Lesson Plan: The Evil Swirling Darkness

Essential Questions

• How do communities come together after a tragedy? 
• What does it mean to be resilient?

Literature Connection

• Nonfiction: Extreme Weather: Surviving Tornadoes, Sandstorms, Hailstorms, Blizzards, Hurricanes, and More! (National Geographic Kids) by Thomas M. Kostigen
• Historical fiction: I Survived the Joplin Tornado, 2011 by Lauren Tarshis

Preview Text Features (15 minutes)

Guide students to locate the article. Preview the text features by asking the following questions:

• Read the article’s title and subtitle (the text beneath the title). What does the phrase “evil swirling darkness” refer to? It refers to the tornado that hit Joplin, Missouri, in 2011.
• Look at the map and read the caption above it. What does the map show? Sample answer: The map shows an area in the U.S. known as “Tornado Alley,” where the biggest tornadoes often hit. It also shows the location of Joplin, Missouri, the city that was hit by the tornado described in this article. In addition, the map shows the state capital of Missouri, Jefferson City.
• Look at the images of destroyed homes in Joplin. Based on the images, which part of a building do you think is safest to shelter in during a tornado? Sample answer: The images show the tops of buildings destroyed, so it’s probably safest to shelter in the basement if possible.

Preview Vocabulary (10 minutes)

• Point out the vocabulary box. Read the words (hazy, meteorologists, predict, columns, tragedy) aloud and discuss their definitions.
• Play the Vocabulary Slideshow.

Make a Plan for Reading 

Before students start to read, walk them through a reading plan:

• Set a purpose for reading by telling students that they will find text evidence in “The Evil Swirling Darkness” that supports important ideas about how tornadoes can wreak havoc on entire communities.
• Point out the Pause and Think boxes. Tell students they can check their understanding of what they’ve read by answering these questions.
• Point out the activity at the end of the story and tell students they will complete it after reading. Tell them to keep the Think About It! question at the bottom in mind as they read.
• Tell students that as they finish each section, they should think about how the text features on the page (e.g., photos, captions, and section headings) relate to what they’ve just read.

Guide students to read the article. Once they understand it well, discuss the following close-reading and critical-thinking questions.

Close-Reading Questions (15 minutes)

• Look at the section heading “Tornado Mysteries.” What “mysteries” do tornadoes present? (interpreting text) Tornadoes are difficult to predict. Meteorologists can’t tell which storms will produce killer tornadoes. Tornadoes are often hidden by clouds and come roaring out without warning.
• Reread the section “False Alarms.” Why weren’t the Satterlees too worried when they heard the first set of sirens ring out? (inference) Residents of Joplin heard alerts and tornado sirens often, yet a tornado hadn’t hit Joplin in almost 40 years. The Satterlees probably assumed it was a false alarm.
• Which details in the section “Like a Bomb” help you understand the force of the tornado? (key details) Details include: the tornado was three-quarters of a mile wide, the tornado’s winds hit Joplin “like a bomb,” buildings crumbled, houses caved in, and cars flew through the air.

Critical-Thinking Questions (10 minutes)

• Why do you think the author chose to write about the Satterlees, rather than writing about the tornado in general? How does reading about one family help you understand the Joplin tornado? (author’s purpose) By focusing on one family, the author can help you imagine how it felt to live through the tornado. The story feels more personal and meaningful when you’re reading about a family that was affected. Reading general information about a tornado wouldn’t hold people’s attention in the same way.
• What does the author mean when she says that Bennett knows he got the best gift ever? What does this line tell you about how he feels about the tornado today? (interpreting text) The tornado happened on Bennett’s birthday. The “best gift ever” was Bennett’s family being safe. This line tells us that Bennett is grateful that he and his family survived the disaster.

• Have students work in pairs to complete the Spotlight Skill Workout: Text Evidence activity. As a class, discuss students’ answers and the Think About It! question.
• Have students work independently to complete our Central Idea and Details Skill Builder, available in higher- and lower-level versions. (Click here to view all your Skill Builders for this article.)
• Writing prompt: Imagine that you are a journalist writing about the Joplin tornado the day after it happened. Using details from the story, describe what happened that day, what people did and how they felt, and what might come next for Joplin.