HOW DOES THE WEATHER CHANGE? --- TEACHER INSTRUCTIONS

Title: How does the weather change?

Grade Focus: K - 2

Subject: Science and Technology

Integration Activity: Digital Imagery, Discovering the Internet, Journaling, Drawing

Recommended Time to Completion: 60 – 90 minutes once a week throughout the year

INTRODUCTION
Students will work with a partner to observe and record the weather once a week throughout the year. In addition to charting observations, students will take digital images, draw what they observe and write weekly in a journal to record and describe their observations.

Based upon this work, students will create a digital weather portfolio to share with other students around the world. By comparing their local weather with weather portfolios from around the world, students will look for patterns to weather and seasons.

PREREQUISITE EXPERIENCE:
Students should be able to conduct research online and use a word processor. It would be helpful for them to know how to use the drawing program on their computer. Experience with digital cameras and capturing images from the computer will also be helpful.


TEACHER PREP TIME: 1 hour
Review these training videos from Nortel LearniT

·  Discovering the Internet, http://nortellearnit.org/technology/Discovering_the_Internet/

·  Imaging, http://nortellearnit.org/technology/Imaging/

·  PowerPoint Presentations, http://nortellearnit.org/technology/PowerPoint_Presentations/

PROJECT:
Students will use the Internet and software applications on the XO laptop to gather and record observations of weather. They will create a digital weather portfolio that will be shared with other students around the world. By comparing weather portfolios, students will look for patterns and trends in weather that lead to seasons.

ASSESSMENT / GRADING:
Using a rubric, the digital weather portfolios will be evaluated on their content, their analytical skills, and their ability to use the tools to convey their applied understanding.

TIME MANAGEMENT TIP:

This project is designed for teams of two.

DEVELOPING THE DIGITAL WEATHER PORTFOLIO:

Based upon your students’ interests and abilities, you may choose a variety of ways to help your students create their own digital weather portfolio. Some options include:

·  Word processing

·  Drawing

·  Imaging

·  PowerPoint Presentations

·  Discovering the Internet

·  Audio production

People often talk about the weather. It certainly has a huge effect on our daily lives.

What can you tell about the weather from the photos shown above? What clues helped you make these observations?

Discuss your ideas with a friend.

You and your classmates are going to be observing and studying the weather in your community throughout the year.

Your observations, combined with the tools in your XO laptop, will help you share your findings with students around the world. To complete this lesson, you’ll need a computer with word processing software and a drawing program. You will also need a computer with Internet access and the ability to take digital images. It will be helpful to have a computer with a music program, too.

Using some of the skills and tools of scientists, let’s begin our study.

What weather do you observe?

1. Choose a partner to help you make observations of the weather. Using the word processing software on your computer, record your observations in this chart, or a similar chart.

Our Weather Observations

What we saw / Where we saw it / How it looks / How it feels / What it's doing
Weather
Sky
Temperature
(°F or °C and date)
Land/Water
Animals
Plants
People
Other
Do you see anything or any changes for the “first” time during these observations? First leaf buds? First signs of plant life? First leaves falling?

1.  As a class, discuss each team’s observations. Chart these observations on a large sheet of paper so that everyone in the group may see all observations.

2.  What observations were made by most groups? Create a list of observations that were repeated most often.

3.  Identify observations made by just a few groups.

4.  As a class, decide what observations are most important when trying to describe the weather. Use these key observations for all future weather observations.

5.  Use a word processing program to start a journal to record key observations of today’s weather and all future weather observations. Be sure to date each entry.

6.  At least once a week, make weather observations and add these observations to this journal.

7.  Each time you make your weather observations, use another tool from your XO laptop to help record what you’ve observed. Some suggestions:

a.  Use the drawing software to draw the weather that you’re observing.

b.  Use the digital camera to take digital images of the weather.

c.  Continue to use the word processing program to journal your observations.

d.  Use the music software to create original music that helps describe the weather.

e.  Use the word processing program to write poems or haikus about the weather.

8.  You may want to review several Nortel LearniT training videos to help you record your observations.

·  Nortel LearniT Digital Imaging videos at http://www.nortellearnit.org/technology/Imaging/

·  Drawing software?

·  Wordprocessing?

1. Organize your weather observations into a digital weather portfolio. You may choose to include digital images, samples of your journal, and/or examples of your drawings.

2. Share your weather portfolio with students from another location using the XO laptops.

3. How does their weather compare to your weather? What might cause similarities or differences?

4. How does location affect weather? Do similar latitudes have similar weather? Compare your locations by plotting them on a map. Use the atlas included on your XO laptop, or any of these Internet sites to compare the locations.

