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TEACHER’S G UIDE
TEACHER’S GUI DE
TEACHER’S G UIDE
Follow-up Activities
Suggested Print Resources
• Students should make daily observations of the we a t h e r, using tools like
thermometers, windsocks and barometers. Have them record their observations in a class weather journal. After seve ral weeks of observation,
e n c o u rage students to look for weather patterns in their re c o rd s , especially between the type of weather and the air pressure, temperature and
humidity measure m e n t s . Students can also make graphs illustrating their
weather data.
• Include a daily weather report in your cl a s s room routine, making diffe rent students re s p o n s i ble for diffe rent measurements (i.e., b a ro m e t ric
p re s s u re, tempera t u re , wind speed, amount of precipitation) each day.
Students can obtain these measurements from their own observa t i o n s ,
newspapers and television reports.
• Arra n ge a class visit by a meteoro l o gist, perhaps the local TV we a t h e rman. During the visit, the meteoro l o gist can describe to students the
process of studying weather. Encourage your visitor to bring some meteoro l o gical tools to share with your students, l i ke weather maps, hy gro m eters, barometers and anemometers.
• Gather seve ral editions, past and present, of the Fa rm e rs ’ Almanac to
share with your students. Students can ex p l o re the almanac weather predictions and compare these fo recasts with weather forecasts in the new spaper or the telev i s i o n . How are these fo recasts similar and different?
• S h a re examples of weather folklore with your students. An example of
weather folklore is that if animals have an especially thick coat of fur, one
can expect a harsh winter. This kind of folklore, based on observations of
natural events, suggests weather patterns. Discuss with students whether
or not they think such tales are believable or scientific. Students can then
write and illustrate their own weather folklore.
• Breen, Mark, and Kathleen Friestad. Kids’ Book of Weather Forecasting:
Build a Weather Station, “Read” the Sky and Make Predictions!
Williamson Publishing Company, Charlotte,VT; 2000.
• Cosgrove, Brian. Weather. DK Publishing Inc., New York, NY; 2004.
• Levine, Shar, and Leslie Johnstone. First Science Experiments:Wonderful
Weather. Sterling Publishing Co., Inc., New York, NY; 2003.
• Rodgers,Alan, and Angella Streluk. Forecasting the Weather. Heinemann
Library, Chicago, IL; 2002.
• Simon, Seymour. Weather. HarperCollins Children’s Books, New York, NY;
2000.
Suggested Internet Resources
Periodically, Internet Resources are updated on our web site at
www.LibraryVideo.com
• www.fi.edu/weather/todo/todo.html
The Franklin Institute sponsors “ M a keYour Own Weather Station,” a site
that details how to keep a weather journal and how to make weather
tools like a barometer, hy grometer, rain gauge , weather vane and compass.
• www.miamisci.org/hurricane/weatherstation.html
“Making a Weather Station” is a Web site sponsored by the Miami
Museum of Science that not only explains various weather tools, but also
provides explanations of weather concepts like air pressure, moisture,
wind and temperature. Several hands-on activities are also included.
• weathereye.kgan.com/cadet/forecast/teachers.html
This interactive page for elementary students provides information about
forecasting the weather.This site instructs students in methods of
weather forecasting, including using clouds, the wind and your senses.
A quiz and hands-on activities are also offered.
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All About
Meteorology
Grades K–4
his guide is a supplement, designed for educators to use
when presenting this pro gram in an instructional
setting.
Before Vi e w i n g : R e s e a rch in learning suggests that it is
important for the teacher to discover what the students
know — or think they know — about a topic, at the start of
a new unit, so that their accurate conceptions can be va l idated and re i n fo rc e d , and their misconceptions identified
and corre c t e d .T h e re fo re , after rev i ewing the pre - v i ewing
discussion questions provided for your class, c reate an
“Everything We Know About…” list. P review key vo c ab u l a ry
wo rds and have students raise additional questions they
hope will be answe red by this pro gra m . Most import a n t ly,
students should be told that as “science detective s ” they
must listen closely, so that after viewing the pro gram, t h ey
will be able to tell whether or not the facts/beliefs they put
on their list were scientifi c a l ly accurate.
