Seeking Help for Teaching First Graders about Weather

[bainbridgekid]

So here's the deal. I am currently getting my Masters in Teaching from UW and am student teaching in a first grade classroom and I'd love some help from you guys.

 

The way student teaching works, I start out only teaching a couple lessons a day, but by the Spring trimester I pretty much takeover as the full time teacher.

 

So our class has three science units throughout the course of the year. The first we just finished was balls and ramps (it was pretty lame) and this Winter we will be studying organisms.

 

But this Spring? WE GET TO STUDY WEATHER. So for the whole Spring trimester I get to teach a bunch of 7 year olds about weather. I'm stoked. I hope some of my enthusiasm and love of the subject can rub off on them.

 

Here's the problem though. The science units the district uses are generally really lame. I think we'll be doing things like studying how much water different materials soak up (to simulate clouds or something?)

 

So I'm trying to come up with some more interesting lessons/discussions/books/topics I could use with them to teach them some REAL stuff about weather that they can actually use and get excited about.

 

Any suggestions?

 

Think back to your childhood. What got YOU so excited about the weather?

 

If I do my job maybe this forum will see a spike in traffic in 5-7 years 

[wx_statman]

I would start with the basics. Things like isentropic lift and vertical thermal advection, or maybe divergence of upper level winds in the left exit region of a jet max. Move on to more advanced topics from there.

 

In all seriousness, I would start with things that capture people's imagination. For me growing up, it was snow and thunderstorms. What kid isn't fascinated by that?

[bainbridgekid]

I would start with the basics. Things like isentropic lift and vertical thermal advection, or maybe divergence of upper level winds in the left exit region of a jet max. Move on to more advanced topics from there.

 

In all seriousness, I would start with things that capture people's imagination. For me growing up, it was snow and thunderstorms. What kid isn't fascinated by that?

Totally.

 

I was thinking about starting by asking the kids what what kinds of questions they have about weather. I bet they'd come up with things like what makes thunder, snow, wind, etc. and we could have some pretty interesting discussions. I bet they could learn some stuff most adults don't know. 

 

I love when lessons can be kid driven because it gets them so much more invested in it. All about harnessing their natural curiosity.

[BLI snowman]

Snow would be my starting point, even when I was too little to actively follow the weather the idea of snow just fascinated me. By the time I was in 1st grade, I was definitely old enough to be all over it.

 

Thunder and fog would also be great starting points.

 

If there was a way to visually represent one of those things (e.g. fog machine), I think it'd make for a fun lesson.

[Deweydog]

Email Mark Nelsen.  We volleyed a few years back and got the ball rolling on him coming over and doing a presentation at my son's school.  He's amazing with the kids and can probably dump a ton of tips on you.  

 

That and frontogenesis, lots of frontogenesis talk.  

[bainbridgekid]

So I'm thinking of some basic questions to design lessons around. I'd love some feedback and any other suggestions. 

 

1. Why is it colder high up even though it is closer to the sun?

 

2. Why do we have seasons?

Obviously it needs to be somewhat simple. Maybe showing the class a globe turned on its axis and pretending the class is the "sun." Then they could notice which hemisphere they "shine on" of as the globe turns.

 

3. What causes wind? Snow? Fog? Lightning?

 

4. Why does it get colder at night and warmer during the day?

 

5. Why is it cold in the arctic and warm at the equator?

It'd be easy to combine this with the seasons one. The kids could notice that "shine" on the equator more than the poles.

 

6. What are clouds? How do they stay up? How does water get up into the clouds so it can rain?

 

7. What causes hail?

This would be great as part of a thunderstorm unit which could introduce updrafts.

 

8. Why do we see our breath when it's cold but not when it's warm?

 

9. How do we predict weather?

 

Any other ideas? I can't stress enough how lame the District's official kit looked and I really want to make this meaningful for them.

[bainbridgekid]

Email Mark Nelsen.  We volleyed a few years back and got the ball rolling on him coming over and doing a presentation at my son's school.  He's amazing with the kids and can probably dump a ton of tips on you.  

 

That and frontogenesis, lots of frontogenesis talk.  

Good to know. I'll see if he has any ideas.

 

Do you remember any specifics of what he talked about?

 

Snow would be my starting point, even when I was too little to actively follow the weather the idea of snow just fascinated me. By the time I was in 1st grade, I was definitely old enough to be all over it.

 

Thunder and fog would also be great starting points.

 

If there was a way to visually represent one of those things (e.g. fog machine), I think it'd make for a fun lesson.

Good idea. Pretty much every kid likes snow to a certain degree and it's pretty fascinating how it can transform the landscape.

 

It'd also be cool to study snowflakes. Look at some close up images of them and talk about how it doesn't take much water to make a lot of snow because it is mostly air.

 

The fact that snow isn't that complex in how it forms compared to hail and tornadoes is probably another good reason to start there.

[Deweydog]

Good to know. I'll see if he has any ideas.

 

Do you remember any specifics of what he talked about?

 

Good idea. Pretty much every kid likes snow to a certain degree and it's pretty fascinating how it can transform the landscape.

 

It'd also be cool to study snowflakes. Look at some close up images of them and talk about how it doesn't take much water to make a lot of snow because it is mostly air.

 

The fact that snow isn't that complex in how it forms compared to hail and tornadoes is probably another good reason to start there.

 

You know, I wish I could tell you but I missed most of his presentation.  The kids loved him though and what I gleaned from my son was he talked a lot about just the basics of why it rains, why it snows and why it gets cold/warm and why the wind blows.  I remember after that my son would always note when it was clear outside during the winter; he'd say "gonna freeze tonight..."  Obviously I'd passed a little knowledge onto him at that point but Mark just drove it home so well.  

[snow_wizard]

I would suggest getting ahold of a couple of those little hand held wind meters for them to try out.  Gadgets are always fun.

[Deweydog]

I would start with the basics. Things like isentropic lift and vertical thermal advection, or maybe divergence of upper level winds in the left exit region of a jet max. Move on to more advanced topics from there.

 

In all seriousness, I would start with things that capture people's imagination. For me growing up, it was snow and thunderstorms. What kid isn't fascinated by that?

 

If they walk out of there without a grasp of the importance of the dendritic growth zone it would be a crying shame.  

[bainbridgekid]

If they walk out of there without a grasp of the importance of the dendritic growth zone it would be a crying shame.  

I got 3 months with them. Shouldn't be too hard.