Lee Ann Grimm-Reflection on Severe Weather

When I posted my first blog in October, I was mainly concerned about teaching my students about severe weather.  I didn't really know how familiar they were with different areas of weather and so I found a segment called "Extreme Weather 101" and I thought that is where I would start.   I started out with questions like:
1. How does weather work?
2. What is the difference between weather and climate?
3. How do models work?
4. What does adaptation mean?

                                                             What makes a tornado?


I also asked my students how extreme weather affects urban communities and how does the temperature change impact the severity of the weather.  I wanted to incorporate "tornadoes" into the weather unit because I felt the students would be interested in that and would be able to stay engaged.
Areas of interest for students generally include size, frequency, locations and causes of tornadoes.  
 

     Representation of a tornado

I used for example the Oklahoma tornado of May, 2013.  It was listed as the largest tornado in history as an EF5 with winds up to 295 mph.  It was 2.6 miles in width and 16.2 miles long.  It took approximately 40 minutes to kill at least 18 people.  The average tornado generally lasts 5-7 minutes long.

                                                              Oklahoma Tornado

Tornadoes are the most lethal wind related disasters in the world.  There are an average of 800 reported in the United States each year and the intensity of these tornadoes are the most severe in the world. One of the factors involved in this is that the United States is very large.   These tornadoes usually develop within intense thunderstorms classified as "Super Cell Thunderstorm.

                                                    Anatomy of a "Super cell"

Most of the tornadoes in the United States hit in the areas of Northern Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska(better known as Tornado Alley).  Tornadoes generally hit in late winter in the gulf coast states and in the Northwest during the months of March and April.

                                                             Patterns of tornadoes

I was just recently in the Toledo, Ohio area and 3 confirmed tornadoes hit the Perrysburg and Oregon areas, which are suberbs of Toledo.  On November 17th, 2013, tornadoes reaching 120-125 mph and 12 miles in length destroyed homes and businesses throughout that area

 I was staying in the Perrysburg area in Northwest Ohio and met a lady that had her home destroyed by these tornadoes.  She was home at the time and her husband was on his way home from work and she shared her thoughts and fears with me of what she went through as she was awaiting the destruction of her home.  I felt very saddened for her and her family.

 One of the many businesses(Circle K) that was destroyed when the tornadoes of November 17, 2013 hit in the Toledo, Ohio area and suberbs of.

As I reflect on my blogs that I have posted on Severe Weather and Tornadoes, I feel that I have learned a lot about blog posting and the importance of adding visuals and representations to my blogs. I know that blogging would be a great tool for my students to use in the classroom.  Blogging is a great way for students to communicate and collaborate with other classmates as they share their knowledge and feedback to others.  I thought that the part that I could share about the Ohio tornadoes was interesting because I actually was there to observe the damage and also I was lucky and unlucky enough to meet a lady that had lived through the disaster.  All of these things can contribute to a good blog. Students can share their own experiences through text or photos and also can contribute their feelings and opinions about others blog experiences. 

                                                                                                        

 

 

 

More about Tornadoes by Lee Ann Grimm

As I plan to teach my students about tornadoes, some of the essential questions asked might be:

1. What particular areas and regions are tornadoes attracted to?
2. What controls the intensity of a tornado?
3.  Is their a particular balance of elements that are necessary for such a large tornado to form?

Areas of interest for students usually include size, frequency, locations and causes.  I found two articles that I thought may answer some of these inquiries for students.

 My first article reports that with tornadoes being the most lethal wind-related disasters in the world, on an average, about 800 tornadoes are reported in the United States yearly.  Although tornadoes are no more frequent in North America than any other industrialized region in the middle latitude, the intensity of these storms is more severe.  Tornadoes usually develop within intense thunderstorms classified as "Super cell Thunderstorms."

Although all 50 states in the U.S. can be hit by tornadoes, the main regions that are impacted most are Northern Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska.  These regions are also known as "Tornado Alley."

 In North America, these atmospheric conditions develop in late winter in central gulf coast states, moving slowly northwest during the months of March and April.  May is the peak month for tornadoes in  the southern plains and the upper Midwest and Great Lakes region suffer mostly in the summer months.  In a 24 hour period, 60% of tornadoes hit between noon and sunset, 21% from sunset to midnight and 19% from midnight to noon.  Statistics show that tornadoes generally will only strike a North American city about every 250 years, with the exception of cities in Oklahoma. 

My second article talks more about the general patterns of tornadoes, some factors involved with tornadoes and why the United Stated is hardest hit by tornadoes. 

Tornadoes are defined as violent columns of rotating air that are usually visible, but not always.  Most tornadoes average 5-7 minutes long and are known to come in contact with the ground.  95% of tornadoes rotate counter clockwise because they move in the same general direction as the low pressure systems that spawn them.  As winds get pushed upwards in the "updraft", the prevailing direction rotation is counter clockwise.

Although hundreds of tornadoes affect the entire world, the largest number hit in the mid-west part of the United States, called "Tornado Alley."  Some factors in the United States  that make it a prime location are local geology, proximity to water and the movement of frontal systems. 

Five key reasons that the United States is hit hardest by tornadoes are:

1.  Central plains-perfect flat alleyway between the Rockies and the Appalachians creating a straight shot for cold polar air to clash with moist warm air.
2.  Other countries are shielded by mountains or geographic boundaries
3. The size of the United States if very large.
4.  Ocean front property
5.  Ocean currents are aimed at the East Coast.

