Extensions: Connect Earth Science with Math and Art. Also includes Natural Sciences.
Adaptations: Gifted students can record daily weather observations in a notebook and create a graph or tally chart of the different types of weather that they examined. ESL & Special Ed students can draw daily weather patterns in notebook or create pictograph charts of weather with tally marks to indicate frequency.
Construct a Weather Spinner: - Earth Science
Intro to Natural Sciences - your child will learn to see details and patterns in atmospheric conditions. A simple Weather spinner provides an accessible tool for your child to improve her observation and analysis ability, important scientific skills she will use for the rest of her life.
Supplies: White tag board or poster board, pencil, crayons, markers, or colored pencils, and a metal brad.
4.2.1 "Demonstrate and describe how smaller rocks come from the breakage and weathering of larger rocks in a process that occurs over a long period of time."
This would be a great language development activity for ELL students- they could be challenged to use adjectives to describe what they are seeing during the weathering process.
The rocks that compose the Earth's crust are subjected to a variety of forces. Depending on the environmental factors at work, the rocks can be altered in size or in composition. Factors such as wind, water, plants, and animals cause weathering, physical changes in rocks that affect their size. However, physical changes do not affect the composition of rock. In this activity you will see the effect of physical weathering on rocks.
This is a great science activity that can be used every day during calendar time. This helps the students work on their vocabulary while learning weather terms, as well as incorporating math, using graphs.
Providing visuals to describe the weather at the top of the graph is a great way to provide visual connections for ELL students.
Watching the winter snow pile up on a grassy yard is nice, but investigating it is even better! Boost your child's science and observation skills by guiding her through this winter weather-filled project. She'll chart the amount of snow or hours of rain that have fallen at your house this winter using a ruler, measuring tape, or even her hands! This ongoing seasonal graphing activity will even enlist her math skills and organization ability.
Sticky Note: This would also be a great activity to have after calendar in the morning of a younger class who has just discussed the weather to give kids a hands-on activity about weather.
2.2.1 Construct and use tools to observe and measure weather phenomena like precipitation, changes in temperature, wind speed and direction.
Sticky Note: This would also be a great activity to have after calendar in the morning of a younger class who has just discussed the weather to give kids a hands-on activity about weather.
K.2.3 "Describe in words and pictures the changes in weather from month to month and season to season."
This activity can be adjusted for ELL students by allowing them to use only pictures for recording their observations. If the students are feeling somewhat comfortable with the new language, they can be paired with English speaking students to work together to spell and sound out words for their notebooks. This activity can be modified for older age groups by having the students make predictions about what is going to happen with the weather conditions. These students can also make predictions about why they think the seasons change.
Students can participate in this long-term activity by observing and recording the weather each week of the school term, or the school year. The students can do various activities within this long-term activity, such as measuring the amount of rain or snow, recording weather conditions, making observations in a notebook, etc. This is a great way to observe and learn the seasons!
This activity could be included in a science unit dealing with the weather. Students could also complete this activity based on different cities by finding the data online and then plotting it on a bar graph each day. ELLs could use the city they were from to get their data for their graphs.
Students with learning disabilities that could not perform this activity on their own could be paired up with another student and work together to create the graphs.
This could also be used as an at home activity for extra credit.
(2.2.1, 2.2.2, 2.2.3, 2.2.4, 2.2.5, 2.2.6)
2nd grade science
Day to day and over the seasons, observe, measure, record and recognize patterns and ask questions about features of weather
I chose this site because it had great explinations of the weather. You can create many different activities to demonste understanding of weather.
One thing I would do it first teach the students the aspests of weather and the differences in lengths of daylight in difference seasons. Then , we would all together do an activity to determine the difference in Earth's titls and how it affects weather during different seasons.
Extensions: you can extend this activity for younger students by creating a chart to graph the different seasons and what the weather looks like in those seasons, then you can demonstrate the earths tilt with a globe and have the students guess which season they think our state would be in depending on Earth's tilt.
Adaptions: I would suggest using illustrations to explain vocabulary, they can make a vocabulary journal.
Student who are ready can learn to read a thermometer or a barometer as well as a part of this activity. Make sure to encourage careful record keeping and not accurate predictions. Students should be made aware that one does not "win" science by making correct predictions.
2.2.6
Learn about, report on and practice severe weather safety procedures.
Differentiation:
Allow ELL students to present orally, in written expression, or artistically (poster, picture...) on a severe weather phenomena that is common in the area where they are from and the safety procedures for this weather. This will allow students to present on a topic that is familiar and also educate other students on their background.
Help students to understand what goes on in a tornado by creating one of your own! This is a common severe weather phenomena that happens in Indiana and should be combined with safety procedures on the topic.
Sticky Note: This would be great to add for ELL students as a preview for a unit on weather so they have a good foundation of the vocabulary needed to understand the upcoming unit.
4.2.2 Describe how wind, water and glacial ice shape and reshape earth's land surface by eroding rock and soil in some areas and depositing them in other areas in a process that occurs over a long period of time.
Sticky Note: This would be great to add for ELL students as a preview for a unit on weather so they have a good foundation of the vocabulary needed to understand the upcoming unit.
Extensions: This activity connects Earth Science with Technology/Engineering.
Adaptations: Gifted students can make their own unique weathervane and predict which direction the wind is blowing. They could also create a weekly forecast report which includes wind direction. ESL students and Special Ed students would work in small groups or teams and could draw diagrams to indicate wind direction.
Forecast the Weather with a Weathervane - 4th Grade
Learn about Earth Science as well as meteorology through making your own unique Weathervane!
Supplies: Old business card, 1 straw, ruler, scissors, clear tape, pencil, stickpin, 1 liter plastic bottle, sand, compass, black permanent marker.
2.2.1
Construct and use tools to observe and measure weather phenomena like precipitation, changes in temperature, wind speed and direction.2.2.2
Experience and describe wind as the motion of the air.
Differentiation:
Allow gifted students to record the direction of wind for a week or even a few weeks. With this information discuss with the class the effects of wind direction and how it correlates to weather.
Using a container lid, scissors, a marker, a straw, and a pin students will create their own weather vanes that they can use to go outside and observe the act and direction of wind.
This activity can be connected to other forms of weather such as temperature or rain fall. Students can also look up information about how people measure the weather using scientific tools. This activity can be connected to language arts by having students write about the weather.
Prior to this experiment students need to learn about erosion and weathering. It would be a good idea for the students to work in pairs for the research. Then during the experiment have them draw a picture to represent what happens, if able also write their observations in complete sentences
For use with the Science Process standard, Prediction. This hands on activity would be useful with ESL, and the cooperative learning style would also help with ESL,and also be easy to differentiate g/t kids by allowing them to make a video or podcast of the daily weather and thew news. If grants can be written, this would be a good one to take a field trip to a local television station