Topic
Weather
Inquiry Unit
Grade 2
Introduction and Overview
Illinois State Standards: Early Elementary
As a result of their schooling, students will be able to:
• 12.E. Know and apply concepts that describe diverse features and processes of the earth and its resources.
1. Identify components and describe diverse features of the Earth’s land, water, and atmospheric systems.
2. Identify and describe patterns of weather and seasonal change.
• 13.B. Know and apply concepts that describe the interaction between science, technology, and society.
1. Explain the uses of common scientific instruments (e.g. thermometers).
2. Identify and describe ways that science and technology affect people’s everyday lives.
• 11.A. Know and apply the concepts, principles, and processes of scientific inquiry.
1. Describe an observed event.
2. Develop questions on scientific topics.
3. Collect data for investigations using measuring instruments and technologies.
4. Record and store data using available technologies.
5. Arrange the data into logical patterns and describe the patterns.
6. Compare observations of individual and group results.
• 11.B. Know and apply the concepts, principles, and processes of technological design.
1. Given a simple design problem, formulate possible solutions.
2. Design a device that will be useful in solving the problem.
3. Build the device using the materials and tools provided.
4. Test the device and record results using the given instruments, techniques, and measurement methods.
5. Report the design, the test process and the results in solving a given problem.
National Science Education Standards
As a result of activities in grades K-4, students should develop an understanding of the following fundamental concepts and principles:
• Weather changes from day to day, and over the seasons. Weather can be described by measurable quantities, such as temperature, wind direction and speed, and precipitation.
Behavioral Objectives
After the unit, students will be able to:
• Apply the following concepts, principles, and processes of scientific inquiry:
o Formulating questions
o Choosing the steps need to answer questions
o Collecting data
o Presenting and recording data in an appropriate format
o Using data to produce reasonable explanations
o Reporting and displaying the results of individual and group investigations
• Describe what a thermometer is used for.
• Discuss why similar investigations may produce dissimilar results, should this occur.
• Diagram the water cycle.
• Explain why wind has direction and force.
• Explain how weather affects our daily lives.
• Identify two reasons why scientists study weather: to understand and predict it.
• Predict why, the movement of water from one place to another affects the weather.
• Predict the weather by recognizing repeated patterns of weather.
• Describe observed events.
• Collecting data and recording data.
• Arranging data into logical patterns and describing patterns.
• Comparing observations of individual
Organization/Teacher Background
The type of weather that the students will be inquiring about is rather simple and basic. Teachers won’t have to do that much preparation for this unit because it involves basic concepts such as reading a thermometer, discussing wind, the water cycle, and the four seasons. It is expected that each lesson in this unit will take approximately 30-50 minutes. During each activity students will record the tasks they performed, what they learned, as well as draw various pictures and diagrams.
Assessment
Informal formative assessment will be the only method for assessing the students throughout this unit. Journals, teacher observations of student participation (or behavior checklist could be used for a more formal assessment), and student discussion will be the factors contributing to their final grades in the weather unit. Student journals will be used for formative assessment. The grading criteria will be (1) completeness—recording of all information requested, (2) recording of plausible, original ideas when requested, and (3) neatness and organization. The scoring will be excellent (4 points), average (3 points), poor (1 or 2 points), or missing (0 points).
Initial Materials Needed for the Unit (organized by lesson)
• Lesson One
o What Will the Weather Be Like Today? By: Paul Rodgers
o Large chart paper
o Marker
o A piece of 12” by 18” construction paper for each student in the classroom
o Colored markers or crayons for students
• Lesson Two
o Daily weather forecast from newspaper
o Several copies of a blank thermometer (coloring book like diagram)
o Strips of paper in three colors
o Weather journals
o Happy/Sad faces
• Lesson Three
o Teacher demonstration thermometer
o A thermometer for each student
o Weather Journals
• Lesson Four
o Plastic wrap
o 4 washers
o 1 small heavy bowl
o 1 large clear plastic bowl
o A sunny window
o Tape
o The Magic School Bus: Wet All Over by Joanna Cole
o White pieces of construction paper
o Crayons or colored pencils
• Lesson Five
o Weather Journals
o Open area for children to run
• Lesson Six
o 4 large pieces of white butcher paper
o Crayons, colored pencils, markers, etc.
