GeograFREE! Lesson on Hurricane Katrina

Welcome to this week’s newsletter where I share 3 Geography things with you.

As a thank you for being in my world I thought I would share another popular lesson from the GTB vault this week.

Below you will find links to all the resources needed to teach: 

“Why was hurricane Katrina the worst natural disaster in US history?”

Click for the lesson presentation

This lesson considers the impact of hurricane Katrina and begins with a key term matching activity to prepare students for the lesson.  This offers opportunity to recap learning on storm formation, Saffir-Simpson scale and characteristics of a hurricane. 

The independent task links to a video clip on Youtube called “When weather changed history - Katrina” and it lasts approximately 40 minutes.  The video compares the experience of the two coastal states on the Gulf of Mexico, Mississippi and Louisiana.

To help foster engagement with the video, there is a student worksheet with a series of questions that can be found here.  Alongside this worksheet, is a detailed answer sheet to ensure you have the specific information needed to encourage further discussion and understanding.  This can be found here.

The follow-up activities ask students to describe the track of the storm and consider whether the disaster was natural or human.  

A further study task is also provided perhaps for those students working at a higher level or to be used as a homework task, asking students to research hurricane Ida and consider whether lessons have been learnt.

This is one of many lessons available in the GTB vault.  This screenshot shows a list of what is currently in there, with lesson resources linked to Haiti earthquake,Chernobyl and the Happiness Index just added this past month.

PS - I love nothing more than supporting Geography teachers as we are a pretty awesome bunch.  So if you’re looking to keep teaching in a sustainable manner, explore my website and you’ll find…..

• The GTB Vault - Classroom-ready Q and A worksheets so you never need to feel guilty about showing a video in class again! New pick up and go lesson resources linked to relevant documentaries are added every month. PLUS brand new KS3 full units of work including population, rivers, economy and China are all provided as a a bonus when you join as a member.