ESRI Drought Tracker

• This interactive map allows students to see the current and historic drought conditions around the United States, including specific information about their impacts on agriculture and a drought outlook estimate.
  
• The map shows drought conditions in the United States between 2000 and the present year, and is updated weekly.

Positives

• Students will enjoy being able to search their own area or other places important to them.
• This resource is very self-explanatory and easy to use. 

Additional Prerequisites

• Students should have an understanding of what droughts are and what causes them.
• In order to use the resource independently, students should be comfortable reading maps and graphs. 
  

Differentiation

• This resource would work well to supplement a science class covering the water cycle, global climate change, or the needs of plants and animals.
  
• Cross-curricular connections can be made in math classes using data and graphs or in health classes that are considering the health impacts of droughts on rural communities. 
• Younger students would benefit from the teacher showing the class an example location and looking at the graphs and additional information presented on each page. 
• Have students choose a location (or pick one at random for them) to research and share out their findings.
• As an ongoing project, students can track drought conditions for a location over time, as the resource is updated weekly. 

This resource addresses the listed standards. To fully meet standards, search for more related resources.