As I head into my 3
rd
year teaching a weather unit to 6
th
grade science, I have realized that there are many more aspects to this unit that I have not taught and that if taught, will give students a more in depth understanding of how our sun provides everything essential to life. I have found that students at this level do not have a concept of the universes' sheer never-ending mass, if they know that at all. I have found that most students' concepts of the universe consists of the planets in our Solar System; and while most students know that the sun is a star, they do not have a concept of the utter necessity that humans and the Earth have for the sun's rays and that life as we know it would not otherwise exist.
Therefore, in order to introduce a unit on weather and how it effects the climate in Connecticut, I start way back. The first lesson of this unit explores Earth's position in the Solar System, Milky Way Galaxy, and ultimately the entire universe. The gives the students a concept of how small Earth is, and how amazing it is that it is crawling with life. Earth's position in the Solar System is precisely why the sun is so crucial to our lives. The next lesson delves into the seasons and why they exist. We discuss the Earth's tilt, revolutions, day time and nighttime, the hemispheres, and how all of this is the perfect recipe for seasons. After a discussion of why we have seasons, students will have a more solid understanding of the sun's importance. Seasons are essentially what controls weather in different parts of the world at different times of the year, which is what they students will study next. Students will explore connections between the seasons, weather, and how that effects climate. Within that lesson, students will learn about equinoxes and solstices and the moon's role in Earth's day-to-day routines.
At this point in the unit, the students will begin keeping a daily weather log and exploring questions that challenge them to make connections between climate and weather in Connecticut. Students will learn meteorology terms and use them in their daily weather logs. Students will give miniature weather reports at the beginning of each class and will be expected to use their newly acquired vocabulary.
While continually keeping weather logs (throughout the rest of the unit), students will next create rotating atmospheric layer wheels complete with appropriate illustrations for what usually appears in each layer. With a solid understanding of what generally occurs in each layer, we will move onto the Earth's Cycles: Water, Carbon, and the Greenhouse Effect. The students will be familiar with these as we discussed them during our terrarium unit at the beginning of the school year. We will spend a day learning about the Ice Coring Process using excerpts from, “The Two Mile Time Machine” to gain an understanding of how ice cores provide scientists with information on our atmosphere centuries ago until the present day.
Next we will explore the sun, radiation, and types of wavelengths that reach Earth's surface in preparation for the final project for the unit. Students will participate in activities such as measuring the temperatures of different surfaces in sunlight. We will then explore how to use the sun's energy to harness alternative energy sources and briefly discuss fossil fuel consumption. We get deeper into this in the 4
th
unit of my school year- water resources. Also discussed will be how humans interact both negatively and positively with the Earth and it's environments.
Our unit will culminate with a project. The students will create solar oven using pizza boxes, tin foil, and black paper. Students will explain how the sun was able to heat the s'mores without electricity.
