Weather the Storm

DESIGNED BY: Edris Davis, Caughman Road Elementary

1) CORE CURRICULUM OBJECTIVE(S):

Language Arts
Locate and use information contained in multi-media and technology based resources. (3-AR-3) Collect and organize relevant information in order to construct a product (fictional story, poetry or song, and poster). (3-AR-4) Incorporate compositional elements in writing. (3-WD-4) Write various types of compositions. (3-WA-4)

Math 
Estimate, measure, record, and describe the temperature and temperature change. (3ME3-1) Collect data by surveying. (3SP1-2) Organize, record, and communicate data with a bar graph. (3SP1-3) Translate stories into number sentences; identify number sentences which solve a problem. (3NA1-6)

Science 
Analyze the causes of the seasons. (3SES-9) Explore changes in landforms as a result of erosion. (3SES10)

Health 
Adopt a plan to respond appropriately in an emergency situation. (3HSLC2)

GRADE LEVEL: Third
SUBJECT(S): Language Arts, Math, Science, Health

2) OVERVIEW:

The unit presented herein was designed to be used in conjunction with Unit 2, "Weather the Storm", in the third grade basal, Sing It to the Sea, published by MacMillan/McGraw-Hill. It is based on research and allows students to choose a weather condition/natural disaster, research the topic, and apply the information gathered to writing, math, health, and science. To ensure student success, the teacher models the research process in detail for the students, because the research is the foundation needed for many of the activities that follow. This unit addresses many of the multiple intelligences, allows for individual and cooperative work, and student choice.

3) FOCUS/ESSENTIAL QUESTION(S):

Why is research important to an author's work? How is relevant information collected and organized prior to writing?

4) TIME FRAME:

The time frame for this unit is two weeks (ten 90 minute language arts class periods; science and math activities can be used during your normal allotted time frame for these subjects during this two week period). However, due to the nature of the activities it may have to be extended due to students needing additional time for research and writing.

5) RESOURCES/MATERIALS:

Books:
Brown, M. (1996). Arthur writes a story. New York: Scholastic. Harshman, M. (1995). The storm. New York: Scholastic.

Suggested Internet sites: http://www.yahooligans.com/Science_and_Oddities/Weather/Tornadoes/ http://www.yahooligans.com/Science_and_Oddities/Weather/Hurricanes/ http://www.yahooligans.com/Science_and_Oddities/Weather/Floods/ http://www.yahooligans.com/Science_and_Oddities/Geology/Earthquakes/ http://weathereye.kgan.com/expert/blizzard/WinterSafe.html http://www.azstarnet.com/anubis/zaphome.htm
(These sites are merely suggestions. Students may locate additional sites through searches.)

Multimedia Resources:
The 1995 Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia ISBN 07172-3982-9
The World Book Multimedia Encyclopedia

Other Internet access
Television
Focus box or LCD projector
Copies of charts/organizers for students (page size copies are available at the end of unit)

6) CULMINATING ASSESSMENT:

Each student will create a fictional story which includes at least six facts from their research.

Scoring Rubric for the Culminating Assessment: Creative Writing

	Ideas	Organization	Word Choice	Sentence Structure	Mechanics
4	Fresh, original Focuses on topic Supporting details Six research facts included	Ideas connected. Strong, beginning, middle, end. Sequenced & logical	Wide variety used. Consistent and appropriate usage. Words "enhance" ideas.	Clearly written Complete sentences Variety of sentence length	Few or no errors
3	Some original ideas. General focus on topic. Most supporting details included.	Four or more research facts included. Most ideas connected. Good beginning, middle, end. Most ideas sequenced & logical.	Some variety. Mostly consistent and appropriate. Words generally support ideas.	Most sentences clearly written. Simple sentences. Some variety of length.	Some errors
2	Few original ideas. Moves away form focus. Few supporting details. Few research facts included.	Some ideas connected. Attempts beginning, middle, end. Not always sequenced & logical.	Common word choice. Some appropriate word choices. Little use of descriptive words.	Some unclear sentences. Run-on, fragmented sentences. Little variety.	Many errors
1	Incomplete ideas. Unfocused. Lacks details. Lacks evidence of research.	Few ideas connected. Lacks beginning, middle, end. Little sequence & logic.	Limited word choice. Inappropriate word choices. No attempt at descriptive words.	Sentences not clear. Frequent fragmented sentences. No variety.	Serious errors. No variety.
0	No attempt	No attempt	No attempt	No attempt	No attempt

Each student will compose a poem or song lyrics about their weather topic. Three key ideas from the research should be incorporated in the poem or song.

