Lesson Plan - Hurricane Helpers

Read the Article

Get the Answer Key

Learning Objective

Students will learn how Girl Scouts in Florida helped people in their community prepare for hurricanes.

Content-Area Connections

Earth Science, Civics

Standards Correlations

CCSS: RI.3.1, RI.3.2, RI.3.3, RI.3.4, RI.3.5, RI.3.8, RI.3.10

 

NGSS: Earth’s Systems

Text Structure

Problem/Solution

1. Preparing to Read

Watch a Video

Watch the video “What You Need to Know About Hurricanes.” Ask: Based on the video, why do you think many people get nervous when a hurricane is expected to strike their area?

Preview Words to Know

Project the online vocabulary slideshow and introduce the Words to Know.

  • citizens
  • anxious


Set a Purpose for Reading

As students read, have them identify the problem the hurricane kits are meant to help solve.


2. Close-Reading Questions

1. The article explains that the girls live in Florida. Why is that detail important? 
It is important to know that the girls live in Florida because that state is hit by more hurricanes than any other state. People there must be prepared for hurricanes.
(RI.3.1 Inference)

2. Based on the article, what steps did the girls take to complete their project? 
The girls gathered items for the kits by thinking about what would be needed and asking businesses to donate supplies. Then they put the items in bags and distributed the kits to 50 families.
(RI.3.3 Sequence)

3. Choose two items the girls put in their hurricane kits. Explain why each was included. 
Sample response: The girls put canned food and activity sheets in their kits. The canned food would be helpful to families if stores were closed after a hurricane. The activity sheets would keep kids busy and help them feel less anxious.
(RI.3.2 Key Details)

3. Skill Building

Featured Skill: Reading a Diagram

Use the skill builder “How Strong Is That Storm?” to have students explore the scale that scientists use to categorize hurricanes by wind speed.

(RI.3.5 Text Features)

Differentiate & Extend

Multilingual Learners 
Help multilingual learners build English vocabulary by having them create weather word clusters, groups of words related to this theme. Weather words in the article are hurricane, storm, wind, rain, cloud, eye, and eyewall.


Paired Texts 
Pair this article with Lauren Tarshis’s I Survived Hurricane Katrina. Students may also enjoy reading about pilots who study hurricanes by flying into them. Look for “Hunting Hurricanes” (October 17, 2022) in our online archives.


Discussion
Why do you think the girls put books and toys in the hurricane kits? How might these items help families?


Research
Research a type of wild weather or other emergency that can occur in your area. Make a plan for how your class could help neighbors deal with this event.

Text-to-Speech