Science
K Unit 1 WEATHER
OVERVIEW
STANDARDS AND INDICATORS:
A7, A8
Weather-Describe and record
daily weather conditions throughout the year. (Try incorporating into Saxon
meeting time)
CONCEPTS:
1. Weather changes day to day.
2. Weather includes many features
including:
Cloud
cover
Precipitation
Wind
Temperature
3. Tools used for measuring weather.
Wind
scale (sock)
Thermometers
Rain
gauges
4. Weather can be predicted by patterns.
5. Weather affects decision we make about
clothing and activities.
SKILLS: Be able to do:
1.
Record-(pictures/words)
Graph-(pictograph/bar/line)
Observe-(use
senses)
Use
senses
2. Understand and use proper vocabulary (try substituting
science books during comprehension/vocabulary time and use pre-set objectives)
Cloud
cover (types)
Precipitation (rain,
snow, sleet, hail)
Wind
Temperature (hot/cold)
3. Measure using: wind indicator, thermometer, rain gauge.
4. Record/read and interpret daily/weekly weather patterns to
predict future weather.
5. Interpret weather patterns to determine appropriate clothing
and activity choices. (Using senses)
MATERIALS
Weather STC kits
Graphs
Thermometer
Websites-weatherbug, etc.
Wind indicators-flag, sock
SUGGESTED BIG
IDEAS/ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS:
1. What is weather? (Cold/hot, humid/dry, windy, cloudy,
percipatation).
2. What tools do we use to measure weather and how do we use
the tools?
3. How does weather influence our clothing choices? How does weather influence our activity
choices?
4. What makes a weather pattern?
·
Weather:(K)
Lesson 1: Sharing What We Know about Weather
Pre-unit assessment
Goal: Students will share what they know about weather
through discussion about today’s weather and about how they decide what to wear
to school. (Discussion will be repeated after unit).
Objectives:
Lesson 2:
Observing the Weather
Goal: Students
will use their senses (sight, hearing, smell, and touch) to find out about the
weather.
Objectives:
Lesson 3: Recording the Weather
Goal: Students
will begin observing and describing the weather in the first two lesson,
focusing on cloud cover and precipitation. Recording observations on a daily weather calendar
introduces student to long-term data collection. At the end of the unit,
students will summarize the weather data they have collected.
Objectives:
Lesson 4:
Estimating Wind Speed
Goal: Students will make a wind flag and then learn to use
a simple wind scale. The students
will add wind data to their daily weather calendar helping them to acquire a
more complete picture of the daily weather.
Objectives:
Students describe how they
know when the wind is blowing.
Students observe and describe
a flag moving in the wind.
Students discuss and record
the speed of the wind.
Students apply a wind scale
to the movement of the flag.
Lesson 5: Reading a Thermometer *Lesson 1 of 3
Goal: Students
will explore temperature and be introduced to a thermometer a tool for
measuring temperature. Students
will use a really thermometer to discover how a thermometer reacts to
temperature and a model thermometer to learn to read the scale. As they practice reading this scale,
they begin to see that the higher numbers on the scale correspond with hotter
temperatures and the lower numbers correspond with colder temperature.
Objectives:
Lesson 6: Making a
Model Thermometer *Lesson 2 of 3
Goal: Students
will continue to explore temperature by making their own thermometer. The
students will work on reading the thermometer scale and relating the numbers on
the scale to hotter or colder temperatures. Students will practice adjusting
their thermometers to match temperatures.
Objectives:
Lesson 7: Comparing Inside and Outside Temperatures *Lesson 3
of 3
Goal: Students
will continue their exploration of temperature and thermometer by recording and
comparing actual temperature in the classroom and outside. A classroom discussion helps students
recognize that it is the outside temperature that gives them information about
the weather. Students begin to use
their second long-term data collection tool, the Temperature Graph, to record the
daily temperature. They will
continue recording temperature on the graph throughout the rest of the unit.
Objectives:
Lesson 8: Embedded assessment of student’s growth in learning
to read and record temperature. Introduction of thermometer as measurement tool
for temperature.
Goal: Students
will be introduced to thermometers as a measurement tool for temperature using
real and model thermometers.
Objectives:
Lesson 9:
Experimenting with Color and temperature
Goal: Students will apply knowledge of thermometer reading
to experiment with the effects colors can have on thermometer readings. This
can help the students determine the color of the clothing they might choose to
wear in specific types of weather.
Objectives:
Lesson 10: Making a Rain Gauge *Lesson 1 of 3
Goal: Students
will construct and practice using a rain gauge, which is the third scale the
will use in the unit.
Objectives:
Lesson 11:
Exploring Puddles *Lesson 2 of 3
Goal: Students
will explore what happens to puddles (collections of rain) through observation
and discussion. Students will
continue to explore their weather knowledge with an historical story about the
invention of a special umbrella called the “Mud Puddle Spotter.”
