Lesson Plan - Hunting Hurricanes

Watch a Video: What You Need to Know About Hurricanes

Ask: Which fact about hurricanes do you find most surprising or interesting? Why?

Preview Words to Know

Project the online vocabulary slideshow and introduce the Words to Know.

• meteorologists 
• intensity

Set a Purpose for Reading

Read the “As You Read” question. Have students note how hurricane hunters help keep people safe.

1. What contrast does the author draw between hurricane hunters and other pilots? The author notes that most pilots try to avoid dangerous weather. But for hurricane hunters, flying toward powerful storms is part of the job.

^{(RI.4.3 COMPARISON)}

2. Describe the steps hurricane hunters take to keep people safe. Hurricane hunters drop dropsondes into a storm to record temperature, wind speed and direction, and other data. They send the data to the National Hurricane Center, which uses it to predict a storm’s path and decide whether people must evacuate.

^{(RI.4.5 CHRONOLOGY)}

3. Why does the author call the work of Rebecca Waddington and her crew “demanding”? The missions are eight hours long, and they have many tasks to do. The flights are also bumpy.

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FEATURED SKILL: Text Features

Use the Skill Builder “Use Text Features” to have students evaluate how headings, photos, and other nonfiction text features can help them better understand the article.

^{(RI.4.7 TEXT FEATURES)}