Teaching About Hurricanes in the Classroom 
Curious as to how classroom teachers might address the hot topic of hurricanes in the classroom, I turned to Megan McCollum, an 8th grade Earth Science teacher at McConnell MS in Gwinnett County. Megan wrote back not only with her own ideas, but those of her colleagues at her school. Here's what they had to say:
Megan: "Throughout my year, hurricanes usually fall in with our meteorology unit. However, when big hurricanes hit we just talk about what they are and why it's imperative that when it gets bad, people should evacuate (most damage is usually done by flying debris). I just like to talk about the current hurricanes and how this impacts them (i.e., Katrina and all the new students we are getting, etc.) In the past, during my meteorology unit I have an activity that allows students to track a fictional hurricane and then predict the remaining path and where they think it will strike land. I also have them compare hurricanes to tornadoes and talk about where each occur and why."
Dennis Turnham (8th grade science): "I track all the Atlantic hurricanes on a large wall map. (Starting at the very beginning of school.) I do a comparison activity of hurricanes to tornadoes that compares size, speed, frequency, etc. We discuss the top 10 deadliest hurricanes (U.S) of all time."
Linda Kuechenmeister (8th grade social studies): "Latitude and Longitude must be covered in all middle school social studies classrooms. By providing students with a typical hurricane plotting map which can be obtained from online or from most businesses along the coast that may be affected by a hurricane, students can practice plotting the global address. Class discussions allow for students to understanding the formation of tropical depressions to tropical storms, to hurricane status. Continued discussions as a storm approaches land and causes destruction allow students to focus on the aftermath of a storm and the governmental agencies that help with clean up and rebuilding. In the Georgia textbook, the students are provided with a chart that shows the wind strengths of hurricanes and tornadoes. The storms that turn away from land help the students understand how ocean currents affect movement in the ocean. Since 8th-grade deals with how the New World was established, students must understand how the explorers were able to travel from Europe to the New World and back to Europe when motors were not available."
Georgia Performance Standards (-- Show --)
Web Resources (-- Show --)