This document outlines a 4-day thematic unit for 4th grade students about natural disasters. Each day focuses on different types of natural disasters: Day 1 is about tornadoes, Day 2 is about hurricanes, Day 3 covers earthquakes, volcanoes, and tsunamis, and Day 4 focuses specifically on tsunamis. For each day, the teacher provides the essential question, objectives, activities and assignments. Activities include reading, videos, experiments, discussions, and writing prompts. The goal is for students to understand how and why different natural disasters occur.

1. Natural Disasters
By Stacy Cox
October 1, 2014

2. Thematic Unit for 4th grade- Learning about the different types of natural disasters and how they
are formed.
Day 1 Question: How are tornadoes formed and why are some places more likely to have
tornadoes than others?
Objective: Students will learn what tornadoes are and how they are formed. Students will
be able to list several features of tornadoes and explain what the Fujita Scale is.
Activity:
 Students will read the fictional story Pecos Bill Rides a Tornado by Jan Mader to form an
opinion about tornadoes.
 Using the handouts for the story, the students will use two graphic organizers to visualize
what was happening in the story to see what they visualized, and how to determine what
reality versus fantasy was.
 After that discussion, students will read a book on Storm Chasers.
 The teacher will go over a tornado PowerPoint
 YouTube has several short videos that the students should see to get a better
understanding of tornadoes
o http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmWh9jV_1ac How does a tornado form?
o http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-UPAcKNvII Types of tornadoes
o http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gieSbj2svwY The Fujita Scale
o http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeyou7BL_0g Tornadoes in action
o http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TElzJ3Tu3rM Tornado Alley
 The class will complete the Storm Chasers Main Idea and Details worksheet.

3.  Students will complete a cause and effect worksheet on the tornadoes
 Tornado in a bottle will be their in-class project and they will construct one and write
their observations on the worksheet.
 The journal writing assignment for this unit is to write a couple paragraphs about what
they learned. Writing prompt: Why do you think Tornado Alley has so many tornadoes?
How would you feel if you lived there? Also, include a drawing of what a tornado might
look like (there are several different types to choose from) if it touched down here.
(Rubric included)
Day 2 Question: What are hurricanes and how are they formed? Why are certain areas more
likely to get hurricanes than others?
Objective: Students will learn what causes hurricanes, why some places are more likely to
have one occur, and how they are classified. Students will understand the complete
devastation using Hurricane Sandy as an example.
Activity:
 Students will read Hurricanes by Shaun Taylor and discuss as a class.
 Students will discuss and complete the series of Hurricane Sandy worksheets.
o Diagram of a Fully Formed Hurricane (Can color)
o How a Hurricane Develops
o Common Paths of Hurricanes (Can color)
o Do You Know How Hurricanes are Classified?
o Historic Storms
o Compute Sandy’s Average Rate of Speed

4. o New Jersey Pier
o Where Hurricanes Form (Coloring page)
 Using a globe- show where hurricanes usually happen
o Chart of Hurricane Names
 Students will watch a YouTube video about Hurricane Sandy as it happened.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeaG1jRLIBw
 Students will take what they learned and fill in the Cause and Effect worksheet
 Journal writing: Students will write about Hurricanes using this prompt: why do
people sometimes choose to ignore warnings, despite of the risks? (Rubric Included)
 Students will complete the vocabulary worksheet
 Afterward, students will be doing an experiment by making Hurricanes in a bottle
(Similar, yet different than the tornado experiment). Students will write their
observations and the summary of what they learned. (Rubric included- they must
include their journal notes, the materials they used, how they did the experiment, and
the summary of their findings).
Day 3 Question: What are earthquakes, volcanoes, and tsunamis and what do they have in
common?
Objective: Students will learn what causes earthquakes and volcanoes. Using their prior
knowledge of tsunamis, students will learn what all three things have in common and why they
might occur. The class will understand the Richter Scale.

5. Activity:
 Start a diagram “What I know, What I want to know, What I learned” (Before, during,
and after reading)
 Students will read Earthquakes, Volcanoes, and Tsunamis by Elizabeth Austin.
 The class will discuss and complete the following worksheets:
o What is an Earthquake vocabulary sheet
o What Causes Earthquake diagram sheet
o Earthquakes- The Top 20 States word scramble
o Earthquake in Haiti, January 12, 2010 (Discussion)
o The Richter Scale (Discussion)
 The class will split up into four literacy centers based on these topics from the book.
 Students will do their own Earthquake in Jell-O experiment. The must build a house out
of toothpicks and marshmallows and stick them in Jell-O. Shaking the pan simulates and
Earthquake.
 After the experiment students will write an experiment observation documenting their
findings. Students must write what they observed. What could they do differently next
time with their structure to help them be more stable? How did their “earthquake” affect
their house? What else did they learn? (Rubric included)
Day 4 Question: What are Tsunamis? Why are they considered a deadly natural disaster?
Objective: Students will learn what tsunamis are and why they occur. They will understand why
some places get them and others do not.

