earth science

Hurricane Season: Lessons & Resources

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Image Source: NOAA Current Hurricane Activity

Updated August 2016

We are heading into Peak Hurricane Season, with forecasts predicting 12-17 named storms. Using the resources below, students can track Tropical Storms and Hurricanes, as well as learn about how hurricanes form, the parts of a hurricane, the difference between a tropical storm and a hurricane, and the intensities of hurricanes with this mini-unit from my Adopt-a-City Weather Unit (link).

Hurricane Resources:

  • Hurricane Notes (pdf) –
    • How are hurricanes named?
    • Which storm was more destructive, Katrina or Sandy?
  • Tracking Hurricanes (Google spreadsheets)
    • Choose any one Hurricane and plot it on the NOAA/NWS Atlantic Basin Hurricane Tracking Chart (pdf)
  • Practice latitude and longitude: plotting hurricanes worksheet (pdf)
  • Hurricane Isabel 2003: tracking and analysis of Hurricane Isabel (pdf)
  • BrainPOP Hurricanes Video (link) & Activity Sheets (link)
    • this website needs a subscription to view video and activity

View Current Activity using WunderMap: https://www.wunderground.com/wundermap/

  1. Layers: Click on Tropical – deselect any other layers to make map less cluttered for now
  2. Check the box next to Hurricanes/Typhoons to view activity for the US
    • The “Legend” tab will show Hurricane categories
    • There may not be any activity today
  3. Check the box next to Sea Surface Temperature to view ocean temperatures
Screen Shot 2016-08-02 at 8.15.11 AM
Screen Shot 2016-08-02 at 8.16.24 AM

Interactive Activities

  • Create-a-Cane (link)
  • Aim a Hurricane (link)
  • Hurricane Tracker (link)
  • How Hurricanes Form (link)
  • NatGeo – Forces of Nature (link)
  • Saffir-Simpson Scale (link) – What happens when a hurricane hits?

Additional Resources:

  • Hurricane Names (link)
  • NOAA/NWS Historical Hurricane Data (link) – Data for every Hurricanes, including maps
  • Weather Underground Hurricane Archive (link)
  • NOAA/NWS National Hurricane Center (link)

Task 11 – Layers of the Atmosphere

Liz BelasicLeave a comment
Image Source: Windows to the Universe
Image Source: Windows to the Universe

Task 11: Adopt A City – Layers of the Atmosphere

  1. Record today’s Weather, yesterday’s Hi/Lo/Precipitation, & Astronomy Data (link) (excel).
  2. On your mini-map (pdf) record the following:
    1. WSM – add it to the classroom map of the USA (pdf)
    2. Precipitation (Rain – green, Snow – blue)
    3. H/L/Fronts (link)
  • Use the resources below to learn about the layers of the atmosphere and complete your notes (pdf).
    • Study Jams – Atmosphere (link)
    • BrainPOP – Atmosphere video (link)
    • Weather Guide pgs. 34-37 & 44-47
    • Interactive – where does it go? (link)
    • Layers of the Atmosphere NOAA (link)
  • Once you have completed your notes (pdf):
    • Complete the illustration by adding an object to each layer and color each layer lightly.
    • Add the miles to each layer.
    • Can you add the Ozone Layer and the Ionosphere to your diagram?

Adopt a City Unit (link)

Using Real-Time Data: NOAA & Tides

Liz Belasic1 Comment

Tides

I love when we have an opportunity to collect real-time data in class, as part of our unit on tides, we used NOAA’s website (link) to learn how to find real-time tide information, to learn how to read tide graphs and charts, and to find water temperatures for 10 different stations and compare their data. The kids enjoyed picking their own cities and sharing their findings.

Resources:

  • Tides Google Slides Public (link) – this is a shared Google Slide that gives some basic information on tides and then it goes into a step-by-step tutorial on how to use the NOAA website to collect information.
  • NOAA Tides Website (link)
  • Data Collection worksheet (pdf) – students will record and analyze their data

The second activity, included graphing information for high tides at Atlantic City for the month of January. Students will learn how to read a tide chart and graph tide data to see the relationship between tides and moon phases. This activity was also a great way to practice graphing skills. Creating graphs by hand, instead of on a computer, is something that they don’t get to do very often.

  • January Tides Worksheet (pdf) for Atlantic City, NJ.
  • Blank worksheet (pdf) for students to choose data from a different location.
  • Tide Charts (link) – set for New Jersey but you can pick different states and locations for monthly tides data.
  • For more lessons about the Moon, visit the Moon Page, under the Space Science tab.
  • Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MSScienceBlog

Earth and Moon Comparisons Activity

Liz BelasicLeave a comment

earth_moon_comparison

This is a great hands on activity to get students thinking about the size of the Earth compared to the Moon, distance, and rotation vs. revolution. In this handout are 4 mini-activities that cover:

  • Compare the size of the Moon to the Size of Earth.
  • How many Moons could fit inside the Earth?
  • How far away is the Moon?
  • How does the Moon rotate and revolve around the Earth?

Materials:

  • Student Worksheet (pdf) with Teacher Answer Key
  • Circle templates (pdf) to represent the Moon and the Earth
    • Templates are cut out prior to activity and placed in a large zip-top bag, one set per group, (construction paper, oak tag, or plain computer paper works well)
  • Rulers & calculators
  • Pennies – 50 per group, then later 1 per student
  • Quarters – 1 per student
  • Styrofoam ball with a small flag, or something small, pinned to it

Details for the lesson are in the handout. As the students were working, I visited each group to check on their progress and hear their ideas. I held off on revealing the real answers to the first 3 parts until everyone was done with all of the activities and after we discussed our ideas and reasons for the choices they made as a class.

For the Rotation vs. Revolution, I had them try out their own ideas on how to make the penny rotate and revolve around the quarter before I demonstrated it with a styrofoam moon.

If you use this lesson in your class, write about it below 🙂

Science Scramble Puzzles

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Science Scramble Puzzles

You can access them as a Shared Google Drive Folder (Click for link)

I always like to have puzzles handy for students to work on when they have finished their classwork, or if they completed a test and are waiting for other students to finish, or just for fun!

I have 72 science themed scramble puzzles (Scrabble-like) based on Physical and Earth Science vocabulary words. There is a Master List that shows all the words and which number puzzle it is. Each file is saved as the answer, too. Students can make 3, 4, 5, and 6 letter words and calculate their scores based on the letter values within each word they find. There is one 7 letter science word answer for each puzzle.

Have fun!