Science · Unit 4 · Weeks 19–24
Weather & Climate
The big idea
Your child measures weather like a scientist, with a thermometer, a homemade rain gauge and a wind streamer, and records the data. Then your child learns that weather is one day while climate is the usual pattern over many years, compares climate regions around the world and makes a safety plan for severe weather. The unit ends with an engineering challenge: designing, building and testing a weather instrument.
Standards in plain words
- 3-ESS2-1 Shows weather data in tables and graphs to describe the weather usually expected in a season.
- 3-ESS2-2 Gathers and combines information to describe climates in different regions of the world.
- 3-ESS3-1 Judges how well a design solution reduces the harm from a weather hazard.
- 3-LS4-3 Argues from evidence that in a given habitat some living things survive well, some survive less well and some cannot survive at all.
- 3-5-ETS1-1 Defines a simple design problem, including what success looks like and limits on materials, time or cost.
- 3-5-ETS1-2 Comes up with several possible solutions and compares how well each is likely to meet the goals and limits.
- 3-5-ETS1-3 Plans and runs fair tests that change one thing at a time and look for weak points, to find ways to improve a model or prototype.
What mastery looks like
- Reads a thermometer, rain gauge and wind direction correctly and records a full weather observation.
- Sorts statements into weather (today) and climate (many years) by their time clue words.
- Uses a table of monthly averages to describe the climate where they live.
- Describes tropical, temperate, polar and desert climates and the living things that fit each.
- Names the severe weather most likely where they live and explains the safety steps for it.
- Builds a weather instrument, tests it against a trusted reading and makes one improvement.
Materials
- Outdoor thermometer
- Clear straight-sided jar and a ruler with inches for a rain gauge
- Ribbon or tissue strip taped to a pencil
- Compass or compass app
- World map or globe and crayons
- Recycled materials and tape for the instrument
- Science notebook for a weather log
Anchor texts
- Reading About Our World passages: 'Tools of a Weather Watcher' (Week 19), 'Staying Safe in Wild Weather' (Week 21) and 'Climates Around the World' (Week 23)
- Video hub topics: parts of weather, weather versus climate, severe weather safety, the main climate types, and choosing a weather instrument to build
Watch across the unit
Watch for: Calling one unusual day a change in climate, or describing climate with today's weather.
Try: Ask, 'Is that what usually happens here over many years, or just today?' and underline the time clue words.
Watch for: Naming the wind for where it is going instead of where it comes from.
Try: Ask, 'Which side of your face feels the wind?' and name that direction.
Watch for: Thinking it is safe under a tree in a thunderstorm, or in shallow floodwater.
Try: Explain that tall objects are more likely to be struck, so go inside a building, and repeat 'Turn around, don't drown.'
Pacing
Short week: Keep the weather log going every school day, even on days you skip the lesson; it takes two minutes and feeds later weeks. Keep the severe weather safety plan day in Week 21 and the testing day in Week 24.
Flex week: Week 23 is the flex week. Practice reading the weather tools and sorting weather from climate, review the safety plan, or enrich with a day of sky watching and a climate postcard from another region. End with a review and a goal for the next weeks.
Week by week
| Week | Topic | Investigation |
|---|---|---|
| Week 19 | Measuring weather | Thermometer and rain gauge |
| Week 20 | Weather vs. climate | Track climate patterns |
| Week 21 | Severe weather & safety | Hazard safety plans |
| Week 22 | Climate regions | Compare tropical, temperate, polar and arid climates |
| Week 23 | Flex week | Choice investigation |
| Week 24 | Engineering a weather instrument | Build and test an instrument; Unit 4 test |