Weather Unit

I wanted to do a quick unit study on weather and it turned into a 30 day study.  But we did a lot of hands on projects so it took longer than we expected.  It was loads of fun!  To teach parts of the unit I used National Geographic Science Book.  

Available upon request please email aemleelee5@yahoo.com 
The cost is $8.00 and the Unit Study is 49 pages.  The lesson plans were created by collectively gathering information from numerous websites and forming it into a daily lesson plan.  It includes daily lessons, step by step instructions on experiments, links to print outs, and images for you to see what the projects should look like.  
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Here are our fun projects:



A barometer is used to measure the atmospheric pressure. Atmospheric pressure is basically the pressure around you in the air and it affects the weather! If you measure the atmospheric pressure you can get some pretty good clues about what the weather will be like that day.  All you need are a few household items and a grown-up to do some cutting. You can make this barometer in your kitchen and move it around your house or even outdoors to see the different atmospheric pressures!

We discussed the various agents of it, such as wind, water, and gravity.  First I had her predict what she thought was going to happen and even what part the grass played in this and predict which mold she thought would have the most weathering to it once I poured water on it and explain why.  At the end of the experiment we talked about what part was the erosion in this entire demonstration.  

   

Watch the effects of hot air and cold air on a balloon.  This activity is a great opportunity for kids to talk about what they can see and why it is happening.  Kids will absolutely love this activity and will see, first hand, what effects hot and cold air has on a balloon.

This is the same thing that happens in the atmosphere as warm, moist air rises and meets colder temperatures high in the atmosphere. Water vapor condenses and forms precipitation that falls to the Earth as rain, sleet, hail, or snow.

A cloud is formed when water vapor condenses into water droplets that attach to particles (of dust, pollen, smoke, etc.) in the air. When billions of these water droplets join together, they form a cloud.

Thermometer

What You Will Need: empty glass bottle; water; rubbing alcohol; food coloring; a clear straw; modeling clay; a marker

Fill the bottle 1/4 full of plain water.  Then, add an equal amount of rubbing alcohol so that the bottle is half full.  Add a few drops of food coloring.  Put the straw into the bottle, and holding it so that it does not touch the bottom but is suspended slightly in the liquid, wrap the modeling clay around the top of the bottle and the straw.  This will hold the straw in place and prevent it from falling farther into the bottle.  Note how far up the straw the liquid now comes.  Use the marker to mark the outside of the bottle at the spot where the straw goes from being filled with liquid to being empty (i.e. the line where the liquid stops filling the straw).  This line shows the current temperature where the bottle is at the moment. Move the bottle to different locations where the temperature is likely to differ. Notice how the liquid either rises or sinks down in the straw.  In warmer temperatures, the liquid will rise.  In cooler temperatures, it will sink.  Try placing the bottle in direct sunlight, on a porch outside on a warm day, or in the refrigerator to see the liquid in the straw rise and fall with the temperature variation.

Move the bottle to different locations where the temperature is likely to differ. Notice how the liquid either rises or sinks down in the straw.  In warmer temperatures, the liquid will rise.  In cooler temperatures, it will sink.  Try placing the bottle in direct sunlight, on a porch outside on a warm day, or in the refrigerator to see the liquid in the straw rise and fall with the temperature variation.



Water cycle experiment to show that the outer bowl salt water (ocean) and the small bowl that will collect the rainfall is covered with Saran Wrap (where the water will condense into clouds) and place ice cubes on top (sky)(will cause the evaporated water to condense when it rises up) 

When the water has condensed into clouds the precipitation will begin and water will drip from the sky back into the ocean and some rainfall will fall into the small container. You can drink it to show that rainwater isn't salty. That is because only the ocean water evaporates, not the salt that is in it. Thus, Rainwater is OK to drink even if it originally came from the salty ocean.



Water cycle experiment salt on a stick-Indians living on the Pacific coast around the San Francisco Bay would create shallow pines of ocean water. They would play sticks in the water and allow the water to evaporate. As the water evaporated salt crystals would form on their sticks. They would then bundle up the sticks and travel to the mountains where they exchange the stick covered with salt for obsidian needed to make arrowheads.


  

A lightning bolt is basically a dramatic display of static electricity in action.  You see lightning when a spark of moving electrons races up or down between a cloud and the ground.

A cold air front runs into a warm air front forcing it to go up and causing unstable air. Then you get a thunderstorm. 



Tsunami (also known as a seismic sea wave) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water generally in an ocean or large lake.  It is caused by an underwater earthquake, landslide, or volcanic eruption.  

Earthquakes happen when huge rocks deep under the ground slip and push against each other.  This makes the ground above shake.  Start of a quake: the place underground where an earthquake starts is called the focus.  On the surface, the place right above the focus is the epicenter.  The effects of an earthquake are stronger here.  Most earthquakes are too weak to be felt by people, but some can cause great damage.  The pictures below show some of the effects of an earthquake.  In a weak earthquake, hanging things, like birdcages, swing.  Windows and dishes may start to rattle.  A stronger earthquake makes walls crack and pictures fall.



How heat affects things is sometimes difficult to understand. This simple heat experiment shows how heat causes molecules to move faster. {Plus kids think it looks cool.}



A tornado is a spinning funnel of wind.  It whirls along sucking up anything in its path. It is a violently rotating column in the air that is in contact with both the surface of the earth and cumulonimbus cloud.



A hurricane is a huge storm with lots of wind and rain.  It can destroy towns and forests.  Storms-at sea, violent storms and huge waves can appear suddenly and cause terrible damage.  Hurricanes quick evaporation of water may cause winds to swarm up and create more hurricanes.

  

Volcanoes erupt when hot, sticky rock from inside the Earth bursts through the surface.    The hot rock, called lava, pours down the sides of the volcano and over the land.  Volcanic 

eruption-when it erupts, lava comes out of a vent (opening) in the volcanoes top or side.  Bombs of rock may shoot up into the sky, and thick clouds of ask and gas may billow out.