·  Google Earth:

http://earth.google.com/tour/thanks-win4.html

·  World Maps

http://www.justmaps.org/

·  World Atlases:

http://graphicmaps.com/aatlas/world.htm

http://go.hrw.com/atlas/norm_htm/world.htm

·  Map Machine from National Geographic: http://plasma.nationalgeographic.com/mapmachine/

5. Need some help understanding latitude and longitude? These sites may be helpful:

·  Map to find latitude and longitude:

http://www.satsig.net/maps/lat-long-finder.htm

·  Explanation of latitude and lognitude

http://www.satsig.net/lat_long.htm

6. Help your teacher create a visual wall display mapping the digital weather portfolios with their locations. How does geography affect weather?


Weather Portfolio Evaluation Rubric

Criteria / Exemplary / Satisfactory / Needs Improvement / Unsatisfactory
Observations / Thorough observations including many details / Many observations with some details / Few observations with few details / Limited observations with little or no details
Planning / Thorough planning evident / Planning evident / Some planning evident / Limited planning evident
Content / Excellent detail and much variety / Good detail and much variety / Some detail and some variety / Lacks detail and variety
Technology Use to Demonstrate Understanding / Intuitive technology use with specific purpose / Technology use with purpose / Technology use with some purpose / Technology use with little purpose
Overall Final Project / Consistent, creative and appropriate aesthetics and technical functionality / Consistent and appropriate aesthetics and technical functionality / Somewhat consistent and appropriate aesthetics and technical functionality / Inconsistent and inappropriate aesthetics and technical functionality

Partner evaluation: What did each of you contribute to the task? How did you share the work?

Self Evaluation: What did you learn? What do you know about weather that you did not already know?

Consider some of these ideas for extensions:

1.  What might you learn about the weather from these descriptions:

o  The leaves are changing colors here. They are pretty shades of red, yellow, and orange (and some brown). Some are falling off the trees, but more are still on the trees. Some of the plants around are dying and creating seeds. There are a lot of apples on the apple trees around here.

o  We have seen large groups of birds flying around, mostly crows. There are still insects around, especially caterpillars. Many of them are making their cocoons.

Use digital images and the drawing software to create a collage that depicts specific weather conditions. Challenge your classmates to make “inferences” about the weather based upon these collages.

2.  Do you have seasons where you live? Why are their different seasons in different parts of the world? Why do northern and southern hemispheres have opposite seasons? Why do places farther from the equator have greater seasonal changes than places close to the equator? Find out more about seasons by watching the NASA Kids’ Science News Network videoclip, “Why are there seasons?” and try some of the activities at this site. http://ksnn.larc.nasa.gov/k2/s_seasons.html

3.  What clothing is most appropriate for the weather in your community? Do you wear different clothing at different times of the year? How does weather affect your choices in clothing? Create clothing that would be appropriate for the weather described by students in another geographic location. Take digital images or draw pictures of the clothing to share with your friends who live at this location.

4.  What tools do you use to help measure the weather? Create your own simple tools to measure the temperature and amount of precipitation. Create a step-by-step set of directions on how you created these tools. Share your ideas with friends at another location. For some ideas, go to the NASA Kids’ Science News Network program, “How do you measure weather?” found at:

http://ksnn.larc.nasa.gov/k2/s_measureWeather.html

5.  Create graphs to display weather data collected using your weather tools.

6.  Does the weather or the seasons affect any of your holidays and community

celebrations? Which holidays are affected by the weather? Find out more about holidays around the world by visiting the Earth Calendar web site,

http://hem.passagen.se/farila/year_eng.htm.

7.  Listen to this podcast of the composer Vivalidi’s “Four Seasons.”

http://hem.passagen.se/farila/year_eng.htm

Use the music software on your XO laptop to create music that helps to describe the weather or seasons where you live.

8.  Write poems and haiku about the weather. Share your poems with friends at

another location.


National Science Education Standards

Science as Inquiry

·  Abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry

·  Understandings about scientific inquiry

Earth and Space Science

·  Changes in Earth and sky

Science in Personal and Social Perspectives

Changes in environment

International Society of Technology Educators/National Educational Technology Standards

Basic Operations and Concepts

Social, ethical, and human issues

Technology productivity tools

Technology communications tools

Technology research tools

Technology problem-solving and decision-making tools

Some skills included in this lesson:

Science

·  Observing and identifying natural events

·  Observing and recording weather

·  Identifying changes in seasons

·  Describing observations orally and in writing

·  Comparing and making inferences about weather patterns and seasonal changes due to location

·  Gathering and recording scientific data

Language Arts

·  Journaling

·  Representing visual observations in written form

·  Reading and interpreting observations from other peers

Social Studies

·  Map skills

·  Comparing differences due to location and culture

·  Sharing information and ideas within a global community

Art

·  Representing observations through a variety of art media

Technology

·  Using word processing software to create charts and record observations

·  Using drawing software to create visuals

·  Using digital cameras to document data

·  Using the Internet for research

·  Using e-mail to exchange information within a global community