6. Activity:
 Students will read Tsunamis by Shaun Taylor and discuss as a class
 Use a globe to illustrate where tsunamis happen.
 Students will watch a couple YouTube videos about tsunamis
o http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5fKvN-RwKs- Indian Ocean Tsunami
o http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPQ5iTcnXW0- Japan Tsunami
 Students will complete a cause and effect worksheet.
 The class will complete a glossary worksheet using vocabulary from the Tsunami book.
They will write a synonym and antonym for the word and use it in a sentence.
 Students will help build a table top replica of port city being hit by a tsunami (Monster
Waves). They will be split into groups to build different parts of the city. Once they are
completed they will put it together and imagine how much devastation tsunamis can
cause.
 Journal writing: Students will complete a journal entry using this prompt: List three
things you should do if you are vacationing by the ocean and hear that there is a tsunami
approaching and why. (Rubric included)
 After lesson, students will do the tsunami in a bottle for their experiment and complete
their ‘what do I see?’ worksheet. Using the ‘what do I see’ worksheet, students will
complete another science experiment observation (rubric included).
Day 5 Question: What are volcanoes and why do they erupt?
Objective: Students will understand volcanoes: what they are, when they happen and where
they happen.

7. Activity:
 Students will read Volcanoes by Chuck Garafano.
 We will use a globe to point out where many of the most infamous volcanoes are
located.
 Students will watch YouTube videos about volcanoes
o http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEv3wzHAAj8 –Volcano chaser
o http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VfsKoH-ScA – Eruption in Hawaii
 Students will write the Main Idea, Details, and Summary on a worksheet after reading
about “Shield Volcanoes”.
 Students will be given play dough and the Plate Tectonic Cycle worksheet. They
have already learned the different types of volcanoes, now they must model them and
tell how each one varies compared to another type.
 Journal writing: Students will write about volcanoes in their Journals using this
prompt: Explain the term Ring of Fire. How do you think this term came to be used?
(Rubric included)
 The students will construct their own volcano for an experiment. After the
experiment students will be asked to write an observation using these prompts: What
did you learn by doing the experiment? What are some new facts you learned about
volcanoes? How did the experiment turn out? (Rubric included).

8. Fourth Grade Standards
We will be covering the following:
Life Sciences
Ecosystems can change rapidly (e.g., volcanoes, earthquakes, or fire) or very slowly (e.g.,
climate change).
Physical Sciences
Physical properties of water and wind change and can be seen in weather changes.
Earth and Space Sciences
Wind, temperature and precipitation can be used to document short-term weather changes that
are observable.
Language Arts
RL.4.1
Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when
drawing inferences from the text.
Social Studies
9. Spatial thinking examines the relationships among people, places and environments by
mapping and graphing geographic data.

9. Accommodations
 Students will be split up into reading groups by mixed reading levels.
 Each story that is read for class will have multiple levels that range from 2nd grade to 7th
grade.
 Students will be able to share their journal writings with a partner for editing so they can
better improve their thoughts and writing.
 Students will use partners during their experiments to see if both of theirs came out the
same way. They will decide together if they observed the same things.
 Computer programs will be available for students who struggle that will explain the
disasters better. They can even do interactive experiments if they didn’t learn from the
hands-on experiment.
 The literacy center groups will have a mixed level of readers working together.

10. Materials List
Computer:
Tornado PowerPoint-
(https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2Bnw0IsS5TrbXdyWXlJYUdidEU/edit?usp=sharing)
Access to YouTube
Globe
Journal Notebooks
Glass jar with lid
Water
Dish soap
Empty 20 oz. soda bottles
Paper clips
Peanuts
Sand
Funnel
Water
Duct tape
2 lt. empty bottles
Fish tank gravel
Water
20 oz. empty soda bottles

11. Tooth picks
Miniature marshmallows
Jell-O set in small pans
Styrofoam cups
Food coloring
Baking soda
Vinegar

12. Natural Disaster Unit Book List
Level O- Pecos Bill Rides a Tornado
Level R- Storm Chasers
Level W- Hurricanes
Level S- Tsunamis
Level Q-T-W -Earthquakes, Volcanoes, and Tsunamis
Level S-V-Z - Volcanoes

13. Literacy Centers
The first literacy center will be vocabulary words. They will partner up and play a game
called the “Off- Limits” vocabulary game. One student will read the bulleted words one at a
time until the other student is able to successfully figure out what the vocabulary word is. The
partner with the most cards in their pile in the end wins!
The second literacy center is for spelling. Here they will play another game called “The
Football Challenge”. The game starts when two players are on the opposite sides of the field.
Each person will have a partner that will read them their spelling words. When a player correctly
spells a spelling word they move their football 10 yards. The first person to cross into the end
zone wins!
The third station will be a reading literacy station. Here the students will take turns
rereading the story Earthquakes, Volcanoes, and Tsunamis with their group. Then they will work
together using details from the story to compare and contrast these natural disasters. They will
write their responses on their Venn diagram worksheet.
The fourth station will be the writing literacy station. The students will use the story
Earthquakes, Volcanoes, and Tsunamis and make a Top Ten List of important facts they learned.
After creating their list, they must choose two of the activities on the list. They will share with
their group if there is time left.