View largerWeather hazards poster for 3rd grade
Describing weather-related natural hazards
1 page154 KB
Natural Hazards Worksheets
Learn weather-related hazards, match designs that reduce their impact, judge solutions with test data and design a shake-proof tower.
Download the natural hazards worksheets
Weather-related hazards
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View all 2 pagesWeather hazards matching worksheet for 3rd grade
Matching weather-related hazards to their descriptions
Answer key on page 2
2 pages257 KB
Designs that reduce damage
View all 2 pagesDesigns that reduce weather hazards matching
Matching design solutions to the weather-related hazards whose impact they reduce
Answer key on page 2
2 pages258 KB
View all 2 pagesDesigns that reduce weather hazards cut and paste
Matching design solutions to the weather-related hazards whose impact they reduce
Answer key on page 2
2 pages286 KB
View all 2 pagesNatural hazards reading Passage: living with floods
Reading about designs that reduce the impact of flooding and judging how well they work
Answer key on page 2
2 pages89 KB
View all 2 pagesFlood design test data worksheet
Comparing design solutions with test data to make a claim about which best reduces flood damage
Answer key on page 2
2 pages48 KB
Design challenge
View largerDesign Challenge: Earthquake-Safe tower
Defining a design problem with criteria and constraints and comparing solutions for a natural hazard
1 page31 KB
Words and review
View all 2 pagesNatural hazards vocabulary fill in the blank
Using the vocabulary of natural hazards and design solutions
Answer key on page 2
2 pages36 KB
View all 2 pagesNatural hazards quiz for 3rd grade
Reviewing weather-related hazards and designs that reduce their impact
Answer key on page 2
2 pages39 KB
Print at 100% (actual size) for the cleanest tracing lines.
About these natural hazards worksheets
Floods, hurricanes, tornadoes and blizzards are natural hazards: natural events that can harm people and property. People cannot stop them, but they can design ways to make them less harmful. That is the big idea of these 3rd grade pages.
Children learn the weather-related hazards, then match each to a design such as a levee, storm shutters or a safe room. They read about living with floods, compare test data from three model houses, and make a claim about which design works best. An earthquake tower challenge adds hands-on engineering.
Every page is black and white, prints on US Letter or A4, and every page with right answers has an answer key on page 2.
Standards
NGSS 3-ESS3-1Make a claim about the merit of a design solution that reduces the impacts of a weather-related hazard.NGSS 3-5-ETS1-2Generate and compare multiple possible solutions to a problem based on how well each is likely to meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.3.4Determine the meaning of general academic and domain-specific words and phrases in a text relevant to a grade 3 topic or subject area.
How to use them
- Start with the hazards poster. Ask which hazards happen where you live.
- Do the design matching page or its cut and paste twin, and talk about how each design works.
- Read Living With Floods, then try the flood test yourself with clay houses in a tub before reading the data page.
- Run the shake test tower challenge on a tray or a box lid and record what fails.
- Use the vocabulary and quiz pages to review.
Teaching tips
- The 3rd grade standard is about weather-related hazards. Earthquakes and volcanoes are natural hazards too, but they are not caused by weather.
- Every design has strengths and weaknesses. Ask children to name both when they make a claim.
- A claim needs evidence: “Stilts are best because that house had only 1 wet floor.”
- Keep the topic calm. Focus on how people stay safe and how engineers help.
- Link to local plans: does your school have tornado or fire drills?
Questions teachers and parents ask
What is a natural hazard?
A natural hazard is a natural event, such as a flood, hurricane, tornado, earthquake or wildfire, that can harm people or damage property.
What designs reduce the impact of weather hazards?
Levees and houses on stilts reduce flood damage, storm shutters protect windows from hurricane winds, safe rooms shelter people from tornadoes, lightning rods carry lightning safely into the ground and snow fences keep drifting snow off roads.
Is this topic scary for 3rd graders?
The pages focus on understanding hazards and on the clever ways people keep safe, not on disasters. The pictures are simple and calm.