Links to Earth Science Air and Weather

Links to Earth Science Air and Weather Part 1: Air is There Assess Students Ideas About Air Preassess students ideas about air. Key elements that indicate understanding Air is something real and is called matter Air takes up space. Air interacts with objects (Teacher s Guide, Investigations tab, Investigation 1, p.3) Part 1: Air is There Compare Flat and Puffy Bags Extended Idea You may want to have students compare a completely flat bag (with no air in it) and one that is puffy (with air), to aid the introduction and explore the properties of air. Key elements that indicate understanding Air is something real and is called matter Air takes up space. Air interacts with objects (TG Investigations tab, Investigation 1, p.11) Part 2: Air Under Water Floating and Sinking Extended Idea More things to practice. Make the vial float. Make it sink. Capture air and keep it in the vial while it is held under water. Pour bubbles from one vial to another (underwater). Key elements that indicate understanding Look for evidence to show that air is matter. Air takes up space. Air can be captured. (TG Investigations tab, Investigation 1, p.14) Part 4: Pushing on Air Our Museum of Air Toys Problem A Duplication Master #33

This problem presents students with a graph that shows numbers of air-powered toys in a class museum. They complete questions about the graph, as well as addition and subtractions sentences related to a graph. (TG Investigations tab, Investigation 1, p.39) Part 4: Pushing on Air Make an Air Cannon An air cannon is an exciting way to reinforce that air has mass and can move. Construct the device described below, aim it at a person or object, and whack it with the beater. Students will be amazed! 1. Get a clean, empty 20-liter (5-gal.) plastic bucket. Cut a 10-cm (4 ) hole in the bottom with a keyhole saw or a saber saw. 2. Get vinyl-coated fabric or a sheet of rubber and stretch it over the top of the bucket like the top of a drum. Secure it in place with big rubber bands (tire-chain tighteners), rope, or hose clamps. 3. Wrap the end of a stick with cloth and tape to make a drum beater. 4. Aim the hole at a person, place, or thing, and whack the drum hard. Target someone across the room for a blast. Catch students off guard with the impact of a ball of fastmoving air. (TG Investigations tab, Investigation 1, p.40) Part 6: Balloon Rocket Air Performance Assessment Assessment Duplication Master #7 Draw a picture that shows two things you have learned about air. Write a few words or sentences about your picture. Examples of things that students could draw and write about Showing that air can be compressed Air can move things around. Air can slow down parachutes Air can propel balloon rockets Air takes up space (TG, Assessment tab, p.8) Part 6: Balloon Rocket Send Air Through a Garden Hose Bring a hose to class. Demonstrate how it can be used to transfer air a long distance by blowing up a balloon pulled over one end. Hold a feather at the other end of the hose when you let the air out of the balloon and have students observe. (TG Investigations tab, Investigation 1, p.40)

Explore Weather Lore There are many examples of weather lore and sayings. Have students find out about the following examples and more. Then have them create their own weather sayings. Red sky in morning, sailors take warning; red sky at night, sailors delight. There s a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. Groundhog Day, February 2: If the groundhog sees its shadow, there will be 6 more weeks of winter. If it doesn t spring is just around the corner. April showers bring May flowers. If March roars in like a lion, it will go out like a lamb. Sayings must have a weather theme. Cause and effect are stated (If one thing is true or happens, then this will be true or happen.) (TG, Investigations tab, Investigation 2, p.29) Keep Track of Hourly Weather Assign students to keep track of the weather in an hourly weather log. Discuss with the class what kinds of observations they should make (temperature, cloud types, wind speed). After a day s worth of weather monitoring, compare the data they collected. Find out when the temperature was highest, how the wind changed over the day, when it rained, and so forth. (TG Investigations tab, Investigation 2, p.31) Record Sunrise and Sunset Check the newspaper or a website and record sunrise and sunset times on the class calendar once a week. Students can use this information in Investigation 4, Part 2, when they discuss the position of the Sun in the sky. (TG Investigations tab, Investigation 2, p.31) Look for weather graphs in the newspaper Ask students to clip the weather news from the newspaper and bring the clipping to class. Look for examples of graphs in the weather news, such as precipitation levels and so forth. (TG Investigations tab, Investigation 2, p.32) Create Meteorologist Tool Kit Duplication Master #14 Have students make a 9 X 12 interactive book to take home at the end of the module. Plan to create each page of the book during a language arts period as the various tools are introduced in science. Plan to use five or six colors of construction paper to make the book.

