Download Weather - Discovery Education

Weather
from the Weather Smart Series
written and produced by...
Alan Sealls, Meteorologist
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Weather Smart: Weather
Table of Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Curriculum Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Program Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
Series Goals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
Teacher Preparation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
Instructional Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
Pre-Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
Student Preparation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
Student Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
Introducing the Program . . . . . . . . . . . . .6
Discussion Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6
Blackline Master Activities . . . . . . . . . . .7
Extended Learning Activities . . . . . . . . .8
Answer Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8
Reference Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12
Script of Program Narration . . . . . . . . .13
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Weather
from the Weather Smart Series
INTRODUCTION
Weather Smart is a series comprised of 10 weather programs for grades 3-8. It is written and produced by Alan
Sealls, an award-winning meteorologist who has worked
for WGN-TV, and CNN. Each program is supported by
exercises, quizzes, Internet references, and hands-on
experiments to make the weather come alive to students.
The series is an entire "course" in the wonders of weather while each program stands alone in approaching the
various facets of meteorology. These delightful and entertaining programs are geared toward kids' fascination with
weather. Each program may be used as an introduction,
supplement, or follow-up to weather studies.
Weather is a program that covers all the fundamentals of
meteorology. In Weather, kids see awesome images of
phenomena as gentle as a rainbow and as devastating as
a hurricane. They learn that the sun drives all weather as
it interacts with air and moisture. The unique properties of
air and water sustain life and these properties are
demonstrated in experiments that the kids can duplicate.
Internet references will allow students to further their
exploration of meteorology.
CURRICULUM STANDARDS
Weather Smart: Weather correlates to the following science standards:
National Science Education Standards, grades K-4
Science as Inquiry
CONTENT STANDARD A:
• Abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry
• Understanding about scientific inquiry
Physical Science
CONTENT STANDARD B:
• Properties of objects and materials
• Position and motion of objects
• Light, heat, electricity, and magnetism
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Life Science
CONTENT STANDARD C:
• The characteristics of organisms
Earth and Space Science
CONTENT STANDARD D:
• Properties of earth materials
• Objects in the sky
• Changes in earth and sky
Science and Technology
CONTENT STANDARD E:
• Abilities of technological design
• Understanding about science and technology
• Abilities to distinguish between natural objects and objects made by humans
Science in Personal & Social Perspectives
CONTENT STANDARD F:
• Personal health
• Types of resources
• Changes in environments
• Science and technology in local challenges
History and Nature of Science
CONTENT STANDARD G:
• Science as a human endeavor
National Science Education Standards, grades 5-8
Science as Inquiry
CONTENT STANDARD A:
• Abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry
• Understanding about scientific inquiry
Physical Science
CONTENT STANDARD B:
• Properties and changes of properties in matter
• Motions and forces
• Transfer of energy
Life Science
CONTENT STANDARD C:
• Populations and ecosystems
2
Earth and Space Science
CONTENT STANDARD D:
• Structure of the earth system
• Earth's history
• Earth in the solar system
Science and Technology
CONTENT STANDARD E:
• Abilities of technological design
• Understanding about science and technology
Science in Personal & Social Perspectives
CONTENT STANDARD F:
• Personal health
• Natural hazards
• Risks and benefits
• Science and technology in society
History and Nature of Science
CONTENT STANDARD G:
• Science as a human endeavor
• Nature of science
PROGRAM SUMMARY
The basics of air, wind, and water are covered to illustrate
that weather is both dynamic and simple at the same
time. Dazzling and exciting footage shows the wide variety of weather, while animations show why we have seasons. Students learn that the combination of air, moisture,
and heat from the sun can generate gentle clouds, ferocious storms, beautiful sunsets, frost on cars, sweltering
heat, and everything else in between. Students are introduced to meteorology as a profession that is more than
just the weather forecast on TV.
Fun experiments are shown and presented in the
Blackline masters that kids can duplicate to better understand how air reacts to changes in temperature. The program ends with a quiz.
