Novice  Atmosphere  Projects (for Novice Atmosphere Activities) Project 1 Project 2 Project 3 Project 4 Project 5 Answer keys

Have the students each give a weather report to the class. The students can gather the information from weather instruments that you have at the school, from media sources (TV, radio, or Internet), or from observation of the current conditions.  The report should include the following (with some of these items optional, depending upon the age level of the students and accessibility to equipment):
1) temperature (and from the temperature, younger kids could decide if it's hot or cold outside)
2) sky condition (how cloudy and/or foggy: none, partly, mostly, all, etc.  Older kids can even decide on what type of clouds)
3) type of precipitation (if any)
4) wind or (for younger students, deciding if it's windy or not is probably enough to start)
    wind speed and direction (older students should find wind speed and direction)
5) relative humidity
6) barometric pressure
7) wind chill temperature or heat index temperature (if applicable)

An extension of this exercise would be to record the information from each daily weatherperson on a weekly or monthly chart.  Examples of monthly charts are made for lower and upper elementary students.  (These could be printed out, enlarged, and placed somewhere in the classroom for the students to fill out each day).  The recorder of the weather information could be the weatherperson, or another person (called the daily recorder).  The information gathered on these charts could be used to make comparisons, graphs, etc.  Students could observe the changes and general pattern of the daily temperature, how many days were cloudy and/or sunny, how many days it rained (or snowed), etc.

Project 2: Writing Activity

Have the students write a short story on how the weather.  These stories could take several themes:

1. How the weather affects their daily lives.  This would be a paragraph or two on all of the decisions that they made today (or for the week, month, etc.) based on the weather or based upon weather forecasts.  If they need some help, they could be told that this involves what they would wear, what "stuff" they would do outside, and so on.
2. Choose a weather topic and write about how "it" affects them.  For example, they could choose "temperature", and write about what they do when the temperature is really cold, just a little cold, cool, warm, hot, and really hot!  Other possible topics are precipitation (and individual types of), wind, humidity, clouds, fog, or whatever else they can dream up.
3. Do a history report about a weather event of the past.  Floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, and blizzards will probably be popular topics.  Students can do research at the local library, or go to the Web for information.  Some possible places to search on the Web include:
• Network Montana Project's Atmosphere Related Resources Page
• The Weather Channel and other links on the activity page
• Eye on the World - has information about blizzards, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes and other weather phenomena.

5. Write a tall tale about a weather event.  These could focus on the catastrophic weather events, like tornadoes, hurricanes, etc., but they do not have to.  It could be about a huge rainstorm, snowstorm, very hot or very cold temperatures ... let the students use their imaginations!

Project 3: Map activity- weather maps and weather predicting
Help the students find these cities on a United States map. This map should be printed, and each student should mark the correct location of each city on his or her map.  A large copy should aslo be posted somewhere in the room with each city clearly marked in its correct location:

•     Miami, Florida
•     Boston, Massachusetts
•     Minneapolis, Minnesota
•     Kansas City, Missouri
•     Dallas, Texas
•     Portland, Oregon

From this information, ask the students the following questions concerning each city: they can write or draw their answers on the worksheet, which should be printed out for class use.

1. Do you think it is sunny or cloudy outside?  How cloudy (partly, mostly, overcast - rain clouds)?
2. Do you think it is raining (or snowing, depending upon location and time of year)?
3. Do you think it is hot, warm, cool or cold outside?

Now, if you wish you or the class could select other cities and repeat the activity. There is space on the worksheet for three more cities to be added.  Make sure these cities are linked to either the Weather Channel or CNN, and also have weather cams available.

Notes:  Students may have some difficulty doing this activity at first.  Therefore, the activity could be a teacher-led activity the first time students attempt it, with the students working together as a class together as a whole.  Later, students could be placed into groups to work on the activity, or work individually.  The main purpose of this and the next project is to help students discover how to read satellite and radar maps.

This activity is similar to Project 3, except rather than looking at cities in the United States, we will focus on cities outside the United States.  First, help the students locate these six cities on a world map or a globe.  Then, you could discuss with the students what they think the weather will be like for each of the cities.

• Vancouver, Canada
• Oslo, Norway
• Tokyo, Japan
• Sydney, Australia
• Cape Town, South Africa
• Buenos Aires, Argentina

From this information, ask the students the following questions concerning each city: they can write or draw their answers on the worksheet, which should be printed out for class use.

1. Do you think it is sunny or cloudy outside?  How cloudy (partly, mostly, overcast - rain clouds)?
2. Do you think it is raining (or snowing, depending upon location and time of year)?
3. Do you think it is hot, warm, cool or cold outside?

Notes: Using cities in other parts of the world can bring into the discussion several other topics not dealing directly with this project, but important in their understanding of the world.  Students may wish to know how factors such as latitude, altitude, and closeness to an ocean can affect a city's temperatures.  They may also be curious about the Celsius temperature scale and how it is different from the familiar Fahrenheit scale.  The fact that some of the cities may be experiencing night time will bring into the discussion time zones and the Earth's rotation.  Another thing that they should realize is the difference in seasons found in the northern and southern hemispheres.  This will be more apparent during the northern hemisphere's winter than summer, as the cities of Buenos Aires, Sydney are Cape Town all have mild climates during their winter.

In most parts of North America (the Southeast United States being the exception), it is possible to approximately calculate the outside air temperature by counting the number of cricket chirps.  Although the formula varies slightly, a good approximation is:

1. Count the number of cricket chirps for 15 seconds
2. Add 40
3. The answer should be close to or exactly the air temperature in degrees Fahrenheit

• counters, who will actually could the number of chirps in 15 seconds
• timers, who will use a watch, clock, or stopwatch to time the 15 seconds
• recorders, who will write down the values the counters end up with
• calculators (optional), who will use the data to figure out the air temperature

For more information, check out these links:
The Wild File
Country Knowledge
Weather Myths