In this lesson, students will be able to explain that clouds are made up of tiny droplets of water. They will also be able to make a model to explain that these water droplets come together to form larger drops that fall from clouds as rain. Students watch a video of rain falling and have a class discussion about the importance of rain and how we use water in our daily lives. Students put tiny drops of water on a laminated picture to make a model of a cloud. Students stand the card up and the drops stay in the cloud but when they make the drops bigger, they fall as rain. Students see an animation showing that clouds are made of tiny water droplets and that these droplets come together to make bigger drops that fall as rain. Students model this process using clay or Play-Doh to represent tiny droplets in a cloud.
In this lesson, students will be able to explain that snowflakes form from ice crystals in clouds. They will make a model to show the common six-sided structure of a snowflake. Students will also recognize snow as a solid form of water. Students are shown a video of snow falling and discuss their experiences with snow. Students discuss where they think snow comes from and how snowflakes are formed. Students see an animation of ice crystals in a cloud and a snowflake forming. Students see videos of actual snowflakes forming and pictures of snowflakes with six similar branches or “arms.” Students then model the formation of a snowflake using cotton swabs.
In this lesson, students will be able to explain that wind is air that is moving and that air is made up of tiny particles called molecules. Students will also be able to explain that when the wind blows, it is the molecules hitting objects that make the objects move. The class has a short discussion about air and wind and is introduced to the idea that air is made of tiny particles that we cannot see and that wind is moving air. Students see an animation showing what causes wind and why wind makes objects move. Students do an activity showing that a heavy strong base can make things more stable in the wind.
Observe and annotate various images of weather phenomena in this interactive drawing tool produced by WGBH. Weather is the combination of various factors—snow or rain, wind, sunlight and clouds, and temperature—that happens in a specific location at a specific time. As the combination of factors constantly shifts, the condition changes and leaves behind evidence that shows how the weather has changed. Students can use the images in this interactive tool to observe weather conditions and document evidence of weather that happened earlier in the day.
Explore how weather can change during snowstorms in this slideshow produced by WGBH. The images show the progression of snowstorms from a light flurry, to steady snow, to a blizzard, to conditions after a storm ends. Students can use the images in the slideshow to identify and describe the characteristics of each condition of the storm and compare conditions throughout the storm.
To view the Background Essay, Student Activity, Teaching Tips, and Non-Visual (NV) supports for this slideshow, go to Support Materials below. This resource was developed through WGBH’s Bringing the Universe to America’s Classrooms project, in collaboration with NASA. Click here for the full collection of resources.
Students can make and annotate weather observations with this interactive drawing tool produced by WGBH. The resulting images can be downloaded, printed, saved, and shared. Students can use the documentation of their firsthand observations to communicate data about their local weather patterns, and—overtime—to describe typical weather conditions expected during a particular season.
Students learn about four factors that describe different types of weather—temperature, wind, precipitation, and sunlight and clouds—as they explore various weather conditions and find evidence that describes each type of weather in this interactive lesson by WGBH. Interactive activities engage students as they observe and identify evidence of changing weather conditions and record factors evident in various types of weather.
In this interactive game, children are prompted to help the animals get dressed for each season. The earth changes with each season, and children can enjoy and learn from these changes. Observing the ways in which these changes take place can be a wonderful tool to introduce concepts such as evaluation and very basic problem solving.
This resource is a list of teaching ideas for activities to teach your students about the seasons.
