Moving Beyond the Page- Level 5-7 Concept 1, Unit 2-Weather

This week we started learning about weather! Since the weather is finally starting to get warmer, the timing is perfect! There were lots of fun activities to do in this unit.

The first activity was one that I found on Pinterest. It was a water cycle in a bag. You draw a sun, a cloud and the ocean on the bag. Put a little bit of water in the bottom. Tape it to the window. The heat of the sun will cause evaporation, which will eventually cause "Rain" in the bag. It took a few days, but it worked! Lily was very excited to see the rain in her bag.

 We got some more educational games, so we spent some time with those. We worked on even and odd numbers and learning to tell time.

We talked about temperature and thermometers. We measured the temperature of 3 different bowls of water. One was just tap water, one was water warmed in the microwave, and one was water with ice in it. We measured the temperature of each bowl and recorded it.

 

Our next project was to make a rain gauge. The timing was perfect-it rained that night! All we did was tape a ruler to a glass jar, then set it outside and wait for the rain. We discussed that this is one way to measure the amount of rain we get. We ended up with about 1 1/2 inches in our rain gauge.

We spent some time watching weather forecasts over the course of the week. We talked about meteorologists, and how they predict the weather. We talked about how we use those forecasts to help us make our plans for outdoor activities.

Another activity I found on Pinterest was a cloud viewer. I just Googled "cloud viewer."  It is like  a frame. The middle is cut out, and there are different kinds of clouds on the edges. This is  a great way to look at the clouds, and determine what kind of clouds you are looking at. :)

We made a "cloud" in a bottle. We talked about how warm, moist air is needed for clouds to form. We put some warm water in the bottle, and lit a match. I dropped the match in the bottle, and closed it quickly. When you squeeze the bottle and let it go, you see the "cloud."

We continued talking about habitats, and how the weather can affect different animals and their environments. Lily made a cactus and pygmy owl from the desert habitat in the book "Animal Habitats."

I forgot to take a picture of our tornado in a bottle. Lily had a blast swirling her bottle around and causing a funnel to appear. :)

That was our week. It was full of fun activities and talk of weather. Next week, we talk about the individual seasons. See you then!