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Each UNIT STUDY includes suggestions of books to READ, ideas to WRITE, crafts to CREATE, more to EXPLORE, snacks to ENJOY and other ways to LEARN about a specific topic! To read more about the concepts behind my UNIT STUDIES, read this. If you find it handy to have a simplified printable of these suggestions, you can find one, along with several free printables, here in the FREE HURRICANES Unit Study Printable Pack.
Otherwise, read on for a more detailed version with links embedded!
{Note: The links are pink! Just think, “pink link” if you are wanting to follow a link to something.}
HURRICANES
INTRO: For a girl who was born and raised in sunny Southern California, weather was something we claimed to have the best of, and while it was lovely most days, turns out it’s actually kind of boring. But living in Central America for a year taught me that there was a whole lot more to weather than sunny skies and the dreaded May Gray that appeared over the ocean in the early mornings. Just a couple of months into my time in Belize, HURRICANE Keith hit the area and I learned how to prep for, hunker down during and clean up after a HURRICANE. Though this UNIT STUDY won’t prep your family for a HURRICANE, hopefully, it will give you enough info to at least give your kids a basic introduction to what some call the most violent storms on earth.
READ: Hurricanes by Gail Gibbons A great place to begin any UNIT STUDY is with a book by Gail Gibbons. Her books are filled with well-documented factual information, presented in a kid-friendly way and accompanied by lovely illustrations. And her book about HURRICANES is no exception. My library’s online resource even had a video version of the book! And, there is a mini book companion pack ready to be printed in the FREE HURRICANES Unit Study Printable Pack.
Magic School Bus Inside a Hurricane by Joanna Cole is another great book to introduce HURRICANES. Done in MSB’s classic style filled with a group of fictitious kids, an extra-adventurous teacher and a magical school bus combined with loads of factual tidbits, it’s great for several ages and skill levels. Plus, there is a free one-page scavenger hunt found in the FREE HURRICANES Unit Study Printable Pack. {Note: the book is NOT necessary to find the answers to all of the questions. Most non-fiction books or Internet searches on HURRICANES would provide the info needed to complete the scavenger hunt.}
Hurricane by David Wiesner is a sweet fiction book about the experience of a HURRICANE. It’s actually a recollection from the author about how he and his brother turned a downed tree, caused by a HURRICANE, into a variety of imaginative adventures. It does somewhat downplay the impact of what a HURRICANE can do but it’s a great example, especially for little ones, to see how others experienced a storm without much damage. The FREE HURRICANES Unit Study Printable Pack includes a sequencing activity as well as a simple writing prompt based on the story.
What Was Hurricane Katrina by Robin Koontz Unlike the book mentioned above, this book does not downplay or sugarcoat what it’s like to experience a HURRICANE. Part of the very popular What Is/Who Is series, it’s written for kids aged 8-12 and shares a lot of first-hand knowledge about one of the deadliest storms to have hit the United States, HURRICANE Katrina.
Marvelous Cornelius by Phil Bildner is also about HURRICANE Katrina but is a fictitious tale based on a factual man who lived and worked in New Orleans, before, during and after Katrina struck in 2005. It’s less about the HURRICANE itself and more about the resilience of the people who dealt with the aftermath. It’s told in a folk-talesy fashion with exaggeration, alliteration and repetition. My library had it in stock. Hopefully, yours does too.
WRITE: As mentioned above, there is a simple writing activity included in the FREE HURRICANES Unit Study Printable Pack that could be used after reading Hurricane by David Wiesner , but it would be a great practice in imagination whether you read the book or not!
Included in the FREE HURRICANES Unit Study Printable Pack, you’ll also find a writing prompt that asks kids to work through the differences between a HURRICANE Watch and a HURRICANE Warning. Not only is it good practice in the art of finding differences, it could also prove to be handy to have that safety knowledge in the future.
LEARN: If you want an easy-to-use printable pack that teaches all about what causes HURRICANES, check out this resource from Hess UnAcademy. It’s not free but it’s fairly inexpensive and well worth the few bucks!
CREATE: This hands-on activity is a simple craft to cut out but can also be used to experiment with. And this HURRICANE in a jar is a fun visual to create for little ones. This edible HURRICANE dough is made with marshmallow fluff, powdered sugar and sprinkles, so it’s nothing but pure sugar but looks easy to make, fun to manipulate and nummy to nibble on. So, it’s part something to create but also a snack to enjoy.
ENJOY: This leads me to other fun HURRICANE-related snacks….which basically don’t exist. Pinterest has HURRICANE cookies, cake and popcorn posted but, none of them look like HURRICANES or seem to have a history based on HURRICANES {that I could find anyhow,} so I’m not really sold on their HURRICANEiness. I think what I would do, seriously, is use a HURRICANE shopping list and make an entire day’s worth of meals of food that people stock up with to prep for big storms and pending electricity outages.
EXPLORE: This 3-minute video from National Geographic provides a great intro to HURRICANES which gives an awesome explanation of what causes HURRICANES and what makes them dangerous. And this article from NASA does an excellent job at showing how HURRICANES form and also links to a short video.
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