*Additional materials added as needed for student-generated investigations.
Lesson One: Our Ideas About Weather
Time Frame: 30 minutes
Subjects: Science and Art
Teacher Objectives: Upon completion of the lesson, the teachers will have:
Discovered what pre-existing knowledge the students have about weather, predictions, and why scientists study it.
Student Objectives: Upon completion of the lesson, the students will be able to:
• List the facts they already know about weather, as well as develop questions about what they want to know about weather.
• Design a weather journal.
• State Goal 11.A, 1b
Materials:
• What Will the Weather Be Like Today? By: Paul Rodgers
• Large chart paper
• Marker
• A piece of 12” by 18” construction paper for each student in the classroom
• Colored markers or crayons for students
Procedure:
• Opening—Teacher will read the book What the Weather Be Like Today? Written by: Paul Rodgers.
• Development
o Teacher will tape chart paper with KWL headings to the board in front of the room, so everyone can see. Teacher will then begin to assess the prior knowledge of the students by asking what they know about the weather.
o Teacher will ask the following questions to get students started:
▪ What are your favorite seasons and why?
▪ What kind of clothing do we wear during certain seasons?
▪ When you see the weather news on television, what are some of the words you hear?
▪ Has the weather ever affected things you did outside?
o The teacher will write the students’ responses on the chart paper under the heading, “What I Know.”
o Teacher will then ask students what they want to know about the weather. Teacher will fill the responses under the heading “What I Want to Know.”
o Teacher will explain to students that they will fill in the rest of the chart at a later time and see if they learned any of these things that were listed on the chart.
• Closure
o Teacher will pass out construction paper to each student and instruct them to get out their markers or crayons. Teacher will explain that they will be designing their own weather journals. They should write, “Weather Journal” on the cover and decorate their journals with different scenes about weather.
o The students’ journals will go in their desks when they are finished and any pages or worksheets that students complete throughout the unit will be placed inside the weather journal.
Assessment:
• KWL Chart
• Weather Journals
• Teacher Observations
Lesson Two: The Weather Forecast
Time Frame: 10 minutes daily for the first week or two of the unit.
Subjects: Science and Math
Objectives: Upon completion of the lesson, the students will be able to:
• Graph daily temperatures.
• Predict the daily temperatures.
• Define forecast.
• Evaluate the factors that effect temperature predictions.
Materials:
• Daily weather forecast from newspaper
• Several copies of a blank thermometer (coloring book like diagram)
• Strips of paper in three colors
• Weather journals
• Happy/Sad faces
Procedure:
• Bring in daily paper so students can see temperature forecast for that day.
• Using the first colored strip, paste strip on thermometer to show weatherman predicts that day’s temperature will be.
• As a class, have students predict what they think today’s temperature will be. Then have students defend their reasoning by developing a sentence to write on the board.
• Paste the second color strip (with the class prediction) on the same thermometer that the weatherman’s forecast was on.
• The next day, bring in the paper again and have students see what the temp actually was.
• Paste the third color in the first thermometer.
• Stick a happy or sad face on the thermometer to show if the weatherman was right or wrong (allowing a 3 degree variance).
• On the same day, repeat the steps to graph the new weatherman’s forecast as well as the classroom prediction for the day.
• At the end, discuss and/or graph the number of times the weatherman was correct/incorrect in temperature forecast. You can also discuss why he was wrong so many times—weather factors that may have caused him to be incorrect.
Assessment:
• Classroom discussion
o Number of times weatherman was correct/incorrect
o What weather factors could have caused him to be incorrect?
• Graph—number of times the weatherman was correct/incorrect in temperature forecast.
• Weather Journals—all summaries of classroom discussions and graphing should be done in the weather journal.
Lesson Three: Thermometers
Time Frame: 45 minutes
Subjects: Science and Math
Objectives: Upon completion of the lesson, the students will be able to:
• Define temperature
• Define thermometer as a device used to measure something’s temperature.
• Relate higher numbers on thermometers to hotter temperatures and lower numbers to colder temperatures.
• Accurately take a reading from a thermometer.