Scoring Rubrics for the Culminating Assessments
Poetry or Song Composition

POETRY COMPOSITION RUBRIC

Your finished product should contain the following:

LYRIC COMPOSITION RUBRIC

Your finished product should contain the following:

Each student will formulate two weather word problems using facts from their research.

Scoring Rubrics for the Culminating Assessment:
Math Word Problem

WORD PROBLEM DESIGN RUBRIC

Your finished product should contain the following:

7) INSTRUCTIONAL ACTIVITIES:

Day 1: Getting Ready for Research Ask students to brainstorm words they think of when they hear the word "weather". Write "Weather Words" on chart paper and record student comments (save this list it will be used later). Circle the weather conditions/natural disasters (i.e., thunderstorm, tornado, hurricane) and ask students what the circled words have in common.

Say to students, "I want to find more information on tornadoes. What do I need to do?" Engage students in conversation to pinpoint the word "research". Ask students if research is important to an author writing a story about tornadoes. Why would it be important?

Introduce the book Arthur Writes A Story, by Marc Brown and read it aloud to the class. After a discussion about how research helped Arthur, explain to students that like Arthur, they are going to conduct research using the Internet and a multi-media encyclopedia and then write a fictional story integrating the information they found. The research will be on a weather condition/natural disaster of their choice.

Distribute K-W-L charts for students to complete on the topic they have chosen. Explain the importance of the chart as it relates to the research and the end of the unit when the "What I Learned" section is completed.

Model for students how to locate, interpret, and evaluate information on the Internet. (For modeling, select a topic not chosen by students. Use a focus box or LCD projector to project the Internet on a TV monitor for the whole class to observe.) Refer to the "Research Organizer"- use a chart size organizer as you model for the students for collecting and organizing the information located to maintain a focus for the research and model how it is important to read through the information to locate what is needed. As the information is located, have a student fill in the chart sized graphic organizer. If all of the information can not be located through Internet research, show students how the multi-media encyclopedia can be used as another research tool. (Note: Students should record a couple of facts [i.e., wind speed, amount of rainfall, number of injuries in a particular town] that would help them to formulate weather word problems later in the unit.)

Closure: Have students share their chosen topic and K-W-L chart.

Day 2: Connecting Research with Writing Divide students into 2 groups. Arrange with your Media Specialist for Group A research partners to use the computers in the library for research. Each student in Group A should take a graphic organizer with them for collecting and organizing his/her research.

With Group B, review the information located during the research lesson on Day 1. Discuss with students how the information can be integrated in a fictional story which the teacher and students will create together as an example.

To model the writing process, begin by planning for the group story using the Beginning, Middle, and End Chart - use a chart size organizer as you model for the group. Allow students to give their ideas for the plan. Stress the importance of each section of the planning chart: Beginning - covers the characters and the setting; Middle - includes the main events and the problem faced by the characters; End - includes how the characters solved or overcame the problem.

With a good plan in place take students to the next step - a first draft. Let students suggest sentences for the draft (teacher could type this on the computer and use a focus box to project on the TV monitor). As the draft is in progress show students how the plan helps in writing a story, by referring to it often. Also remind students they must work to include at least 6 facts from the research conducted on Day 1 displayed on the research organization chart.

When Group A returns from the library, meet with them to debrief about their research experience and discuss progress and problems. Distribute the "How Am I Doing?" checklist/self-evaluation for research and have students fill in the appropriate areas. The debriefing session may result in some students needing additional research time. During this time, Group B could be decorating individual folders to keep all of their papers during the research unit.

Name __________________________________ Date _______________

HOW AM I DOING?

A RESEARCH CHECKLIST & SELF-EVALUATION
Use this sheet to keep track of your research project and to think about how well you did on each step.

Closure: Have students from each group share today's experiences to give students an idea of what to expect when the groups switch tasks tomorrow.

Day 3: Connecting Research with Writing (continued)

Groups will switch and Day 2 activities will be repeated.

Days 4 - 8: Authors in Action Begin by reading The Storm by Marc Harshman. Engage students in a discussion about how the author incorporated facts about storms in the story.

Like the author of The Storm, students will now begin creating their fictional stories which will include at least six facts from their research. Distribute Beginning, Middle, and End Planning Charts to students and instruct them to begin developing their plan.