Objectives:
Lesson 12: Testing
Rainy Day Fabrics *Day 3 of 3
Goal: Students will experiment with three different fabrics
and explore how they respond.
Through discussion of their results students will use their observations
to draw conclusion about which fabric would keep them driest on a rainy day.
*Students will be exposed to a story that will help them recognize that rain
day fabrics have been the subject of experimentation in the past.
Objectives:
Lesson 13: Observing Clouds *Lesson 1 of 2
Goal: Students will take a closer look at clouds (from
their cloud cover on the weather calendar). The students will increase their awareness of many different
ways clouds can look focusing on the diversity of cloud shape and size.
Objectives:
Lesson 14: Classifying Clouds *Lesson 2 of 2
Goal: Students
will describe how clouds look to them. Students will be introduced to the
scientific terms for basic types of clouds: stratus, cumulus, and cirrus.
Students will see examples of all three types in photographs and then sort them
by scientific categories.
Objectives:
Lesson 15: Comparing Forecasts to Today’s Weather
Goal: Students will recognize the close connection between
student’s new knowledge about weather and the world of meteorology. Students will compare their own
observations of today’s weather with a meteorologist’s forecast; this will help
the students recognize that the observable weather features they have become
familiar with are the same features that meteorologists use in their daily
forecasts.
Objectives:
Lesson 16: Summarizing Our Weather Observations
Goal: Students
will discuss what they have learned about weather over the past unit. They will
determine the weather in the past by using the weather calendar and weather
graph.
Objectives:
LESSONS
A
useful structure for inquiry-based learning units follows a LEARNING CYCLE model.
One such model, the “5-E Model”, engages students in experiences that
allow them to observe, question and make tentative explanations before formal
instruction and terminology is introduced. Generally, there are five stages in an inquiry learning
unit:
·
Engagement: stimulate students’ interest, curiosity and
preconceptions;
·
Exploration: first-hand experiences
with concepts without direct instruction;
·
Explanation: students’ explanations followed by introduction of
formal terms and clarifications;
·
Elaboration: applying knowledge to solve a problem. Students frequently develop and complete their own
well-designed investigations;
Evaluation: students
and teachers reflect on change in conceptual understanding and identify ideas
still “under development”.
FINAL ASSESSMENTS:
Assessment
1 asks students to pretend to be a
meteorologist reporting the weather and to suggest suitable clothing to go with
the day’s weather.
or
Assessment
2 asks students to draw a picture and
label it in answer to the question “What have you learned about weather?”
BIG QUESTION: How can/do you remember what the weather was like two
weeks before? By examining the
data from the Weather Calendar and Temperature Graph, they are able to
summarize the weather over the past few weeks.
Culmative project: Create
a daily weather calendar or weather report for the entire school or class room
that can be displayed each day for everyone to see.
PRACTICAL
SUGGESTIONS FROM KINDERGARTEN TEACHERS:
I
know you are wondering where am I going to find the time? Well you do not need to find time you
just need to be creative. Look at
the objectives and see if they can met during a time that already exists. Why not track the weather during the
Saxon math meeting. Why not write
about weather during writing.
Switch or add books to the vocabulary/comprehension block. Why not add a science reading center
you could read, write, label, create, letter match, sound match all about
weather. Why not let them visit www.weatherbug as a reward or let some older students buddy up with
your students and explore some of the weather websites. Train your kids to the weather report
daily and then let them share it during announcements at either the beginning
or end of the day. There are many
ways to incorporate science/weather into your day without having to create
time.
Bibliography of Additional Literature
Fiction and Non-Fiction
Check your school library for these books; you might
also suggest your librarian or literature coach
**My Five Senses. by
Aliki (BIG BOOK)
Kids Discover STC Reader :
Weather
The Kid’s Book of Weather
Forecasting: Build a Weather Station: Read the Sky” & Make Predictions!
By Mark Breen & Kathleen Friestad
Weather Forecasting.
By Gail Gibbons.
What Will the Weather Be:
(Let’s-Read-and-Find-Out Science 2). by Lynda DeWitt
Oh Say Can You Say What’s
the Weather Today?: All About Weather. (Cat in the Hat’s Learning Library)
by Tish Rabe
The
Weather/Eltiempo(English and Spanish Series) (Book #6) (Bilingual). By
Gladys Rosa-Mendoza, Carolin Cifuentes, Cd Hullinger, and C.D.
Weather Words and What
They Mean. By Gail Gibbons.
Weather ABC: An Alphabet
Book (A+ Books). by B.A. Hoena
If Frogs Made the Weather.
By Marion Dane Bauer
Weather: Poems for All
Seasons. By Lee Bennett Hopkins and Melanie Hall
The Cloud Book. by
Tomie DePaola
Little Cloud. By Eric
Carle