Materials:
• Teacher demonstration thermometer
• A thermometer for each student
• Weather Journals
Procedure:
• Introduce the lesson by asking the students what they know about temperature.
• Using the demonstration thermometer, explain that each number on the thermometer is a degree and that it’s used to measure temperature (write the word on the board and begin a word wall for the rest of the unit). The liquid in the tube actually goes high when it is warmer and lower when it is colder.
• Ask them how you can tell what the temperature is by reading the liquid in the tube. Tell them that the higher the number is, the hotter it is. Following the same idea, if the number is lower, the colder it is.
• Have the students answer several temperature-reading questions.
• Have the students open their science journals and write “Temperature” on the top. Then, past out a thermometer to each child.
• Explain that they will be required to measure two things: “Indoor Air” and “Body Temperature”
• Students should make predictions of what the temperatures of the “Indoor Air” and “Body Temperature” will be in their journal.
• To find the “Indoor Air Temperature” have the students lay the thermometers flat on the desk in front of them. Each student should determine the “Indoor Air” temperature and record that number clearly in their journal.
• Next, have them take their “Body Temperature” by placing their finger over the bulb on the thermometer. When the liquid stops moving, they should record their body temperature.
• Ask them what they notice about the two different temperatures (they should realize that their body temperature is higher than the air temp).
Assessment:
• Weather journals
o How close were their predictions?
o How can they explain what they’ve discovered?
o How does this experiment relate to weather?
o What did they learn?
o What did they think was most interesting about the experiment?
Lesson 4 Introduction: Making Rain
Time Frame: 20 minutes
Subjects: Science, Music, and Physical Education
Objectives:
Students will be able to connect the sounds that are being made artificially to real sounds of rain.
Students will be able to apply hand motions learned to create a variety of different patterns of rain and wind.
Materials:
• Large area with a hard floor surface.
Procedure:
• Students are directed to sit in a big circle. The teacher tells the students that they are going to be “making rain” inside.
• Explain the game “Making Rain." Tell them that it is a game played long ago by Native Americans on the Northwest coast. It rained a lot there, and have them imagine the children having to stay indoors and responding to nature outside. They made up a game, creating the sound of a rainstorm using the wooden floor.
• Ask them what often comes before rain. The wind often picks up. Have students
Make circular motions on the floor and it will sound like wind.
• Then discuss what often comes next are the small drops of a rain shower. The sound is made with the fingertips hitting the floor softly, then a little harder. Show the students how long to have the wind build up, and when to start the raindrops. The sounds should overlap.
• The next sound is rain. This is made with all the fingers on each hand hitting quickly together.
• The last new sound is a hard rain, made with the palm of each hand pounding very quickly.
• The rest of the activity is played in reverse order as the storm passes. **Variations can be added (such as a shower or two with wind in between before the heavy rain hits)**
• Once students have mastered the basic steps, they should close their eyes and listen to how real it sounds. The whole game may then be played in a darkened room.
Assessment:
• Teacher Observations—concepts of making sounds to mimic the rain.
• Classroom Discussion
Lesson Four: Rain and the Water Cycle
Time Frame: 50 minutes, then 10 minutes the following 2 days
Subjects: Science
Objectives: Upon completion of the lesson, students will be able to:
Describe the movement of water from one place to another (the water cycle) and how it affects the weather.
Sketch the process of water coming from the ground moving into the air, forming a cloud, and then falling back to the ground in some form (ex: rain, snow, etc.)
Explain how temperature affects the way that water moves in the sky.
Illustrate the water cycle in chronological order.
Materials:
• Plastic wrap
• 4 washers
• 1 small heavy bowl
• 1 large clear plastic bowl
• A sunny window
• Tape
• The Magic School Bus: Wet All Over by Joanna Cole
• White pieces of construction paper
• Crayons or colored pencils
Procedure:
• Discuss with the class what happens to puddles after it rains.
o Do they just stay there forever?
o Where does rain come from?
o How are clouds made?
o Be sure to ask if water can disappear or reappear
• After they have thought about some of these questions and you have discussed them together, have the students write “Water model” at the top of their journal page.
