Weather Unit Study
The information here is for a wide range of ages, grades K-12, depending on which objectives and activities are selected, so please check first to make sure your choices are appropriate for your own family. New information will be added as time allows. Links to lesson plans and activities here represent materials that can be printed and added to your notebook for this unit.
Learning Objectives:
Many parents and teachers will need to create their own goals. You can compare the goals at these sites to create your own goals depending on how stringent your requirements need to be. All links have several suggested activities for different ages.
- Basic Course structure https://www.worldbook.com/free-educational-resources#tcos
- Michigan Department of Education https://www.michigan.gov/mde/services/academic-standards
- Maine as an example of state level requirements https://www.maine.gov/doe/ela/standards/index.html
- California state level requirements https://www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/
- https://www2.mcrel.org/compendium/ National Level
- Ontario Canada K-8 Expectations https://www.dcp.edu.gov.on.ca/en/curriculum#elementary
- Abeka Scope and Sequence https://www.abeka.com/HomeSchool/ScopeAndSequence.aspx
- The series of books called “What your nth Grader needs to know” May also be helpful nth representing the grade your child is in. This series only Goes to grade 8
Appreciate the importance of weather to our daily lives.
Create and present national weather maps showing different conditions.
Create their own terrarium to connect concepts of precipitation, condensation, and evaporation.
Demonstrate ways to avoid injury when conducting science activities.
Explain that water on earth moves in a continuous cycle.
Identify and explain natural cycles of the Earth’s land, water and atmospheric systems (e.g., rock cycle, Water cycle, weather patterns).
Learn about different types of weather maps.
Name and explain the stages of the water cycle.
Understand basic information about weather.
Ask and respond to questions related to oral presentations and messages in small and large group settings.
Become familiar with terms and procedures related to topic.
Create a notebook to demonstrate organizational skills.
Develop listening skills and demonstrate these skills.
Dramatize information learned about topic.
Evaluate information based on prior experiences and newly acquired knowledge.
Exercise critical thinking skills.
Learn to gather and use research information.
Research a variety of documents to obtain knowledge.
Research to come up with a list specific to your child
Bible References:
Look up and compare scriptures at the sites below. In your journal note how the different translations and versions help you to have a fuller understanding of the text.
- American Standard Version https://ebible.org/asv/
- King James Bible in Mp3 https://www.audiotreasure.com/indexKJV.htm
- World English Bible in Mp3 https://www.audiotreasure.com/webindex.htm
- World Wide Study Bible https://www.ccel.org/wwsb
- Free software that will allow you to compare many translations at the same time https://www.e-sword.net/
- New World Translation https://www.jw.org/en/library/bible/study-bible/books/
Write out each scripture in your Journal then comment on how it relates to the unit and what it teaches you.
Psalm 50:3
Matthew 16:2-3
Job 36:29
Ecclesiastes 1:6
Deuteronomy 11:14
1 Samuel 12:18
Jonah 1:4
Mark 4:39
Read in the Bible the story of Noah and the Ark
Blue letter Bible search of “weather” occurs 4 times in 4 verses in the KJV
Page 1 / 1 (Job 37:22 – Mat 16:3)
Job 37:22 Fair weather cometh out of the north: with God [is] terrible majesty.
Pro 25:20 [As] he that taketh away a garment in cold weather, [and as] vinegar upon nitre, so [is] he that singeth songs to an heavy heart.
Mat 16:2 He answered and said unto them, When it is evening, ye say, [It will be] fair weather: for the sky is red.
Mat 16:3 And in the morning, [It will be] foul weather to day: for the sky is red and lowering. O [ye] hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not [discern] the signs of the times?
Timeline
Important people in Weather research listed by year https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meteorology
Create a Timeline of location and damage of all significant storms.
Vocabulary
| cold | warm | front |
| storm | blizzard | hurricane |
| tornado | twister | atmospheric pressure |
| meteorology | atmosphere | flood |
| drought | water cycle | barometer |
| anemometer | wind vane | hygrometer |
| thermometer | cloud | rainbow |
| rain | lightning | thunder |
| fog | cirrus | volcano |
| forecast | nimbus | monsoon |
| snow | cumulus | avalanche |
| precipitation | stratus | barometric pressure |
| condensation |
Write the words and their definition on a sheet of paper. Put this paper in your 3 Ring Binder.
Book Resources
Weather on Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weather Primary text for research. You will also want to use it for creating worksheets with MS-Word and Teachers Pet. Teacher’s Pet is a free download from https://www.teachers-pet.org/.