3
SERIES GOALS
The Weather Smart series will give students the entire
scope of meteorology, fostering an appreciation for
weather as a universal, ever-present aspect of life on
Earth.
• Varying combinations of heat, air, and water generate
weather.
• The sun is the driving force behind weather.
• Air and water have unique properties.
• Neither Earth nor life would exist as we know them without weather.
• Humans can affect weather or climate.
• Weather forecasts make our lives easier and safer.
• Tools and instruments help us to understand and predict
weather.
• Mathematics is needed to assess and forecast weather
and climate.
• Scientists do not fully know what makes weather and
climate change.
• Weather and climate are cyclical.
• There is beauty in the sky.
• Meteorology is a wide-reaching profession.
TEACHER PREPARATION
Duplicate a sufficient quantity of the Blackline Masters for
your students. In order to undertake all of the exercises in
this program, the following items are needed in appropriate amounts and quantities:
computer with Internet connection
water
clear cup or jar
food coloring
plastic two-liter bottles
index cards
INSTRUCTIONAL NOTES
Before presenting Weather to your students, we suggest
you preview the program and review this guide and
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accompanying Blackline Master activities in order to
familiarize yourself with their content.
As you review the materials presented in this guide, you
may find it necessary to make changes, additions, or
deletions to meet the specific needs of your class. We
encourage you to do so, for only by tailoring this program
to your students will they obtain the maximum instructional benefits afforded by the materials.
We also suggest that the program viewing take place
before the entire group under your supervision. The lesson activities grow out of the context of the program;
therefore, the presentation should be a common experience for all students.
PRE-TEST
To gauge student level of understanding of weather, you
may use any of several of the Blackline Masters as both
pre-test and post-test. Those most appropriate would be
Blackline Master 1 Video Quiz, Blackline Master 3,
Discussion Questions, and Blackline Master 4, Write
in the Correct Word.
STUDENT PREPARATION
Pass around copies of a newspaper's weather section.
Ask the class how much of it they understand. Discuss
why newspapers give so much information on weather.
Have the students watch a weather forecast on TV or visit
a weather-related website, such as www.weather.com
and write down words that are used to describe weather.
Ask them if the forecast helped them to plan for the next
day. You might also record a weather forecast for use in
class where you can replay it several times. Each time,
have kids focus on different aspects of weather such as
heat, clouds, wind, math, vocabulary, and geography.
STUDENT OBJECTIVES
After viewing the program and participating in the followup activities, students should be able to:
5
• Identify the basic instruments used to observe weather.
• Describe how air, sun, and water create weather.
• Describe the unique properties of air and water.
• Identify the water cycle.
• List the ways in which weather benefits Earth.
• Identify sources of weather information.
• Demonstrate how warm water behaves differently from
cool water.
• Identify weather hazards.
• Read a heat index chart.
INTRODUCING THE PROGRAM
Either Blackline Master 8 or 9 may be used to introduce
the topic. Perform one experiment in front of the class to
pique curiosity and bring about discussion of how it
relates to weather. You may also choose to have any one
of these experiments undertaken by the class, in small
groups.
Present the program. Weather Smart: Weather runs 15
minutes. A video quiz corresponding to Blackline Master
1 is at the conclusion of the program. You may choose to
pause the program for a longer period between questions
to allow more time for answers or for discussion.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
As printed on Blackline Master 3, the answers are found
in the Answer Key on page 8.
1. What is your favorite kind of weather?
2. What are some weather dangers you find in the summer?
3. What makes weather move and change?
4. How would weather be different if we didn't have water
on Earth?
5. What good do hurricanes and snowstorms do?
6. What are some weather dangers you find in the winter?
7. What can air do that makes it special?
8. How would things be different if we didn't have weather forecasts?
9. What things do people do that might change the
weather?
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10. In what ways can you get weather forecasts?