• Set up all the materials needed for the water model. Tell them that you are going to build a mini earth inside a bowl. Begin by placing the smaller bowl inside the larger one. Add enough water to come to about ½” away from the top of the smaller bowl. Make sure that there is no water in the small bowl.
• Next, cover the big bowl with plastic wrap, making sure that it is firmly sealed, but still loose enough in the middle to sag a bit. Put tape all around the outside of the bowl and plastic wrap to hold it in place.
• Place the four washers in the center of the plastic wrap so that it droops a bit over the small bowl.
• Have the students sketch a picture of what the model looks like in their journals. It is not important that the sketches are particularly accurate, but rather that the students notice the placement of each material and the location of the water.
• As a class discuss where the best place for the model is (in a sunny window). Talk about why it wouldn’t work as well in a dark place.
• Make predictions as to what is going to happen in the model. Have the students write this prediction in their journals.
• For the next two days, remind the children to go and look at the model to see what is happening.
o At the end of two day, discuss what happened and where the water ended up.
o How did the water get in the small bowl?
o How is this model like what really happens outside?
• Then gather the children on the carpet and read The Magic School Bus
• Discuss all the places that the water went and draw pictures on the board, having them lead you through the cycles. Ask them to use words like cycle, evaporation, and water vapor.
• After you have completed the discussion chart on the board, then have each student illustrate the water cycle in their journal. Make sure to remind them that you will be looking for the correct use of vocabulary listed on the board.
Assessment:
• Weather Journals
o Predictions
o Critical Thinking about the model
o Proper use of vocabulary
▪ Water Cycle
▪ Evaporation
▪ Water Vapor
▪ Condensation
o Events are in chronological order
o Neatness
Lesson Five: Wind and Direction
Time Frame: 45 minutes
Subjects: Science and Physical Education
Objectives: Upon completion of this lesson, student should be able to:
Name the four directions
Explain the relationship between the directions
State which direction that a certain wind is coming from and going to.
Materials:
Weather Journals
Open area for children to run
Procedure:
• Start a discussion to see what the students already know about wind and to get them thinking about how they interact with wind as people.
• Ask them several questions including:
o Describe the wind.
o How do you know that there is wind?
o Can you hear the wind?
o Are you able to feel it?
o Can the wind be seen and can you see things that are being moved by the wind?
o How do you know when the wind is blowing slightly or very hard?
o Does wind always blow from the same direction?
o Have you noticed wind being different in different kinds of weather?
o Do you know where the directions are (north, south, east, west)?
• Going one at a time, tell them that wind can blow from every different direction and post in the classroom where north, south, east, and west are.
• Then “become” the wind. Tell them that you are a north wind blowing in. Discuss with them if it’s cold or warm in the north. Tell them that when you are a north wind, you blow down cold air. Running, move from the north side of the room to the south side of the room.
• Then tell them that you are a south wind and that you are wind that is moving very fast because you are running.
• Repeat the same process for west and east winds moving at different speeds to represent weak winds verses strong winds.
• When you feel as though they understand the directions, tell that they are going to go outside and be winds themselves. Before going out, explain to them that this not recess and they are not outside to play. It is going to be noisier outside than inside so they have to listen carefully when you are speaking. Explain that you are going to call out a type of wind and that they are going to run in the direction that the wind is traveling, just like you modeled earlier.
• Once you get outside, have the students sit down on the ground and discuss which direction are north, south, east, and west. Give some examples of which direction to run for review. Then have them stand up and you call out a variety of different directions and speeds (ex: strong west wind or weak north wind).
• Then bring them inside to discuss what they did. Have them write the word wind in their weather journals and write a reflection about the day’s activities.
Assessment:
• Weather Journals
o Define wind
o Understanding of directions
o Illustrate the directions in relationship to one another.
Lesson Six: Unit Concept Maps
Time Frame: 40 minutes
Subjects: Science and Art
Objectives: Upon completion of the lesson, students should be able to…
Demonstrate their understanding of the unit content.
Materials:
• 4 large pieces of white butcher paper
• Crayons, colored pencils, markers, etc.
Procedure:
• Bring the KWL chart back to the front of the room and begin to fill out the “What We Learned” section.
