Grade K Weather TEKS K.8A Lesson 1

Weather Watching

Essential Questions What makes our planet unique? Why does everything in our solar system center around

our Sun? How do the patterns and cycles of the Earth, Moon, and

Sun system affect us? What do patterns of change tell us?

Enduring Understandings Our planet is unique in that it has water and supports life. Earth’s Sun drives many of our cycles on Earth. We can observe, describe and record objects and patterns

in our sky and on Earth. Patterns on Earth and in the sky are caused by

interactions of the Sun, Earth, and Moon and can be used to make predictions.

Intended Learning OutcomesStudents will know: Weather is what we currently observe happening in our

sky with precipitation, clouds, temperature and win. Weather changes from season to season.Students will be able to: Describe the patterns they observe in the weather. Observe, describe, and illustrate weather conditions such

as the clouds, wind, Sun, and rain.TEKSK.8: Earth and space. The student knows that there are

recognizable patterns in the natural world and among objects in the sky. The student is expected to:

K.8A: observe and describe weather changes from day to day and over seasons.

Essential Vocabulary cloudy / nublado snowy / nevoso, weather / clima windy / ventoso weather conditions / condiciones del clima rainy / lluvioso sunny / soleado predicting / predecir observe/ observer sunny/ soleado

Language ObjectivesSpeak using the lesson vocabulary words about weather patterns.Show comprehension of text/graphic sources about weather patterns through inferential skills.ELPS:3D: Speak using grade level content area vocabulary I context to internalize new English words and build academic language proficiency.4J: Demonstrate English comprehension and expand reading skills by employing inferential sills such as predicting, making connections between ideas, drawing inferences and conclusions from text and graphic sources and finding supporting text evidence commensurate with content area needs.College and Career Readiness StandardsUse of data: Identify patterns or departures from patterns among data.21st Century SkillsEnvironmental Literacy-demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the environment and the circumstances and conditions affecting it, particularly as relates to air, climate, land, food, energy, water and ecosystems.Prior LearningWe can observe the natural world using our senses.Our weather changes.It is usually hotter in the summer.It is usually cooler in the winter.TOC (Think/Observe/Conclude) or KWL (Know/Want to Know/Learned)Encourage oral language by using TOC strategies: put kids in small groups and encourage them to come up with 2-5 things they agree about the topic of study or content. Students in this small group report to the whole group in 3 minutes. The purpose of this activity is to go deeper into the subject.I think…I observed…I conclude…

Teacher ManagementEstimated Time for Completion- 2 days

Materials

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Day 1Teacher made Weather Chartcopies of weather cards , or copies of What is the Weather cards3 Weather recording sheets for each student (see below) YOU WILL CONTINUE TO OBSERVE AND RECORD THE WEATHER FOR THE NEXT 3 WEEKS LOOKING FOR PATTERNS AND MAKING PREDICTIONS.

Day 22 plastic cups for each small grouplarge bags of sand (enough for each group of 4 to fill 2 plastic cups)

Advanced Teacher PrepA place in the classroom should be reserved for recording the daily weather. A bulletin board set up for this purpose would be ideal. There are many different ways a bulletin board could be designed. Following are a few suggestions:

In the center of the bulletin board, attach a square divided into three sections, each with a particular weather designation. Each day, select a student to place three arrows on the chart pointing to the appropriate sections to indicate that day's weather. You may also wish to include information about the day, date, and season.

Make a "weather window." Cover a bulletin board with white paper and divide the "window" into four parts with brown lines. Add construction paper curtains around the edges. Draw a large tree with branches outside the "window." Decorate the tree to reflect the current season. Provide weather symbols (a sun, raindrops, snowflakes, clouds). Every day have students take turns making the weather in the "weather window" match the weather outside. You may also wish to add people to the scene. Display the people involved in various seasonal activities. Children could add appropriate clothing to the people that would also reflect the daily weather.

Inquiry Flipchart, p.14 gives another options for recording weather

Day 2Create an anchor chart like the one below.

We Use Our Senses to Observe the Weather

We can see We can feel We can hear We can smell We can taste

Anchors of Support Inquiry Flipchart, p,14 Weather recording sheets for students to record data. Weather chart displayed in the classroom. Here are some examples you may use.