Weather and the Bible by Donald B. DeYoung
The Handy Weather Answer Book. Walter A. Lyons
Weather Watch Forecasting the Weather by Jonathan D.W. Kahl
Discovery Channel Weather An Explore Your World Handbook by H. Michael Mogil
How the Earth Works by John Farndon
The Eyewitness Visual Dictionary of the Earth by Martyn Bramwell
Earth Science for Every Kid by Janice VanCleave
Kipper’s Book of Weather by Mick Inkpen https://www.amazon.com/dp/0152022953/?tag=jrobertson09-20
Rain by Robert Kalan https://www.amazon.com/dp/0688104797/?tag=jrobertson09-20
Weather Games With Blue (Blue’s Clues) by Deborah Reber https://www.amazon.com/dp/0689829493/?tag=jrobertson09-20
A Pair of Red Clogs by Masako Matsuno https://www.amazon.com/dp/1930900201/?tag=jrobertson09-20
Poetry + Music
Carl Sandburg wrote a poem about “Fog” comparing it to a cat…creeping in unnoticed. This poem can be copied into your journal and decorated.
https://poemanalysis.com/carl-sandburg/fog/
If All the Raindrops Song with lyrics Barney https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ma4xu0zLD8
The Rain Rain Rain Came Down Down Down words and music by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman https://disney.fandom.com/wiki/Rain,_Rain,_Rain_Came_Down,_Down,_Down
Little Black Rain Cloud Winnie the Pooh
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYqA58N3sEE
You Are My Sunshine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_Are_My_Sunshine
Sung with lyrics https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cBzMSPYKas
Whistle Down the Wind by Andrew Lloyd Webber https://genius.com/Andrew-lloyd-webber-whistle-down-the-wind-lyrics
“In the Good Old Summer Time” is an American Tin Pan Alley song first published in 1902 with music by George Evans and lyrics by Ren Shields https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_Good_Old_Summer_Time
Singing Science Records scroll down to the list of song for weather.
https://www.acme.com/jef/singing_science/
Video and Software Resources
The Wrath of God Disasters in America
Torrents of Death examines some of the most famous floods in American history, including the killer 1889 Johnstown Flood.
https://web.archive.org/web/20040206150140/http://www.historychannel.com/classroom/admin/study_guide/archives/thc_guide.0240.html
PBS Learning Weather and Climate
https://dptv.pbslearningmedia.org/subjects/science/earth-and-space-science/weather-and-climate/?rank_by=recency
Perspectives on Ocean Science: California’s Climate and its Effects on Energy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBD1Q6A7Ua4
Newton’s Apple episodes on Hypothermia and Rainbows https://www.tpt.org/newtons-apple/
CNN has on demand weather reports
https://www.cnn.com/
Great Lakes Regional Meteorology An Exploration of the Great Lakes
The purpose of this lesson is to introduce the relationship that the Great Lakes have with the weather and climate of the Great Lakes region.
https://dptv.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/1284482e-2bfc-4dcb-8b11-38155fd5e4b8/great-lakes-regional-meteorology-the-geography-of-the-great-lakes/
What’s The Weather
Learn about meteorology and weather changes, and discuss how weather affects daily life.
https://dptv.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/ess05.sci.ess.watcyc.lp_whatweather/whats-the-weather/
Clouds
Do a narrative of the life of a cloud.
Send In the Clouds (clouds) is the 8th episode of the 2nd season of The Magic School Bus Rides Again
Worksheet for The Magic School Bus Rides Again Send in the Clouds video https://www.starmaterials.com/VideoGuide/MSB/MSB_Rides_Again/NMSB_0208_Clouds/gf.htm
http://www.lessonplanspage.com/Sciencecloudslesson.htm cloud formation
Cdntennial of Flight Cloud CLues Flight and Clouds https://www.centennialofflight.net/2003FF/clues/index.html
Identifying Clouds types of clouds, predicting weather by observing cloudshttps://web.archive.org/web/20050115085045/http://www.challenge.state.la.us/edres/lessons/elementary/lesson4.htm
Erosion
The Magic School Bus S03E12 Rocks and Rolls (Water Erosion)
http://www.scholastic.com/magicschoolbus/games/teacher/erosion/index.htm erosion
Worksheet for The Magic School Bus Rocks and Rolls Episode Differentiated Worksheet Video Guide https://www.starmaterials.com/VideoGuide/MSB/MSB_Earth/Rock_Roll_0312/index.htm
Forecasting
The Weather Forecast A to Z Teacher Stuff
Instead of just graphing daily temperatures, try this activity. They soon see that weather forecasting is not exact.