• Then split the class into four sections giving each a weather topic to illustrate through a concept map.
o Weather forecasting and temperature
o Temperature and Thermometers
o Rain and The Water Cycle
o Wind and the directions
• Each group will get one piece of butcher paper and it is their responsibility to plan a mural representing all of the above topics on their paper.
• Have them brainstorm their ideas before you hand the large paper. Tell them that every person must contribute to the mural and draw something. The teacher should walk around making suggestions if they are missing a large feature.
• After they have completed their section of the mural, they are going to get up in front of the class (as a group) and talk about the types of items that they chose to include to represent that particular topic.
• Then I will ask the class if we need to make any additions to each of the concept maps.
Assessment:
• Presentations explaining the mural
o Good coverage of content
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Additional Weather Unit Resources
Professional books:
Frano, Betsy. Thematic Poetry: Whatever the Weather. Scholastic Professor Book
Division, 2001.
This book contains over 30 poems with what are labeled, “Instant Activities” that can be shared with a group of children and includes ways to use the poetry with the students. It includes poem about temperature, winds, rain and snow, etc.
Konvicka, Tom. Teacher’s Weather Sourcebook. Teacher Ideas Publishing, 1999.
This is a book that is an excellent resource for teachers for all those questions that students have that may too advanced for a teacher’s general knowledge. It is packed with easy to explain definitions, explanations, and charts for use with older students or for teacher’s information. It also includes a comprehensive resource guide.
Perry, Phyllis. Rainy, Windy, Snowy, Sunny Days: Linking Fiction to Non-Fiction.
Libraries Unlimited, 1996.
Sylvester, Doug. Wild, Wild Weather: Thunderstorms, Tornados, and Hurricanes.
Rainbow Horizons Publishing, 2000
Internet resources:
Weather Watchers:
This website offers both a student section and a teacher’s section. The best part is the student section which gives children the ability to check the weather in other parts of the world like South Africa and Cambodia. There are buttons to push to get the weather, maps, and pictures of the place. Updated daily.
Oklahoma Climatological Survey:
This site gives a wonderful shorthand list of all the symbols used in meteorology. Symbols include those for snow, drizzle, freezing rain, haze, and fronts.
Weather Here, Weather There:
Jumble Puzzles for ESL Students:
Children’s books:
Burton, Virgina. Katy and the Big Snow. Houghton Mifflin Co., 1974.
Katy, the crawler tractor is a bulldozer in the summertime, a crawler tractor in the fall, and a snow plow in the winter. She belongs to the Highway Department of the City of Geoppolic and this book takes you through the different seasons according to the different uses of Katy. (Easy reading for 2nd grade level.)
Cole, Joanna. The Magic School Bus: Wet All Over. BT Bound, 1999.
In this book from the popular series, Ms. Frizzle’s class takes a magical trip to learn about the water cycle. The kids become drops of water and experience evaporation, being water vapor, and condensation. (Easy reading for the 2nd grade level.)
de Paola, Tomie. The Cloud Book. Holiday House, 1985.
The ten most common types of clouds, the myths that have been inspired by their shapes, and what they can tell about coming weather changes. (Easy reading for 2nd grade.)
Rogers, Paul. What Will the Weather Be Like Today? Scholastic Trade, 1992.
Unless you are a mole, or a fish in the sea, the weather is of interest to you. Will it be windy? Warm? Sunny? Rainy? Some of all of the above? In jouncy rhyme and vibrant pictures, the author and artist take their characters and the young reader through a variety of weather and weather changes. From hot to cold, wet to dry, there is perfect weather for everyone! (Easy reading for 2nd grade.)
Aardema, Verna. Bring the Rain to Kapiti Plain. BT Bound, 1999.
One year the rains are very belated and terrible drought descends, driving out all the big creatures. The beautiful plain grows barren and dry until Ki-pat, watching his herd of hungry and thirsty cows, spies a cloud hovering above and comes up with an ingenious way to “green-up the grass, all brown and dead, that needed the rain from the cloud overhead.” (2nd grade reading with rhythmic read aloud tale.)
*** The majority of this information can be found in the Champaign Community School District #4’s Second Grade Unit on Weather.
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