BLACKLINE MASTER ACTIVITIES
1. Video Quiz may be used as a pre-test and post-test.
The actual quiz is at the conclusion of the program.
2. Weather Vocabulary Word Search is a fun way to
familiarize students with the words presented in this program. Students may work in groups to find the hidden
words.
3. Discussion Questions may be administered at any
time or given as a take-home assignment.
4. Write in the Correct Word is another opportunity for
you to assess student comprehension and retention.
5. Practice Plotting is a simple plot of values used to create a line chart. It gives a clear picture that temperature
typically falls throughout the night, and then rises through
the day. It also illustrates that the lowest temperature of
the day is typically just before sunrise, and the warmest
temperature occurs in mid-afternoon.
6. Temperature for a Day must be set up by you before
distribution. It is similar to Practice Plotting, you must
enter a range of temperature on the vertical axis that will
cover your typical temperature range in a day. Use increments of two or five degrees to make it easier for the kids
to interpolate (read between the lines). On the horizontal
axis, you must enter times of the day. If you have an electronic recording temperature sensor, you can use that
data, otherwise gather the actual temperature readings
from a local newspaper or the Internet.
7. Weather for a Week must be set up by you before distribution. You must enter a range of temperature on the
vertical axis that will cover your typical high temperatures
in a week. Use increments of two or five degrees to make
it easier for the kids to interpolate (read between the
lines).
8. Warm Energy is an experiment that shows warm
objects have more energy. Be careful to not stain clothing
with food coloring.
9. Warm Air Rising is an experiment using water that
shows warm water will rise when surrounded by cold
water. This principle should be extended to air. Be careful
to not stain clothing with food coloring. This experiment is
best performed over a sink or other area where spilled
7
water can be contained.
10. Heat Index Chart illustrates the relationship between
temperature, humidity and personal comfort. It strengthens the students' chart-reading skills.
11. Fun Weather Facts are pieces of information that can
be used in class in a trivia game, or simply by the kids to
show how weather smart they are.
12. Internet Sites gives the kids many more opportunities
to continue their weather exploration.
EXTENDED LEARNING ACTIVITIES
Contact local businesses and agencies that are dependent on weather. Your class may be allowed to visit them
to gain a local perspective. You might also assign students to contact and arrange for a visit or interview.
• Meteorologists who work at a nearby office of the
National Weather Service or on TV or at a university can
discuss local weather.
• Doctors or nurses can describe how extreme weather is
hazardous.
• Architects and construction companies can illustrate and
explain how buildings are designed to take into account
sunlight, wind direction, as well as any hazardous weather such as floods or hurricanes.
• Your local emergency management agency can describe all the events that take place when a weather disaster occurs.
• A local historian may be able to describe past extreme
weather and how it affected your community.
• A city planner can discuss how cities prepare for weather extremes.
ANSWER KEY
Video Quiz
1. true
2. false
3. true
4. true
5. false
6. true
7. true
8. true
9. false
10. true
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Weather Vocabulary Word Search
Discussion Questions
1. Any answer is correct.
2. Summer weather dangers are excessive heat, high
ozone levels, poor air quality, lightning, damaging wind,
tornadoes, and hurricanes.
3. Weather moves because wind pushes it around. The
wind is generated by differences in temperature over the
Earth. Change is the nature of weather. Change is the
attempt at the atmosphere to balance heat and moisture.
4. If we didn't have water, there would be no clouds and
no life as we know it. The side of the Earth facing the sun
would be very hot and the opposite side would be very
cold. There would likely be wind and dust storms.
5. Hurricanes and snow storms carry on the water cycle
and transport moisture. They provide clean water for people, animals, and plants. They cleanse the air of pollutants.
6. Winter weather dangers are excessive cold (frostbite,
hypothermia), thin ice on lakes, ice storms, ice on walking
surfaces, extreme snowfalls, home fires, and carbon
monoxide poisoning from improper heating ventilation.
