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Wickhambreaux Primary School
www.wickhambreaux-school.ik.org
Extreme Weather – “The Great Storm of 1987”
Aims
To compare and contrast the weather today with that experienced during the Great Storm of 1987 and understand how extreme weather conditions can affect the lives of people living in a region.
During the project the children will use ICT to:
- Research the features associated with different weather conditions
- Gather, store and present weather their work for other’s to view
Using ICT in and outside the classroom
Dataloggers and 2Calculate
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Recording daily changes in the weather
The children used data loggers to record the daily temperature. This information together with the rainfall and wind speed was added at the end of the week to the “weather database” stored on the classroom laptops. Using 2 Calculate the children then displayed this information on a labelled bar chart. The chart was then added to the weekly news report that was published by the children on “Making the News” for other schools to view. |
Digital Cameras and Camcorders
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“The weather in pictures”
Each day in November 2007 all the children took photographs of the weather outside the classroom. At the end of the week the class discussed and decided which ten photographs should be included in the weekly photograph album. The album was then uploaded and published on “Making the News” for others to view. |
| The children in groups used Digital Camcorders to film evidence of storm damage. Back in class they viewed each others videos and discussed how the Great Storm of 1987 had affected the lives of people living in the village. |
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MP3 files and Podcasting
Audacity - Using ICT to improve our writing
The children used Audacity to record their news reports about the “Great Storm” on the computer. Once recorded as MP3 files they played back their work to check punctuation and to ensure their reports clearly conveyed meaning to the reader. To save and listen to their own and others work the children were invited at the end of the project to bring their MP3 Players to school. |
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The children used good quality USB microphones attached laptops to record their interviews about the “Great Storm” with local residents. The sound files were then edited and reduced to short two minute MP3 files. Stored on the class laptops the children played back and used the information to help them plan and write their news reports about the event. |
To listen to a collection of their news reports visit the “Making the News Weather Watch” page.
http://kmi4schools.e2bn.net/segfl_weather_watch/
Useful web-sites
The children used the following websites to research and gather information:
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BBC Kent
www.bbc.co.uk/kent/weather/great_storm_1987/
The site provides video, audio, photographic and written evidence about how the “Great Storm” affected the lives of the 1.5 million people who lived in Kent and the South-East in 1987. |
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BBC “What is Weather” website
www.bbc.co.uk/schools/whatisweather/
The site contains activities and information for teachers and children on how to gather effective data and about the weather conditions experienced on different continents,
Sections on the site to visit include:
- About Weather
- Weather and People
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The Met Office – “The Great Storm of 1987”
www.metoffice.gov.uk/education/secondary/students/1987.html
The site contains written and pictorial information about how storms gather together with a range of teaching and learning resources for teachers and pupils.
View the sections on:
- The Storm Gathered
- How the Storm measured up?
- A hurricane or not?
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The Forestry Commission
www.forestry.gov.uk/thegreatstorm
The web-site contains written and pictorial information about “What happened” and “What the emergence services did afterwards.” |
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