A Unit Study on Weather

The weather is something we sometimes take for granted, yet affects us every day of our lives. A good understanding of the weather is necessary for many cultures and careers. This unit study uses an across-the-curriculum approach to help make the study and understanding of weather fun and enjoyable.

GENERAL RESOURCES:

Twister! (Discovery Kids) by Bill Haduch
Tell Me Why Rain Is Wet (Whiz Kids) by Shirley Willis
God's World of Weather : Simple Science for Kids (Happy Day Books) by Hen, Jr Head, Rusty Fletcher (Illustrator), Heno Head Jr
There are also a number of resources on weather available from Teacher Created Materials (see their website at www.teachercreated.com) and through Good Apple Publications. Check your local teaching supply store for availability.

WEB RESOURCES:

The Weather Classroom:
http://www.weather.com/education/

Changing Climates:
http://tectonic.nationalgeographic.com/2000/physical/climate/main.html

El Nino & La Nina:
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/elnino/

Wind Energy:
http://sln.fi.edu/tfi/units/energy/windguide.html

How the Weather Works:
http://www.weatherworks.com/monthly/q_and_a/question.html

Kids' Lightening & Safety Info:
http://www.azstarnet.com/anubis/zaphome.htm

The Weather Dude:
http://www.wxdude.com/

Units of Temperature:
http://ww2010.atmos.uiuc.edu/(Gl)/guides/maps/ctof.rxml

USGS Learning Web:
http://info.er.usgs.gov/education/index.html

Weather:
http://www.learner.org/exhibits/weather/

Weather Forcasting:
http://atm.geo.nsf.gov/instruction/forecast_contest.html

Weather Underground:
http://groundhog.sprl.umich.edu/

Tornados:
http://twisters.com/

Ice and Snow:
http://miavx1.muohio.edu/~Dragonfly/snow/index.htmlx

Weather from about.com:
http://weather.about.com/science/weather/index.htm

World Climate:
http://www.worldclimate.com/

PREPARED LESSON PLANS:

This is a great site for teachers:
http://faldo.atmos.uiuc.edu/WEATHER/weather.html

http://www.atmos.albany.edu/das/k12.html
http://www.weatherworks.com/monthly/activities/sky_window.html
http://www.weatherworks.com/monthly/activities/activity_index.html
http://www.sasked.gov.sk.ca/docs/ela/g2_l2.html
http://www.libsci.sc.edu/miller/Seasons.htm

At this site there is a large number of prepared lesson plans for you to link to that cover K-12:
http://www.connectingstudents.com/themes/weather.htm

ACTIVITIES:

1. Make homemade clouds: http://www.teachers.net/lessons/posts/14.html

2. Find out what kind of equipment is used by a meteorologist. Then, find out how they interpret the data and how accurate the predictions usually are.

3. For one week, keep a record of a television or newspaper's daily weather forecast (you may also use a weather service over the internet). Make a chart that compares the weather forecast to actual weather conditions.

4. Math: After doing activity #3, figure the percentage of accuracy.

5. Thinking Skills: Make a weather safety checklist for your geographic area. Would this list be the same for everyone? Or, would different areas have different weather safety concerns?

6. Find out ways in which scientists and others have tried to change the weather. What are some of the reasons why we would want to change it?

7. Keep a chart for one month that shows how weather affects your daily activities. How often did you change your plans because of the weather?

8. Creativity: Make a game about weather. You can make a card or board game, a word game, or an active game. Share your game with others.

9. Become a cloud watcher. Each day for a week, record the types of clouds you see. Find out what type of weather is common with each type of cloud. Make notes about the weather and try to predict how the weather may change based on the clouds you see.

10. Planning Skills: Find out about weather-related emergencies that your community might face, such as hurricanes, tornadoes, or flash floods. Learn what types of safety measures you should be prepared to take. Develop a family plan.

11. Make your own weather station. Measure wind speed and direction, rainfall or snowfall, barometric pressure, humidity, and temperature. You can find directions for building simple weather tools in books on weather at your local library.

