Weatherman, Weatherman....let's talk about Weather

The 5th grade science standards in my state are...well....hard.  Especially Earth science.  I go from having a fairly good grasp of what is going on (ie: evaporation) to somewhat knowing what is occurring (ie: wind and convection) to completely lost (with the weather maps and predicting weather).

After scouring the internet, watching video after video, reading article after article, I finally got enough grasp on it to effectively teach my students.  One site I found is called Study Jam.  Study Jams is GREAT!  I had never seen this site before but there are a ton of kid friendly videos (cartoons) that explain these really difficult concepts in simple language.  *I* learned a lot from it, as did the students.  Click on the picture below, it will take you to the videos.

However, I wanted them to be able to show what they learned in a fun, constructive way.  So I came with this fun little activity that the kids really did enjoy....Weatherman Forecasts!

First, I had the students write the definitions of the various pressure systems and fronts on a pre-printed map.  They had to cut out the little flaps, mount the map on a piece of paper, and then write the definitions.  This created a fun little "peek-a-boo" effect.

Next, the students picked 3 different weather cards.  I made these up for the students to use, with weather forecasts from 4 different regions of the country.  That way, when they picked up the cards, the weather patterns would be spread out around the United States.  They then drew the symbols for the weather described on the maps.  This proved to be a bit tricky for some of the kids, as they had NO idea where Daytona Beach....or Florida for that matter....was.  So out came the social studies books to help with the geography.

Once the weather was mapped, the students then wrote a forecast, in the style of a meteorologist on the evening news.  I used a communication guide with my lower EL students, but those students who were able wrote it on their own.  Using the weather cards, they were easily able to use the academic vocabulary necessary to describe the weather.






The final draft was then written on a speech bubble, and I had the kids mount all of this with a picture of their head glued onto a clip art body.  It came out SOOO cute!  I love that part!

So there you have it.  A fun way to help the students show what they know, and give them some practice forecasting and reading weather maps.  If you would like to pick this project up, it is available in my TpT store.

What do you have to teach in science?  Anything like this???