Home

Catalog

Freebies

How to Homeschool

Homeschool Directory

Contact Us

What's New

Site Map

Hurricane and Tornado

The Hurricane and Tornado MatchCard offers activities and information to compare tornadoes and hurricanes..

Homeschool Curriculum Download Arrow Hurricane and Tornado MatchCard

What's the Difference Between A Hurricane and Tornado?

Objective: Compare Tornadoes and Hurricanes.

Hurricanes and tornadoes are both exciting events and our interesting to study. This MatchCard presents basic facts about both, compares the differences between a tornado and hurricane, and suggests activities for hands-on study.

Hurricane Facts

Here are some interesting facts about hurricanes:

Winds are usually greater than 75 mph.
It begins over the sea with low air pressure.
The eye is 30 - 100 miles wide.
They occur on coastal areas.
They are also called typhoons
Hurricanes often cause floods
It dies when it reaches land.

Tornado Facts

Compare the hurricane facts with the tornado facts:

Trees and cars may be picked up and carried.
Tornadoes are most common in North America.
It usually begins and ends suddenly.
Winds are greater than 300 mph.
They often begin in a thunderstorm over land.
The eye is several yards wide..
Usually moves in a Southwest or Northeast direction.

Let's Make a Vortex

Whether you have a homemade or a commercially made pet tornado, there are fun ways to use them. Follow this link to discover

How to use a pet tornado
How to make one of your own
How the two substances interact to form the famous funnel

You can also follow the same link to make a vortex in two bottles. Follow this same link to discover

Connect the bottles yourself with tape
Purchase a connector
Learn what creates the vortex
Learn about centripetal forces

Using the Hurricane and Tornado MatchCard

This is Matchcard #6 of the Weather Unit Study. You can DOWNLOAD the Hurricanes and Tornados MatchCard HERE.

The 1st page is the students' worksheet. The student matches the descriptions with the boxes with diagrams of a tornado and hurricane.

The 2nd page is the Instructor's Guide with the correct answers.

The 3rd page has the Information Pieces. Student's cut them apart and place them in the correct place on their copy of the Matchcard (first page.)

For more information on how to use the Matchcards, see the MatchCard Science Instructor's Guide.

More information on this interactive unit study is below.

More Activities

Look on the internet for scenes of tornadoes and hurricanes
There are sites that track the latest storms. Some have video clips that demonstrate the action of the strong winds.

Watch A Documentary
Many full length documentaries have been filmed on these violent storms. They are fascinating to watch, give examples of how communities are impacted long-term, and are educational.

Write a journalistic account
Develop writing skills while studying a topic most students find intriguing. Have the student choose the type of storm that most appeals to him or her. Numerous Write On's can be used to describe, narrate, predict, or inform about hurricanes or tornados.

MatchCard Science

The activities and illustration above are from MatchCard Science, a homeschool science unit study. For the complete Weather Unit Study follow this link. This unit study provides:

hands-on demonstrations
MatchCard reviews to master the material
suggestions for science projects to complete
instructions on a complete unit study curriculum

Currently this curriculum is under-going revision. We are providing free access to the unit study, with the desire that you will provide feedback as you are field testing the materials.