After Viewing: After a brief discussion about the program,
challenge your “science detective s ”to prove or disprove the
accuracy of the facts they put on their “ E ve rything We
K n owAbout…” list. Discuss what else they learned and use
the fo l l ow-up questions and activities to inspire further discussion. E n c o u rage students to re s e a rch the topic furt h e r
with the Internet and reading re s o u rces provided.
T
TEACHER’S GUIDE CONSULTANT
Conrad M. Follmer
25 years as a K–5 Science & Math coordinator for a Pennsylvania public
school system, currently an independent consultant to elementary schools.
TITLES
• ALL ABOUT CLIMATE & SEASONS
• ALL ABOUT METEOROLOGY
Teacher’s Guides Included
and Available Online at:
9/04
• ALL ABOUT RAIN, SNOW,
SLEET & HAIL
• ALL ABOUT WIND & CLOUDS
800-843-3620
Teacher’s Guide and Program Copyright 2000 by Schlessinger Media,
a division of Library Video Company
P.O. Box 580, Wynnewood, PA 19096 • 800-843-3620
Executive Producers: Andrew Schlessinger & Tracy Mitchell
Programs produced and directed by First Light Pictures, Inc.
All rights reserved
K7122
V6037
Program Summary
One of the questions people frequently ask is:What’s the weather going to be
like tomorrow? Knowing what the weather is going to be like an hour, day or
week ahead of time impacts the lives of eve ryone around us.Weather affects
the safety of ship and airline passengers, the amount of food that farmers can
grow and even kids’ soccer games.The scientists who study the weather in
order to make weather predictions are called meteorologists, and the study of
weather is called meteorology.To accurately predict the weather for a specific
place, meteorologists need to observe weather over time and look for patterns. Special equipment helps them understand these patterns so they can
make an accurate forecast.
To help predict weather, meteorologists focus on the atmosphere, or the layer
of air that surrounds the Earth.The atmosphere provides us with the air we
b reathe and keeps heat near the Eart h ’s surfa c e . Energy from the sun eva p orates water on the ground into water vapor, an inv i s i ble gas that eve n t u a l ly
cools to become clouds.These clouds release water in the form of rain, snow,
sleet and hail that falls back to the Eart h . This process, called the water cycl e ,
is happening all the time! Meteorologists regularly ch e ck the temperature of
the air around us by using therm o m e t e rs.They measure the amount of water
vapor in the air, or the humidity, by using a tool called a hygrometer.
The air in the Eart h ’s atmosphere is made of many inv i s i ble part i cles and has
we i g h t , even though we don’t re a l ly notice it. M e t e o ro l o gists measure this
we i g h t , called air pressure, with a tool called a barometer. If they find that the
p re s s u re is changing, t h ey know that the weather will also ch a n ge.When the
p re s s u re goes up, the barometer rises.This usually means fair we a t h e r. When
the barometer is falling, that means low - p re s s u reair is possibly bri n ging stormy
we a t h e r. Meteorologists know that wind is the movement of air and that air
m oves from places with high air pre s s u re towa rd places with low air pre s s u re .
K n owing which direction the wind is bl owing is important for weather prediction also. Wind direction can be detected using a weather vane or windsock, and wind speed can be measured with a tool called an anemometer.
M e t e o ro l o gists use these tools, as well as equipment like ra d a rs , satellites and
computers to observe the we a t h e r. By taking careful measurements of the
tempera t u re , air pre s s u re , humidity, wind dire c t i o n , wind speed and other
important info rmation, meteorologists are able to look very cl o s e ly at their
observations for pattern s . Weather wa t ch e rs depend on these patterns to
point out similarities and ch a n ges that make the science of meteorology so
interesting!
meteorologists — Scientists who study the weather.
atmosphere — The layer of air that surrounds the Earth.
thermometer — A tool used by meteorologists to measure the temperature
of the air.