http://www.atozteacherstuff.com/pages/516.shtml
Hurricane
http://school.discoveryeducation.com/lessonplans/programs/ragingplanet-hurricane lesson on hurricanes
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/ngkids/trythis/tryfun3.html stir up a hurricane
http://www.hurricanehunters.com Hurricane Hunters
National Hurricane Center and Central Pacific Hurrigan Center https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/
The Wrath of God Disasters in America examines the deadly force of the hurricane https://web.archive.org/web/20060314213714/http://www.historychannel.com/classroom/admin/study_guide/archives/thc_guide.0376.html
Rain
Shaving Cream Rain Clouds https://onelittleproject.com/shaving-cream-rain-clouds/#cls-video-container-jg301kWz
Tornado
Make a Tornado in a Jar https://onelittleproject.com/tornado-in-a-jar/
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/lessons/15/g35/tornadosafety.html what to do in a tornado
Wrath of God Disasters in America
Tornado Alley
https://web.archive.org/web/20040604201440/http://www.historychannel.com/classroom/admin/study_guide/archives/thc_guide.0239.html
Winter Storm
Snowstorm in a Jar Winter Science Experiment https://onelittleproject.com/snowstorm-in-a-jar/
Snow
The Magic School Bus Lost in the Snow It’s a wild ride when Ms. Frizzle and the kids travel north to learn how water freezes into ice and how snowflakes are made.
Preserve a Snowflake https://eeinwisconsin.org/core/item/page.aspx?s=140288.0.0.2209
Snowflake border about halfway down will make nice Journal pages https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/browse/free?search=snowflake%20lined%20paper
Avalanches
The Wrath of God Disasters in America
This episode of The Wrath of God examines the deadly power of snow. https://web.archive.org/web/20040604220218/http://www.historychannel.com/classroom/admin/study_guide/archives/thc_guide.0517.html
Recipes
Snowman Smoothies https://www.eatsamazing.co.uk/family-friendly-recipes/drinks/easy-snowman-smoothies-recipe
Banana Snowman https://www.pre-kpages.com/classroom-recipes-banana-snowman/
Rainbow recipes https://www.eatsamazing.co.uk/category/rainbow-food
Sky Jello with Fluffy Clouds https://onelittleproject.com/sky-jello-with-fluffy-clouds/
Field Trips
Walk your neighborhood in all types of weather. Use caution for traffic on darker days.
Go sliding in winter
Beach on sunny days or at least once during each season.
Connect with the National NWS/Virtual Field Trips
https://www.weather.gov/education/local-office
NOAA in your backyard
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Get connected to NOAA guest speakers, field trips, and professional development in your area.
https://www.noaa.gov/education/noaa-in-your-backyard
Call or go talk to the local television station. They give lots of information. You might also be able to look at the things they have there and see how it’s done.
Art and Craft Ideas
Observations on Clouds. Draw or write about what you see. Include this in your three-ring binder.
Another globe https://web.archive.org/web/20080220134031/http://cp.c-ij.com/english/3D-papercraft/science/globe_e.html
Coloring pages
https://www.nssl.noaa.gov/education/students/
https://www.freepik.com/free-photos-vectors/weather-coloring/3
Clip Art
Weather Photos and Pictures https://classroomclipart.com/cgi-bin/kids/imageFolio.cgi?direct=Weather
https://www.aperfectworld.org/weather.htm
Worksheets:
Make your own worksheets with these worksheet creation tools:
- SchoolHouseTech https://www.schoolhousetech.com/ This company gives away two free software worksheet factories one for Basic math and one for wordsearch utility that will make wonderful complements to this unit when you include the clipart listed in the clipart section.
- Start Write – This program makes nice reports and handwriting worksheets for the unit. https://www.startwrite.com/
- Teacher’s Pet will turn any text into a worksheet I like to use it with the Wikipedia text or texts from Project Gutenberg. Open up a Microsoft Word “New” and then open the template and add ins’ for Teacher’s Pet and add one paragraph at a time and click the appropriate tab for the type of question you want. https://www.teachers-pet.org/
- TeachNology has several online worksheet makers and a ton of Rubric makers. Rubrics work great with Homeschool Tracker because they give you total points and you count up exactly how many points your child gets. https://www.teach-nology.com/worksheets/
- Online Crossword Puzzle Maker to use with your vocabulary words or locations or even dated from the timeline. https://www.happychild.org.uk/wks/english/ssm/crosswords01.htm
Worksheets, Activities, and complete units
Kids can put sun, rain, cloud, snow, etc. stickers on the calendar each day for a month and also record the temperature. It gives you lots of opportunities for bar graphs, averages, etc. at the end of the month.
