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Come A Tide

Language: English

A girl provides a lighthearted account of her family’s adventure during the spring floods at her rural home. Floods are only one of the many types of severe weather described in this program. LeVar also talks about blizzards, tornadoes, hurricanes, hailstorms, and lightning. He takes the opportunity to interview meteorologists about tracking severe weather. An eyewitness account of Hurricane Hugo and the courageous people who weathered the storm is an added highlight.

Here are activities to do after watching this episode:

Make a Rain Gauge?

  • a plastic jar with straight, rather than curved, sides
  • a ruler
  • clear, sticky tape
  1. Tape the ruler to the outside of the jar with the one-inch mark at the bottom of the jar. Be sure to position the edge of the ruler even with the bottom of the inside of the jar.
  2. Put your rain gauge outdoors on a flat surface.
  3. After a rainfall, check your gauge to see how much rain fell. Compare your measurement with the amount reported on the news.

Daily Forecast

Even your youngest family members can be weather forecasters for the day. First, make a mini weather station by following these directions.

You will need:

  • quart-size milk or juice carton, cleaned
  • brass fastener
  • construction paper
  • drinking straws
  • scissors
  • glue tape
  1. Rinse out the carton and let it dry.
  2. Ask an adult to help cut a door in one side of the carton.
  3. Attach a brass fastener for a doorknob.
  4. Use construction paper to cover the carton, adding details to make it look like a weather station.
  5. Think about symbols that represent different kinds of weather: sun, cloud, wind, raindrop, snowflake. Cut out a shape for each and tape to a drinking straw.
  6. Poke a hole in the top of the weather station, large enough for the straw to fit through. Store the weather symbols inside the station.
  7. Place the station in a special place in your home.
  8. Each morning, listen for the weather forecast and have a family member choose the appropriate symbol to stick in the top of the station.


  

Thunder in a Can

To understand thunder, try this.
You will need:

  • an unopened can of soda

Listen as you open the can. Before the can is opened, the air inside is held under pressure. When you open the can, you release the pressure and the air expands and makes a noise. Expanding air in the atmosphere makes thunder rumble in the same way. The faster the air expands, the louder the sound. If two or more of you are opening soda cans, try opening one quickly and another slowly. Is there a difference in sound?

Mouthful of Lightning

Try this fun experiment to understand how lighting works:

You will need:

  • wintergreen life saver candies
  • a mirror
  • go into a dark room and wait until your eyes adjust to the darkness
  • Chew a few wintergreen Life Saver candies with your mouth open and see what happens as you look in a mirror.

As you crush the candies, sugar crystals rip apart, creating bits of candy that have electrical charges. The wintergreen oil helps you to see them. With lightning, the earth and thundercloud develop different electrical charges and electricity leaps between the two just as the candy did in your mouth.

Check out some of these books on your
next trip to the library:

  • Storms by Seymour Simon
  • Tornado Alert by Franklyn M. Branley
  • Weather by Rena K. Kirkpatrick

READING RAINBOW has a resource library that includes teacher guide materials as well as reading programs for use in the public libraries. You can download these resources from GPN at:
www.gpnresources.com

If you would like more information about READING RAINBOW or if you would like to learn more about other educational products please visit the GPN web site.

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