Standards Correlations

R.1, R.2, R.3, R.4, R.6, R.7, W.2, SL.1, L.4, L.6

Learning Objective

Students will identify problems and solutions in a text about a teen who survived a deadly hurricane.

Key Skills

problem and solution, text features, vocabulary, cause and effect, interpreting text, key details,  inference, making a personal connection, informational writing

Complexity Factors

Purpose: The text describes how Phinn’s family escaped their flooded house during Hurricane Ian and how the experience changed Phinn.

 

Structure: The story is told from the first-person point of view, in mostly chronological order.

 

Language: The language is conversational.

 

Knowledge Demands: No prior knowledge is needed.

Levels

Lexile: 600L-700L 

Guided Reading Level: S 

DRA Level: 40

SEL Connection

This article and lesson promote relationship and responsible decision-making skills.

Lesson Plan: “I Survived Hurricane Ian”

Essential Questions

  • What role does weather play in our lives?
  • What are some benefits of living in a strong, close community?

Literature Connection

  • Novel: I Survived Hurricane Katrina, 2005 by Lauren Tarshis
  • Nonfiction: All About Hurricanes: Discovering Earth’s Wildest Storms by Cody Crane

1. Preparing to Read 

Preview Text Features (10 minutes)

Guide students to locate the article in the magazine or online. Then preview the text features by asking the following question:

  • Read the article’s title and subtitle (the text beneath the title). What do you know about Hurricane Ian? Why do you think Phinn wasn’t worried about it? How do you think surviving the storm changed him? Answers to the first question will vary. Phinn probably wasn’t worried about the storm because he didn’t realize how destructive it would be. The storm might have made him more cautious about future weather events.
  • Look at the photo of Phinn at the beginning of the article and read its caption. Where is Phinn standing in the photo? Phinn is standing in front of the R.V. that his family is staying in while their house gets rebuilt.

Preview Vocabulary (10 minutes)

  • Point out the vocabulary box. Read the terms (evacuate, stranded, seeping, adrenaline, recede) 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: Tell students that after reading, they’ll analyze a problem and its solution in the story. Point out the activity at the end of the story. 
  • Encourage students to pause at the end of each section so they can monitor their comprehension. Prompt them to take note of sentences they think tell them important ideas in each section, as well as any words or sentences they don’t understand.

2. Reading and Unpacking the Text

Read the article. (Higher- and lower-Lexile versions are available on the Story page at Action Digital. Click Presentation View to access an audio read-aloud.) Then discuss the following close-reading and critical-thinking questions.

Close-Reading Questions (15 minutes)

  • Why didn’t Phinn’s family evacuate when they heard Hurricane Ian was coming? (cause and effect) The family decided to stay after considering their options. They thought about where they would go, what they would have to bring with them, whether they would really be safer where they went, and the possibility of getting stranded in traffic. They had not evacuated during past storms, and that had always worked for them.
  • In the section “The Escape,” Phinn writes, “It felt like I was in a movie.” What does he mean? (interpreting text) Phinn means that the experience didn’t feel real. His family was rushing around grabbing things to take with them, the wind was shaking their house, and they couldn’t open their doors. It was very different from a normal day in his life. 
  • Who are Andrew and Rich? How did they help Phinn’s family? (key details) Andrew and Rich are Phinn’s neighbors. They showed up in a boat and rescued Phinn’s family from the water. Along with other neighbors, Phinn’s family stayed at Andrew’s house during the storm.

Critical-Thinking Questions (10 minutes)

  • Andrew and Rich risked their own safety when they took a boat out during the storm to rescue neighbors. What can you guess about their personalities based on their actions? (inference) You can guess that Andrew and Rich are brave and generous people with a strong sense of responsibility and community.
  • At the end of the article, Phinn says, “I remind myself that you have to be knocked down to get back up again.” He survived a life-threatening experience, but his message can apply to many other situations too. Can you think of a time when being “knocked down” showed you how strong you could be? Describe it. (making a personal connection) Answers will vary.

3. Skill Building and Writing

  • Assign students to work in small groups to complete the Spotlight Skill Workout: Problem and Solution activity.
  • Go further: Use our Sequence of Events Skill Builder, available in higher and lower level versions.  (Click here to view all your Skill Builders.)
  • Writing prompt: Think more about challenges you’ve faced in your life. What challenging experience has taught you the most? Write a paragraph describing the challenge, how you felt about it, how you handled it, and what it taught you.

Learn Anywhere Activity

An enrichment activity to extend the learning journey at home or in the classroom

Project the task below on your whiteboard or share it with students in your LMS.

Hurricanes can be incredibly destructive and dangerous. But why do they happen? To find out, watch our fascinating video “What You Need to Know About Hurricanes.” 

At the end of the video, the narrator challenges you to find another hurricane fact. Visit this Hurricane Facts page to learn more about hurricanes and find a fact that interests or surprises you. On a Google Slide or a sheet of paper:

  • Write the fact you found.
  • Add a sentence to explain why the fact interests or surprises you.
  • Add an image to illustrate the fact.

When you’re done, share your fact with the class. Your teacher can collect all the facts and help you make a slideshow about hurricanes!

Language-Acquisition Springboard

Summarizing

While reading the story, encourage multilingual learners to summarize as they go. At the end of each section, ask them to write one sentence that describes the most important idea or event in that section.

For students who need more support, have them choose from the two options given below for each section.

  • Opening section: Phinn lives in Florida./Phinn didn’t expect Hurricane Ian to be a big deal.
  • “A Hard Decision”:  Phinn’s family didn’t evacuate during the storm./Phinn likes to play cards with his family.
  • “The Escape”: The wind shook Phinn’s house./Phinn and his family left their house because it was filling with water. 
  • “How Is This Real?”: The family was rescued and went to a neighbor’s house./The family rode in a boat that hit a stop sign.
  • “We Survived”: Surviving the hurricane showed Phinn that he is strong./Phinn stayed with his cousin for a few weeks.

Looking for more ELL support? Download our full lesson plan and scroll to p. 5 to find questions that will help your ELLs respond to the text at the level that’s right for them.


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