Natures Fury Unit Guide

7
th
We are excited to begin a new unit entitled, Natures Fury. In this unit, we will be looking at
natural disasters and the impact they have had on our world. Specifically we will learn about hurricanes,
tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and tornadoes.

Some of the reading selections (inside your Expert 21 book) and their genres include-
Super Disasters of the 21
st
Century-Science article
Get Inside the Tornado- Interview
Earths Greatest Hits- Infographic
Storm in the Night- Novel excerpt
The Big Wave- Novel excerpt
Cartoonists Capture Natures Fury- Editorial Cartoon

Along with these shorter readings, we will split our class time and also be reading novels in small
groups. These novels also all deal with natural disasters. These titles include

Night of the Howling Dogs- By Graham Salisbury
Life as we Knew it- Susan Beth Pfeffer
The dead & the gone- Susan Beth Pfeffer
Trapped- Michael Northrop
The Killing Sea By Richard Lewis

Within your literature groups (where youre reading the novel), you will be expected to complete a
nightly literature task. You will begin each day with your groups by sharing your tasks before you read
that days selection. You will rotate the tasks so that you will do a different task each night of the week.
The tasks that you are expected to complete are
Selection Master- choose some passages that were significant and explain their importance.
Connector Make a connection from the story to our world (what does it remind you of?).
Questioner- Have a few conversation starting questions you can ask the group.
Illustrator Draw a picture that represents the story and is significant to the plot.
Summarizer Write down a few sentences about what was read that day.


Literature Circle Nightly Task Rotation


Upon completion of the novel, your group will be responsible for presenting your book to the rest of
the class. There will be a rubric given to you to help guide you through that process and it will count as a
major test grade.
Along with the Expert 21 selections and our novels, there will be a couple other assignments (and
two tests) that will be included within this unit. One is a project you will complete with a partner where
you evaluate a Case Study and determine when or if people should evacuate a city due to the coming
hurricane. Another project will be an essay relating to natural disasters. There will be more information
and rubrics to follow on these assignments later.
Your first grade for this unit will be a free 100 if you sign this unit guide committing to give full effort
on this unit and ask your parents to sign so I know they are aware of what were doing in class.
Parent Signature ___________________________________________
Student Signature __________________________________________




Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday
Selection Master
Connector
Questioner
Illustrator
Summarizer