ALEX | Alabama Learning Exchange

What Makes It Rain?

Classroom Resource Information

Title:

What Makes It Rain?

URL:

https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/resources/k-8/inquiryinaction/kindergarten/chapter-1/what-makes-it-rain.html

Content Source:

Other
American Chemical Society

Type:

Lesson/Unit Plan

Overview:

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.

Content Standard(s):

Science
SC2015 (2015)
Grade: K

9 ) Observe, record, and share findings of local weather patterns over a period of time (e.g., increase in daily temperature from morning to afternoon, typical rain and storm patterns from season to season).

NAEP Framework

NAEP Statement::
E4.8: Weather changes from day to day and during the seasons.

NAEP Statement::
E4.9: Scientists use tools for observing, recording, and predicting weather changes from day to day and during the seasons.

Unpacked Content

Scientific And Engineering Practices:

Analyzing and Interpreting Data

Crosscutting Concepts: Patterns

Disciplinary Core Idea: Earth's Systems

Evidence Of Student Attainment:

Students:

Observe local weather patterns over a period of time.
Record local weather patterns over a period of time.
Share findings of local weather patterns over a period of time.

Teacher Vocabulary:

Observe
Record
Share
Findings
Weather
Patterns
Period of Time

Knowledge:

Students know:

The number of sunny, cloudy, rainy, windy, cool, or warm days.
The relative temperature at various times of the day (e.g., cooler in the morning, warmer during the day, cooler at night).
The relative number of days of different types of weather conditions in a month.
The change in the relative temperature over the course of the day.
Certain months have more days of some kinds of weather than do other months (e.g., some months have more hot days, some have more rainy days).
The differences in relative temperature over the course of a day (e.g., between early morning and the afternoon, between one day and another) are directly related to the time of day.

Skills:

Students are able to:

Observe weather patterns over a period of time.
Record findings of weather patterns over a period of time.
Share findings of weather patterns over a period of time.
Describe patterns in the weather data.

Understanding:

Students understand that:

Patterns of weather can be observed, used to describe phenomena, and used as evidence.
Whether events have causes that generate observable patterns.

AMSTI Resources:

AMSTI Module:
Weather Walk
*Weather, STC
*Sunny Sandbox, ETA/hand2mind
*Clouds, GLOBE

Alabama Alternate Achievement Standards

AAS Standard:
SCI.AAS.K.9- Participate in daily weather activities with common symbols (e.g., sun, cloud, rain, wind, snowflake).

Tags:

clouds, droplets, pattern, rain, weather

License Type:

Custom Permission Type
See Terms: https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/terms.html
For full descriptions of license types and a guide to usage, visit :
https://creativecommons.org/licenses

Accessibility

Comments

This resource provided by:

Author:

Stephanie Carver

ALEX Classroom Resource

What Makes It Rain?