Natural Disasters Day 1 & 2

8/22/2019 Natural Disasters Day 1 & 2

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Natural Disaster Unit

Day 1

Grade: 4th

Overview of Lesson: Today, students will be learning about 5 Natural Disasters. This lesson is an

overview of the week and incorporates some activities to activate prior knowledge.

Standards:

NV.4.4.3 Identify important information in text. RI.4.2 Determine the main idea of a text and explain how it is supported by key

details; summarize the text.

RI.4.4 - Determine the meaning of general academic and domain-specific words orphrases in a text relevant to a grade 4 topic or subject area.

Language Objectives:

Students will read the teacher-provided text on natural disasters and do the Know orNo activity.

Content Objectives:

SWBAT identify and compare the five natural disasters from the text. SWBAT defineterms related to natural disasters either using previous knowledge or a dictionary.

Materials:

Natural Disasters text Know or No worksheet

Pencils/paper Smart Board/Building Background PowerPoint


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Procedure:

1. TW begin lesson by telling students that we for the next week or so, we will be learningabout Natural Disasters. TW ask students to do a talking chips and discuss what they

know about Natural Disasters. SW have two minutes. After the two minutes, TW call on

volunteers to share.

2. Next, TW explain to the class that we will be covering 5 Natural Disasters floods, fires,earthquakes, tornados, and hurricanes. TW call on volunteers to share what they know

about these Natural Disasters. This will last roughly two minutes.

3. After discussions, TW will pass out a text on the 5 Natural Disasters. This text will givestudents a brief overview of each disaster in a way that is easy to understand. We will

read this together as a class.

4. Upon completion of the reading, TW hand out the Know or No worksheet. Studentswill be working on this worksheet individually. There will be 14 total words for this

exercise. This worksheet is to enhance the students vocabulary about Natural Disaster.

This activity should take fifteen minutes or so.

5. After the worksheet, we will be doing is going through a Building BackgroundPowerPoint (example of it will be attached). This is a teacher-made PowerPoint that

goes through each of the 14 words from the Know or No activity. If students were

confused about any of the vocabulary, this PPT will simplify it for them.

6. After the PPT, the final activity will be a think-pair-share. Students will pair up withanother classmate (someone NOT from their group), and discuss what they have

learned from today. Teacher will call on volunteers.

Modifications:

Teacher will give ELL students a handout with the words in alphabetical order anddefinitions already written out. ELLs may work with a trusted partner if they have any

troubles.


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Word list teacher will be using:

1. Disaster2. Fatality3. Environment4.

Cataclysmic5. Weather

6. Debris7. Richter Scale8. Flash Flood9. Tectonic Plate10.Gale11.Tremor12.Firebrand13.Epicenter14.Hazard


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Know or No

Dont Know

Meaning

Seen or

heard the

word, but

not sure ofmeaning

Know

something

about the

meaning

Know meaning

well and can

use the word

Meaning

Students will write the word in the most appropriate box. Then under Meaning, students

will define the word using a dictionary.


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Natural Disaster Unit

Day 2

Grade: 4th

Standards:

W.4.7 Conduct short research projects that build knowledge through investigation ofdifferent aspects of a topic.

W.4.6 - With some guidance and support from adults, use technology, including theInternet, to produce and publish writing as well as to interact and collaborate with

others; demonstrate sufficient command of keyboarding skills to type a minimum of one

page in a single sitting.

Language Objectives:

Students will write the response to teacher-generated questions on a piece of paper.They will also write about the other facts and explain why they found them interesting.

Content Objectives:

Students will be given five questions to answer about the natural disasters they havechosen and be asked to research as much as possible about their natural disaster.

Materials:

Summarizing PowerPoint Computers Internet Paper Pencils/Pens


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Procedure:

1. TW begin lesson by telling students to do a talking chips and discuss the things theylearned from yesterday. TW give students 3 minutes to share as much as they

remember. After the 3 minutes, TW call on volunteers to share.

2. Next, TW tell the class that for the next few days, students will be researching one of thefive natural disasters we have discussed (floods, fires, earthquakes, tornados,

hurricanes). TW hand out a 3x5 note card and have the students write their name along

with the Natural Disaster they have chosen to research. Once students have done this,

SW give the card back to the teacher.

3. Next, TW go through a PowerPoint on Summarizing. SW be summarizing theinformation they find when they go to the computer lab, so it is important they know

what summarizing is and how to do it.

4. After the Summarizing PPT, the class will be going to the computer lab. Here, SW beresearching the Natural Disaster they have chosen. The teacher will be giving the

students 5 questions they must answer. Along with the 5 questions, students must take

note of enough information to be able to write a one page summary on their findings.

5. Be sure to remind students to bring a notebook and writing utensil. Also, remindstudents not to just copy from the website. Encourage them to make bullet points.

Remind them this research is for their summarizing paper.

6. The teacher will be walking around the computer lab helping any students who arestruggling; in particular ELLs.

7. Students will be in the lab during the remainder of the time for this day.8. Before the days lesson concludes, TW give the students a ticket out the door. I will be

using this as a summative assessment. I want to see where my students are at with the

material weve covered so far and if we are moving too fast.


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Modifications:

Teacher will print out the PPT for any struggling readers so they can have a hard copy aswe go through it. ELLs will sit next to a trusted student in the computer lab. Teacher will

simplify the 5 questions for lower-level students.

Documents

Natural Disasters Day 1 & 2