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7. Air can expand or shrink, rise or sink, move as wind,
push things, suspend things, and transport things such as
water or pollution.
8. Without weather forecasts, more people would be
unprepared for changes in temperature. We wouldn't be
able to plan outdoor activities with certainty.
Transportation would be very difficult over great distances, especially for airplanes and ships. More people
would be injured by storms.
9. We might be changing our weather by creating or
draining lakes, cutting down forests, covering large areas
with cement and concrete, and by polluting the environment.
10. One can get weather forecasts from NOAA weather
radio, the Internet, newspapers, radio, and TV.
Write in the Correct Word
1. condensation
2. sun
3. precipitation
4. sinks
5. equator
6. water
7. more
8. air
9. humidity
10. clouds
Practice Plotting
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Temperature for a Day
Results will be similar to image above. Appearance will
vary depending upon your weather and how you set up
the graph; see instructions in Blackline Master Activities.
Weather for a Week
Appearance will vary depending upon your weather and
how you set up the graph; see instructions in Blackline
Master Activities. The image below is a sample.
Warm Energy
The food coloring added to the warm water will mix more
rapidly because the warm water has more (kinetic) energy.
Warm Air Rising
The warm (red) water will rise into the cold (blue) water.
This shows us that warm air rises to help form clouds.
Internet Activities
As listed on Blackline Master 12.
Pennsylvania State University Meteorology kids page
http://eyewall.met.psu.edu/kidswx/kids.html
This page has games and activities, along with files you
can download.
11
Federal Emergency Management Agency kids section
http://www.fema.gov/kids/
See lots of fun and interesting information on weather and
storm safety.
NASA kids links
http://kids.earth.nasa.gov/
Keep your head in the clouds with a large number of
weather and space links.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration photo
library
http://www.photolib.noaa.gov/index.html
Are you looking for hurricanes or tornadoes? Find a picture of just about any kind of weather here in more than
10,000 images from NOAA.
Interactive Weather Information Network from the
National Weather Service
http://weather.gov
Would you like to know the weather for any city in the
United States? See satellite and radar images to help you
plan a trip, or even just a day outside. Find out if there are
any severe weather watches or warnings.
As Internet addresses can change, you may have to use
a search engine to find the title of the page or website that
you are seeking. You may also have luck by going to the
host website URL. For example, if you are looking for
http://www.alan.edu/weather/cloud.html and you get a
message that the page is no longer available, then try
http://www.alan.edu/ and look or search for weather and
then cloud or something that sounds similar.
REFERENCE MATERIAL
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration education links
http://www.education.noaa.gov/
Numerous references to weather education links
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Environment Canada Weather Information
http://weatheroffice.ec.gc.ca
Weather information for Canada includes good resource
information for ozone, storms, pollution, sky watching, as
well as an online cloud chart.
Energizer WeatherBeat
http://www.energizer.com/weatherbeat/
Fun weather and science projects for kids and teachers.
American Meteorological Society
http://www.ametsoc.org/AMS
Locate references and resources for teachers interested
in data collection or science projects. Peruse an extensive listing of universities that offer meteorology programs.
National Weather Association
http://www.nwas.org/
Join an organization for weather professionals and enthusiasts. Find information on grants, k-12 links, and professional meteorologists to answer your questions.
Find many more weather experiments and simple designs
for weather instruments in the Hands on Weather programs also distributed by United Learning.
Comments, suggestions, or questions regarding this
Weather Smart program should be addressed to the producer, Alan Sealls ([email protected]).
SCRIPT OF NARRATION
Weather is colorful. Weather is exciting. Weather is gentle. Weather is awesome.
Weather is something that people share on Earth. In
every city and in every country, you can find fluffy cumulus clouds, pretty sunsets, blue skies, and feathery cirrus
clouds. Every place has wind that could be breezy or
gusty. In almost every place you get rain. And then in
some places, you get hail, floods, lightning, thunderstorms, snowstorms, hurricanes, and tornadoes.
