Weather: Learning Centers
During this part of the day, students will have the opportunity to participate in a choice of
learning experiences. Following these directions, each Learning Center Activity is listed
separately on a task sheet with the curriculum objectives summarized at the top of each
sheet.
1. Before the lesson begins, each teacher should prepare the 7 different Learning
Center areas in which students will complete Learning Center Activities.
2. Explain to students that during this lesson time, they will be in groups of 4-5.
They will participate at each of the 7 stations on weather and will rotate every 10
minutes. Depending on the length of the class period, students may spend 15
minutes at each station and only visit 4 or 5.
3. Read the brief description of each learning center listed on the next page.
4. Have students number off in 4’s. Assign each group a station where they are to
begin.
5. Monitor student progress and behavior by rotating amongst the Learning Centers.
Learning Center Activity Descriptions
1. Lab Activity: When Cloud Droplets Coalesce
In this activity, students will conduct a lab activity to observe the
coalescence of drops of water. This will also help students understand the
cause of precipitation.
2. Illustration Center: This is a center designed to test student’s prior
knowledge of weather terms. Students will choose a weather term from a
hat and illustrate it completely. Students will be instructed to use the entire
piece of paper, give a title to the page and color it neatly.
3. Weather Fact or Fiction Cards: Students will access Internet resources
to create a set of 20 Fact or Fiction Cards all related to Weather. using a
Microsoft Word template, students will create statements and provide an
online resource to be used for confirming or disconfirming the statement
.
4. Puzzle Center: Students will work together to construct a large floor
puzzle. Students will use an atlas to locate the absolute location of the
scene in the puzzle. Using their prior knowledge of winds, students will
decide which global winds would most likely be found at this location.
Then they will explain how these winds help dictate the weather in that
region.
5. Weather Current Events: Students will read articles taken from the
local newspaper. Using a graphic organizer, students will summarize the
article using basic signal words such as who, what, when, where, how, and
why.
6. Weather/Clouds Haiku Corner: Students will choose one of many
weather or cloud pictures. They will work together to write a Haiku
describing the scene in the picture.
7. Severe Weather: Students will use a Power Point presentation to learn
about severe weather systems. After viewing the slide show, students will
answer questions to assess their knowledge.
Task Card 1: Lab Activity
Curriculum Objectives:
Science
1.1- Explain the composition, properties, and structure of the atmosphere.
1.3- Examine evidence that atmospheric properties can be studied to predict
atmospheric conditions and hazards:
- Humidity
- Temperature
- Wind speed and direction
- Air Pressure
- Precipitation
Task: Students will complete an activity to observe the coalescence of drops of water.
This will help students understand the cause of precipitation.
Background: The droplets of water vapor that make up a cloud are only about one-
millionth the size of the smallest raindrop. Cloud droplets are so tiny that the least
air movement will support them and keep them from falling to the ground. It is
only when droplets repeatedly collide and coalesce, or fuse together, into larger
droplets, that they finally become heavy enough to fall as rain.
Some clouds are supercooled, so that they are made of tiny ice crystals, as
well as droplets of water. When some of the droplets evaporate, the water vapor
freezes directly on the ice crystals until they become large and heavy enough to
fall as snow.
If the air near the ground is cold, the crystals reach the ground as snow. If
the crystals melt as they fall and then refreeze in colder air, they reach the ground
as sleet. If the air near the ground is warm, the crystals melt and fall as rain.
Rain, drizzle, freezing rain, sleet, snow, and hail are forms of precipitation.
Precipitation is any kind of water or ice that falls from clouds.
Materials: Sheets of waxed paper containers of water
Eyedroppers Pencils
Activity:
1. Refer to the background information above to review the kinds of precipitation
and causes of precipitation.
2. To have students observe the coalescence of drops of water, give each group a
sheet of waxed paper, an eyedropper, and a container of water. .
3. Have one student from each group drop one drop of water from the
eyedropper onto the waxed paper. Then have them drop another drop close
beside it, so that the two drops touch and merge.
4. Have students draw circles on their waxed paper about the size of what they
consider to be a large raindrop. Then have them count how many drops of
water are needed to form a large drop that fills the circle.
5. Have students tip the large drop of water on the waxed paper into a container.
Was the drop large enough to fall?