For each pocket page, you need on 9 X 12 sheet of construction paper and one 4 X 9 strip of the same color per student. Copy sheet #14 called If I Were a Meteorologist or use blank paper for students to write a few sentences about the weather tool for that page. See examples on page 28 in Investigation 2. Pages to create in Investigation 2: Part 2: Pocket page and Meteorologist sheet thermometer. Part 3: Glue Cloud Types to back of the thermometer page. Part 4: Pocket page and Meteorologist sheet rain gauge. Pages to create in Investigation 3: Part 2: Pocket page and Meteorologist sheet anemometer. Glue Wind Scale to back of rain-gauge page. Part 3: Pocket page and Meteorologist sheet wind vane. For each book cover use one 12 X 18 sheet of construction paper and one 4 X 18 strip for a pocket. Glue the long strip on the large piece of construction paper to make a pocket at the bottom. Fold the cover so that the pocket is inside. Gather the pages that were made in Investigations 2 and 3 and sandwich them inside the cover. Staple the pages along the fold. To make a binding to cover the outside staples, cut additional 3 X 12 strips of construction paper. Fold a strip in half and glue it along the binding so that it covers about 1.5 on the front and back. Have students title the book If I Were a Meteorologist and draw a picture of themselves to paste on the front cover. (TG Investigations tab, Investigation 2, p.28) Compare Weather Reports Encourage students to watch television or to look at the newspaper for weather reports. Ask, What kinds of information does the meteorologist provide? How does the weather prediction compare to your weather record for any given day? (TG Investigations tab, Investigation 2, p.32) Part 2: Measuring Temperature Numbers on the Thermometer Problem A Duplication Master #35 Students fill in the missing numbers on a thermometer, practicing their skills at counting by twos. Label the thermometer in degrees Celsius or degrees Fahrenheit before making copies. (TG Investigations tab, Investigation 2, p.29) Part 2: Measuring Temperature Make a Temperature Graph Make a daily temperature graph using chart paper with 1 squares. Cut 30 strips of red paper, ¾ X 12. As class meteorologist report the daily temperature on the demonstration thermometer, cut a strip of paper to match the height of the red line on the thermometer. Glue each strip on the graph paper to make a graph of daily changes. (TG Investigations tab, Investigation 2, p.31)

Part 2: Measuring Temperature Play I m Going to the Park Call the class together with their model thermometers for a game. Tell them, I m going to the park and I m going to wear my boots, hat, a sweater, jacket, mittens, and pants. Ask, Is it hot, warm, cool, or freezing? (Cold or freezing.) What temperature do you thing it might be? (Accept any appropriate temperatures students show on their model thermometers.) Continue the game, describing appropriate clothing for various temperature ranges. End by discussing the weather and temperature that the class meteorologist recorded for the day. Discuss what kinds of clothing would be appropriate for the day s weather and temperature. (TG Investigations tab, Investigation 2, p.31) Part 3: Watching Clouds Activities: Create Foggy-Day or Cloud Pictures For foggy-day pictures, have students color or make cutout paper pictures of an outdoor scene or landscape (e.g. houses, trees, mountains). Have them tape a piece of waxed paper over the scene to create fog or use cotton balls for clouds. (TG Investigations tab, Investigation 2, p.30) Go Cloud Watching If there is a clean, dry, grassy area near your school, take students out to watch clouds. Have them lie on their backs and quietly watch the clouds move by. Plan this activity for a time when there are fluffy, cumulus clouds and the Sun is not directly overhead. Have students describe some of the shapes the clouds make. Return to the classroom and have them draw some of the clouds they saw. (TG Investigations tab, Investigation 2, p.30) Make Spilt-Milk Images Read aloud the book It Looked Like Spilt Milk by Charles G. Shaw. Provide each student with a piece of dark-blue construction paper. Have students drip a few large drops of white poster paint on the paper and carefully blow at the paint with a straw. Allow the paintings to dry. Have students describe the shapes the paint made. Hang the finished drawings on a bulletin board or assemble them in a class book. (TG Investigations tab, Investigation 2, p.30) Part 3: Watching Clouds Home/School Connection Make a Cloud Window Duplication Master #42 Make copies of the Home/School Connection sheet #42 called Cloud Window and send it home with students after Part 3 of this investigation. You may also want to provide students with a 9 X 12 piece of dark construction paper. Students will cut the construction paper into strips, then tape them together to form a rectangle. They tape the cloud window to a regular glass window. The cloud window gives a reference from which to see cloud movement. Sometimes it s hard to see clouds moving without such a reference. (TG Investigations tab, Investigation 2, p.32)

Part 4: Measuring Rain Draw a Picture and Write a Weather Observation Assessment Duplication Master #5 Draw a picture and write an observation to describe today s weather. Weather is the condition of the air at a given time Students can write an objective observation of the weather. They should include at least two of the weather factors you have been observing each day (temperature, clouds, and rainfall). Tools/weather instruments used to measure these factors could be included. Date and time should be noted. (TG Assessment tab, p.8) Part 4: Measuring Rain Rain Gauge Problem B Investigations Duplication Masters #36 Ms. Long s class put a rain gauge outside to collect water during a big rainstorm. They measured 5 cm (2 ) of rain from the storm. Where this class lives, the usual rainfall for the whole year is 65 cm (26 ). If all rainstorms brought 5 cm (2 ) of rain, how many more storms do they need to reach the usual amount of rain for the year? Students may solve the problem by counting by twos or using tally marks. If your class has been using centimeter units to measure rain, change the inches to centimeters before making copies. (TG Investigations tab, Investigation 2, p.29) Part 4: Measuring Rain Watch Snow Melt If you have collected snowfall in your rain gauge or another container, measure its depth before and after melting. Students may be amazed to see how the depth of snow compares to the actual amount of water collected. (TG Investigations tab, Investigation 2, p.32) Part 4: Measuring Rain Listen to Weather Music Several pop, folk, and classical composers have used the weather as a theme in their music. Play some recordings of music with weather as a theme. Some suggestions are Cloudburst from the Grand Canyon Suite The storm sequence from the William Tell overture Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head Singing in the Rain