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What is the Weather? http://thehelpfulgarden.blogspot.com/2012/08/weather-chart-with-cards.html?m=1Cards: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B-Jp2xvcHjp4RVZRUHdIcXF3M2s/edit?usp=drive_web&pli=1

Safety ConsiderationsPlan on a place to take the students outside in order to observe and write down their weather observations. Make sure they do not look directly at the sun!

Literary SupportsTreasures Leveled Readers (In the AISD Cloud in my Textbooks)What Will the Weather Be? By Linda DeWittNational Geographic Kid: Everything Weather by Kathy FurgangWeather by Dan GreenWeather Forecasting by Gail GibbonsWeather Words by Gail Gibbons

TechnologySTEMScopes weather cards What is the Weather cardsWeather Bug or any weather watching site/app.https://getkahoot.com/https://padlet.com/http://www.polleverywhere.com/Suggestions for beginning or end of unit: Create a Poll and allow student to utilize a device like an IPhone, IPad, Smartphone, etc. These sites, Kahoot, Padlet, Poll Everywhere, allows teachers to create a poll for students to respond to. Show a group of students how to respond to the poll by passing around the device throughout the day if only one device is available, these students in turn will show the rest of the class. By the end of the day, as an exit slip strategy, review the poll results with the whole class. This should only take a few minutes and allows for a quick review of content learned.

Some websites that are helpful for studying up on weather:http://www.factmonster.com/cig/weather/partly-to-mostly-cloudy.html http://www.factmonster.com/cig/weather/bring-rain.html http://www.weatherwizkids.com/

Science Fusion Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (MHM) ResourcesBig Book of Science Vocabulary p.17Student Edition, pp. 79-84Inquiry Flipchart, p. 14Assessment Guide, p.AG 55Big Book of Science Songs and Rhymes, pp. 14, 16Science Songs CD, track 10

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Picture Sorting Cards 5, 55-58

Background Information for TeacherIt is important for children and adults to gain an understanding of the weather because of the profound effect that it has on our everyday lives. To predict the weather, you can observe the weather using all five of your senses: sight, touch, hearing, smell, and taste to gather information that will help you know what type of weather to expect.

MisconceptionsStudents may not realize that weather is different in different parts of the country and of the world. They may even think that the weather in Austin is the weather everyone else in the world is experiencing. If you notice this misconception amongst your students, you may wish to bring in newspaper clippings or record what weather is like in different parts of the world using a globe or large map.

Probing Questions How do we observe weather?

¿Cómo observamos el clima? Are there any patterns we can observe in the sky?

¿Hay algunos patrones que podamos observar en el cielo? How does observing the sky, sun, and air help us predict future weather?

¿Cómo nos ayuda observar el cielo, el sol, y el aire a predecir el futuro?

Dual Language Activity 1 and Activity 2 have been identified for the Dual Language teacher. All Lesson resources provided within are for instruction by all teachers.

Arch of Lessons Kindergarten (45 Minute Lessons)

Day 1- Directed Inquiry- Students are given the question and procedures, but make their own claims and conclusions citing their collected data as evidence.Engage: (10 minutes) ASK: Before going outside, ask students, “What do you think of when you hear the word “weather”? What kinds of things

would you look for if you wanted to describe the weather of a particular day to someone else? What kind of a day do you consider to be a "nice" day?”

ASK: How can we use sight to help us predict and record the weather? (Sight is the easiest sense to use when you forecast. If you look out the window and see rain, then it's raining outside. Sight is very important and useful for forecasting.)

ASK: How can we use our sense of touch to help us predict and record the weather? (Touch is another sense that's easy to use when forecasting. You can feel the sun hitting your face, and you can feel your face get colder when a cloud passes between you and the sun. You use touch when you use the wind to forecast the weather.)

ASK: How can we use hearing to help us predict and record the weather? (Hearing is useful for forecasting the weather. When you hear thunder, you know that a storm is nearby, even if you didn't see the lightning. You can hear the wind blow harder or softer through trees or as it whips around your ears.)

ASK: How can we use smell to help us predict and record the weather? (Your sense of smell can help you predict the weather too. When you know it's about to rain, smell the air. Rain has a distinct smell to it. A snowstorm has a distinct smell too. When you smell these aromas in the air, you know what kind of weather is likely to happen.)

As for taste, you can't use it to forecast the weather. You can't taste the wind or sunshine. You can taste rain or snow by catching it on your tongue as it falls from the sky, but it won't tell you anything about the weather. And never drink rain water off the ground.

