Eight Classroom Resources to Help Teach About Hurricane Sandy

The power of nature was felt throughout the Northeast last night, as devastating Hurricane Sandy hammered the East Coast. For students and teachers looking to help out, the Huffington Post published this list of ways you can lend a hand.

Now, as students ask about the cause and effect of the storm -- here are a couple of resources to help guide the classroom discussion. We'll start with a special hurricane episode of Sesame Street for younger students.

• Hurricane Educational Resources from NOAA: A mix of resources from the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration, looking at the science behind and results of hurricanes.
• Hurricanes/Tropical Cylcones Information from NASA: This resource features videos, simulations, and other educational tools to provide an in-depth look at the meterology of tropical storms.
• Teaching and Learning About Hurricanes from the New York Times: Here, you'll find lesson plans looking at past hurricanes, as well as articles, a live blog, and video covering Hurricane Sandy. The Times has also put together 6 Q's About the News, providing students a chance to do a critical reading of "Hurricane Sandy vs. the East Coast." UPDATE: Tuesday afternoon, the Times published Teaching Hurricane Sandy: Ideas and Resources, which proposed ways to educate students about the storm across multiple subjects.
• A Beginning List of The Best Online Resources for Hurricane Sandy: Edutopia blogger Larry Ferlazzo has been curating Hurricane Sandy resources on his personal blog, and he also posted "The Best Sites for Learning About Hurricanes," following Hurricane Irene in 2010.
• The Science of Hurricane Sandy: This liveblog from Scientific American has been covering the various science angles of the storm, looking at Sandy's "weird weather," possible beach erosion and answering and proposing many different scentific questions. National Geographic also uncovered the full moon's effect on Hurricane Sandy's surge.
• Forces of Nature from PBS LearningMedia: PBS LearningMedia is featuring Forces of Nature on their homepage, which provides lessons for grades 4-6 and 6-12 on hurricanes, El Nino, tsunamis and earthquakes.
• Hurricane Sandy Resources from the USGS: Here, you'll find a Hurricane Sandy Storm Tide mapper and other information related to tropical storms' effects on our coastlines.