Allow students to continue through the writing process. Since the teacher has completed model lessons on the planning and drafting stages, mini-lessons on Days 5-8 should cover revising, editing, and publishing.

SELF EDITING CHECKLIST

Title ______________________________________________

Name _____________________________________________

Date ______________________________________________

Capitalization:
* Each sentence begins with a capital letter.
* Names of people and places are capitalized.
* The first, last, and all important words in my title are capitalized.

Punctuation:
* Each sentence ends with the correct punctuation.
* I used quotation marks to show where speech begins and ends.
* I used commas where needed.

General:
* I corrected all misspelled words to the best of my ability.
* I used descriptive language in my writing.
* My final copy is in my best handwriting.
* I have checked for errors before handing in work.

As students move through the writing process the teacher should use this time to monitor and conference with students and form small groups for additional instruction if necessary. The Conference Record can be used for conferencing notes on each student.

CONFERENCE LOG

Name ___________________________________Date _________________

In addition to writing, the students should periodically refer to their "How Am I Doing?" Checklist/Self-Evaluation to keep track of and rate their progress.

At the publishing stage students should prepare two illustrations to accompany their story. Each student will publish his/her story in the form of a book.

Day 9:

Weather Expressions & Safety Tips
Refer back to chart of weather related words created by students on Day 1. If list does not include some keywords that would help with poetry/song writing, prompt students to add words to the list.

Tell students that today they will participate in a choice activity, small group activity, and an individual activity.

Choice Activities:
Compose a poem about your weather topic. Your poem should incorporate 3 key ideas from your research. Publish your poem.

Compose a song about your weather topic. Your song should incorporate 3 key ideas from your research. Be sure to name the tune to which your song should be sung. Publish your song.

Before students begin the choice activity, share a weather-related poem (In Time of Silver Rain by Langston Hughes) and song (Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head by Burt Bacharach) to motivate them. Teacher monitors and assists students as necessary.

Group Activity: Divide students into groups of 3 or 4 based on the weather topic chosen. As a group, students will compare the information they located on safety tips. Group members will reach a consensus on the safety tips and create a poster to identify the safety tips for the particular weather condition/natural disaster. Each group's poster should include at least 3 safety tips.

Individual Activity: Students have completed their research and should now retrieve their K-W-L charts from their folders and complete the "What I Learned" section.

Closure: Have students turn and share with a neighbor what they learned about their weather topic during this research unit.

Math Activities
(*Note: To make a connection with math during this research unit on weather students will engage in several weather-related activities. These activities can be used in conjunction with and as an addition to other skills you are covering with your class)

Daily Temperature Graph:
On a daily basis appoint students to check the outdoor temperature (attach a thermometer which can be read from inside the classroom to the outside of your window) and record it on a bar graph displayed in the classroom. Discuss daily temperature changes with students and allow them to make estimates/predictions on the next day's temperature or the shape the bar graph will take over the next week.

Twice weekly, students should write about the graph in their math journals. Comments should include general statements about the data, changes that have occurred, and a hypothesis about the temperature for the upcoming days and a reason to support the hypothesis.

Data Collection and Communication:
Model for students how to formulate a survey question, collect and organize the data, and communicate it in the form of a graph. Tell students you need to know if students in this class prefer cake, cookies, pie, or ice cream for dessert. Ask them how you could find out this information. If students do not come up with the word survey, introduce the word and discuss the purpose of surveys.

Write your survey question on the overhead and show students how data can be collected (i.e., a tally mark for each vote in a certain category). Continue by preparing a bar graph to communicate the data. Stress the importance of labeling the graph so that the graph clearly shows what data is being communicated.

Students will work with a peer to conduct a survey and collect data. The survey question should be related to weather (i.e., What is your favorite season?; What is your favorite rainy day activity - sleeping, watching TV, reading, spending time with family?). Peer pairs may need some assistance in developing a survey question.

Arrange for each peer pair to visit a classroom and collect their data. Once the data is collected, students should prepare one bar graph per pair of students and each student should provide a written explanation of the data collection experience and the results in his/her math journal.

DATA COLLECTION SHEET

Name ________________________________________________

Date _________________________________________________

Take a survey of your classmates or with permission you may go to another class. Ask everyone something related to the weather.

Question:

Data:

Use the grid paper to make a graph. Be sure to label the graph correctly and give it a title.

