Miracle plans

Miracle, the True Story of the Wreck of the Sea Venture won the 2007 Beacon of Freedom Award!

This is a very special award because the winner is selected by young readers - the students of Williamsburg, Virginia. The award is sponsored by Colonial Williamsburg and the Williamsburg Library.

Here I am at the awards ceremony in Colonial Williamsburg, accepting the Beacon of Freedom Award from Barrett Terrell, a student at Rawls Byrd School in Williamsburg, Virginia

Some of the readers who selected Miracle as the Beacon of Freedom award winner arrived at the ceremony with a sign to welcome me to Williamsburg.

This was one of those sparkling occasions  when I thought: “An author’s life doesn’t get any better than this!”

Thanks, thanks, thanks to the young readers and the award’s sponsors for this wonderful award! And special thanks to Darby Creek Publishing for sending me to Williamsburg to collect the award in person.

Another delightful moment in an author’s life...

Here I am in Bermuda, standing in front of the replica of the Sea Venture, with my two daughters: Geneva is on the left, and Leslie is on the right.

As you can see, Bermuda does get chilly on windy days in wintertime! But we had a lot of fun visiting the sites, anyway.

My research in Bermuda was made possible by a Work-in-Progress Grant from the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators.

Miracle: The True Story of the Wreck of the Sea Venture

Get Caught in the Web of a Hurricane!

Follow these directions for a self-guided tour of hurricanes on the internet.

Define these hurricane terms as you go:
Hurricane Vocabulary
1. Anemometer
2. Barometer  
3. Convection 
4. Coriolis effect
5. Cumulonimbus clouds
6. Eye
7. Eyewall
8. Flash flood warning
9. Flash flood watch
10. Hurricane 
11. Hurricane season
12. Hurricane warning 
13. Hurricane watch
14. Saffir/Simpson Scale
15. Satellite imagery 
16. Tempest 
17. Tropical depression
18. Tropical disturbance
19. Tropical storm
20. Typhoon

Answer the following questions as you explore these interactive learning sites:

I. Start your tour at the online Miami Museum of Science:
 
     http://www.miamisci.org/hurricane/instructions.html

Plot the latitude and longitude of 3 destructive hurricanes – Hurricane Andrew, Camille, and Hugo.

1) Which hurricane(s) crossed the southern tip of Florida? ________________________

     http://www.miamisci.org/hurricane/survivors1.html

2) What happened to Dandy, the family’s pet parrot? _____________________________

     http://www.miamisci.org/hurricane/howhurrwork.html

3) What do the blue areas on the radar image indicate? ___________________________

     http://www.miamisci.org/hurricane/weatherstation.html

4) Read through the instructions for making a barometer. What makes the straw on the homemade barometer go up? _____________________________________________

II. Next stop on the tour is a flight aboard the plane of Hurricane Hunters:

     http://www.hurricanehunters.com/cyberfly.htm

5) How many times does this flight penetrate the eyewall of Hurricane Opal? _________

III. Next stop is learning how hurricanes form:

     http://customwire.ap.org/specials/interactives/hurricane/hurricanes.swf

6) At what wind speed does a storm become a tropical depression? __________

7) a tropical storm? ___________

8) a hurricane? _______________

IV. Next stop is learning about the destructive power of hurricanes:

     http://kids.earth.nasa.gov/archive/hurricane/damage.html

9) What are the three types of damage that a hurricane can cause? __________________ _______________________________________________________________________

V. Next stop is measuring and defining a hurricane:

     http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/general/lib/laescae.html

10) How far inland should homes be evacuated in a Category Four hurricane? _________

Any words that you haven’t been able to define during the tour?

     http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/general/lib/terms.html

At this site, you’ll be able to find some definitions for your hurricane vocabulary list. (If not, use a dictionary to finish the list.)

Return to top of page.

All contents ©2004 by Gail Karwoski. This page last modified Friday, August 27, 2010. Questions? Comments? Email: gailkarwoski@hotmail.com