Rating Earth's Big Events: teacher key

Natural Disasters, grade 4 edition, written for 4th grade. Scientists rate hurricanes and tornadoes on scales, and forecasters use watches and warnings. Find out what the words mean and what a family can do.

Read the book. Print this page for the key.

Questions and answers

1. What does a seismometer measure?
   • Wind speed
   • Shaking waves (answer)
   • Rainfall
2. What does the Saffir-Simpson scale rate?
   • Floods
   • Earthquakes
   • Hurricanes (answer)
3. What does a tornado warning mean?
   • A tornado is possible
   • A tornado is near and it is time to move to a safe place (answer)
   • A tornado has ended
4. Why is a flash flood hard to prepare for?
   • It can come without warning (answer)
   • It only comes at night
   • It always comes slowly
5. What is a scale?
   • A fish skin
   • A rating system (answer)
   • A kind of storm
6. What can a tsunami be started by?
   • A tornado
   • Heavy snow
   • An earthquake or a volcano in the ocean (answer)

Words

• tectonic: of Earth's plates
• seismometer: shake measurer
• scale: rating system
• watch: might happen
• funnel: cone shape