12. Take pictures of clouds. You can use a regular camera or you can make your own camera by following the directions at: http://www.themestream.com/articles/339262.html

13. Math and Scientific Method: Use any of your charts that you created when you watched the weather (activities #3, 7, or 9) and convert it to a bar or line graph.

14. Geography: Follow a storm or weather front on a map. Try and use the same symbols that weather forecasters use.

15. Social Studies & Geography: How does the weather affect different areas of the country? Of the world?

16. What is a drought? How is a desert created? Was a desert always a desert or did it support green vegetation at one time? What goes in to creating a desert? Is the weather the only thing that affects whether a desert is created?

17. Vocabulary: Define and use the following words in sentences -- drought, el nino, la nina, cyclone, hurricane, weather, barometer, weather vane, weather front, thermometer, rain gauge, anemometer, humidity.

18. Arts and Crafts: Create a snowscape by making artificial snow -- http://www.themestream.com/articles/311508.html

19. Arts & Crafts: Create a diorama that shows the before and after of a natural disaster (i.e., flood, hurricane, tornado, etc.).

20. Here is a great simulation. You've just been elected mayor of a small town in Florida...but a hurricane is brewing: http://weathereye.kgan.com/expert/hurricane/index.html

21. Take a virtual field trip of a tornado http://www.field-guides.com/tornado/tour.htm or a hurricane http://www.field-guides.com/hurricane/hurr.htm

22. Study the relationship between weather and pollution: http://trackstar.hprtec.org/main/display.php3?trackid=327

VIDEOS:

National Geographic has several good videos out on weather and weather-related subjects. Check your local library for availability. Don't forget to see if you can obtain any through inter-library loan if your library does not carry them.

FICTION/NON-FICTION:

Before the Storm by Jane Yolen (see right for cover)
The Big Storm by Bruce Hiscock
The Cloud Book by Tomie De Paola El Libro De Las Nubes
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs by Judith Barrett
(Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs Lesson Plans from Connecting Students)
Flash, Crash, Rumble, and Roll (Lets Read and Find Out)
Funpax: Weather Station by Deni Bown (see right for cover)http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0789430061/connectingstuden
The Magic School Bus Inside a Hurricane (Magic School Bus Series) by Joanna Cole
Mediopollito Half- Chicken: A Folktale in Spanish and English by Alma Flor Ada
Puddle Jumpers : Fun Weather Projects for Kids by Jennifer Storey Gillis
The Science Book of Weather by Neil Ardley
Storms (Reading Rainbow Book) by Seymour Simon
Tornado Alert by Giulio Maestro
Wacky Weather (How It Works) by John Malam
Can It Really Rain Frogs: The World's Strangest Weather Events by Spencer Christian
Eye of the Storm : Chasing Storms With Warren Faidley by Stephen Kramer
Eyewitness Explorers: Weather by John Farndon
Hurricanes: Earth's Mightiest Storms
Hurricanes (The Weather Channel)
Lightning!: And Thunderstorms (The Weather Channel) (see right for cover)
National Audubon Society First Field Guide Weather by Jonathan D. Kahl
Simple Weather Experiments With Everyday Materials by Muriel Mandell
Hurricanes (Facts on File Dangerous Weather Series)

How well do you know World Geography?
Try our free map quiz game below!
(Note: A brief advertisement may appear before game loads.)

This fun game follows the classic Jules Verne novel,
"Around the World in Eighty Days".
Enjoy 80 levels of play and circle the globe!
(Note: A brief advertisement may appear before game loads.)

This logic game is colorful and relaxing to play for a break.
My high score is 71,000 -- see if you can beat that! :-)
(Note: A brief advertisement may appear before game loads.)

Here is a number sequencing game that is a good one to
reward kids with for 'computer' time.
I've only ever made it to level 12 out of 22 possible.
Warning: May be addictive!
(Note: A brief advertisement may appear before game loads.)

>> Click HERE for more games! <<


Search the pages of our EasyFunSchool.com website
and the entire FamilyClassroom Network with the box below!