Extreme Weather Case Study

This worksheet is designed for students in Grades 5, 6, and 7 to deepen understanding of extreme weather through a focused case study of Hurricane Katrina. Learners read an informational summary detailing the storm’s location, category, wind speeds, rainfall, and major impacts, then analyze causes, consequences, and human responses while connecting scientific concepts like storm surge and flooding to real-world outcomes and community resilience.

Learning Goals

• Extreme Weather Understanding (Grades 5-7) – Students examine the characteristics and impacts of a major hurricane.
• Cause-and-Effect Analysis – Learners connect scientific factors such as wind, rainfall, and storm surge to human and environmental outcomes.
• Human-Environment Interaction – Explores how communities are affected by and respond to natural hazards.
• Critical Reflection & Solutions – Encourages thinking about long-term improvements to reduce future disaster damage.

Instructional Benefits

• Teacher-Created Resource – Designed by educators to align with upper-elementary and middle school science and social studies standards.
• Real-World Case Study – Uses a well-documented event to make abstract concepts concrete.
• Evidence-Based Questions – Prompts students to cite details from the text and reason thoughtfully.
• Low-Prep & Printable – Easy to use for classwork, discussion, assessment, or homeschool instruction.

This printable case study worksheet helps students strengthen reading comprehension, scientific reasoning, and critical thinking by examining a real extreme weather event. By analyzing Hurricane Katrina’s causes, impacts, and lessons learned, learners build a clearer understanding of how natural hazards affect people and how communities can prepare for the future. Suitable for classroom or homeschool use, this activity provides a meaningful way to connect science concepts with real-world problem solving and resilience planning.

This worksheet is part of our Weather and Climate Worksheets Collection.