- Grade Focus
- Pre-Grade 1, Grade 1, Grade 2
- Age Level
- Under 6, 6, 7
- Subject
- Science
- Technology Integration Activity
- Imaging, PowerPoint Presentations
Creating Weather Journals
Creating Weather Journals
Introduction
Students will use basic knowledge of weather features and digital photography to create a weather journal by recording daily changes in weather and how that weather affects their lives.Prerequisite Experience
Basic weather features students should be familiar with (and that the teacher should discuss at the beginning, especially with Kindergarten) include:• precipitation (rain, snow)
• cloud cover (sunny, partly sunny, partly cloudy, cloudy)
• wind (windy, breezy, no wind)
• temperature (hot, warm, cool, cold)
Students should also be familiar with the use of digital cameras and utilizing the PowerPoint program.
Teacher Prep Time
Teachers should be able to effectively use a digital camera to capture and print images.For tutorials on digital imaging, visit the web site http://www.nortellearnit.org/technology/Imaging/
It is preferable to do this lesson in the morning before you have a planning period. During your planning time, print multiple copies of the photographs students took that morning. In the afternoon, students can go back and add the photographs from that morning. They can pick their photo or someone else's. If that time frame is not possible, print the photos after school and have students add them the next morning before starting another weather journal entry.
Load students' photos on a computer and print about four copies of each photo.
*Note: If there is no variation in weather patterns, spread the journal entries out more. Do an entry every other day if necessary.
For additional reference material on weather, you may choose to review the lesson plans, Weather and Cloud Identification, located on Nortel LearniT site.
MATERIALS:
4 bags/boxes of miscellaneous clothes-be sure to include clothing
for various weather patterns
Pencils
Digital Cameras (ideally one for each pair)
USB cord to hook up digital cameras to computer
Printer and paper
Scanner
Project
Students will create a weather journal by recording daily changes in weather and how that weather affects their lives. This part of the project involves each student creating a paper and pencil journal; the template for it is in the Explore section. They (the two-partner teams) will then use Microsoft PowerPoint to create a presentation that depicts the various types of weather researched and present their findings to the class.Assessment/Grading
Informal assessment should be used constantly throughout the unit. The teacher should use questions in the daily lesson plans, including essential and unit questions, to determine student understanding of the material.Time Management Tips
For the photography section, you could break up the classroom into two groups. One group can start out working with the teacher assistant outside to take their photos, and the other group can begin by working with the teacher at tables inside to do the written recording for the day. Students can switch as they finish their first assignment.Lesson Plan Details
Engage
1. What is the weather today? How do you know? What kind of clothes did you wear today since the weather is _____? Would you wear _____ if the weather was _____?2. This activity will show how weather affects what clothing we wear everyday. Divide your classroom into four groups. Each group will be assigned one type of weather-- hot, cold, rainy, or sunny. You will have a piece of paper with your weather word and corresponding picture and a bag of various clothes. Your group will be responsible for sorting out the appropriate clothes for your type of weather and dressing up one group member in those clothes.
3. After a few minutes, the teacher will signal students to come back to the common area. Each group will be called upon to present your type of weather and the appropriate clothing chosen for that weather.
Explore
1. What are some of the ideas you had about how weather affects your life? Share your ideas with the class.2. Do you know what a journal is? Today you will make a weather journal and practice using digital cameras.
3. You will use the weather journal provided in the WORD and PDF versions of this lesson to record your entries. You will write the date at the top of the journal. Next, you will take a photo of the weather outside and glue it in the rectangle. Underneath, you will write about what the weather is like, what you wore to school, and other information about how the weather is affecting your day. (Example, We didn't go outside for recess today because it was raining.) You will be recording the weather everyday in your weather journal.
Remember: The pictures you take really need to show the weather.
Visit and familiarize yourself with Top 10 Tips for Great Pictures. http://www.kodak.com/eknec/PageQuerier.jhtml?pq-locale=en_US&pq-path=317
Explain
Your teacher will assign partners. The teacher will guide the partners whether to begin the written or the photography portion of your journal entry. If you need additional help, ask your teacher. Remember to consider these questions as you write:• What is the weather like today?
• How can you tell?
• What can you see, hear, and feel that lets you know?
• How does your photograph show today's weather?
• How has today's weather changed your day/ your clothing?
Continue your weather journal until the end of the unit/your teachers says you may finish. Make sure you and your partner each have your own copy of your journal.
Elaborate
1. Get together with the original groups you worked with at the beginning of the lesson.2. Review each others journals. Decide which pictures that best depict the weather for each category.
3. Using a scanner, upload those four photos onto a computer. Your group will create a PowerPoint presentation and give a brief description of each type of weather and how that weather affects your daily lives.
Review this training video for additional support using PowerPoint.
PowerPoint Presentations, http://nortellearnit.org/technology/PowerPoint_Presentations/
An option is that students, when the basic presentation is complete, can add animations, sound effects and transitions to their slides.
Be prepared to present your work to your class. The teacher will assign you a time for your presentation.
Evaluate
An evaluation rubric has been provided to use for assessment.Extend
Consider these suggestions for extending the lesson.Read Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, by Judi Barrett.
Have each of the following items available:
• any small crafty items you have around the classroom (feathers, glitter, dried beans, tissue paper, etc.)
• glue
• piece of construction paper with lined writing paper attached to the bottom of it
• pencils, markers, and crayons.
Create your own unique weather pattern on the construction paper/cardstock using the above materials. Imagine the effects this weather would have on people who lived there and write about it on the lined paper.
Play sounds of different types of weather. Act out what the weather sounds like.
Use a rain gauge to measure the rain. Create a semester long weather chart that records the rain.
Learn about weather in various parts of the world. How would different climates affect the people who live in them? How do people adapt to the environments in which they live?