Worksheet

Two Spinning Storms: Hurricanes and Tornadoes

Read an article comparing hurricanes and tornadoes and describe its structure: comparison, time order, and cause and effect.

Grade 4ELAInteractive · Printable

Aligned toRI.4.5

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Single worksheet
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1 Common Core standard
Printable answer key
10 questions
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Details

Format: Interactive · Printable
Grade: Grade 4
Subject: ELA
Question types: Fill in the blank, Multiple choice, Matching, Circle the answer, Sorting, Short answer

About this worksheet

What students practice

Students describe the overall comparison structure of an informational article.
Students identify time order and cause and effect in single paragraphs.
Students use signal words to tell how a part of a text is organized.

How to use

Have students read the article once for meaning, then again with a pencil to mark signal words. Review the four structures before they start the questions.

Curriculum

Common Core standard covered

RI.4.5

Describe the overall structure of a text or part of it, such as chronology, comparison, cause and effect, or problem and solution.

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Name Date

Two Spinning Storms: Hurricanes and Tornadoes

See how an author compares two kinds of storms.

Read the article

Read the article. Notice how the author puts the ideas together.

Two Spinning Storms

1Hurricanes and tornadoes are two of the most powerful storms on Earth. Both are made of strong winds that spin around and around. Both can knock down trees and damage buildings, so people pay close attention when either storm is on the way. However, these two storms are different in many important ways.

2The two storms begin in different places. A hurricane forms over warm ocean water. The warm water heats the air above it and gives the storm its energy. A tornado, on the other hand, usually forms over land. It reaches down from a very strong thunderstorm.

3The storms are also very different in size. A hurricane is huge. It can be hundreds of miles wide, and it often lasts for several days. Unlike a hurricane, most tornadoes are less than a mile wide. Most of them last only a few minutes before they fade away.

4A tornado forms in steps. First, a strong thunderstorm builds up in the sky. Next, winds inside the storm begin to spin. Then a spinning funnel cloud may reach down from the bottom of the dark storm cloud. Finally, when the funnel touches the ground, it becomes a tornado.

5What happens when a hurricane moves over land? Over land, the storm can no longer get energy from warm ocean water. As a result, its winds slowly grow weaker. Even so, a weakening hurricane can bring heavy rain for days, which can cause floods.

6Because the storms are so different, the warnings for them are different too. Weather scientists can watch a hurricane on satellite pictures as it crosses the ocean, so people often know days ahead that it is coming. A tornado forms much more quickly. Tornado warnings may give people only a few minutes to get to a safe place, such as a basement or a small inside room with no windows.

The whole article

Authors can organize a text by comparison, time order (chronology), cause and effect, or problem and solution.

How is the whole article organized?

A. It tells the story of one storm from start to finish.
B. It shows how two storms are alike and different.
C. It explains a problem and how people solved it.
D. It gives the steps for building a safe storm room.

Use the article to sort each detail. Does it describe only hurricanes, only tornadoes, or both storms?

forms over warm ocean waterhas strong winds that spinmost last only a few minutescan be hundreds of miles widestarts when a funnel cloud touches the groundcan knock down treespeople often know days ahead that it is coming

Hurricanes only	Tornadoes only	Both

Signal words give clues about structure. Match each group of signal words to the structure it shows.

First, Next, Then, Finally
Because, As a result
Both, However, Unlike
One problem is, A solution is

A. comparison
B. problem and solution
C. time order
D. cause and effect

Why might the author have chosen comparison as the structure for the whole article?

A. to show the order of events in one big storm
B. to explain how people fixed a weather problem
C. to teach readers how to build a storm shelter
D. to help readers tell two similar storms apart

Parts of the article

Look closely at single paragraphs. A part of a text can have its own structure.

Write the structure of each paragraph. Use each choice from the box once.

Word bank: time order · cause and effect · comparison

Paragraph 3 is organized by .
Paragraph 4 is organized by .
Paragraph 5 is organized by .

Read paragraph 5 again. Underline the sentence that tells the cause of a hurricane growing weaker over land.

What happens when a hurricane moves over land?Over land, the storm can no longer get energy from warm ocean water.As a result, its winds slowly grow weaker.Even so, a weakening hurricane can bring heavy rain for days, which can cause floods.

In paragraph 5, the words As a result tell the reader that the next idea is

A. a step that comes first.
B. a way the storms are alike.
C. an effect of what came before.
D. a problem that needs a fix.

What is the main job of paragraph 1 in the structure of the article?

A. It introduces both storms and how they are alike.
B. It gives the steps that make a tornado form.
C. It explains why hurricanes weaken over land.
D. It tells how storm warnings are different.

Paragraph 6 uses two structures together. Which two?

A. time order and comparison
B. comparison and cause and effect
C. time order and problem and solution

10.

Choose paragraph 2 or paragraph 3. Tell one way the paragraph compares hurricanes and tornadoes, and name a signal word or phrase the author uses to show the comparison.