LESSON PLAN

Amanda Nicol
Title of Lesson: Reducing the Impact of Natural Disasters
Grade: 4th

STANDARDS
4-ESS3-2. Generate and compare multiple solutions to reduce the impacts of natural Earth
processes on humans.
4.W.7 Conduct short research projects that build knowledge through investigation of different
aspects of a topic."

LESSON SUMMARY/OVERVIEW
Students will be split into four groups. Each group will be given a natural disaster flooding, earthquakes, hurricanes,
or wildfires. Each group will have an article or short story about a particular event where their assigned natural
disaster occurred. Students will brainstorm and come up with ideas of how the impacts of these natural disasters
could have been prevented. Students will then research what preventative measures are out there and decide as a
group if these methods are effective or if more needs to be done. Students will put together a short presentation and
report their findings to the class.

OBJECTIVES
Students will be able to develop and compare multiple solutions to reduce the impacts of natural disasters
on humans.
Students will be able to conduct a short research project to identify the measures that exist to prevent the
impacts of certain natural disasters.

ASSESSMENT/EVALUATION
Students will give a presentation on the solutions they came up with to decrease the impact of their assigned natural
disaster. They will state in their presentation how their solutions were similar to the ones they found in their
research. They will also state based on their research if the solutions they found were effective or if they felt there
was a better solution and what this solution could possibly be.
PREREQUISITE KNOWLEDGE
What will students need to know prior to completing this lesson and how will you access their prior
knowledge?
Prior to completing this lesson students will have to know what a hurricane, earthquake, wildfire, and flash
floods are. They will also have to know what causes these natural disasters. To access this prior knowledge
at the beginning of class a quick review can be done. The teacher will ask students what is and what causes
a hurricane, earthquake, wildfire, and flood. Students will pull out their charts they made on day 1 if they
need help answering these questions.

MATERIALS
Computer
Poster board
The book Surviving the San Francisco Earthquake of 1906
Pencil
Notebook
Venn diagram paper
7 copies of the article Californias gigantic King wildfire keeps growing amid warnings of extreme fire
behavior
7 copies of the article Arizona flash floods leave freeways closed, drivers stranded
7 copies of the article Hurricane Katrina: Facts, Damage & Aftermath

Guided Reading Worksheet

VOCABULARY/KEY WORDS
Please note all definitions come from Merriam-Webster dictionary.
Hurricane- A tropical cyclone with winds of 74 miles per hour or greater, that is usually accompanied by
rain, thunder, and lightening.
Wildfire- a fire in a wild area that is not controlled and that can burn a large area very quickly
Flash floods- a local flood of short duration generally resulting from very heavy rainfall in the immediate
vicinity.
Earthquake- a shaking of part of the earths surface that often causes great damage

TEACHING PROCEDURES
1) Explain to the class that they will be divided into groups and will be given a natural disaster. Each group
will read an article about their natural disaster.
2) Students will count off by four. Group 1 will be assigned earthquakes. Group 2 will be in charge of forest
fires. Group 3 will be assigned flash floods. Group 4 will be over hurricanes.
3) Groups will read their assigned article or short book. Group 1will read a short picture book called Surviving
the San Francisco Earthquake of 1906. Group 2 will read an article about forest fires in CA. Specifically
the Kings fire that occurred this year. The article can be found
at http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2014/09/23/californias-gigantic-king-wildfirekeeps-growing-amid-warnings-of-extreme-fire-behavior/. Group 3 will read an article about flash flooding
in Arizona. The article can be found at this link:http://www.cbsnews.com/news/arizona-flash-floods-leavefreeways-closed-drivers-stranded/. Group 4 will read an article about Hurricane Katrina which can be
found at http://www.livescience.com/22522-hurricane-katrina-facts.html. The articles should be printed in
advanced for the students. Students will be given a worksheet to guide them in their reading.
4) After reading the articles students will talk in their groups and come up with three of their own solutions on
how to reduce the impact of their natural disaster. Each group will be given a prompt. Group 1 will be
asked, What can be done to reduce the amount of damage caused by earthquakes? Group 2 will be asked
How can wild fires be prevented? Group 3 will be asked What can people do to protect themselves from
flash floods? Group 4 will be asked What can be done to reduce the damage from hurricanes? Each
group will write down their solutions.
Some possible solutions students could come up with to reduce the amount of damage caused by
earthquakes could include creating stronger buildings, building big cities far away from fault lines, and
having people stay inside near interior walls during an earthquake. Some possible solutions for group 2
would be to not allow campfires if the forest is too dry or not leaving a campfire until it is completely
put out. Some possible solutions for group 3 would be to have people check the weather, have people
stay home during a rainstorm, and have people move to higher ground. Some possible solutions group
4 could create would be to board up windows and put sandbags down to prevent flooding at ones
house before the storm comes.
5) Each group will then research what is already being done to reduce the impact of their natural disaster.
6) Each group will use a Venn Diagram to write down and compare their solutions to the solutions they found
through research.
7) Students will discuss in their groups what solutions they think are more effective or if the current solutions
could be improved upon.
8) Each group will present their solutions they created, the solutions that already exist for their natural
disaster, and what they think about the solutions being implemented to the class.
RESOURCES
Berman, M. (2014, September 23). Californias gigantic King wildfire keeps growing amid warnings
of extreme fire behavior. Retrieved November 10, 2014, from

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2014/09/23/californias-gigantic-kingwildfire-keeps-growing-amid-warnings-of-extreme-fire-behavior/

CBS. (2014, September 8). Arizona flash floods leave freeways closed, drivers stranded. Retrieved
November 10, 2014, from http://www.cbsnews.com/news/arizona-flash-floods-leave-freewaysclosed-drivers-stranded/
Chippendale, L. (2001). The San Francisco Earthquake of 1906. Philadelphia: Chelsea House.
Earthquake. (n.d.). Retrieved December 8, 2014, from http://www.merriamwebster.com/dictionary/earthquake

Flash flood. (n.d.). Retrieved December 8, 2014, from http://www.merriamwebster.com/dictionary/flashflood

Hurricane. (n.d.). Retrieved December 8, 2014, from http://www.merriamwebster.com/dictionary/hurricane
Wildfire. (n.d.). Retrieved December 8, 2014, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wildfire

Zimmermann, K. (2012, August 20). Hurricane Katrina: Facts, Damage & Aftermath. Retrieved
November 10, 2014, from http://www.livescience.com/22522-hurricane-katrina-facts.html

WAYS OF THINKING CONNECTION

According to the video strategic thinking is being able to develop a strategy or a plan to achieve a particular
vision. This standard involves strategic thinking because students have to develop a plan on how to reduce the
impacts of Earths natural processes such as floods, hurricanes, fires, earthquakes, and so on. The vision is to reduce
the impact of these natural disasters.