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Resources
- Collect a variety of fiction, nonfiction, and
reference print resources.
- Tornadoes Can Make It Rain Crabs : Weird Facts
About the World's Worst Disasters : A Weird-But-True Book
(Strange World) by Melvin Berger.
Wild Weather : Tornadoes! (Hello Reader, Level
4); Lorraine Jean Hopping,
1001 Questions Answered About Hurricanes, Tornadoes
and Other Natural Air Disasters
- by Barbara Tufty
Eye of the Storm : Inside the World's Deadliest
Hurricanes, Tornadoes, and Blizzards
- by Jeffrey P. Rosenfeld
Hurricanes & Tornadoes
- by Neil Morris
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- In the Eye of the Tornado
- by David Levithan
Into the Twister of Terror (Give Yourself
Goosebumps,
- by R. L. Stine
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- One Day in the Prairie
- by Jean Craighead Georg
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- One Lucky Girl
- by George Ella Lyons
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- Plains Outbreak Tornadoes : Killer
Twisters
- by Victoria Sherrow
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A center containing pictures of tornadoes and
destruction could be set up to establish a connection to
the book.
- The students can create a tornado in a bottle:
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/abr/teacher/tornado_bottle.html
or in a jar: http://www.crh.noaa.gov/abr/teacher/t
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Technology
Setup
Classroom Management and Activity
Guidelines
Classroom activities have been provided as part of this
thematic unit. A lesson overview has been provided for each
activity. For each lesson, you'll find a set of benchmarks,
a suggested timing of the lesson, specific pages connecting
the book to the activities, performance assessments, and
other activity ideas. Each activity page contains an
introduction, task, process and resources, project
guidelines, and a conclusion.
Activity
1: Setting the
Stage
- Overview: This activity
will help the students understand what life in Nebraska,
specifically Grand Island, is like. The students will
create a slide show of Nebraska, Grand Island, Nebraska's
wildlife and vegetation.
- Benchmarks
- Students read a wide range
of print and nonprint texts.
- understand that reading
is a way of gaining information about the
world
- Students apply a wide range
of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate and
appreciate texts.
- adjust speed of reading
to suit purpose and difficulty of the
material
- represent concrete
information as explicit mental pictures
- Students employ a wide range
of strategies as they write.
- communicate ideas through
the use of the writing process
- Students adjust their use of
spoken, written and visual language.
- use modern technological
resources employing a wide range of strategies to
gather, process and present information to a
variety of audiences
- Students conduct
research.
- use multiple
representations of information to find information
for research topics
- research, acquire and use
information from a diverse assortment of texts to
create new knowledge and understanding
- Students use a variety of
technological and informational resources
- use encyclopedias,
dictionaries and technology sources to gather
information fro research topics
- Timing: This activity
should be done before reading the book so the students
are familiar with the setting.
- Performance Assessments: The students will
create a slide show depicting life in Nebraska. Each
slide will include three or more facts about Grand
Island, wildlife or vegetation. Each student will need to
use at least three sources (nonfiction books,
encyclopedias, web sites...) to obtain factual
information. To view a grading rubric, click here:
Rubric
- Other Activity Ideas:
- Activity
2: Be
safe!
- Overview: This activity
allows the students to learn safety precautions in the
event of a tornado. They will be develping a brochure to
share their information with other elementary
students.
- Benchmarks
- Students read a wide range
of print and nonprint texts.
- understand that reading
is a way of gaining information about the
world
- Students apply a wide range
of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate and
appreciate texts.
- adjust speed of reading
to suit purpose and difficulty of the
material
- represent concrete
information as explicit mental pictures
- Students adjust their use of
spoken, written and visual language.
- use modern technological
resources employing a wide range of strategies to
gather, process and present information to a
variety of audiences
- write with an awareness
of an intended audience
- Students employ a wide range
of strategies as they write.
- communicate ideas through
the use of the writing process
- write with an awareness
of an intended purpose
- Students conduct
research.
- use multiple
representations of information to find information
for research topics
- research, acquire and use
information from a diverse assortment of texts to
create new knowledge and understanding
- Students use a variety of
technological and informational resources
- use encyclopedias,
dictionaries and technology sources to gather
information fro research topics
- Timing: This activity
can either be done before reading the book, or it can be
done early in the book (before the students begin the
chapter titled "9:00".
- Teacher Resources:
Collect a variety of brochures so your students can see
how informational pamphlets are constructed.
- Performance Assessments: The students will be
evaluated on the basis of the following yes/no questions:
Rubric
Activity
3: Journal Through Dan's
Night
- Overview: The students
will write journal entries after reading each chapter of
Night of the Twisters. The entries will be guided
responses based on questions for each chapter. The
students will be encouraged to use descriptive details,
emotions, sensory words and illustrations to convey their
thoughts. The journals will be shared with classmates,
teachers and other adults.
- Benchmarks
- Students employ a wide range
of strategies as they write and use different writing
process elements.
- communitcate ideas
clearly throught the writing process
- write with an awareness
of an intended purpose
- Students participate as
knowledgeable, reflective, creative, and critical
members of a variety of literary communities.
- interact with a diversity
of other readers and writers to build new knowledge
and understanding
- Students use spoken,
written, and visual language to accomplish their own
purposes
- connect written texts and
the visual media with his/her won
experiences
- Timing: Have the
students construct their journals before they begin
reading. After reading each chapter, the students will
need to write/illustrate a response.
- Teacher Resources:
Materials for contstructing journals. Access to computers
for the "Grand Island Independent" newspaper web
site.
- Performance Assessments:The entries will be
assessed by the student and other readers (classmates,
teachers, adults).
Activity
4: Figuratively
Speaking...
- Overview: The students
will identify figurative language that is used to make
the writing more descriptive in Night of the
Twisters.
- Benchmarks
- Students apply a wide
range of strategies to comprehend, interpret,
evaluate, and appreciate texts.
- Students apply knowledge
of language structure
- Timing: This activity
can occur while the students are reading the book or
after completing the story.
- Teacher Resources:
Figurative language occurs on the
following pages. This information can be shared with the
students if they are having trouble locating figurative
language on their own.
- p. 14
- p. 21
- p. 22
- p. 31
- p. 32
- p. 33
- p. 39
- p. 42
- p. 45
- p. 54
- p. 62
- p. 63
- p. 64
- p. 74
- p. 87
- p. 97
- Performance Assessments:
The teacher can assess whether individual students can
locate figurative language. The teacher will also be able
to assess the level of comprehension of figurative
language based on the illustrations drawn.
Conclusion
The individual pages of illustrated
sentences can be bound in a class book and can be shared
with other classes and families.
Developed by Robin
Olson
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