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New Teachers New York:
Lesson Plans by New Teachers, For New Teachers
Let the Weather Help You Dress 

Aim: Kindergarten students study the weather throughout the year and make observations about the changes they notice. After this lesson, students will likely pay more attention to the weather they experience each day and will have the vocabulary to talk about different types of weather. Students will learn how to focus on the earth and sky and will experience how the weather affects their lives daily.

Objectives: Students will: 

  • observe weather daily for at least a month (preferably more)
  • graph the weather for one month
  • learn to use weather vocabulary such as sunny, windy, rainy, stormy, cold, snowy, foggy, and hot
  • share their predictions about weather
  • talk about how the weather affects them (what they wear to school, whether they go to the park, how much time they spend outside)
  • use a thermometer to measure the temperature
  • draw and write about weather

Created by:
Anna Tattan 
Location: PS 40
Grade: kindergarten
Subject: Science, Math

Anna Tattan is a first-year kindergarten teacher in Brooklyn. She moved from Michigan to reach out to children with backgrounds different from her own, and she has discovered more challenges then ever imagined. Teaching has been a trial and error process and continues to be a work in progress.

If you have any questions regarding this activity, please contact anna.tattan@gmail.com

Vocabulary/Concepts:
Weather Vocabulary: windy, rainy, foggy, snowy, cold, hot, warm, sunny, stormy, foggy.
Weather Tools: thermometer, degrees (F/C)

Procedures:

  1. Introduce a weather graph/chart to the students, using weather vocabulary (hot, cold, snowy, windy, rainy).
    1. Students will observe the weather as they come to school in the morning.
    2. Students will chart the weather each morning on a graph, according to student opinion.
    3. A class graph will be created, and students will receive their own weather books to track the weather.
  2. Three times a week, students will use a thermometer to measure what the temperature is outside. (Students should already have been exposed to the thermometer.)
    1. Temperature will be graphed along the way.
    2. In the weather books, students will have time twice a week to make observations and predictions in writing and drawings.
  3. Once the month of observation has been completed, students will use the graph to compile data: (How many sunny days? How many windy days? What was the most frequent temperature?) to draw conclusions about the average temperature and average weather of that particular month.
  4. Students will then respond to their findings by creating a special weather book for someone in their family. This weather book will have their findings about that month of weather and how to prepare for that kind of weather the following year.

Activities: Students will observe the weather daily for one month. They will share their observations with their classmates and will participate in graphing their findings. Students will track the weather in their own books and will analyze the data once the month of observations is complete. Students will share their findings with their families.

Extension Followup: After a month of observations is complete, students may want to revisit weather observation for another month. If the observations were completed in March, perhaps more observations could be taken in May. Following the second observation, students will be able to compare two months of weather and draw conclusions from their data.

Homework: Students will be in charge of looking at the sky as they come to school in the morning. They will pay attention to the clothes they wear (jacket? boots? pants?) and whether or not they were warm enough. Students will notice changes in the sky and how that affects what the weather feels like. Students will share results with their families.

Evaluation: The students will have completed weather books, which will include their own drawings and writing about the weather they noticed and the weather they predict. Based on classroom conversation and their written work, students will be evaluated on effort and participation throughout all observations.

Standards Addressed:
Earth Sciences Concepts: Changes in Earth and sky.
Scientific Tools and Technologies: Use tools and technology.
Scientific Tools and Technologies: Collect and analyze data.
Scientific Communication: Represent data and results in multiple ways.

Students: Young students, old students, any student will be interested in such a unit. Most likely, children pay attention to the weather around them, but they don't realize how much our earth and sky affect us until they focus on specific details.

Overall Value: Students will be intrigued by their homework, which is simply to pay close attention to something normal, something they probably miss. Look up at the sky more carefully, pay attention to what clothes you're wearing to school, look at what the ground looks like. The idea is so simple yet so monumental.

Teacher Tips: The unit is so effective when multiple months are observed, months that are distinct (such as December and May).

 

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