13
There's a lot of weather on Earth and a lot to learn about
it. Scientists who study weather are called meteorologists.
Meteorologists know that there are three ingredients you
need to make weather: air, sunshine, and water.
Sunshine carries heat to Earth. When air warms up, it
rises and starts moving as wind. Wind carries water and
clouds and spreads them around to make weather all
over the Earth.
Weather is nature's way of mixing up temperature and
moving water to keep the Earth healthy and comfortable.
Without weather some parts of the Earth would never get
rain, other parts would stay frozen, and other parts would
be so hot that people couldn't live there.
Without weather, we would not have clean water to drink
or clean air to breathe. We can't see or touch air but it is
special because it can do a lot of different things. Air can
be squeezed, it can rise or sink, it can slow things down,
it can move around, and it can move things like clouds
and pollution. When heat from the sun warms air, the air
grows and starts to rise. This is the same thing we see in
a hot air balloon. The heat from the burner fills the balloon
with warm air and makes it rise and float. Warm air is
lighter than cold air.
When air gets cold, it gets heavier and sinks to the
ground. On Earth, you always find rising warm air over the
equator where the temperature is warm, and sinking cold
air over the North and South Poles, where it is colder. The
sinking cold air keeps building up more and more so it
gets heavier and meteorologists say it is making high
pressure. After a while the air has to spread out so it starts
moving toward the equator.
When air moves across the Earth, it is wind. The wind
from the North and South Poles goes toward the equator
where the air is rising and the pressure is lower.
Wind always blows from high pressure to low pressure. It
gets stronger in the afternoon when the temperature is
warmer. At night, the wind slows down. Even in the mid14
dle of the night when there might not be wind where you
are, there is always wind way above the ground. There's
a strong wind about six miles, or ten kilometers, above the
ground that pushes weather from west to east. That's
called the jetstream. You can't see the jetstream but you
can see the clouds that it pushes along.
When we look at Earth from a satellite, we see that most
of the planet is covered with water. That means that when
wind blows it can pick up water from the oceans, carry it
in the clouds, and move it to another spot where it falls as
rain or snow. This happens all the time and it's called the
water cycle.
Water is special because it can hide, change shape, carry
things, and move things. Most of our planet's water is in
the oceans but some of it floats in the air and some of it
stays frozen in glaciers. When water droplets become
invisible and rise into the air, we call that evaporation.
Evaporation happens even in a swimming pool. Tiny
water droplets leave the pool and go into the air to make
humidity. When a meteorologist says the air is humid, that
means there is a lot of water floating in the air, but it is hiding.
We do get to see the water in the air when it makes a
cloud or fog. Clouds do a good job of holding water and
moving it to another spot. One of the tricks that water can
do is it can freeze. Water in the clouds can freeze into tiny
pieces of ice. When the air is cold enough, instead of rain
we get snow. Rain and snow are the main way that water
gets back to the ground from the air. We call that precipitation.
Water in a cloud can block sunlight to keep you cooler. Or,
if too much water falls at once it can make a flood. Floods
are dangerous because they can lift cars, move lots of
soil, and drown people. They don't always happen near
rivers or lakes. Floods can happen in city streets, and
sometimes you can even get floods in a desert.
Meteorologists know that hurricanes happen only in some
parts of the Earth because hurricanes need warm water
to start. We find tornadoes only in certain countries
15
because you need to have just the right amount of humidity, temperature, and wind to make twisters. We know that
glaciers are close to the North and South Pole. When you
study the entire Earth you see that certain kinds of weather are found in certain places.
In your city, you probably find different weather every few
months of the year. That's because the Earth has seasons. Winter, spring, summer, and fall are the four seasons. Fall is also called autumn.
Winter is the coldest season when the days are short and
it snows in many places. Spring is the season where
many cities get a lot of rain to help the flowers start growing. Summer is the hot season when the days are long
and the sun is high in the sky, and fall is when we start
cooling down and the leaves fall off of the trees.