Use your anchor to fill in student comments and pictures of ways to use the senses to make predictions and gather weather information and use the senses to collect information on the current weather. For example: for sight you will have pictures of the clouds, rain, and sun.

We Use Our Senses to Observe the Weather

We can see We can feel We can hear We can smell We can taste

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Explore/Explain: (20 minutes) Dual Language Activity 1Students go outside to use their senses to help them observe and describe the weather. Using the template below, record the things about weather that day that might not be visible, but that can be felt, such as wind. When students are outside, they should write as many words as they can to describe the weather as they walk around observing the weather. They can use drawings or symbols to represent the characteristics of weather that day if they are unable to use words.

Conceptual Refinement ( 10 – 15 min.) The teacher pulls students or pushes in for students that need extra support with the concepts.

Elaborate: (10 minutes)Once you have come back to the classroom, record on a wall chart the "Weather Words" students used to describe weather that day (hot, cool, sunny, etc.) See how many words they had in common.

Evaluate (5 Minutes)Ask students to describe weather using “weather” words and tell what type of clothing is appropriate.

Day 2- Building Concepts and Academic Vocabulary***It is best to do this exploration on a sunny day! If the weather is not conducive to going outside, finding a sunny spot inside to place the sand containers will also work.

Engage (5 minutes)“Yesterday we started our study of weather and did our first weather observations. What do you think about today’s weather? How did you decide what to wear?” Children share their ideas. “What do you think makes us warm when we’re outside?” The sun warms the earth. It also provides the earth with life, energy and gravity. Without any sun at all, the earth could not survive.

Explore (20 minutes)Dual Language Activity 1 Set up an exploration using two containers of sand for every small group of students. Have students work in small groups to measure and spread equal amounts of sand into two containers. Place a thermometer in each container. Encourage everyone to touch the sand and notice how hot/cold it feels. Have each group take their containers outside and find a place in the sun and a place in the shade to put each of their containers.

Explain (10 minutes)While waiting for the results, children can look around the schoolyard and feel different objects and materials in the sun and in the shade. Record in the Science Notebooks. Show which objects are warm and which are not, as well as whether the objects were in the sun or not. Have children share their findings and discuss what they noticed, using their notebook entries as evidence. In particular, probe their observations about where the warmest objects were located. Were objects warmer in the sun or in the shade? Why do they think some objects get warmer than others? What do they think will happen at night when the sun sets? Children may also bring up that some materials in the sun felt warmer than others, such as metal versus a leaf. Guide children toward consensus—if possible, based on their data—about which materials get the hottest in the Sun. If there is disagreement, encourage children to explore further at recess over the next few days. They can also bring out objects made of the materials about which they are curious (metal, plastic, fabric, wood, etc.) to test.

Evaluate (10minutes)After the discussion, have students share predictions about what happened to the containers of sand. Which one do they think will be warmer and why? Check the results—if possible, place them side by side and make sure all children have a chance to place one hand on the surface of each container to compare. Summarize the children’s findings by saying, “It seems like the warmest materials were always in the sun. Even though some were hotter than others, they were always warmer than the objects in the shade. The sun is really important, it is what gives us heat energy.”

Conceptual Refinement (10 – 15 min.) The teacher pulls students that need extra support with the concepts.

Differentiation:

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ELL: Provide sentence stems and picture prompts for students to record information in the Science Notebook. Have class wall chart available for students to copy vocabulary words when completing sentence stems.SPED: Provide sentence stems and picture prompts for students to record information in the Science Notebook. Have class wall chart available for students to copy vocabulary words when completing sentence stems Enrichment: Create a graph depicting everyone’s choice of favorite weather. Have students write or dictate one or two true statements based on their data.

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Touch several objects outside. Record 3 objects that are warm and 3 that are not warm. Check the box to record whether the object was in the sun or not in the sun.

Name________________________________

Warm(caliente)

NOT Warm(no caliente)

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OUR DAILY WEATHER REPORT

Week of: ______________________________________________

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Monday Tuesday

Wednesday Thursday

Friday

8

FIVE SENSES RECORDING SHEET

sight

smell

touch

hear

taste

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NUESTRO REPORTE DIARIO DEL CLIMA

Semana de: _____________________________________________

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Lunes Martes

Miércoles Jueves

Viernes

10

HOJA DE REGISTRO DE LOS CINCO SENTIDOS

vista

olfato

tacto

oído

gusto

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