The Wizard of Oz

Week 1- Tornadoes

Family activities

Family Tasks

The Wizard of Oz

Week 1: Twirling Tornados

Dorothy lives on a Kansas farm with her Aunt

Em, Uncle Henry and her dog Toto. A tornado

whisks the house away and drops in the

wonderful land Oz!!!

Make your own

tornadoes in a bottle.

Make a wind Vane.

Make your own

Barometer

Carry out the ‘Blue

sky experiment.

Question of the

week:

What is the weather

like this week in

Manchester?

Daily weather

watch/report.

Use the observation

sheet to record daily

weather in

Manchester. Poem of the week:

Read the poem,

‘In a twist’

Can you use

words/phrases from

the text write a

poem about the

tornado that whisked

Dorothy to Oz?

Ribbon dance to the

following piece of

music:

https://www.youtube.

com/watch?v=jk

Follow link below to

make your ‘Ribbon

Wand’.

https://www.youtube.com

/watch?v=iIyt4Xhgj9M

Make and decorate

colourful paper

twirlers.

Learn the song,

‘Somewhere over the

rainbow.’

The Wizard of Oz

W1 Tornados

Dorothy lives in Kansas on a farm with her

Aunt Em, Uncle Henry and her dog Toto. A

tornado whisks the house away and drops in

the wonderful land of Oz!!

cyclone

typhoon whirl wind

storm gale

twister Vortex

hurricane

Tornado

Synonyms

Knowledge Organiser

tornado - is a twirling, narrow

funnel of wind with speeds of

100 to 300 miles per hour that

can damage anything in its path.

Kansas is in North

America.

Facts

Tornadoes form when warm,

humid air collides with cold, dry air.

The denser cold air is pushed over the

warm air, usually producing

thunderstorms. The warm air rises

through the colder air, causing an

updraft. The updraft will begin to

rotate if winds vary sharply in speed or

direction.

Tornadoes have been recorded on all

continents except Antarctica and are

most common in the middle latitudes

where conditions are often favourable

for convective storm

development. The United States has

the most tornadoes of any country, as

well as the strongest and most violent

tornadoes.

The Rules of Quiz Quiz Trade

Steps:

1. Deal the cards equally between the family.

2. Find a partner

3. Partner A asks Partner B the questions on the

card.

4. If partner B answers correctly, partner A praises

and gives them the card. If they don’t answer

correctly, Partner A coaches them to the answer

and repeats the question, if they are still unsure

Partner A shares the answers and praises.

5. Partner B then asks their question.

6. When both cards are swapped, find new partners

and begin again.

The Beaufort Scale

The Beaufort scale is a scale for measuring wind speeds. It is based on

what you can see (observation), rather than an accurate measurement.

It is the most commonly used system that is used to measure wind

speed. Below you can see what a Beaufort scale looks like and how

your observations may look in comparison to the wind speed.

Weather observation chart

Monday

Date

Tuesday

Date

Wednesday

Date

Thursday

Date

Friday

Date

Saturday

Date

Sunday

Date

Wind speed

Humidity

Precipitation

Temperature

Cloud cover

MAKE YOUR OWN BAROMETER

MATERIALS:

• small coffee can

• plastic wrap

• scissors

• straw

• card

• rubber band

PROCESS:

Tightly cover the top of the coffee can with plastic wrap, using a rubber band

to hold the plastic wrap in place.

The cover should be tight making the can airtight.

Place the straw horizontally or sideways on the plastic wrap so that two-thirds

of the straw is on the can.

Tape the straw to the middle of the plastic wrap so that it will not fall off.

Tape an index card to the can behind the straw. The straw will act as a pointer

on the card.

Carefully record the location of the straw on the index card with a pencil. If

desired, marks can be drawn on the index card to make observing the changes

easier.

After 15 minutes, record the new location of the straw on the index card.

Continue checking and recording the straw location as often as you want.

EXPLANATION:

High pressure will make the plastic cave in and the straw go up. Low pressure

will make the plastic puff up and the straw go down. If possible, check your

measurements with a real barometer.

BLUE SKY EXPERIMENT

MATERIALS:

• flashlight

• 2-liter pop bottle

• milk

• water

PROCESS:

Fill the 2-liter bottle three quarters full of water and prop up the

flashlight, so it will shine through the bottle from the side.

Add a teaspoon of milk to the water.

Put the cap on the bottle and shake to mix up the water and milk.

What do you see? Keep adding milk until you start to see a blue light

that is scattered to your eyes from the mixture.

Once you see the blue light, add more milk to the mixture until you see

more of an orange or red light.

EXPLANATION:

Just like in the atmosphere, the mixture scatters more of the blue

wavelength than any other colour. ’ why the sky is blue! At sunrise or at

sunset, there is even more scattering taking place due to the angle of

the sun. This causes the reds and oranges to scatter into our

atmosphere. That’s why our sunsets and sunrises are so colourful!