What causes the seasons? We can thank the sun once
again. Our seasons change because the rays from the
sun have a different slant through the year.
When the northern half of the Earth leans toward the sun,
the sun is higher in the sky and the days are longer. That
is summer. In summer your shadow is short. But look at
the southern half of Earth. At the same time, it leans away
from the sun so it would be winter there. The sun's rays
would hit the ground at more of a slant and not be as
strong.
Whatever the season is in the northern half of Earth, the
southern half has the opposite season.
Summer for the northern half of Earth ends as the earth
straightens back up with the sun. When summer ends, fall
begins. The days get a little shorter and the sun is not so
high in the sky. Each ray of sunlight gets slanted more.
When the northern half of Earth leans away from the sun,
it becomes winter. You might notice that your shadow gets
longer in the winter and that's because the sun is lower.
Each ray of sunlight is more spread out because it is more
slanted. Sunshine in winter is not as strong.
16
While people in the northern half of earth dress in heavy
clothes and some of them dig out from snowstorms, people in the southern half of Earth wear shorts and go to the
beach because it is summer there.
The summer season is one where you can spend a lot of
time outside because the days are warm. But you have to
be careful to not stay in the sun too long. Too much sun
on a hot day can make you sick so drink a lot of water and
find a cool spot to rest. Summer is also the season when
the air can become very sticky. The sticky feeling comes
from lots of water floating in the air that we say is high
humidity. When air is very humid it makes you feel hotter.
Meteorologists use a heat index to let you know that
sometimes the air feels hotter than it really is.
In the winter, the opposite happens. Because dry air does
not hold a lot of water, you don't have to worry about a
heat index but you do need to think about a wind chill
index. When the air is cold and the wind blows, it makes
you feel colder than what the thermometer shows. If you
are not dressed properly with boots, mittens, and a hat,
you might get frostbite and get sick.
Each season there is some kind of weather to watch out
for. In the spring and summer there are more thunderstorms because the air is warm and that helps the cumulonimbus clouds grow. The lightning is pretty to watch
when you are far away but it is dangerous. Lightning is
electricity so when you see lightning or hear thunder you
should go inside. Lightning makes thunder but the thunder won't hurt you. It's just noise.
Thunderstorms that are powerful or severe can make tornadoes. Always keep up with the weather forecast so you
will be safer. Meteorologists usually know when bad
weather is coming so you have time to get out of the way.
You can be safer if you live in the United States and buy
a weather radio. A weather radio gives weather information all through the day and night and it has an alarm that
you hear whenever the weather becomes dangerous.
Meteorologists on TV can also let you know what is hap17
pening with storms as they show you the satellite and
radar and where the weather fronts are.
There are a lot of meteorologists who are not on TV.
Since there is so much weather all over the world, you
find meteorologists who work for airlines, farmers, railroads, ski resorts, golf courses, and construction companies.
There are many meteorologists who still study weather to
try to figure out how tornadoes happen. Some meteorologists fly into hurricanes to measure the wind, while others
use computers to make models of how weather works
and how it might change.
Understanding weather is important because it helps to
make us safer. Sometimes it is dangerous but most of the
time it is gentle and pleasant. Everybody lives easier
when they know what the weather might be. We might not
always like what the weather brings us but it's all a part of
the Earth staying healthy. When our planet is healthy we
enjoy clean water, fresh air, and pretty sights. We are
lucky have such beautiful weather.
Keep studying the sky, it's never too late to start. You
might be surprised but you will be weather smart.
Let's take a weather quiz. Answer these ten questions
true or false.
Number one- Heat from the sun makes wind.
Number two- At night all weather stops.
Number three- A meteorologist is a person who studies
weather.
Number four- Storms help to make the Earth healthy.
Number five- We could live without air and water.
Number six- You can get a weather forecast from radios.
Number seven- To make weather we need air, water, and
sunshine.
