What is the weather like today? Matthew Lazette and Lauren Gilbert
Standards: E.ES.01.21 Compare daily changes in the weather related to temperature (cold, hot, warm, cool); cloud cover (cloudy, partly cloudy, foggy); precipitation (rain, snow, hail, freezing rain); wind (breezy, windy, calm). E.ES.01.22 Describe and compare weather related to the four seasons in terms of temperature, cloud cover, precipitation, and wind. E.ES.01.31 Identify the tools that might be used to measure temperature, precipitation, cloud cover, and wind.
Grade Level: 1
Lesson: “What should I wear to school today?”
Lesson Overview: Hot, cold, windy, or snowing, students need to know how to dress appropriately. In this lesson, students will learn how weather affects what they wear to school each day and how we measure differences in the weather.
List of Materials: blackboard, chalk, weather instrument worksheets, computer.
Engagement: Show class the weather video: http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=DlHG82HKOYw. )Introduce the lesson by asking students about the weather today. Have them describe the weather. Record their responses on the board. Explain that the weather helps us determine what we wear each day.
Exploration Then have students brainstorm different types of weather. Create a weather word wall using the terms students use. Discuss how different types of weather relate to the seasons of the year. Once students have described different types of weather, have them list different activities they could do outside during certain weather/seasons. Ask students to describe what they would wear to do the activities. (Suggest shorts during snowy weather or a snowsuit during a hot day to see if students understand.) Ask students how do we measure the weather.
Explanation Introduce the weather instruments and how they work: thermometer – measures air temperature, rain gauge – measures precipitation, anemometer – measures the speed of wind, and cloud cover. Use the interactive thermometer to show students how the temperature corresponds to activities outdoors. http://www.mathsisfun.com/measure/thermometer.html . Pass out pictures of the rain gauge, barometer, thermometer, anemometer, weather vane, and ruler (or the real articles if you have enough) to each group. These pictures shouldn't have the name of the instruments on them. (If possible, have a real sample of each of the weather instruments that the students have pictures of.) Tell the students that these are some of the weather instruments meteorologists use to find out what the current weather conditions are. Without telling the name of the instruments show the real instruments to them one by one. Pass out cards that tell the names of each weather instrument. Give the groups time to put the name of the weather instruments with the pictures of the weather instruments. When they are done see if they have correctly matched the names with the instruments. At this time you can see if any of the students know how these instruments measure the weather elements. As they tell about each one, pass out the card that tells about that particular weather instrument and its use. Elaborate on what the student has stated about the instrument. Do this until all the instruments have been talked about. Tell the class that these are the basic instruments that meteorologists use to tell us what the past weather was and what the current weather is now.
Elaboration
Ask the students to create two pictures of outdoor activities and what weather instruments would be used to measure the weather in the pictures. Examples: flying a kite, warm day at the beach, sledding or ice skating, wearing rain coat or using an umbrella. Have students share pictures and tell why it is important to know what to wear for the activity and what weather instrument is used.
Evaluation
There would be multiple ways of evaluating the knowledge leve of the students such as:
Look at the worksheet the students answered during the discussion. Test the students if they know the weather instruments by using the pictures and the words of the pictures to match them up. Have the students write what the uses of the instruments are. Have the students tell why the information that is recorded by these instruments is helpful.
References http://www.havefunteaching.com/worksheets/science/seasons-of-the- year/seasons-of-the-year-matching.pdf http://www.havefunteaching.com/worksheets/science/earth- science/thermometer.pdf http://alex.state.al.us/lesson_view.php?id=13362 http://www.uen.org/Lessonplan/preview?LPid=18979