Extreme Weather

As part of our nonfiction reading unit, fourth grade has been researching different types of extreme weather. Students were split into six groups, each group responsible for researching a different type of extreme weather. Within their groups, students decided who would research what parts and where they should start looking. Many groups settled on subtopics such as causes, effects, famous events, and safety. Each student was responsible for completing research for their specific subtopic. Students met with their teams on a daily basis to check in and make sure everyone was on track and to help one another keep moving forward with their research.

Once the research was completed it was time to decide how they would share their information with their classmates. The only requirement I gave to students was that they needed to use Seesaw to present their information. A number of groups first determined whether or not they wanted to show their faces in their presentation or if they wanted to use the voice over feature of Seesaw to record over a relevant picture. The beauty of using Seesaw for this final piece is that it gave students the freedom to create different final products. Using this application also allowed some of my more timid students to record their information via video instead of having to get in front of the class and speak.

As we move into the final few weeks of our unit, students will be investigating a different type of extreme weather and look for similarities and differences between their new type of weather and their previous type. I can’t wait to see what students end up with in terms of final products during our second round!

Below is one of the first round presentations from our class.