, it is important to make sure you are including supports to help all students. We have prepared some examples of
different types of supports that you can use in conjunction with our Basal Alignment Project Lessons to help support your ELLs. They are
grouped by when they would best fit in a lesson. While these supports reflect research in how to support ELLs, these activities can help ALL
students engage more deeply with these lessons. Note that some strategies should be used at multiple points within a lesson; we’ll point these
out. It is also important to understand that these scaffolds represent options for teachers to select based on students’ needs; it is not the
intention that teachers should do all of these things at every lesson.

Before the reading:

 Read passages, sing songs, watch videos, view photographs, discuss topics (e.g., using the four corners strategy), or research topics that
help provide context for what your students will be reading. This is especially true if the setting (e.g., 18 th Century England) or topic (e.g.,
boats) is one that is unfamiliar to the students.

 Provide instruction, using multiple modalities, on selected vocabulary words that are central to understanding the text. When looking at
the lesson plan, you should note the Tier 2 words, particularly those words with high conceptual complexity (i.e., they are difficult to
visualize, learn from context clues, or are abstract), and consider introducing them ahead of reading. For more information on selecting
such words, go here. You should plan to continue to reinforce these words, and additional vocabulary, in the context of reading and
working with the text. (See additional activities in the During Reading and After Reading sections.)

Examples of Activities:
o Provide students with the definition of the words and then have students work together to create Frayer models or other kinds
of word maps for the words.
o When a word contains a prefix or suffix that has been introduced before, highlight how the word part can be used to help
determine word meaning.
o Keep a word wall or word bank where these new words can be added and that students can access later.
o Have students create visual glossaries for whenever they encounter new words. Then have your students add these words to
their visual glossaries.
o Create pictures using the word. These can even be added to your word wall!
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o Create lists of synonyms and antonyms for the word.

o Have students practice using the words in conversation. For newcomers, consider providing them with sentence frames to
ensure they can participate in the conversation.
o Practice spelling the words using different spelling practice strategies and decoding strategies. Students could take turns spelling
with a partner.

 Use graphic organizers to help introduce content.

Examples of Activities:
o Have students fill in a KWL chart about what they will be reading about.
o Have students research setting or topic using a pre-approved website and fill in a chart about it. You could even have students
work in groups where each group is assigned part of the topic.
o Have students fill in a bubble map where they write down anything that they find interesting about the topic while watching a
video or reading a short passage about the topic. Then students can discuss why they picked the information.

During reading:

 Read the text aloud first so that ELLs can hear the passage read by a fluent reader before working with the text themselves.

 Allow ELLs to collaborate in their home languages to process content before participating in whole class discussions in English. Consider
giving them the discussion questions to look over in advance (perhaps during the first read) and having them work with a partner to
prepare.

 Encourage students to create sketch-notes or to storyboard the passage when they are reading it individually or with a partner. This will
help show if they understand what they are reading as they are reading it.

 Ask questions related to the who, what, when, why, and how of the passage. For students that may need a little more help, provide
them with sentence stems.

 Continue to draw attention to and discuss the words that you introduced before the reading.
Examples of Activities:
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o Have students include the example from the text in their glossary that they created.
o Create or find pictures that represent how the word was used in the passage.
o Practice creating sentences using the word in the way it was using in the passage.
o Have students discuss the author’s word choice.

 Use graphic organizers to help organize content and thinking.

Examples of Activities:
o Have students fill in a chart to keep track of their 5ws while they read to help them summarize later and figure out the central
idea of a passage.
o It may again be beneficial to have somewhere for students to store new words that they encounter while reading the text.
Students could use a chart to keep track of these new words and their meanings as they read.
o If you had students fill in a KWL, have them fill in the “L” section as they read the passage.
 Utilize any illustrations or text features that come with the story or passage to better understand the reading.
 Compare/contrast the passage with what the illustrations convey about the passage. Have students consider if the illustrations look the
way they visualized the passage in their own minds or if the passage matches their predictions based on the illustrations.
 Identify any text features such as captions and discuss how they contribute to meaning.

After reading:
 Present directions for any post-reading assignments orally and visually; repeat often; and ask English Language Learners to rephrase.

 Allow ELLs to use English language that is still under development. Students should not be scored lower because of incorrect spelling or
grammar (unless the goal of the assignment is to assess spelling or grammar skills specifically). When grading, be sure to focus on scoring
your students only for the objective(s) that were shared with students.

 Scaffold questions for discussions so that questioning sequences include a mix of factual and inferential questions and a mix of shorter
and more extended responses. Questions should build on each other and toward inferential and higher-order-thinking questions. There
are not many factual questions already listed in the lesson instructions, so you will need to build some in as you see fit. More
information on this strategy can be found here.

 Reinforce new vocabulary using multiple modalities

 Hurricanes/Seymour Simon/Created by Atlanta District

Examples of activities:
o Using the words that you had students work with before reading, have students write sentences in reference to the passage that
you just finished reading.
o Require students to include the words introduced before reading in the culminating writing task.
o For newcomers, print out pictures that represent the words that you focused on and have students match the words to the
pictures.
o Based on different features of the words, have the students sort them into different categories and explain their choices. For
example, the students could sort the words by prefixes, suffixes, connotation, etc.

 After reading the passage, continue to examine important sentences (1–2) in the text that contribute to the overall meaning of the text.
Guide students to break apart these sentences, analyze different elements, and determine meaning. More information on how to do
this, including models of sentence deconstruction, can be found here.

 Provide differentiated scaffolds for writing assignments based on students’ English language proficiency levels.

Examples of Activities:
o For all students, go over the prompt in detail, making sure to break down what the prompt means before having the students
get to work. Then have the students explain the directions back to you.
o Have students create an evidence tracking chart during reading, then direct them to look back over their evidence chart and
work with a group to see if their evidence matches what the rest of the class wrote down. If some of the chart does not match,
students should have a discussion about why.
o For students who need more support, model the proper writing format for your students and provide them with a properly
formatted example for reference.
o For newcomers, you may consider creating sentence or paragraph frames to help them to write out their ideas.
 To further discussion about the passage, have students create their own who, what, when, where, why, and how questions related to
the passage to ask each other and have students pair up and practice asking each other the questions. If available, pair students of the
same home language to support the use of language still under development.