Extreme Weather: Tornadoes
Download a one-page 3rd grade science worksheet in which students analyze a photograph of a tornado, predict its effects and design a feature to protect a school or home.
- Subject
- Science
- Year group
- 3rd Grade · Elementary
- Curriculum topic
- Severe weather and reducing the impact of weather hazards
- Download
About this resource
Ready to print, adapt and use.
This one-page worksheet uses a dramatic photograph of a tornado crossing open farmland as the starting point for three extended-response questions. Students find visual evidence of powerful rotating winds, predict the tornado’s effects on land, trees, buildings and people, then design one feature that could help protect a school or home and explain how it reduces the danger.
Teaching notes
Begin by having students describe what they see in the photograph before introducing vocabulary such as funnel, debris and rotation.
Question 3 mirrors the engineering-design strand of the standards, so encourage labeled sketches alongside written explanations and invite students to compare their protective features.
Some students may have personal experience of tornadoes, so keep the discussion focused on preparedness and safety.
Learning objectives
- Use evidence from an image to describe the features of a tornado
- Predict the effects of a tornado on the natural and built environment
- Design and explain a solution that reduces the impact of a weather hazard
What’s included
- One printable worksheet page
- Full-color tornado photograph as a visual stimulus
- Three extended-response questions, including a design challenge
Example PDF
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