6. On your Center Recording Sheet, write a paragraph explaining how this is a
simulation of rain.
Task Card 3: Weather Fact or Fiction Cards
Curriculum Objectives:
Science
1.1- Explain the composition, properties, and structure of the atmosphere.
1.2- Analyze the properties that can be observed and measured to predict air quality:
- particulate matter
- ozone
- pollen
- temperature inversions
1.3- Examine evidence that atmospheric properties can be studied to predict
atmospheric conditions and hazards:
- humidity
- temperature
- wind speed and direction
- air pressure
- precipitation
Language Arts
1.3- Interact in group settings by:
- responding appropriately to comments and questions
- offering personal opinions confidently without dominating
- giving appropriate reasons that support opinions
- soliciting and respecting another person’s opinion
2.1- Respond to informational materials that are read, heard, and/or viewed by:
- summarizing information
- determining the importance of information
- making connections to related topics/information
- monitoring comprehension
- drawing inferences
- generating questions
2.2- Develop informational products and/or presentations that use and cite at least
three print or non-print sources by
- identifying and using appropriate primary and secondary sources
- comparing, contrasting, and evaluating information from
different sources about the same topic
- evaluating information for extraneous details, inconsistencies,
relevant facts, and organization
Technology
1.2- Demonstrate an understanding of copyright by citing sources of copyrighted
materials in papers, projects, and presentations.
3.2- Use word processing/desktop publishing for assignments/projects.
3.3- Research, create, publish, and present projects related to content areas using a
variety of technological tools.
Task: Students will access Internet resources to create a set of 20 Fact or Fiction Cards all
related to weather. Using a Microsoft Word template, students will create
statements and provide an online resource to be used for confirming or
disconfirming the statement .
1. Open the file .
2. Using the web resources provided and the file, generate a set of20
Fact of Fiction task cards designed to challenge your classmates.
1. http://www.fi.edu/weather/index.html
2. http://www1.umn.edu/bellmuse/mnideals/watershed/watershed2.html
3. http://ww2010.atmos.uiuc.edu/(Gh)/guides/crclm/act/home.rxml
4. http://observe.arc.nasa.gov/nasa/earth/wind_chill/chill_splash.html
5. http://weatherwizkids.com/Weather%20Words.htm
6. http://weatherwizkids.com/tropics.htm
7. http://weatherwizkids.com/WxSafety.htm
2. First, write a statement based upon Fact or Fiction.
3. Then, provide the web resource that can be used to confirm the statement
provided.
4. Type up all of your Fact and Fiction cards using the file and print
them out.
5. Provide an answer key with each card. (you can just circle the correct answer in
pencil)
Task Card 7: Severe Weather
Curriculum Objectives:
Science
1.1- Explain the composition, properties, and structure of the atmosphere.
1.3- Examine evidence that atmospheric properties can be studied to predict
atmospheric conditions and hazards:
- humidity
- temperature
- wind speed and direction
- air pressure
- precipitation
Task: 1. Using the Averkey and a student computer located in my classroom, students
will view a power point slide presentation on hurricanes and tornadoes.
2. At the end of the presentation, students will be assessed based on answers
given to a variety of questions (questions are given on the last slide of the
presentation).
Resources:
Disk containing a Power Point on hurricanes and tornadoes
Task Card 4: Puzzle Center
Curriculum Objectives
Science
1.1- Examine evidence that atmospheric properties can be studied to predict
atmospheric conditions and hazards.
- Humidity
- Temperature
- Wind speed and direction
- Air pressure
- Precipitation
Social Studies
1.2- Generate, interpret, and manipulate information from tools such as maps,
globes, charts, graphs and models to pose and answer questions about space and
place, environment and society, and dynamics and connections.
Language Arts
1.1- Interact in group settings by:
- responding appropriately to comments and questions.
- offering personal opinions confidently without dominating.
- giving appropriate reasons that support opinions.
- soliciting and respecting another person’s opinion.
2.1- Respond to informational materials that are read, heard, and/or viewed by:
- summarizing information
- determining the importance of information
- making connections to related topics/information
- monitoring comprehension
- drawing inferences
- generating questions
Task: 1. Students will work in their group to construct a large floor puzzle on the
African Safari.