Play a weather predicting game from the book, “The Red Clogs”. The little girl in Japan kicked their shoes off and predicted the weather based on how they landed. Try that with your sandals and record your predictions and checked to see if they were accurate. They might not be but this can lead into a good discussion on how the National Weather Service really predicts the weather.
A Pair of Red Clogs by Masako Matsuno https://www.amazon.com/dp/1930900201/?tag=jrobertson09-20
6 tools our meteorologists use to forecast the weather https://www.noaa.gov/stories/6-tools-our-meteorologists-use-to-forecast-weather
How to Make a Simple Weather Barometer step-by-step with photos https://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Simple-Weather-Barometer
Enchanted Learning Weather-Related Activities https://www.enchantedlearning.com/themes/weather.shtml
Discovery School Stormy Lesson https://web.archive.org/web/20070211121709/http://school.discovery.com/lessonplans/programs/lightning/
Sky Diary Kidstorm
Facts about tornadoes, lightning, hurricanes and storm chasing
https://www.chriskridler.com/skydiary/kids/
NOAA Education Weather and atmosphere https://www.noaa.gov/education/resource-collections/weather-atmosphere
The weather education site especially for students, parents, kids and teachers from national TV meteorologist Nick Walker https://web.archive.org/web/20241003013603/http://www.wxdude.com/
Home Science Tools Science Lessons https://learning-center.homesciencetools.com/teaching-resources-guides/science-lessons/
EPA Water Topics https://www.epa.gov/environmental-topics/water-topics
First-School.ws Weather Theme Preschool Activities and Crafts
Make a kite and learn about the wind. You can talk a bit about Ben Franklin. The kite can be math because you are working on shapes too.
https://www.first-school.ws/theme/climate.htm
Understanding How The Weather Works https://www.weatherworks.com/
Thought Company Weather Printables https://www.thoughtco.com/weather-printables-free-1832478
Classroom Meteorologists: An Experiential Approach to Learning about Seasons and Weather https://web.archive.org/web/20070218115940/http://www.ckcolorado.org/units/Kindergarten/K_ClassroomMeteorologists.pdf
The Seasonal Cycle https://web.archive.org/web/20070218150131/http://www.ckcolorado.org/units/2nd_grade/2_TheSeasonalCycle.pdf
Four Seasons with Charlottes Web https://web.archive.org/web/20070218115720/http://www.ckcolorado.org/units/2nd_grade/2_FourSeasonswithCharlottesWeb.pdf
Make a book about weather
Weather Wiz Kids learn more about the fascinating world of weather. Common weather and natural disaster questions.
https://www.weatherwizkids.com/
Storms and Other Weather
Discover the weather conditions necessary for blizzards, tornados, hurricanes, and more
https://scied.ucar.edu/learning-zone/storms
Do a mini-study of stormy weather.
Graphing Data
https://web.archive.org/web/20091026093911/http://asd-www.larc.nasa.gov/SCOOL/lesson_plans/Graphing_Grade_7.html
Sunny Shady Math https://www.nctm.org/Classroom-Resources/Illuminations/Lessons/Sunny-Shady-Math/
National Geographic MapMaker Maps to practice Forecasting with.
https://www.nationalgeographic.org/society/education-resources/mapmaker-launch-guide/
National Geographic Society Kids https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/ these change often so I am putting in the main link not to specific activities.
Climate Change
The Tales Glaciers Tell (Climate Change) is the 10th episode of the 1st season of The Magic School Bus Rides Again. It first released on Netflix worldwide on September 29, 2017. It is the eighth episode in production order for Season 1.
Scholastic Activity Packet https://www.scholastic.com/magicschoolbuswebcast/activities.pdf
Climate Change: A Wisconsin Activity Guide https://eeinwisconsin.org/core/item/page.aspx?s=140967.0.0.2209
Information and General Resources
National Weather Service https://www.weather.gov/
Wunderground https://www.wunderground.com/
AccuWeather https://www.accuweather.com/
Evaluation Ideas:
Assemble a three ring binder and please include:
- A copy of this unit
- Course Description (Highschool Students)
- Write a summary about books read for the unit
- Your Lapbook created for the unit (K-8 Students)
- Any worksheets or activity books created with Teachers Pet https://www.teachers-pet.org/ or the SchoolhouseTech Software https://www.schoolhousetech.com/
- Your journal and its contents
- Your Log of activities from Homeschool Tracker https://www.homeschooltracker.com/free-homeschool-tracker-basic-edition Its Free!
- Your Timeline