I live in a town in Northwest Iowa and have fortunately never had to live through a tornado. Many towns that are within 30 miles of my hometown have been hit by tornadoes and extensive damage has impacted and destructed those communities.  I know most of these tornadoes hit between noon and sunset which statistics say that 60% of tornadoes do occur during this time.  All of these tornadoes included a thunderstorm before, during or after they occurred.  Now that I know more about location, frequency and causes of tornadoes, I really don't know as much about the sizes of tornadoes. My next inquiries include:
What is the average size of a tornado?
What does the climate and geographic location have to do with the size of tornadoes?
What regions have been impacted by the largest tornadoes?

Sources: 

 1. The Journal of Emergency Medicine. Volume 17. No. 1. p 67-73.1999.
      The Medical Impact of Tornadoes in North America 
      Jay J. Bohonos (M.D.) /David E. Hogan (D.O.)

2.  Weather About.com
      Tornadoes-How Tornadoes Form
      By Rachelle Oblack

3. Photos:
    en.wikipedia.org
    blog.al.com
     tornatrix.net
     johnenglander.net
     sodahead.com





 

Lee Ann Grimm and Oklahoma Tornado

Many tornadoes have swept through the United States in the last century, but one of the largest devastated El Reno, Oklahoma( located near Oklahoma City), on May 31, 2013.

The tornado was a top of the scale EF5 with winds reaching 295mph.  It measured 2.6 miles in width and 16.2 miles long which is recorded as the largest in history.  It took only a mere 40 minutes to kill at least 18 people.  The last record was 2.5 miles in width that hit Hal lam, Nebraska.

The tornado that hit El Reno was described as, "A huge funnel, made up of multiple smaller tornadoes rotating like horses around a merry-go- round."

Questions are being asked??????

What controls the intensity of a tornado?
Is there a particular balance of elements that are necessary for such a large tornado to form?
What particular areas and regions are tornadoes attracted to?  

Find out more in Lee Ann Grimm's next blog!!!!!!!

Sources: 

 1.  http://www.latimes.com
 2.  Photo-600x409-news.national geographic.com

Lee Ann Grimm and Tornadoes

Lee Ann Grimm and Extreme Weather

 Representation of a Tornado

I am wanting to teach a unit on extreme weather in my elementary classroom. At this point I do not know how many students are familiar with extreme weather and the effects that it has on them and the environment that they live in and so I thought that a great place to start would be with an "Extreme Weather 101."  I found a website by the Will Steger Foundation titled,"Extreme Weather 101."  The website included some great teaching and learning tools that I thought would be very helpful to my students and myself.

Many stories about tornadoes, flooding, snowstorms, and above and below normal temperatures have caught the nation's attention in the last decade.  The real questions are, "Is this climate change?", "Are specific weather events even linked to climate change?" and "How are instructors supposed to teach about this?"

Some of the questions that students are inquiring about include:
1. How does weather work?
2. What is the difference between weather and climate?
3. How do models work?
4.What does adaptation mean?

There are many supporting lessons for instructors to teach for various grade levels, for example, using graphs to chart climate data and also matching climate data to various locations. Another example is to have the students investigate the climate in El Nino and there are 5 activities for students using real data.

There are also various videos about extreme heat and how it is impacting urban communities and how we are adapting to temperature changes in the world. There are also pod casts that connect extreme weather to climate change and also the extreme weather in 2011.  There is a map of the United States that shows the different weather events from 1995-2011.  Supportive reading and websites are also listed for learning tools.

I thought that this website would give me and my students a great start on the extreme weather unit that I will be teaching

Source:  www.willsteger.foundation.org/climate-change-basics/extreme-weather-101

Teacher Collaboration

I found an article about teacher collaboration that I found interesting and helpful.

The first article that I found talks about what "new" teachers want from their colleagues.  One of the main ideas that most first year teachers talk about is "community.Community can include other general education teachers, special education teachers, any faculty within the school, parents, and people in the city or town.  Teachers can choose to use community as a benefit or they can choose to be isolated in their classroom and use their own ideas for instruction and close themselves off from any other people. 

The article talks about 5 ways to benefit from community

1. Sharing friendship and ideas - offer lesson plan ideas to each other and work on ideas together
2. Navigate curriculum together- experienced teachers can help new teachers with curriculum by guiding them through existing curriculum and give them ideas about instructional materials, and resources. Also sharing evaluation and assessment of students can help in choosing goals for those individuals
3. Discipline Together-be consistent with discipline from year to year.  Sharing individual student discipline needs with each other will help that student.
4. Observe and Reflect Together- As an experience teacher, make yourself available to the new teachers when they are seeking help.  By walking into the classroom and observing a problem, a new teacher can offer many ideas to a new teacher on ways of solving that problem. Later on then, reflect on the result. 
5. School Leaders' Role- school leaders can make sure that resources are offered to all teachers, whether it be technology, data or space.  Being able to have planning time together with other teachers is very important and school leaders can play a big part when planning for professional development.

Community building can be done in many places.  It doesn't just happen within the school setting.  Teachers can collaborate during a dinner or coffee or even at someone's home.  Some teachers may feel more comfortable with each other in a casual setting to discuss their needs and the needs of their students.

Wherever collaboration may take place, it is very important for teachers and their colleagues to take part in.  Learning from others and sharing ideas with others can make an  huge impact on your success as a teacher.