water vapor — Water in the form of an invisible gas.
humidity — The amount of water vapor in the air.
hygrometer — A tool used to measure the humidity or amount of moisture
in the air.
evaporation — The change of liquid water into an invisible gas called water
vapor.
condensation — The change of water vapor from a gas to a liquid.
precipitation — The part of the water cycle that invo l ves the tiny wa t e r
droplets formed by condensation collecting into larger drops and falling back
to Earth from cl o u d s . P recipitation can be in the form of rain, s n ow, sleet or
hail.
water cycle — The never-ending process that re c y cles Eart h ’s fresh wa t e r
supply by using energy from the sun.The water cycle has three stages: evaporation, condensation and precipitation.
air pre s s u re — The weight of the air.Air that is heavier has high pressure,
and lighter air has low pressure.
wind — Moving air that blows from high to low pressure areas.Wind moves
at different speeds, ranging from a gentle breeze to a hurricane force.
barometer — A tool used to measure air pressure.
wind vane, weather vane — A tool that measures the direction of the
The following wo rds are included for teacher re fe rence or for use with students.They are listed in the order in which they appear in the video.
weather — The changes in tempera t u re and precipitation caused by the
interaction of air, sunshine and water in Earth’s atmosphere.
meteorology — The study of weather.
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Focus Questions
You may wish to ask your class the following questions to assess their comprehension of key points presented in the program:
1.Why is it helpful to have accurate weather forecasts?
2.What do meteorologists do?
3.What is the atmosphere? Why is the atmosphere important?
4.What tool do meteorologists use to check temperature of the air?
5.What is humidity? Where does it come from?
6. How do meteorologists measure humidity?
7.What is the water cycle? Why is this process so important?
8. Give examples of evaporation and condensation.
9.What is air pressure? Is there more air pressure at the top of a mountain
or at the beach? Why?
10.What is wind? Why does it move?
11.What can a barometer tell meteorologists?
12.Why do meteoro l o gists use weather va n e s , windsocks and anemometers ?
13.What is a front? Why do clouds usually form near a front?
14.What happens when a cold front moves into an area?
wind.
anemometer — A tool that measures how fast the wind is moving.
front — The area where two masses of air meet or bump into each other. It is
Follow-up Discussion
Befo re students ge n e rate their list of “ E ve rything We Know A b o u t … ” this
topic, s t i mulate and focus their thinking by raising these questions so that
their list will better reflect the key ideas in this show:
• What causes the weather?
(Continued)
• How do scientists predict the weather?
The most important part of this segment is to examine both the facts and
beliefs ge n e rated by the class in their “ E ve rything We Know About…” list.
R e s e a rch indicates that students will retain their previous misconceptions
— in prefe rence to the new info rmation — until they active ly recognize and
correct their own erro rs . Because of this, it is important to lead students to
the correct ideas while identifying and correcting any misconceptions from
the class list. After rev i ewing the list, encourage students to share the
a n swers they got to the questions ra i s e d , b e fo re viewing the pro gram.
Raising a thought-provoking question is a good way to assess the ove rall
depth of understanding.A couple of suggestions are listed below:
• What are some ways that you can find out what the weather is going to
be like in the future?
• If you were going to build your own weather station to observe weather
patterns, what patterns would you look for?
• What is “ go o d ” weather? What is “bad” weather? Could we live without
“bad” weather?
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in this area that clouds form.
cold front — The area where a cold air mass pushes against warm air.A cold
front usually brings a quick drop in temperature and can bring heavy precipitation or strong thunderstorms.
warm fro n t — The area where a wa rm air mass meets a cold air mass, and
the cold air moves out of the way.A wa rm front usually brings higher cl o u d s
and can mean steady precipitation.
Pre-viewing Discussion
Vocabulary
After the class has completed their “Everything We Know About…” list, and
befo re wa t ching the show, ask them what other questions they have that
they hope will be answe red during this pro gra m . Have students listen
closely to learn if everything on their class list is accurate and to hear if any
of their own questions are answered.
(Continued)