Weather & Atmosphere Projects, Lessons, Activities (Page 2)

Lesson Plan Grade: Kindergarten

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Students will enter this lesson knowing that materials get warm in the sun. In this fun follow-up activity, your students will get creative with craft materials. They will figure out how to protect an "animal" and its territory from getting too hot in the sun. What will they build to keep their animals cool? This lesson connects effortlessly with the How Sunlight Warms the Earth lesson. Read more

NGSS Performance Expectations:

K-PS3-2. Use tools and materials to design and build a structure that will reduce the warming effect of sunlight on an area.

Heating with the Greenhouse Effect

STEM Activity

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Have you ever thought about where the vegetables you eat are coming from when it is too cold outside to grow them? They might have been shipped from a different country to your home town, or they may have been grown locally in a greenhouse. Greenhouses are huge house-like structures that are usually made mostly of glass. How can they protect plants from the cold? In this activity, you will find out and create some extra heat from the sun. Read more

How Does a Wind Meter Work?

STEM Activity

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Have you ever wondered how wind is made? Wind is caused by a difference in air pressure. Air travels from areas of higher pressure to places where there is less pressure. And just as air flows out of the high-pressure inside an inflated balloon if the opening is not tied, air in the atmosphere will move to a lower pressure area, creating wind. The speed of that wind can be measured using a tool called an anemometer. An anemometer looks like a weather vane, but instead of measuring which… Read more

How Sunlight Warms the Earth

Lesson Plan Grade: Kindergarten

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Kindergarten students associate the sun with light and warmth. This lesson helps them expand this knowledge by getting their hands dirty! They will fill cups with soil, water and rocks and place them in the sun and shade for a while. By finding out how they can tell where a cup has been stored, they will learn how the sun affects Earth's surface. In a follow-up lesson, Create Shade to Protect from the Sun, students figure out how to protect a territory from getting too hot in the sun. Read more

NGSS Performance Expectations:

K-PS3-1. Make observations to determine the effect of sunlight on Earth's surface.

Hurricanes

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Unless you live in the Southern states, you only hear about the most destructive hurricanes. In fact hurricanes occur every year, even multiple times a year. Each hurricane is a tropical storm related to cyclones and tornadoes, some big and some small. Each hurricane is measured based upon several variables like: wind speed, diameter, direction of movement and speed of movement. Does the size of the hurricane correlate with the wind speed? What information can the eye of the hurricane… Read more

Make a Hygrometer with Strands of Hair

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Does your hair go crazy when the weather turns damp? Did you know that strands of hair can relax and lengthen when the humidity increases and then contract again when the humidity decreases? In fact, hair strands can be used as the basis for a hygrometer, a device which measures the humidity level in the air. Will a hygrometer help you to predict bad hair days(!) or can you use it to help predict the weather? Read more

Make a Thermometer to Study the Temperature

Lesson Plan Grade: 3rd

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Students experience the weather every day: they feel cold spring mornings and warm summer afternoons. This hands-on lesson helps them quantify how hot or cold it is by using a thermometer they will make themselves! Based on their gathered data and observations, students can infer patterns about how temperature varies by location and time. Read more

NGSS Performance Expectations:

3-ESS2-1. Represent data in tables and graphical displays to describe typical weather conditions expected during a particular season.
3-ESS2-2. Obtain and combine information to describe climates in different regions of the world.

Make Your Own Psychrometer

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

From the name, you might guess that a psychrometer is an instrument designed to measure your thoughts. Psych! Actually, it is an instrument that can help you forecast the weather. Read more to find out how it works. Read more

Predicting the Weather

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Before you head for school for the day, you might check the weather to see whether or not you need to wear a jacket or bring an umbrella. It is pretty easy for you to check the TV or internet to see what the weather will be like today, tomorrow, or even next week. The modern-day science of meteorology, or studying and predicting the weather, has many advanced tools at its disposal that make it easy for you to get this information. How did people predict the weather before the invention of… Read more

Tornadoes

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Tornadoes are a very destructive weather phenomenon that is very hard to predict. Certain weather conditions can indicate if a tornado is likely to occur, but the path that the tornado will take is completely unpredictable. Storm chasers are people who chase tornadoes and try to capture them on film or video. They often have a sense of predicting where and when a tornado will strike, but the best images are also due to a bit of luck and survival instinct. Even though tornadoes are… Read more

Weather & Atmosphere Projects, Lessons, Activities (45 results)

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