2. Students will use an atlas to locate the absolute location of the scene in the
puzzle.
3. Using their prior knowledge of winds, students will decide which global winds
would most likely be found at this location. (Global winds notes, including
their absolute locations, were given prior to this lesson)
4. Using notes from the unit, students will write a paragraph explaining how these
winds help dictate the weather in this part of the world.
Task Card 5: Weather Current Events
Curriculum Objectives
Science
1.2- Analyze the properties that can be observed and measured to predict air quality:
- Particulate matter
- Ozone
- Pollen
- Temperature inversions
1.3- Examine evidence that atmospheric properties can be studied to predict
atmospheric conditions and hazards:
- Humiditiy
- Temperature
- Wind speed and direction
- Air pressure
- Precipitation
Social Studies
1.2- Generate, interpret, and manipulate information from tools such as maps, globes,
charts, graphs, and models to pose and answer question about space and place,
environment and society, and dynamics and connections.
Language Arts
2.1- Respond to informational materials that are read, heard, and/or viewed by:
- summarizing information
- determining the importance of information
- making connections to related topics/information
- monitoring comprehension
- drawing inferences
- generating questions
Task: 1. Students will read articles taken from a local newspaper about different aspects
othe weather (ie. California fire, Greensboro’s new rain record, etc.)
2. Using a graphic organizer, students will summarize the article using basic
signal words such as who, what, when, where, how, and why.
Task Card 6: Weather/Clouds Haiku Corner
Curriculum Objectives
Science
1.1- Explain the composition, properties, and structure of the atmosphere.
1.3- Examine evidence that atmospheric properties can be studied to predict
atmospheric conditions and hazards.
- Humidity
- Temperature
- Wind speed and direction
- Air pressure
- Precipitation
Language Arts
5.2- Study the characteristics of literary genres (fiction, nonfiction, drama, and poetry)
through:
- reading a variety of literature and other text (e.g. mysteries,
novels, science fiction, historical documents, newspapers, skits,
lyric poems).
- analyzing what genre specific characteristics have on the
meaning of the work.
- analyzing how the author’s choice and use of genre shapes the
meaning of the literary work.
- analyzing what impact literary elements have on the meaning of
the text such as the influence of setting on the problem and its
resolution
Technology
3.3- Research, create, publish, and present projects related to content areas using a
Variety of technological tools.
Task 1. Students will select a picture capturing some type of weather or clouds.
2. They will work together to write a Haiku describing the scene in the picture.
HAIKU: A Haiku is a Japanese poem about a scene in nature.
- It contains 17 syllables and is a 3 line poem.
- Line 1 = 5 syllables
- Line 2 = 7 syllables
- Line 3 = 5 syllables
Example of a Haiku:
Over the wintry =5
Forest, winds howl in a rage = 7
With no leaves to blow =5
Task Card 2: Illustration Center
Curriculum Objectives:
Science
1.1- Explain the composition, properties, and structure of the atmosphere.
1.3 Examine evidence that atmospheric properties can be studied to predict
atmospheric conditions and hazards:
- Humidity
- Temperature
- Wind speed and direction
- Air pressure
- Precipitation
Task
This center is designed to assess student’s prior knowledge of weather terms.
Students will be given very limited instructions, thus allowing them to use their creativity
and knowledge of the subject. This is a collaborative effort on the part of the group. They
will not be allowed to use their notes or books.
1. Students will choose a weather term from a hat and illustrate it completely.
2. Students will be instructed to use the entire piece of paper.
3. Students must title the picture.
4. Students must color the picture neatly.
Weather terms to choose from:
- precipitation
- rain guage
- convection current
- conduction
- radiation
- severe weather
- wind/anemometer
- jet stream
- sea breeze
- land breeze
- heat transfers
- Coriolis Effect
- Layers of the atmosphere
Center Recording Sheet
Task Card # _________
Group Members: _______________________________________________
You will find a center recording sheet at each station. You must complete
one at each center before moving to the next center. Keep the recording
sheet and I will collect them at the end of the session.
Document your information on this piece of paper. If you are at a center that
requires you to answer questions, they must be answered on this paper. If
you are required to print information from the computer, you must staple it
to the back of this paper.
You will be graded on the accuracy of the recording sheets and the products
produced at each center.