These lessons can take place in one class period or broken into different pieces to better suit your class and time allotted each day.
Lesson 1: Discuss what weather is by creating a list of the different weather students have experienced or heard of. Next, brainstorm what this weather looks like, feels like, smells like, sounds likes and at sometimes tastes like. Students should understand that they can use their five senses to really understand and experience weather daily. Then, have students watch the video, What is Weather, https://www.generationgenius.com/videolessons/introduction-to-weather-video-for-kids/ . If you sign up for an account or free trial you will be able to watch the entire video. There are plenty of other videos and or books you can find that introduce this topic. At this point, students should have a clear understanding of the types of weather the atmosphere experiences.
Lesson 2: Students will be introduced to a weather journal. Throughout this unit, students will go outside twice a day to write about the weather and nature around them for 5-10 minutes daily. Students will use their five senses to take what is occurring around them. Students will be asked to take note about the weather and nature around their home and at school in a green space. Students will be introduced to sit spots ( Look at section: Engaging Nature with Sit Spots) to first observe the weather and nature and then write about what they feel, see, smell and hear (they will not be tasting anything). Before heading outside, show them this clip, https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/six_ways_nature_helps_children_learn , for them to connect how an author’s use this technique when writing about nature, .
Lesson 3: How is Weather Measured? Scientists who study the weather are called meteorologists. Meteorologists use different tools to predict the weather. Students can brainstorm possible tools that they use to measure the weather. Some tools are rain gauge, barometer, thermometer, wind sock, weather vane, anemometer and hygrometer. This video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mvrt51Mdu0, will explain how these different weather instruments help meteorologists predict weather patterns. Some students may have never seen a meteorologist give a report on the news. These two videos, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmO9cjsj1zc&t=1s and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyXP8bmBTC8 , allow students to view how the use of weather instruments allow meteorologists to create a weather report to alert the public. For more information on connecting with meteorologists in New Haven look at the Rationale section.
Lesson 4: Create a Rain Gauge. Students will work together to create a rain gauge to measure the amount of precipitation that occurs during a rainstorm. The materials needed for this project include a plastic bottle (precut the top off), paperclips, tape, marker and a ruler. Have students watch this video to help them create their rain gauge, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IU9CsbAkRbc . Once they have been created, find a space outside to leave them for five days. Each day go outside and have students journal how much water has accumulated and any other observations they might influence why there is an increase or no increase in water each day.
Lesson 5: What are Seasons? Display a picture of a child wearing clothing to represent summer (short, tank tops, swim suit, etc). Ask students to identify what time of year it is and where this child might live. Ask questions like, what is summer? What are seasons? How many seasons are there? Do all countries have seasons? This video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b25g4nZTHvM , explains how the Earth is tilted and for part of the year one of the hemispheres is leaning towards the sun and the other part of the year its tilted away from the dun. The direct sunlight means more sunlight and warmer weather and indirect sunlight means less sunlight and cooler weathers. You can use a globe or ball to simulate this in the classroom so students can see how the “Earth” rotates. While doing this, be sure to highlight how the tilt is what causes seasons in countries. To take a deeper look into this, look at a country that is located near the equator. Show how the countries distance stays close to the sun throughout the year, meaning that those countries near the equator will stay warm most of the year and not experience cold winters. This video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9n04SEzuvXo , demonstrates this concept in a visual way. Check out these other videos that further explain why seasons exist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQjT5uKp2hg , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUU7IyfR34o , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l64YwNl1wr0 .
Lesson 6: What is a Climate Zone? Students should know the different types of weather and how weather differs throughout the different seasons. This lesson will focus on identifying what is climate and how climate is different from weather. An area’s weather over a long period of time is called climate. Not all places on Earth have the same climate. Climate is important because only certain types of plants and animals can live in a particular climate. This video , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kp7ZhvJXrMc ,will teach students about the three main climate zones on the earth: Polar, Temperate and Tropical climate zones. Divide students into five groups and give each group a climate zone: Tropical, Dry, Temperate, Continental and Polar. Provide them with non-fiction picture books, slides or videos for each group to dive deeper into. Look at the section about Climate Zones: The Köppen-Geiger Climate Classification System to find out more information. You can also use the information to create slides for students to reference. After the group is done researching, students will create a poster by drawing their climate, labeling the type of weather their climate experiences and list three countries located in their climate.
Lesson 7: What are Extreme Weathers? Using the information provided in the section, The Impact of Severe Weather, to model and teach different types of extreme weather, display pictures around the classroom with different extreme weathers labeled with numbers. Have students walk around the room with a paper numbered and have them take five minutes to see if they can identify what extreme weather is taking place in each photo. After the five minutes, have students come back to engage in conversations. Explain to students that extreme weather events occur outside normal weather patterns. This video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVZExLO0MWA , further explains the difference between weather and severe weather. After, group students together to become an expert about one severe weather. Provide them a fiction and non-fiction book (on online book link) to each group (look at the materials section below for titles and authors of some fiction and non-fiction books you can provide your students). Groups will use a 3-2-1 organizer to write about three things they learned, two questions they still have and one thing they thought was most interesting they learned about their extreme weather. Groups will then share out and teach the rest of the class about their severe weather.
Lesson 8: How Can Extreme Weather Impact People and Communities? Since students are now experts on a given extreme weather, they will use their knowledge to create awareness to the community of New Haven to help them prepare and stay safe during a hurricane that is coming to their community. Students will take what they have learned from this unit to alert the public and keep them calm and prepared before the storm. Some examples can include creating a news report, be a meteorologist, create a poster, call a town meeting. Let students get creative to show what they know and have learned throughout the unit!