Forces
of Nature: Natural Disasters Portrayed in Art
Overview of Lesson
Students will investigate the destructive, natural force
of a tornado through the historical painting, Tornado Over
Kansas. They will also each write an illustrated letter based
on personal experience or from the point of view of one of
the characters in the artwork.
Objectives
- Students will communicate interpretations of an artwork
about forces of nature supported with compelling reasons.
- Students will interpret and evaluate artworks that exhibit
the power of natural forces, supporting their beliefs with
reasoned responses.
- Students will demonstrate an understanding of the purposes
and value of art, supported with compelling reasons.
- Students will demonstrate an understanding of how one
artist has chosen to depict the forces of nature in his
time and culture.
- Students will analyze and evaluate the impact of natural
disasters such as tornadoes, hurricanes, and earthquakes
on the environment and human activity.
Correlated State Standards
(see unit overview for text of TEKS)
Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills
(TEKS) Objectives, Art, 5th Grade
Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills
(TEKS) for Science, 5th Grade
Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills
(TEKS) for English Language Arts and Reading, 5th Grade
Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills
(TEKS) for Social Studies, 5th Grade
Materials and Resources
- (Available for check-out through The Grace Museum) Reproduction
of Tornado Over Kansas by John Steuart Curry
- Tornado over Kansas, available at http://www.artsednet.getty.edu/ArtsEdNet/../images/Ecology/Lankford/tornado.html
- Book, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by Frank Baum
(optional)
- Video of the movie The Wizard of Oz (optional)
- Video of the movie Twister (optional)
- Video of The Wrath of God: Tornadoes, Nature’s
Deadly Spirals, History Channel (optional)
- Video about local tornadoes (if available)
- Letter writing form for handout
- U.S. map
- file folders or manila envelopes for 8 1/2 x 11”
papers
- Blank overhead transparency or overhead of vocabulary
page
- Overhead transparency pen
- Tornadoes Can Make It Rain Crabs : Weird Facts About
the World's Worst Disasters : A Weird-But-True Book
(Strange World) by Melvin Berger, Gilda Berger, and Robert
Roper
Handouts to Copy
- Student Reading: Tornado over Kansas: A Painting by John
Steuart Curry
- Student Reading: The Science of Tornadoes
- Student Reading: Tornado Safety
- Student Reading: Excerpt from Frank Baum’s The
Wonderful Wizard of Oz
- Student Reading: Night of the Twister, poem by Jeffery
Boss
- Student Reading: Children will Always Remember that Night
- Write a Letter form
- Make a Tornado in a Bottle (optional activity)
Recommended Web Sites
- Federal Emergency Management Agency for Kids
An absolutely fabulous site with sections on 8 different
kinds of disasters, games, quizzes, challenges, and other
activities for kids.
http://www.fema.gov/kids/
- Through Hell and High Water: Disasters and the Human-Animal
Bond
An article about saving animals in disasters.
http://www.fema.gov/fema/equine.htm
- The artwork of John Brosio, contemporary painter of tornadoes.
http://www.johnbrosio.com/
- The Tornado Project Online
Great site with numerous links to tornado facts, stories,
oddities, myths, safety, and “other neat stuff.”
http://www.tornadoproject.com/
- National Weather Service: Tornadoes
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/tornado.htm
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