How to Make a Wind

Vane What You Need:

• Round plastic drinking cup with lid, or round food

storage container with lid

• Pebbles or sand

• Sharpened pencil

• Drinking straw (a straight one, no bends !)

• Straight pin Poster board or card stock paper

• Black permanent marker Compass

What You Do:

1. Start by putting the lid on the plastic container, and turn the container upside down.

Trace around the lid, and then make another circle around the outer edge, at least 2

inches wider than the first one.

2. Use a ruler to divide the lid in half along its diameter, and then divide each of those

halves in half. Have your child write the words for the four parts of the compass along

the outer edge of each of the four sides. Moving from the top, clockwise, she should

write “North, East, South, and West.”

3. Now open the container. Stick a blob of modelling clay or putty on the bottom of the

container, and then fill the remainder to the top with pebbles or sand. Snap the

container lid on and tape it, if necessary, to keep it secure.

4. Glue the container, upside down, onto the cardboard compass base you just made.

5. Take the sharpened pencil, and poke it through the centre of the plastic container so

that the eraser is on top, and the point is held by the putty and sand.

6. Now, cut a broad triangle and a square, both about 3 inches across from your

construction paper. Cut a slit in each end of the straw. Slide the triangle onto one end

and the square onto the other. Use a bit of glue if they seem to slip. Push the pin

through the centre of the straw and attach it to the top of the pencil eraser. If you

flick the straw, or blow on either end, it should move freely.

7. Take your wind vane outside to a place where the wind is not highly obstructed. Help

your child find north, south, east, and west on a real compass, and line up the wind vane

accordingly. Wait for the next breeze; the arrow will point to where it’s coming from.

Make a Tornado in a Bottle

Learn how to make a tornado in a bottle with this fun science experiment for

kids. Using easy to find items such as washing up liquid, water, glitter and a

bottle you can make your own mini tornado that’s a lot safer than one you might

see on the weather channel. Follow the instructions and

enjoy the cool water vortex you create!

What you'll need:

• Water

• A clear plastic bottle with a cap (that won't leak)

• Glitter

• Washing up liquid

Instructions:

1. Fill the plastic bottle with water until it reaches around three quarters full.

2. Add a few drops of washing up liquid.

3. Sprinkle in a few pinches of glitter (this will make your tornado easier to see).

4. Put the cap on tightly.

5. Turn the bottle upside down and hold it by the neck. Quickly spin the bottle in a circular

motion for a few seconds, stop and look inside to see if you can see a mini tornado forming in

the water. You might need to try it a few times before you get it working properly.

What's happening?

Spinning the bottle in a circular motion creates a water vortex that looks like a mini tornado. The

water is rapidly spinning around the centre of the vortex due to centripetal force (an inward force

directing an object or fluid such as water towards the centre of its circular path). Vortexes found

in nature include tornadoes, hurricanes and waterspouts (a tornado that forms over water).

Making and Decorating

Colourful Paper Twirlers

STEP 1: Cut a circle out of your card/paper

You can trace a large mixing bowl for a perfect circle.

Step 2: Draw your spiral…

…starting from one point on the perimeter of the circle (but don’t cut it

yet).Make the spiral relatively thick.

Step 3: Now decorate your spiral with crayons

Any designs. Lots of colour. You could stick to seasonal colours if you like or

decorate the spiral like a snake.

Step 4: Paint with Water colours

Paint over the crayon drawings with watercolour paint. Let dry.

Turn the circle over and paint the reverse, too, as you’ll see both sides as it

spirals through the air. Let dry.

Step 5. Cut along the spiral line

Step 6. Punch a hole in the centre and tie a string there for hanging

Step 7. Hang your new colour paper twirlers!

Poem of the week

Can you use words and phrases from the text to write a poem about

the tornado that whisked Dorothy to Oz? You can also

learn this poem off by heart and send us a video performing it.

Wizard of Oz

Words and phrases from the text you can use in your

tornedo poem.

low wail of the wind

sharp whistling

air from the south

ripples

cyclone

shriek from the wind

house whirled around

pressure of the wind

wind howled horribly

swaying of the house

wailing of the wind

WHAT'S IN THE WIND?

MATERIALS:

• a few plastic lids

• petroleum jelly

• magnifying glass

• paper punch

• yarn

• windy day

PROCESS:

Punch a hole at one end of each lid.

Thread each hole with a length of yarn and knot the ends of the yarn

together to form a loop for hanging.

Spread petroleum jelly over one side of each lid.

Take the lids outdoors on a windy day and hang them in various areas.

Leave them outside for about an hour or two to collect what may be

blowing in the wind.

Retrieve the lids and see what they have collected.

EXPLANATION:

Some of the items that may have been collected include insects, dirt,

seeds and leaves. Use the magnifying glass for further observation.