Wildfire

Compare and contrast wildfires, forest fires, and campfires.

Read Wildfires (True Books) by Howard K. Trammel and identify the cause/effect or other textual connections found in the book. 

After studying the topic of wildfire, write a three-paragraph essay summarizing what they have learned. 

Using a map of your school, plan the shortest evacuation route from various locations that you might visit during your day — your classroom, the library, the cafeteria, etc. Use a ruler or tape measure to identify the distances.

Play a version of “Battleship” in which each partner draws a set of houses on graph paper. The wildfire is spreading as the opponent calls out a coordinate. If they guess a location correctly, that means the fire department has spread retardant chemicals on that home and the entire home is saved.

Experiment with probability in this wildfire interactive from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.

Some kinds of severe weather are more likely than others in a given region. Weather scientists forecast severe weather so that the communities can prepare for and respond to these events. Asking questions, making observations, and gathering information are helpful in thinking about problems.

Things that people do can affect the world around them. People can reduce their effects on the land, water, air, and other living things. Designs can be conveyed through sketches, drawings, or physical models. These
representations are useful in communicating ideas for a problem’s solutions to other people. Examples of human influence on the land could include planting trees after a burn.

Some events happen very quickly; others occur very slowly; and some over a time period much longer than one can observe.

Scientists record patterns of the weather across different times and areas so that they can make predictions about what kind of weather might happen next. Examples of data could include average temperature, precipitation, and wind direction.

A variety of natural hazards result from natural processes. Humans cannot eliminate natural hazards but can take steps to reduce their impacts. Examples of design solutions to weather-related hazards could include barriers to prevent flooding, wind resistant roofs, lightning rods, and fire-wise landscaping.

A variety of hazards result from natural processes. Hazards cannot be eliminated, but their impacts can be reduced. Testing a solution involves investigating how well it performs under a range of likely conditions. 

When two or more different substances are mixed, a new substance with different properties may be formed.

Populations live in a variety of habitats, and change in those habitats affects the organisms living there. When the environment changes in ways that affect a place's physical characteristics, temperature, or availability of resources, some organisms survive and reproduce, others move to new locations, yet others move into the transformed environment, and some die. Examples of environmental changes could include changes in land characteristics, water distribution, temperature, food, and other organisms.

Human activities in agriculture, industry, and everyday life have effects on the land, vegetation, streams, ocean, air, and even outer space. Individuals and communities can often mitigate these effects through innovation and technology.

Substances react chemically in characteristic ways. In a chemical process, the atoms that make up the original substances are regrouped into different molecules, and these new substances have different properties from those of the reactants. Burning is a chemical reaction. 

Ecosystems are dynamic in nature; their characteristics can vary over time. Disruptions to any physical or biological component of an ecosystem can lead to shifts in all its populations. Emphasis is on recognizing patterns in data and making warranted inferences about changes in populations, and on evaluating empirical evidence supporting arguments about changes to ecosystems.

Changes in biodiversity can influence humans’ resources, such as food, energy, and medicines, as well as ecosystem services that humans rely on—for example, water purification, nutrient recycling, and prevention of soil erosion. There are systematic processes for evaluating solutions with respect to how well they meet the criteria and constraints of a problem. Examples of design solution constraints could include scientific, economic, and social considerations.

Mapping the history of natural hazards in a region, combined with an understanding of related geologic forces, can help forecast the locations and likelihoods of future events. Emphasis is on how some natural hazards, such as volcanic eruptions and severe weather, are preceded by phenomena that allow for reliable predictions, but others, such as earthquakes, occur suddenly and with no notice, and thus are not yet predictable. Examples of natural hazards can be taken from interior processes, surface processes, or severe weather events. Examples of data can include the locations, magnitudes, and frequencies of the natural hazards. Examples of technologies can be global (such as satellite systems to monitor forest fires) or local (such as building reservoirs to mitigate droughts)

Human activities can positively and negatively influence the biosphere, sometimes altering natural habitats and ecosystems. Technology and engineering can potentially help us best manage natural resources as populations increase. Examples of the design process include examining human interactions and designing feasible solutions that promote stewardship. Examples can include water usage (such as stream and river use, aquifer recharge, or dams and levee construction); land usage (such as urban development, agriculture, wetland benefits, stream reclamation, or fire restoration); and pollution (such as of the air, water, or land).