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| Connie Crowe |
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All subjects |
Bogue Sound Elementary |
| Michelle McDonald |
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All subjects |
Bogue Sound Elementary |
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Wacky Weather |
| Students will learn how good citizens deal with the aftermath of Wacky Weather. This cross curriculum project focuses on helping students learn about and compare the weather/climate of their neighborhood and community to that of a sister school in a different community. Technology rich lessons help children make real world connections to everyday life using E-mail, the Internet, digital cameras, video cam and desktop publishing skills. |
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| Environment(s) | Computer Lab, classroom, National Weather Service in Newport. |
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The unit can be a year long project using 26 class days. |
| Standards |
| Social Studies: 1.1, 1.3, 2.2, 2.3, 3.3, 4.4, 5.1, 5.3,
6.1, 8.1, 8.2, 9.2, 9.3, 10.2
Science: 2.01, 2.02, 3.01, 3.02 Technology: 1.3-1.5, 2.3-2.8, Goal 3 English/LA: 2.04, n2.08, 3.01, 3.02, 3.04, 4.04 4.05-4.09, 5.01-5.06 Math: 2.06, 2.09- 2.11, 3.01, 3.02, 3.06, 4.01-4.03 Information Skills: 1.07-1.09, 2.03, 3.02, 3.04, 3.05, 4.03-4.07, 4.09, 5.02, 5.04 |
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Students will work individually, as well as, in small groups and whole groups. |
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| Day (s) |
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| Day 0 |
All |
Pre-LENC preparation.
Teacher will need to establish contact with a school in an area which has a different weather/climate. Contact the school about becoming a sister school for the following purposes:
Teacher schedules field trip to the National Weather Service in Newport Teacher will invite meteorologist for day 18. |
Use ePALS for possible sister school contact.
Possible ways of communicating between schools: e-mail and video conferencing.
Permission slips and Online Safety Pledge forms .
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| Day 1 | Science
English/LA |
Introduce this weather unit by reading the book: "Cloudy with a Chance
of Meatballs"
Include a writing activity here. Students brainstorm possible silly sayings .... Ask students to interview adults at home to see if they know any real world weather sayings they would like to contribute. i.e., "Ring around the moon means rain or snow". |
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| Day 2 | Science
English/LA Technology |
Students share weather sayings
adults have contributed.
Students will choose one of the weather sayings provided below, enter their saying into a word processing program and use the drawing tools in that program to illustrate their work. Students will edit and save their work, then print their final product for displaying in the classroom. Read "The Cloud Book" by Tomie de Paola. Have the students listen for the weather sayings. Discuss what each one means. |
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| Day 3 | English /LA
Technology Science Math |
Read a book to introduce weather and seasonal changes.
Students are polled and asked to vote for their favorite season. As a class, students will graph their data using a graphing program (example: Graph Club or ClarisWorks for Kids) and print their graph for displaying in the classroom. Students will be given a paper doll to take home and dress according to their assigned season. Please send a note explaining assignment (dress doll according to season using craft items and scrap material) to adults at home with due date . Review telling time by the hour and half hour by playing "Show Me" game. (Teacher holds up flash card with digital time and students show the time on an analog clock). (The student will need to know how to tell time to enter information in the database later). |
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| Day 4 | Science
Technology |
Students will discuss weather changes from day to day and how weather is
measured: temperature, precipitation, wind speed and direction.
Students will discuss how electronic databases are used to collect, organize and display weather data. Students will visit a database on the Internet. http://wunderground.com to collect their daily data. Students will be given a prepared database to enter their daily weather information to observe changes over time. |
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| Day 5 | Math
Science English/LA |
Note to teachers: Create four large circles with different color yarn to
represent each season. Label each circle.
Students will sort appropriately dressed dolls according to the seasons into the matching season circle. The class will discuss the attributes specific to the seasons and explain their simple logic for what the dolls are wearing. |
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| Day 6-9 | English/LA
Science Technology |
Introduce each season with a trade book specific to that season. i.e.,
Winter - Sadie and the Snowman. Focus on one season each
day. Discuss the weather typically associated with each season.