Number eight- Air can be squeezed.
Number nine- Hurricanes start over cold land.
Number ten- Tornadoes make very strong winds.
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1
Name _______________
Weather Smart: Weather
Video Quiz
Directions: Answer either true or false.
1.
________ Heat from the sun makes wind.
2.
________ At night, all weather stops.
3.
________ A meteorologist is a person who studies weather.
4.
________ Storms help to keep the Earth healthy.
5.
________ We could live without air and water.
6.
________ You can get weather forecasts from radios.
7.
________ To make weather we need air, water, and sunshine.
8.
________ Air can be squeezed.
9.
________ Hurricanes start over cold land.
10.
________ Tornadoes can make very strong winds.
© 2001 Alan Sealls
Published and Distributed by United Learning
All rights to print materials cleared for classroom duplication and distribution.
2
Name _______________
Weather Smart: Weather
Weather Vocabulary Word Search
Directions: Draw a line through each word that you find.
E
R
U
T
A
R
E
P
M
E
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Words are forward, backward, or diagonal.
air
balloon
breeze
clouds
cold
computer
cool
desert
Earth
fall
© 2001 Alan Sealls
flood
fronts
gust
high
hot
humidity
hurricane
jetstream
lightning
low
meteorology
ocean
pollution
pressure
rain
rainbow
science
seasons
sky
snow
spring
storms
summer
sunshine
temperature
tornado
warm
water
wind
winter
Published and Distributed by United Learning
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3
Name _______________
Weather Smart: Weather
Discussion Questions
Directions: Answer the following questions as directed by your teacher.
1. What is your favorite kind of weather?
2. What are some weather dangers you find in the summer?
3. What makes weather move and change?
4. How would weather be different if we didn't have water on Earth?
5. What good do hurricanes and snow storms do?
6. What are some weather dangers you find in the winter?
7. What can air do that makes it special?
8. How would things be different if we didn't have weather forecasts?
9. What things do people do that might change the weather?
10. In what ways can you get weather forecasts?
© 2001 Alan Sealls
Published and Distributed by United Learning
All rights to print materials cleared for classroom duplication and distribution.
4
Name _______________
Weather Smart: Weather
Write in the Correct Word
Directions: Circle the correct word(s) to finish the sentence.
1. When you see dew on the grass, that is called condensation / evaporation.
2. The moon / sun gives us heat to make weather move.
3. Radar is a weather instrument that shows precipitation / temperature.
4. Cold air is heavy and it sinks / rises.
5. Earth is always warm at the equator / North Pole.
6. Rain and snow are a part of the water / wind cycle.
7. When air gets warmer, it takes up more / less space.
8. Wind is air / moisture that is moving.
9. In the summer, humidity / pressure can make us feel uncomfortable.
10. Satellites look down on the Earth to show us the wind / clouds.
© 2001 Alan Sealls
Published and Distributed by United Learning
All rights to print materials cleared for classroom duplication and distribution.
5
Name _______________
Weather Smart: Weather
Practice Plotting the Temperature
Make a dot to show how warm it was at a certain time. Connect the dots to finish the graph.
midnight
2am
4am
6am
8am
10am
noon
2pm
4pm
6pm
8pm
10pm
© 2001 Alan Sealls
55°
51°
49°
45°
55°
65°
74°
77°
80°
76°
70°
62°
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6
Name _______________
Weather Smart: Weather
Temperature for a Day
Make a dot to show how warm it was at a certain time.
Connect the dots to finish the graph.
© 2001 Alan Sealls
Published and Distributed by United Learning
All rights to print materials cleared for classroom duplication and distribution.
7
Name _______________
Weather Smart: Weather
Weather for a Week
How does the temperature change in a week? Make a dot to show how warm each day was.
Connect the dots with lines. In the box below the day of the week, show what kind of weather
we had. Why were some days warmer than others?
© 2001 Alan Sealls
Published and Distributed by United Learning
All rights to print materials cleared for classroom duplication and distribution.
