A couple of weeks ago when there were five tropical systems developing in the gulf, fifth graders at Jackson tracked a hurricane. Before the story, we discussed New Orleans and listened to Louis Armstrong music. After reading A Storm Called Katrina, we discussed empathy and what the victims of Hurricane Katrina had to endure. We read the endpapers of the book that showed pictures of actual victims and the dog that inspired the dog with the red ball in the book. Then we used the NOAA site to track Hurricane Katrina. The kids loved the book so much they applauded at the end!