Students create a circle map for each season to brainstorm characteristics of each season. As a class, share ideas from circle maps Students will write and illustrate a narrative story about an experience they may have during the focused season for that day. At home, students and adults can research government agencies to see how they are involved during a weather catastrophe. |
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| Day 10 | Science
Math |
Show students how to measure precipitation, temperature, wind direction
and speed using weather instruments.
Students review sequencing months and seasons. Students will create a booklet by putting the teacher created monthly calendars in sequential order, they will enter the season name on the top of the page beside the month's name and enter the date each season begins in the proper month. (These calendars will be used to record daily weather data obtained through homemade weather stations). |
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| Day 11 | Science
Technology |
Visit National Weather Center at Newport
Students will take digital pictures to send, along with a short write up of what they learned at the Weather Center, to their sister school. Students prepare interview question for Meteorologist. |
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| Day 12 | Science
Technology |
Students will review how to read instruments so they will be successful
using their homemade weather station. Students will document daily readings
on their calendars (created on day 10) to share and compare their information
with their sister school.
Teachers send weather instrument instructions home for adults and student to create a home weather station. Students can use their instruments to compare the data to the on-line data and practice measuring. Students interview Meteorologist and take video and digital pictures of the process. |
Tools for Home |
| Day 13 | Social Studies
English/LA Science Technology |
Students brainstorm why we use maps and globes.
As a class, locate the absolute and relative locations of your school and the sister school that has at least a slight difference in climate/weather. Students e-mail sister school to introduce themselves. |
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| Day 14 -15 | Science
Technology Social Studies |
Students will discuss weather, climate, landforms, physical and human characteristics
in our neighborhood and enter their responses onto a Tree Map.
Students will take the information from the tree map to e-mail to their sister school. Student will take information from sister school to compare weather, climate, landforms, physical and human characteristics in our neighborhood through oral discussion. |
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| Day 16-17 | Social Studies
English/LA Technology |
Students will discuss how citizens (adults and students) help neighbors
after major weather catastrophes and the multiple roles they play in their
neighborhood and enter their brainstorming responses onto a Circle Map.
Using the circle map, the students will write a story about how they could show good citizenship after a weather catastrophe. Students will share good citizenship stories with their sister school through e-mail. Students prepare questions for Meteorologist's visit.
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| Day 18 | Science
English/LA |
Meteorologist visits the class to discuss his role. Students ask prepared questions on how he/she prepares to report the weather and the technology that is needed to gather the information for the report. |
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| Day 19-22 | English/LA
Math Technology |
Students participate in planning and creating a weather report format for
the school wide morning news show.
After planning a weather report format, each child will take a turn checking the weather web site and entering the current information into the format to report on the morning news. Students will also plan and report on the project they have been participating in with their sister school during this unit. Students will graph the date and temperature to interpret the data to make predictions for the average temperature for the next week. |
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| Day 23 | Technology
English/LA |
Students will begin to prepare for their presentation of their project and e-mail Meteorologist other questions they may have concerning weather. | |
| Day 24-25 | English/LA | Students will prepare the presentation of their project for the school wide morning news show. |
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| Day 26 | Technology
English/LA |
Students will present their project information during the school wide morning news show. |
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Red skies in the morning, sailors take warning. |
rain or snow. |
in the rain. |
means a fair day. |
| For Wild Weather Facts, go to: http://family.go.com/raisingkids/learn/activities/feature/famf199606_famf66weath/famf199606_famf66weath9.html | ||||
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Date
(10/1/00 format) |
Temperature
(F) |
Wind Direction
(N, S, E, W, NE, SE, NW, NE) |
Wind Speed
(mph) |
Precipitation
(inches) |
Observable Conditions | Time of Day
(2:18 PM format) |
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Newport/Morehead City |
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