Weather Prediction Maps

One of our fifth grade culminating activities is creating a weather map and use it to predict the weather for a specific area.  

We started by designing our map keys.  I projected the national weather map on the board from the Internet using weather.com and cnn.com.  (CNN lists specific cities)  I had the children choose at least 5 cities and record the city and temperatures. (I would recommend taking a screen shot for future use during the lesson) It took them more than one period to record and shade the maps.  We talked about the temperature changing during the day, so we also added the time.  

The next step was to add symbols to their maps using their key.  We shaded the maps using the legend.  The children could create their own but were encouraged to use images from real maps.  They had to include a Title and compass rose.

The final step was to write a weather report using the data on the map.  They had to predict the weather for the next three days.  We live in New England, our weather blows in from Chicago. 

My science block is 45 minutes and this assignment took most students 4-5 periods.  I thought it would take only 2, so plan accordingly.  My students love coloring but needed a lesson on shading. 

Here is another option from a colleague.  

She had her students create a chart for three days instead of writing it out. 

(The chart is not in my unit)

This project is part of my Atmosphere and Climate Unit.  

You can purchase it on TPT or design your own.

Click for Link

Wild and Wacky Weather Lap Books

My students did an outstanding job on their Wild and Wacky Weather Lap Book Projects.

They had to choose one type of wild weather to research:

blizzards

hurricanes

floods

tornadoes

thunderstorms

The project required:

definition

location

causes

damages

interesting facts

safety tips

illustration

weather warning report

I had them share the weather warning report to the class.

You can create your own templates and rubric or purchase mine.

This project is part of my Atmosphere and Climate Unit available at my TPT store.

Click here for TPT Link 

Cloudy with a Chance of...Nimbus, Stratus, Cirrus or Cumulus

As part of our weather unit I had my students keep a cloud journal.  They had to observe the sky on four days or different times.  They had to draw or take photos of the clouds and identify the types.  

I had the children create tally charts of the types of clouds on each student's poster.  It was a great way to get the kids moving around and looking at each poster. We took the data and made a class graph.  We used the four major types and grouped the combos as other.

This project is part of my Atmosphere and Climate Unit on TPT

Wild About Weather: Scientific Saturdays

 We have been studying Weather for many, many weeks.  This is the first time I have taught this unit and had fun planning something different.  We just wrapped it up on Friday and I can't wait to move on.

The major areas that we covered:

• water cycle
• layers of the atmosphere
• weather factors: precipitation, temperature, moisture, wind speed and direction
• weather tools and predicting
• clouds
• winds
• global patterns, winds, jet streams and currents

During the unit we used various resources, trade books, non-fiction articles for information.  My favorite text is Sciencesaurus!  I had the children watch Scholastic Study Jams and visited weatherwizkids.com.

 

Cloud Posters

 

Working on Weather Reports

Our school just received one-to-one chromebooks two weeks ago and the opportunities in the classroom have already been endless.  We downloaded screencastify and my students have been recording their weather reports and sharing them with me.  This is a great way to get the students to share reports with me and practice their reading fluency.  Some of students got very creative and worked on their recordings at home.

Here is a sample.  

The student did not want to be in it but was very creative with her own sound effects!