CREATE YOUR OWN WEATHER STATION:
This is an ongoing activity. You can begin building the instruments at the start of your unit, and use them to keep track of weather conditions until the unit is complete. These activities should be accompanied by reading age-appropriate non-fiction books about weather you can find in your local library. Some subject areas touched on with this are science (meteorology, scientific methods), math (measurement, calculations), spelling and vocabulary (pull words and terms right out of the glossary of the non-fiction books), research (both internet and library on weather topics), and geography (looking at climate conditions in various regions and parts of the world).
You can create your own homemade instruments out of common materials so that you can keep daily track of weather conditions in your area. These instruments are best set up outside somewhere, several yards from buildings, fences or trees. As you are creating these instruments, discuss their uses in meteorology, how they work and what they tell us.
BAROMETER: This instrument is used to measure atmospheric pressure. All you need is an unopened can of tuna, a straw, a needle, and some tape. Tape the needle to the edge of the straw so that the point protrudes out past the edge about ΒΌ inch. Lay the straw on top of the can of tuna fish with the pin-end hanging off. Tape the straw to the center of the can. Place your barometer in front of a piece of cardboard that is propped up against something. Mark the place at which the pin points to. When you check it, you'll notice that sometimes the pin is slightly higher than others. That's because when the pressure is high, the can contents will condense and the pin will raise. When the pressure is low, the can contents will expand and the pin will drop slightly. Discuss what happens with the weather when the pressure is high, or when it is low.
ANEMOMETER: Used to measure wind speed, your anemometer will give you a good idea of how fast the wind is blowing, but will not be highly accurate, but you can always check your results with the national weather service to find out your margin of error. To make it you will need two plastic 12" rulers, a heavy wooden dowel, a metal washer, a nail, a drill, a hammer, some tape, oil or petroleum jelly, and four small disposable plastic or Styrofoam drinking cups.
Have an adult or older child (with supervision) drill a small hole dead center in each ruler. Tape them together in an X formation so that the holes line up (but don't block the holes with the tape). Steak your dowel firmly in the ground, making sure it is straight (use a level, if you have one) and that the top is several inches from the ground. Put the washer on the top tip of the dowel, and lay the two rulers over it, centering the hole over the hole in the washer. Hammer the nail (make sure it is also straight!) partway down into the dowel so that the washer and rulers will remain there, but the rulers are free to spin. Lift the rulers slightly and dab a bit of petroleum jelly or oil at the top of the washer and up the nail with a cotton swab. This will help to reduce friction. Take the drinking cups and trim off the tops, which are usually reinforced or rolled. This will eliminate weight. Use a marker, light coating of paint or some neon-colored stickers on ONE cup, so that it can be easily distinguished from the others. Tape one cup to each end of each ruler so that all of the openings are facing and heading clockwise as the rulers spin.
To measure the speed of the wind, use a watch with a second hand or stop watch and count how many times the marked cup goes around in one minute. Check with the weather bureau to see how accurate your instrument is. Talk about why wind speed is important to measure, and how knowing the wind speed can help in certain occupations.
RAIN GAUGE: All you need for this instrument is a clean, empty coffee can, a plastic ruler and some masking tape. Place the ruler, preferably one with large numbers, inside of the coffee can, with the higher numbers at the top. Place your rain gage out on the ground. As an alternative to a coffee can, you can use a clear, plastic container and face the numbers of the ruler outward so they can be seen through the sides. The only thing to remember is that the sides and mouth of the container must be straight like that coffee can, and not a bell-shaped curve like commonly found on a jar (a smaller opening means capturing less rain than actually falls).
Empty your rain gage on a daily basis, or after every rainfall. Discuss how much on average it rains in your region and compare it with other climates (tropics, desert, coast). Discuss the water cycle, and how rain is helpful to the land.
WIND DIRECTION INDICATOR: The most common indicator of wind direction is known as a weather vane. To make one of your own, you will need a compass, coffee can, pencil with an eraser tip, a drinking straw, a pin, a marker, a stapler, a pair of scissors and a piece of construction paper. Take the empty coffee can and cut a small hole in the center of the plastic cover. Cover the can, filling it with some rocks or soil to prevent it from tipping easily in the wind. On the top of the plastic cover, using the marker, mark the compass points (N, NE, E, SE, S, SW,W, NW). Push the point of the pencil into the small hole in the center of the plastic cover, just down enough so that it stands erect securely. Tape or glue it in place if necessary. Take the construction paper and cut out a diamond shape with approximately 2 to 3 inch sides. Fold it in half so the two points farthest away from each other meet. Place the end of the straw in the fold and fold the diamond over it, so the straw will have a "tail," and staple it to secure it. Place the center of the straw directly atop of the pencil eraser. Push the pin through it to secure it to the eraser. When your straw spins, it will eventually settle at the point of the direction the wind is coming from. Discuss the changes that occur daily, and the weather patterns that follow. Can you spot any trends?
CLOUD CHART: Obtain pictures of different types of clouds, cut them out and put them on a chart. Along side each cloud, write the type of cloud it is and the type of weather it is associated with. Each day, when checking your weather station, try to identify the types of clouds in the sky. Discuss what clouds are made of, and how they are helpful in predicting the weather.
ROUNDING IT OFF: Round off your weather station by getting an easy to read thermometer that indicates both Fahrenheit and Celsius, and hanging it near your other instruments. Make a chart so that you can daily record the measurements of your instruments, the type of clouds in the sky, and make a space to mark the actual weather of the day. See how accurate your results are by recording your predictions and comparing them to those of a daily weather report.
If possible, take a field trip to a local weather station or a museum that has a good exhibit on meteorology. If you can, find actual instruments to view. At the very least, try to find pictures of actual instruments, both from long ago and modern instruments, to look at and compare to your back yard weather station.
WEATHER IN ART AND LITERATURE
Expand your unit to include weather discussions in literature. Many stories, novels and poems incorporate weather, since it is a universal constant that affects us all. Younger children will enjoy reading and discussing stories that deal with seasonal activities revolving around the weather, such as things to do on a snowy day. Older children can read novels such as "Jane Eyre,"or "Wuthering Heights," and discuss or write a paper on how weather is used as a metaphor in the story, or to mirror the character moods.
Take a field trip to an art gallery and note how weather is used in art, both abstractly and realistically. Discuss "pathetic fallacy," or the way artists are able to attribute human traits to things like nature, or weather. How do famous artists such as Van Gogh, Renior, and Monet paint weather, and what are they using the weather to convey to you?
Have the students do some creative writing projects, such as writing haiku, short Japanese poems with 3 lines (traditionally the lines consist of five syllables, 7 syllables, and 3 syllables, respectively), about weather.
Children can also create their own weather art, such as making dioramas depicting certain seasons, or taking pictures and making a photo collage displaying different weather (hurricanes, lightening storms, sunny days).
ADDITIONAL ACTIVITIES
Don't forget to spend a lot of time outdoors actually experiencing the weather. Lay back on the grass and look for shapes in the clouds, go on rainbow hunts during sun showers, and splash around in the puddles after a storm.