On the Sunny Side of the Street Good Day, Sunshine (TG Investigations tab, Investigation 2, p.30) Investigation 3: Wind Exploration Part 1: Bubbles in the Wind Students Write Stories and Poems About Wind The Wind by Monique Felix is a wonderful picture essay with words. Have students write their own poetry or stories about the wind. Wind is moving air. Wind moves clouds in the sky. Wind is a force that can move objects. (TG Investigations tab, Investigation 3, p.34) Investigation 3: Wind Exploration Part 1: Bubbles in the Wind Graph and Compare Speeds of Animals and Wind Problem A Students are asked to create a graph comparing the speeds of animals, winds, and windstorms. They use the symbols < and > to compare the speeds of animals to wind classifications. Students unfamiliar with the greater-than and less-than symbols can first circle the side that is faster, then add the symbol. (TG Investigations tab, Investigation 3, p.34) Investigation 3: Wind Exploration Part 3: Pinwheels Home/School Connection Whirligigs Duplication Master #43 Make copies of Home/School Connection sheet #43, called Whirligigs and send it home with students. Students look for places where the air moves. To see the wind, they make a whirligig. Whirligigs hang from strings and twirl as the air moves past. Students cut these out and hang them in a sheltered spot outside, inside near a fan, or by an open window. They are asked to look for locations where the air moves to make their whirligigs whirl. (TG Investigations tab, Investigation 3, p.36) Investigation 3: Wind Exploration Part 5: Kites Activities: Create a Wind Catcher Have students participate in an open-ended wind-catcher construction activity. Provide a variety of craft materials at a center: straws, crepe-paper scraps, paper, cardboard, plastic bags, string, yarn, thread, pipe cleaners, paper cups paper plates, feathers, toothpicks, and fabric remnants. After they have completed their project, ask, Does it move? What makes it move? Why do you think this is wind catcher?

What do you think will happen if the wind blows really hard. (TG Investigations tab, Investigation 3, p.35) Design a Kite Students can build an all-weather kite from plastic produce bags and flexible straws as illustrated. They should attach a long tail made of the same lightweight plastic. Have them tie one end of the kite string to the kite and the other end to a stick to use as an arm extender. The kite will fly at walking speed. (TG Investigations tab, Investigation 3, p.35) Investigation 4: Looking for Change Part 1: Weather Graphs Look for Weather Graphs in the Newspaper Ask students to clip the weather page from the newspaper and bring it to class Look for examples of graphs on the weather page, such as precipitation accumulations and so forth. Weather conditions change over time Weather observations can be organized and compared (TG Investigations tab, Investigation 4, p.26) Investigation 4: Looking for Change Part 2: Comparing the Seasons Create Seasonal Acrostic Poems To celebrate the beginning or end of each season, create a class poem together. Acrostic poems are easy to generate and lend themselves to focusing on first letter sounds, descriptive words, verbs or alliteration. Each season has characteristic weather Examples by Jackey, Fidalgo Elementary, Anacortes, WA. Swinging in the sun Popping up purple plants Raining and rainbows I love Spring Nesting birds Growing green grasshoppers Wind Ice Nights are snowy Temperature cold 32 degrees Excited about snow Rain (TG Investigations tab, Investigation 4, p.25) Investigation 4: Looking for Change Part 2: Comparing the Seasons Compare Rainfall,

Problem A Duplication Master #39 How much did it rain? Which town is really rainier, Dripsville, Puddleton, or Misty? Students record data from several rainstorms to find the total rainfall for a season in each town. They graph the data, using a bar graph, and compare the amounts. The bar graph used to solve this problem is similar to the Precipitation Record students use in Part 2 of this investigation. As a class, discuss how to set up the bar graph. Remind students to check off each rainstorm as they record it. (TG Investigations tab, Investigation 4, p.25-26) Seasonal Temperatures Problem B Duplication Master #40 Students graph 2 weeks of daily temperatures to determine the season represented by each week. This problem may be somewhat difficult for some second graders, so you may want to work on it as a class. Make a transparency of the sheet and work together step-by-step. See Teachers guide for additional help with teaching the graphing skill necessary for this problem. (TG Investigations tab, Investigation 4, p.25-26) Investigation 4: Looking for Change Part 2: Comparing the Seasons Home/School Connection Looking for Change Duplication Master #44 Make copies of the Home/School Connection sheet #44 and send it home with students. Students are asked to finish the story about Harry, who was always wearing the wrong clothes for the weather conditions, by designing and drawing a picture of Harry s all-weather wardrobe. They need to consider What kind of clothing would Harry need? What kinds of weather would Harry need to think about? How can Harry wear the same thing in all kinds of weather? (TG Investigations tab, Investigation 4, p.27)