Grid paper needed to prepare bar graph:

Weather Word Problems:

Using their research students will formulate 2 weather word problems. Model for students how weather information can be used for a math word problem. Give the class an opportunity to create a couple of class problems. Encourage students to be creative with their individual word problems. They can use a graph showing weather-related data and ask a question about the graph. To conserve paper, both problems should be on the same sheet of paper. Illustrations with word problems should be encouraged. All of the word problems will be included in a class "Weather Word Problem" book. Each student in the class and the other third grade classes will receive a copy of the book.

Science Activities:

The connection with science cannot be forgotten. Here are a few suggested activities:

Discuss erosion with students. From the research students have done, engage students in a discussion on the movement of earth materials during a particular weather condition. Take students on a walk around the school grounds to look for signs of erosion.

Experiment with erosion to determine if the slope of the land affects the amount of erosion caused by melting ice. Obtain two shoebox lids and cover the inside with aluminum foil. Fill each with the same amount of damp sand. In one box lid shape a steep hill and in the other smooth the sand out flat. Place an ice cube on top of the hill and place another in the middle of the flat sand. Watch as the ice melts and record observations. Write a conclusion based on your data and observations.

Review newspaper weather maps of the United Sates. Discuss the differences among the regions and possible reasons for the differences.

Introduce students to the characteristics of the different types of clouds: cirrus, stratus, cumulus, and cumulonimbus. Show students how recognizing the shapes can indicate what kind of weather they bring. Take students on cloud identifying sessions during the unit and try to predict the weather.

Engage students in a partner activity to show how the Earth's tilt affects the seasons. Push a pencil (Earth's axis) through the center of a plastic foam ball (Earth). The eraser end should be pointing up. It indicates the axis at the North Pole and the pencil lead is the South Pole axis. Use a marker to draw the equator around the Earth. While one student holds the North Pole axis so that it tilts toward the front of the room, the partner holds a flashlight about 8 inches from Earth, shining the light on the equator. Observe which part of the earth gets more sunlight. Move Earth in a circle around the sun with a one-quarter turn to the right and observe again. Repeat this rotation two more times, observing after each time. Discuss how Earth's tilt affects the seasons and what would happen if Earth was not tilted.

Invite a local meteorologist to visit the class to tell about his occupation and share his/her knowledge of weather with the students.

(*Note: Students should maintain a science journal in which they record observations, hypotheses, conclusions, and general comments about experiences in science. Teacher should review journals for assessment.)

Day 10: We've Weathered the Storm To culminate our unit students will have a share-a-thon. Each student will be given an opportunity to sit in the "Author's Chair" to present his/her creative writing. In addition, groups will present safety posters and peer pairs will present weather data from their surveys.

To reflect on all of the activities students will complete a "Theme Evaluation". This evaluation also consists of a section for the teacher to complete for each student.

Unit Evaluation

Unit __________________________ Name _____________________

Student Self-Evaluation

The activity I enjoyed the most was____________________________ because __________________________________________________

The hardest activity was _____________________________________ because __________________________________________________

I helped the unit succeed by________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________

In group projects I __________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________

In independent projects I _____________________________________ _____________________________________________________________

Teacher Evaluation

1. How did the student participate in discussions? ____________________ _____________________________________________________________

2. Did the student successfully engage in a variety of learning activities? (Whole group, small group, individual) ____________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________

3. Did the students successfully complete unit activities? (Book response, letter writing, center activities, research, etc.) ______________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________

4. Which activities offered this students opportunities to shine? _______ ______________________________________________________________

5. Were there activities which were not appropriate for this student? Why? ____________________________________________________

Enrichment

Small group activity:

Each group designs a weather board game about its topic. The game should include information found during the research. Facts from the research can be used to design pick up cards or game board squares. Students should include directions and rules for the game and be able to demonstrate how to play the game for the class.

Music:

During the times students are doing individual and group work, background music would be a nice addition. There are several "nature" music tapes and CDs available on the market. It might be quite inspiring to play some of those in the classroom during this unit.

Name __________________________________ Date _______________

HOW AM I DOING?

A RESEARCH CHECKLIST & SELF-EVALUATION
Use this sheet to keep track of your research project and to think about how well you did on each step.

Conference Log

Name ________________________________ Date _________________

Student's Name ___________________________ Date ______________

Title of Story ___________________________________________

EVALUATING CREATIVE WRITING

POETRY COMPOSITION RUBRIC

Your finished product should contain the following: