Storms & Clouds

Text Set
Science SOL 4.6
Madison Lewis
 SCIENCE SOL 4.6

× 4.6 The student will investigate and understand how

weather conditions and phenomena occur and can be
predicted. Key concepts include
a) weather measurements and meteorological
tools (air pressure – barometer, wind speed –
anemometer, rainfall – rain gauge, and
temperature – thermometer); and
b) weather phenomena (fronts, clouds, and
storms).
 RATIONALE

× I created this text set as if I were teaching 4th grade in a school and
the given textbook was Science: A Closer Look, 4, which became my
anchor text for this text set. When I reviewed the textbook, I noticed
there were just 2 lessons within a chapter regarding weather, but I
knew that there was an entire SOL section dedicated to weather for
fourth graders. Knowing that the textbook provided nowhere near
enough information, I chose weather as my text set topic. Specifically,
I attempted to place emphasis on storms, meteorological tools, and
cloud formations, as those are heavily emphasized in the SOL. If I
were to use this text set in my classroom, I would hope that my
students would employ the use of their critical thinking skills while
reading to explore the questions of how weather impacts people and
how people respond to that.
ANCHOR TEXT
 Hackett, J. K. (2011). Science: A closer look,
4. New York, NY: Macmillan/McGraw Hill.

× The average Flesch-Kincaid readability for passages taken

from this textbook falls somewhere between late Fourth
Grade and early Fifth grade. Even though there is an entire
SOL section dedicated to weather, with an emphasis on
storms and clouds, there is not even a complete chapter
on weather in this textbook—only two sections of a
chapter. While Science: A Closer Look, 4 merely scratches
the surface of all I would want my students to walk away
understanding, the textbook serves as excellent
motivation for further research by my hypothetical
students.
ON-GRADE-LEVEL TEXTS
 Atwater, M., Baptiste, H. P., Daniel, L., Hackett, J. K., Moyer, R.,
Takemoto, C., & Wilson, N. (1995). Weather watch. New York, NY:
Macmillan/McGraw-Hill School Publishing Company.

× Weather Watch would be an excellent text to include at

the beginning of a unit on weather and storms in the
classroom. It is right on grade level—it’s Flesch-Kincaid
readability score comes in exactly at Fourth Grade.
Additionally, it is a “big book,” so it can be easily used on
an easel to support a shared reading lesson. Also helpful
when it comes to engaging readers/listeners is the fact
that the book’s genre is narrative nonfiction; it follows two
boys, Barney and Darrell, through the steps of learning
about weather. This book specifically provides detailed
information about cloud formations, which is especially
pertinent to the chosen SOL.
 Kirkpatrick, R. K. (1978). Look at weather.
Milwaukee, WI: Raintree Childrens Books.

× Kirkpatrick’s Look At Weather addresses certain

aspects of the chosen SOL at an on-target readability
level (Flesch-Kincaid Fourth Grade), making
independent research quite reasonable. The glossary
of key terms in the back of the book as well as the
detailed illustrations make it easy to follow. Several
meteorological tools, including thermometers, wind
machines, weather vanes, etc. are illustrated and
described, as are cloud formations and weather ships.
 Levine, S. & Johnstone, L. Wonderful weather.
(2003). New York, NY: Sterling Publishing
Company, Inc.
× Wonderful Weather’s Flesch-Kincaid readability level is
Fourth Grade, which is on-level. This book is full of
weather-related experiments kids can try on their own.
Realistically, kids won’t get to try all of these experiments
at school, though. One of the best reasons for including
this book in this text set, though, is that there is a section
at the end of each experiment called “What happened?”
Instead of leaving kids wondering why their experiments
panned out like they did, there are explicit explanations
that describe exactly what they saw. This helps with the
problem of not having the time or resources to perform
every single experiment; the students can still imagine
what happened.
 Osborne, W. & Osbourne, M. P. (2003). Twisters
and other terrible storms. New York, NY: Random
House.
× Twisters and Other Storms is the nonfiction companion
text to the fictional Magic Tree House book Twister on
Tuesday. Not only will this book engage Magic Tree House
fans, but it also will give readers a chance to delve deeper
specifically into clouds, as there is a whole chapter of this
book dedicated to them. Additionally, one of this text’s
most helpful features is that difficult vocabulary is defined
in the margins of the book right where the words are
found in context. This would make this Flesch-Kincaid
Fourth Grade readability level text accessible to some
struggling readers, as well.
BELOW GRADE LEVEL TEXTS
Sayre, A. P. (2015). Raindrops Roll. New
York, NY: Beach Lane Books.
× Raindrops Roll is a book that is written as a short poem at
a Flesch-Kincaid readability level of First Grade. While the
content does not specifically address any part of the
chosen SOL for this text set, it has been included in this list
for a few reasons. First of all, having a much-lower-level
text included is important so that significantly struggling
readers have an opportunity to dive into reading
throughout this unit just like their peers. Additionally, this
book would be an excellent theme-connected mentor text
for a writing activity about weather. They rhyme and
repetition of semantic structure can serve as an excellent
model for young writers.
 Cole, J. (1995). The magic school bus inside
a hurricane. New York, NY: Scholastic, Inc.

