What’s in the News? Extreme Weather
Context For Learning:
What’s in the News?
Key Skill / Learning Outcome/
Assessment / Teaching Sequence / Questioning & Talk
I am able to develop an awareness of weather conditions around the world
I understand what a hurricane is and how it is formed using research skills
I can use labelled pictures and photographs to inform and explain to others what I know about extreme weather
I can understand the impact of a hurricane on humans and the environment
I can look at different points of view and present my findings through dramatic form with others
I ‘hot seat’ historical characters to understand how the weather affects people
My written work about what it might have been like to experience a hurricane or other form of extreme weather is lively and thoughtful
In my written work, I can recreate the atmosphere of the hurricane
In my writing, I use geographical knowledge to create believable characters and plots
I can recognise and explain weather symbols and patterns
I am able to develop an awareness of weather conditions around the world
I use graphs, tables and charts to record and interpret data about the weather
I can undertake independent investigation into weather conditions and represent my findings mathematically / ·  Chn record what I already know about weather around the world. What I already know about how weather is reported. What I already know about recent weather stories. What I want to find out.
·  Write definitions and use research skills to find examples of the impact of these conditions and identify the impact of these conditions on the environment.
·  Create a Hurricane Fact File on Publisher. MUST - Include a definition. Explain how a hurricane is formed. Include diagrams. Include photos and diagrams or pictures. SHOULD -Include examples and dates and places of hurricanes. COULD - Explore damage caused by hurricanes and explain how people are affected
Role play being in hurricane situation
Different stages with each person having different personality type. MUST
Stay in roles as your personality type. Use geographical knowledge to enable you to act realistically. SHOULD - Think about what you might hear/see. COULD -Show impact on humans and the environment through role play.
Generate questions in pairs
Discuss questions
Generate bank of questions
Hot seat characters about their experience
Journalistic writing about being in hurricane
Collect wow words and phrases that are used in weather reports.
Analyse weather reports from different media
Interpret data
Write weather reports
Use digi-blue to present weather forecasts for different places around the world / ·  We are going to look at some weather conditions and key vocabulary and produce definitions -
(Tropical storm, Hurricane, Tornado, Atmosphere
Thunder, Lightning, Global warming, Tsunami,
Torrential rain, Drought, Avalanche, Whirlwind, Flooding
Meteorologist, Forest fire, Ozone layer, Antarctic melt)
Identify where in the world the weather/global condition is more prevalent.
What is a hurricane? Use research skills to develop a further understanding of hurricanes. Model how to find more information using websites and books.
www.weatherwizkids.com/hurricane1.htm
Hurricane fact file – what could I include in a fact file about hurricanes?
Model how to write the fact file – give sentence openers to those who need them. Show how to use pictures and photos on your fact file. Recap how to use publisher.
Show images, audio and then video of hurricane experiences. Share ideas.
Share role plays and use digiblue cameras to record to enable chn to use as a stimuli for journalistic writing.
Which characters could we role play? Recap what we have seen/read/heard so far about our hurricane.
How can I use the role plays to help me write journalistic writing?
What questions could we ask the characters?
CT model being hot seated
See Literacy Planning
Read, hear and listen to weather reports. Discuss features and produce Success Criteria and generate checklist for
·  Print Weather reports
·  Radio Weather reports
·  TV News Weather reports
Model writing reports and explaining organisational and language features / ·  Q: What do we already know about weather and its impact on the environment?
·  Q: Are there any hurricanes predicted at the moment? Q: Did anyone have any questions they wanted to find out about hurricanes? e.g. What do they mean by a “storm surge”? How are names decided for hurricanes? When are the starting and finishing dates for the hurricane season? Where in the world are these likely to be and why?
·  Q: Have we been able to answer some of the questions we had about hurricanes? Have any other questions emerged? How can we find the answer to these questions? Did anyone find any other good websites about hurricanes?
·  Q: What do you think it would be like to experience being in a hurricane?
·  Q: How can what we have seen improve our role plays? Group talk
·  Q: How does the hurricane have an impact on humans and the environment?
Q: what does this symbol mean?
Q: how can we write successful weather reports?
Q: why is it important to know about the weather?