CKSci Unit 3: Weather, Climate, and Water Cycling
Focus:
In this unit, students investigate the phenomenon of weather, including the water cycles and climate. The subtitle of this unit is Why does a lot of hail, rain, or snow fall at some times and not at others? This is a phenomenon that students experience, as weather changes, sometimes day to day or sometimes month to month. What causes this to happen? What are the conditions that allow precipitation to occur? Can people predict the weather ahead of time? This unit allows students to observe weather and climate phenomenon in detail and then start to ask questions, formulate explanations, then set up and conduct activities and research. As students work with classmates to analyze their shared experiences, they can formulate new questions and develop new strategies for answering those questions. Students explore concepts that include the following:
- What are the conditions like on days when it hails?
- Why is the air near the ground warmer than the air higher up?
- How can we explain the movement of air in a hail cloud?
- Why do clouds and storms form at some times but not at others?
- How do oceans affect whether a place gets a lot or a little precipitation?
As your students move through their day-to-day activities, they will also read Core Knowledge literacy selections. These include factual articles, history of the sciences, art and literature, spotting bad science in media and advertisements, graphics comprehension, research-type articles, reliability of sources, and other areas of science literacy.
Number of Lessons:
- Teacher Guide: 22 Lessons
- Student Reader: 7 Collections
Instruction Time (Student Reader):
- Lessons are designed to be completed in one or more class periods.
- A Pacing Guide found in Online Resources offers a suggested time to complete the entire unit if class is held each day.
- The entire unit should take about 42 days to complete if class is held each day.
- A complete list of Materials needed to complete the unit is provided in Online Resources.
Additional Search Terms:
science literacy • severe weather • latitude • atmospheric pressure • heat island • glacier • transpiration • evaporation • cloud seeding • condensation • cyclone • barometer • weather front • jet stream • radiosonde • water cycle • nonfiction • informational text