8
Name _______________
Weather Smart: Weather
Warm Energy
You need:
two clear cups
warm water
cold water
food coloring
warm
cold
Fill one cup halfway with warm water and the other cup with cold water. Let them sit for a
few minutes. Gently add a few drops of food coloring to each of the cups. What happens?
Does the food coloring act differently in the two cups?
© 2001 Alan Sealls
Published and Distributed by United Learning
All rights to print materials cleared for classroom duplication and distribution.
9
Name _______________
Weather Smart: Weather
Warm Air Rising
You need:
two plastic soda bottles
one index card
warm water
cold water
red food coloring
blue food coloring
cold
Put a few drops of blue food coloring in a bottle
and then fill the bottle with cold water. Put a few
drops of red food coloring in the other bottle and
then fill that one with warm water. Place the
index card over the top of the cold water bottle.
Turn the cold bottle upside down while you hold
the index card over it so that the water does not
warm
spill. Place the upside down bottle and index
card on top of the warm bottle. Carefully slide out
the index card and watch what happens to the
warm water and the cold water. What changes
do you see in the bottle with warm water? What
changes do you see in the bottle with cold water?
© 2001 Alan Sealls
Published and Distributed by United Learning
All rights to print materials cleared for classroom duplication and distribution.
10
Name _______________
Weather Smart: Weather
Heat Index Chart
High relative humidity makes it feel hotter than it really is. You can use this chart to find the
Heat Index. The temperature is on the top and the relative humidity is on the side. Find
where they meet in the middle of the chart to get the Heat Index.
© 2001 Alan Sealls
Published and Distributed by United Learning
All rights to print materials cleared for classroom duplication and distribution.
11
Name _______________
Weather Smart: Weather
Fun Weather Facts
• Some plants, like sunflowers, follow the sun. These are called heliotropic.
• In the United States, most thunderstorms happen around Tampa Bay, Florida, where the air and
water are always warm.
• Even in deserts, you can get water from the air in dew.
• Pine cones can tell you about humidity. When the air becomes more humid, pine cones will close.
• The air pressure outside of an airplane flying across the ocean is so low that you wouldn't be able
to breathe if the doors were open.
• Forty-one degrees below zero is the only temperature that the Fahrenheit and Celsius scales
share at the same time.
• All air has some water vapor in it, so it is never too cold to snow.
• The most tornadoes on Earth happen in the United States in an area from Oklahoma into northern
Texas, called Tornado Alley.
• The seven colors of the rainbow are red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. Remember
the name ROY-G-BIV. Each letter stands for a different color.
• An average thunderstorm has more energy than a nuclear bomb.
© 2001 Alan Sealls
Published and Distributed by United Learning
All rights to print materials cleared for classroom duplication and distribution.
12
Name _______________
Weather Smart: Weather
Internet Sites for Weather Fun and Education
Pennsylvania State University Meteorology kids page
http://eyewall.met.psu.edu/kidswx/kids.html
This page has games and activities, along with files you can download.
Federal Emergency Management Agency kids section
http://www.fema.gov/kids/
See lots of fun and interesting information on weather and storm safety.
NASA kids links
http://kids.earth.nasa.gov/
Keep your head in the clouds with a large number of weather and space links.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration photo library
http://www.photolib.noaa.gov/index.html
Are you looking for hurricanes or tornadoes? Find a picture of just about any kind of weather
here in more than 10,000 images from NOAA.
Interactive Weather Information Network from the National Weather Service
http://weather.gov
Would you like to know the weather for any city in the United States? See satellite and radar
images to help you plan a trip, or even just a day outside. Find out if there are any severe
weather watches or warnings.
Sometimes the address for a website changes. When that happens, you can usually find it
again by doing an Internet search for the title of the page.
© 2001 Alan Sealls
Published and Distributed by United Learning
All rights to print materials cleared for classroom duplication and distribution.