Lesson Plan - 5 Big Questions About Extreme Weather

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Learning Objective

Students will understand how changes in Earth’s climate are affecting weather around the globe. 

Text Structure

Question and Answer

Content-Area Connections

Earth Science

Standards Correlations

CCSS: R.1, R.2, R.3, R.4, R.5, R.6, R.7, R.8, R.10, L.4, SL.1, W.1

NGSS: Earth and Human Activity 

NGSS: People, Places, and Environments

TEKS: Science 5.1, 6.1

1. Preparing to Read

Watch a Video: Let’s Talk About Climate Change
Ask: Which kinds of extreme weather may be occurring more often because of rising global temperatures? Which kinds may be getting more intense?

Let’s Talk About Climate Change
Watch a video about the causes and effects of climate change.

Preview Words to Know
Project the online vocabulary slideshow and introduce the Words to Know. 

  • drought
  • intensity


Set a Purpose for Reading
Point out the “As You Read” question, and have students identify ways experts think humans are affecting the global climate. 

2. Close-Reading Questions

1. Why does the author mention the 2021 heat wave in the Pacific Northwest?
The author mentions the heat wave as an example of a destructive weather event that scientists believe is linked to climate change.
R.6 Author’s Craft 

2. According to most climate scientists, how are humans contributing to Earth’s current warming trend?
Most scientists say humans contribute to the warming trend when they burn fossil fuels to create electricity or to power cars and planes
R.2 Key Details

3. What is the greenhouse effect?
The greenhouse effect is what happens when gases like carbon dioxide act as a blanket and trap some of the sun’s heat in Earth’s atmosphere.
R.3 Explaining Ideas

3. Skill Building

FEATURED SKILL: Text Features
Use the skill builder “Focus on Text Features” to have students analyze various text features in the article. 
R.7 Text Features

Differentiate & Extend

Multilingual Learners
Use the “What I Learned” skill builder to assess multilingual learners’ comprehension of the article. Look for it under the Teaching Resources tab online.  


Striving Readers
Have students read or listen to the lower-level version of the article (available here), noting key ideas and listing any vocabulary words that are new to them. 


Writing Extension
Have students respond to the following prompt: What are some simple things you can do to reduce the amount of electricity you use each day? 

Text-to-Speech