What's The Weather Like Today?

Big Idea: What is today’s weather?   

Focus question: What is the weather like today?

Prediction: 

·        If I look outside, I will see that the weather is sunny by the sun being out.

·        If I listen outside, I can hear the wind move through the leaves.

·        If I stand outside, the weather will feel warm because the temperature will be higher.

·        If I smell outside, I might smell the grass because it just rained.

Planning: 

Materials:  outdoor area, journal, pencil

First, we went outside. Then, we used our senses to observe the weather. Next, we recorded in our science journal what we observed about the weather today using our senses. Finally, we found out what the weather was like today based on our observations.

Data : Weather Today

Senses	Weather
What does it look like?	Sunny Clouds-white Leaves moving
What does it hear like?	Wind moving the leaves
What does it feel like?	Warm temperature Windy Wet grass
What does it smell like?	Grass smell

Claims and evidence:

I claim that the weather is sunny, cloudy, and windy today. I know this because I saw the sun and white clouds out and the wind blowing the leaves. I claim that the weather is windy. I know this because I saw leaves moving, heard leaves moving, and felt the wind. I claim that the weather is warm. I know this because I felt the warm wind. I claim that the weather was rainy before the weather now. I know this because I could smell the grass and the grass was wet. My predictions proved to be true because I found that the weather is sunny, windy, and warm during my investigation. In addition, I found that it was cloudy and it had rained prior because the grass was wet.

Conclusion:

I learned that I can tell what the weather is like today by standing outside and observing it using my senses. I learned that the weather was sunny, windy, cloudy, and warm using my senses. I also learned that it had rained at some point prior to my observation because the grass was wet. This helped me learn that the weather is different each day and throughout each day. Additionally, I learned that my senses can tell me about the weather. Based on this investigation, my predictions proved to be true about the weather today. However, I also learned that it was cloudy and that it had rained prior to the experience.

Reflection/ Questions:

I learned that I can use my senses to determine what the weather is like.

·       How does the weather help us decide what to wear?

·       How does the weather help us determine what types of outdoor activities we can pursue?

Literacy Connections:

The kids’ book of weather forecasting (Williamson kids can! series) by Breen and Mark

National geographic readers:  Weather by Kristin Baird Rattini

Oh say can you say what’s the weather today?:  All about weather (Cat in the hat’s learning library) by Tish Rabe and Aristides Ruiz