× The Magic School Bus Inside a Hurricane, like the rest of

the Magic School Bus series, is the perfect mixture of
fiction-meets-nonfiction. Inside a Hurricane will captivate
readers with a preference for fiction, and its Flesch-Kincaid
Second Grade readability level makes it more accessible
for struggling readers. Some of the most relevant features
in this book are actually found in the sidebars. Special
information is given regarding hurricane naming, projects
you can do at home to demonstrate on a smaller scale
what happens within a hurricane, and lots of examples of
meteorological instrument usage, especially thermometers
and anemometers.
Carona, P. B. (1974). Finding out about
weather. Westchester, IL: Benefic Press.
× Finding Out About Weather’s Flesch-Kincaid readability
level is Third Grade. Not all of this book is pertinent to the
goal of this text set, but there are still several reasons to
include it. One of those reasons is that the text is slightly
below-grade level, and the explanations of storms and
weather forecasting in particular are clear and easy-to-
understand. Another is that I believe it is beneficial for
struggling readers to get the same opportunities as
advanced readers to practice using nonfiction text features
to only glean information from pertinent sections of a
book. The explanations of anemometers, hygrometers,
and barometers are also better than those in any of the
rest of the books in this text set.
Bartlett, M. F. (1973). Where does all the rain go?.
New York, NY: Coward, McCann & Geoghegan,
Inc.
× During a unit on weather, at which time students are
discussing storms and cloud formations, it is likely that
someone will ask, “Where does all the rain go?” Bartlett’s
book addresses this question narratively by following a
little rubber-boots-and-slicker-clad child around outside as
he observes the water cycle. Where Does All the Rain Go?
can help start an excellent review of previously-learned
knowledge about the water cycle midway through the unit
on clouds and storms, or could serve as book for struggling
readers to use to extend their research on cloud
formation, since the book’s Flesch-Kincaid readability
score is Second Grade.
ABOVE GRADE LEVEL TEXTS
 Carson, M. K. (2019). The tornado scientist:
Seeing inside severe storms. New York, NY:
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
× The Tornado Scientist is a brand new book published for
the first time in 2019. It’s Flesch-Kincaid readability level is
Fifth Grade, meaning that it is slightly above my target
grade-level. This book is perfect for this text set because
there are lots of high-definition, modern, real-life
photographs of tornadoes, thunderstorms, and scientists.
Specifically, the storyline follows some female
scientists/storm chasers, which can be difficult to find.
While the book is nonfiction, its written in a dramatic,
captivating style and includes many first-person accounts
of both storm chasers’ and civilians’ encounters with
tornadoes.
Simon, S. (2007). Hurricanes. New York,
NY: HarperCollins Children’s Books
× Hurricanes, with its Sixth Grade Flesch-Kincaid readability
score, gives advanced readers an opportunity to delve
deeper into the scientific predicting and tracking of
hurricanes. There are multiple radar images in the book,
along with before, during, and after descriptions of
specific hurricanes that have struck places in the United
States, namely Galveston, TX and New Orleans, LA. There
is also a detailed explanation of the different categories of
hurricanes, with a picture next to each category to help
readers get a sense of the kind of damage each level of
storm is capable of inflicting.
Simon, S. (1989). Storms. New York, NY:
Morrow Junior Books.
× Seymour Simon’s book Storms may be a bit challenging for
most fourth graders; its Flesch-Kincaid readability level is
Eighth Grade. The reason for its high readability level is
like the number of Tier 3 words included in it. Otherwise,
it would likely not be much more difficult than Carson’s
The Tornado Scientist. The book includes information on
storm cells in general, but also touches specifically on
thunder, lightning, tornadoes, hurricanes, and hailstorms.
While its photographs are a bit outdate, there are some
excellent images of hailstones included that could spur
great classroom conversations/inquiry.
 Winchester, S. (2017). When the sky breaks:
Hurricanes, tornadoes, and the worst weather in
the world. New York, NY: Viking.
× Apart from the breathtaking photographs in Why the Sky
Breaks, one of the most intriguing aspects of this book is
that it offers insight into the way that thinking about and
forecasting storms on Earth has changed over time. This
book’s Flesch-Kincaid readability score is 9th grade. It is
definitely a little dense, but the writing is dramatic and
captivating. I imagine inviting a homogeneous group of my
stronger readers to look through this book to become
experts on how storms have affected places on Earth
outside of the United States and asking them to report
back to heterogeneous small groups about their findings.
The global aspect of this book is the best of many reasons
to include it in this text set.
NON-LINGUISTIC ITEMS
 Average Annual Number of Tornadoes Chart. Adapted from “Annual and
monthly tornado averages for each state (maps),” by I. Livingston, 2016, 06
April, U. S. TORNADOES. Retrieved from
https://www.ustornadoes.com/2016/04/06/annual-and-monthly-tornado-
averages-across-the-united-states/.

× This chart can help students take their thinking further

about storm safety by analyzing the safest places to live in
the United States if one was planning to move somewhere
they were less likely to encounter tornadoes. It can also
help spur their thinking about how people living in
different places might have to be more or less prepared for
storms. It can also get their critical thinking skills going if
the teacher asks them to consider why a place like Texas
might have so many more annual tornadoes than
somewhere like Vermont that is far away, but also than
Louisiana which is so close by.
Tangey, Chris. (2012, September 18). “Fire tornado” Australia HD -
clearest ever capture in nature. straya mate. [Video file].
Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsyvOYcWgcg

× This video is included in this text set for the purpose of

activating students’ gained knowledge of storms and
clouds throughout the unit and their critical thinking
skills. The video is of a “fire tornado,” sometimes
called a “fire whirl,” which is caused by the movement
of heat and air around a wildfire. An excellent activity
to pose with this video would be, “Tell me how you
know that fire tornadoes are or are not weather
events.”