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What standard(s) am I teaching?

What do I want students to know and understand?

What are my lesson objective(s)?

What do my students need before coming into this lesson?

How will I focus on rigor and relevance in this lesson?

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What am I going to use/not use?

What do I need to adjust?

What is my plan for implementation with the materials?

Are these materials and my instructional design meeting all students' needs?

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What instructional delivery method will I use?

How will I create opportunities for strategic productive struggle?

What teacher moves will I use (e.g., explicit teacher talk, modeling, providing support based on specific student struggles)?

How will I provide opportunities for cooperative learning in my lesson?

Where will students be leading the work?

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What resources am I using to teach the standard(s) and move students toward mastery of my lesson objective(s)?

What resources in my curriculum are useful here?

What is missing from my curriculum resources?

Where can I find resources to support the curriculum I already have?

Where can I make connections to other subject areas and find the resources to do so?

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What do I have?

What is missing?

How am I supporting diverse student needs?

How will I provide multiple access points for equitable student engagement?

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Driving Question:  How can we better prepare for extreme weather, such as floods?

Students have been researching/collecting data on weather for two weeks.  Students have been learning about different types of weather through teacher read alouds and independent reading on Epic.  Students have been collecting our local weather data daily, and graphing the results.  In this STEM lesson, students will be looking at one type of weather in particular: flooding.  They will be designing a flood barrier (and/or a way to slow flooding) for a house.

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In our weather data collection, we have found that Jacksonville has relatively mild spring weather. However, we know that isn't always the case. In the fall, we have hurricane season and hurricanes can cause flooding in our city. We want to think of a way to avoid or slow the flooding for houses near the water.

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Flood Barrier STEM - Oh no! The weather forecast is for heavy flooding in the area. You need to build a flood barrier or flood resistant shelter to keep the family safe! This STEM challenge is designed to encourage creative problem solving. Students must design a shelter with the available supplies that is resistant to flooding while sticking to a budget. The shelter will be tested with water in a pan to see if the design was effective as a flood barrier. This STEM is perfect for areas affected by hurricanes or flooding. This challenge meets NGSS Standards.

Please check the preview to see everything that is included!

You will get:

"The Problem" slide to display and discuss with students (or print)

"The Challenge" slide to display and discuss with students (or print)

"Let's Talk About It: Flooding" slide to discuss facts about flooding and some of the human impact of this natural disaster

Suggested Plan of Implementation

NGSS Standards covered

Two choices of a plan page to write the building plan or illustrate

House printables (color version)

House printables (black and white version)

Budget page

Teacher supply list

Parent letter to request supplies

Budget Spending Sheet (2 versions for differentiation)

Self-Evaluation

Thank you for shopping with Classroom Base Camp!

You may also enjoy these STEM challenges:
STEM Bundle: Weather Hazards Weather Hazard STEM: High Wind Igloo Building STEM STEM Mega Bundle - A Growing Bundle for the Year
Check them out!

STEM, STEAM, Weather Hazard STEM, Natural Disaster, Flood barrier stem, flood resistant, stem challenge, stem task, science centers, makerspace, GATE, NGSS standards, creative thinking, Hurricane STEM

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Flood Barrier STEM - Oh no! The weather forecast is for heavy flooding in the area. You need to build a flood barrier or flood resistant shelter to keep the family safe! This STEM challenge is designed to encourage creative problem solving. Students must design a shelter with the available supp...

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Background Info: Weather Books - Flooding

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Background Info: Weather Books - Flooding

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instant access to thousands of great kids books.

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Instantly access Flood plus over 40,000 of the best books & videos for kids.

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Students can learn about weather in different areas, different types of weather conditions, and weather forecasting.

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National and Local Weather Radar, Daily Forecast, Hurricane and information from The Weather Channel and weather.com

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The Weather Channel and weather.com provide a national and local weather forecast for cities, as well as weather radar, report and hurricane coverage

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What’s the Weather? Data Collection and Graphing

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Laminate or stick these sheets into sheet protectors and have your students keep track of the weather each day! Note: The “weather patterns” sheet has two variations, one with a temperature recording and one without. ...

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Release & Return: Explore/Student Inquiry

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Release & Return: Explore/Student Inquiry

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Students will learn about weather through Generation Genius, and explore on their own through Epic.  We will collect data about our current weather conditions.  We will learn more about weather as a whole group from weather.com.  We will view a video on flooding.  We will read a book about flooding.  My dad's house flooded in Sturbridge, MA when he was a child.  I could have him as a guest speaker, or play a youtube interview I have with him discussing the flood.  *Need to find my youtube video

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Students will work independently to sketch a design for their house. They will share their plan with a peer for feedback.

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Students will partner with a peer to create a prototype of their design and share materials (cardboard, waterbottles, paper, toilet paper rolls, foam balls, straws, popsicle sticks, etc).  Students will color a house of their choosing to attach their prototype to.

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Students will test their design by filling a tub with water with their house in the middle. Then they will assess any changes that need to be made.

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We will have a class discussion reflecting on what worked and what didn't, and how all students could improve their prototypes in the future.

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-We just finished a unit on the Earth/Space, and the sun.  We briefly covered how the sun affects the weather, but we could have dived a little deeper.

-Books on Epic reach most learners because some are to be read independently (at various levels), some will read to the students, and some are available in Spanish.  My Persian speaking students are not being reached.

-Lack of materials. Students will be working with as many materials as I can come up with personally, or get donated by parents, but I expect we will be lacking in some ways, and that will be a barrier to the project.

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Why Do Floods Happen? | Weather Science | SciShow Kids

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*from TPT resource "Weather Hazard STEM: Flooding"

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*from TPT resource "Weather Hazard STEM: Flooding"

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-Depending on the amount of certain materials collected (I will be collecting some myself, but also asking coworkers and families to send in materials), there may be limits on certain materials like you'd see in a grocery store.  These materials will have a sign that says "limit 2" or something, so students are aware.

-Students will also be asked to stick within a budget of $100. Materials will be priced accordingly.

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-I added a specific driving question.

-I specified Design Constraints in a category under "Categorization".

-I will begin collecting materials well before the start of the lesson.  I will collect at home, as well as ask coworkers and families to collect.  The materials will be set up like a storefront in the classroom with prices and limits if needed.  Students will not receive any actual "money", but will be expected to track their spending on an expense sheet, not exceeding $100.

-Find or create student expense sheet!