Project GLAD – La Mesa-Spring Valley School District
5th Grade Earth Science GLAD Unit - Meteorology
Idea Pages
I.
UNIT THEME –Energy from the Sun causes a dynamic relationship between
air, land, and water on Earth, which has an important impact on human life
as seen during the time of the exploration and colonization of the Americas.
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II.
III.
Physical geography
Forces and processes that move water between the air, land, and oceans
o Water cycle: evaporation, condensation, precipitation, accumulation
o Most of the Earth’s water is in the oceans in the form of salt water
o Availability of water for use by people can be extended through recycling and
conservation
o The source of a community’s water can be traced through the watershed
Uneven heating of the Earth’s surface by the Sun causes air movement and weather change
o Surface winds move from the poles of the Earth toward the equator
o Ocean currents are affected by surface winds
o The Earth’s atmosphere exerts pressure from gravity
o Ocean currents and the water cycle affect weather and climate
o Weather and climate affect people’s lives
Ocean currents played a major role in the migration of people to the Americas, from the
Paleo-Americans to the European explorers.
European exploration of the Americas was advanced by technological innovations in the
1300-1400’s that made travel and conquest easier—such as the use of gunpowder, seagoing
vessels, astrolabe, sextant, compass, and chronometer.
o Cross-cultural sensitivity on clash between cultures in the Americas.
FOCUS/MOTIVATION
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Big Book
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Read Aloud – Water’s Way
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Inquiry Chart – What do you know about meteorology?
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Observation Charts
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Realia (lava lamp for convection) – Exploration Report
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Geologic Timeline
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World Map – Ocean currents, jet stream, El Niño, hurricane and
typhoon patterns, Sargasso Sea, Grenada, Caribbean, Ireland, China,
Australia, Philippines, San Francisco, etc.
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Literature – A Life in the Breezes--Seafaring Life of Joshua Slocum
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Current Events - Articles about FEMA and government insurance
paying for houses destroyed in hurricanes or storms because they were
built too close to the shore, or on seacliffs.
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Video Clips – Twister, BBC Extreme Weather, Discovery Weather
Extremes, National Geographic Weather, The Perfect Storm, etc.
CLOSURE
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Process all charts (Team Feud)
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Problem-Solution Essays
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Learning Logs
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Team Task Presentations
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Test
Project GLAD – La Mesa-Spring Valley School District
5th Grade Earth Science GLAD Unit - Meteorology
Idea Pages, Continued…
IV.
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CONCEPTS -Universal or Enduring Understandings
Water on Earth moves between the oceans and land through the atmosphere via
the water cycle.
Air movement and weather patterns in the atmosphere are caused by the uneven
heating of the Earth’s surface by heat and light energy from the Sun.
Geologic time is almost incomprehensible by human beings.
Weather and climate have had important effects on human life and development
of civilization.
Ocean currents and winds affected the early exploration of and migration to the
Americas by everyone from the Paleo-Indians to the present day.
5th GRADE SCIENCE CONTENT STANDARDS
EARTH SCIENCES
5.3
Water on Earth moves between the oceans and land through the processes of
evaporation and condensation. As a basis for understanding this concept:
a.
Student knows most of the Earth’s water is present as salt water in the
oceans, which cover most of the Earth’s surface
b.
Student knows when liquid water evaporates it turns into water vapor in
the air and can reappear as a liquid when cooled or as a solid if cooled
below the freezing point of water.
c.
Student knows water vapor in the air moves from one place to another and
can form fog or clouds, which are tiny droplets of water or ice attached to
particles in the air, and can fall to Earth as rain, hail, sleet, or snow.
d.
Student knows that the amount of fresh water located in rivers, lakes,
underground sources, and glaciers is limited and that recycling and
decreasing the use of water can extend its availability.
e.
Student knows the origin of the water used by his or her local community.
5.4
Energy from the Sun heats Earth unevenly causing air movements that result in
changing weather patterns. As a basis for understanding this concept:
a.
Student knows uneven heating of Earth causes air movement through
convection currents.
b.
Student knows the influence that the ocean has on the weather and the role
that the water cycle plays in weather patterns.
c.
Student knows the causes and effects of different types of severe weather.
d.
Student knows how to use weather maps and data to predict local weather
and knows that weather forecasts depend on many changing variables.
e.
Student knows the Earth’s atmosphere exerts a pressure that decreases
with distance above Earth’s surface and that at any point it exerts this
pressure equally in all directions.
Project GLAD – La Mesa-Spring Valley School District
5th Grade Earth Science GLAD Unit - Meteorology
Idea Pages, Continued…
5th GRADE HISTORY/SOCIAL SCIENCE CONTENT
STANDARDS
UNITED STATES HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY: MAKING A NEW NATION
5.2.1. Describe the entrepreneurial characteristics of early explorers (e.g., Christopher
Columbus, Francisco Vásquez de Coronado) and the technological developments
that made sea exploration by latitude and longitude possible (e.g. compass,
sextant, astrolabe, seaworthy ships, chronometers, gunpowder).
5.2.2. Explain the aims, obstacles, and accomplishments of the explorers, sponsors, and
leaders of key European expeditions and the reasons Europeans chose to explore
and colonize the world (e.g., the Spanish Reconquista, the Protestant
Reformation, the Counter Reformation).
5.2.3. Trace the routes of the major land explorers of the United States; the distances
traveled by explorers; and the Atlantic trade routes that linked Africa, the West
Indies, the British colonies, and Europe.
5.2.4. Locate on maps of North and South America land claimed by Spain, France,
England, Portugal, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Russia.
V.
VOCABULARY
Water Cycle
Currents
Accumulation
Forecast
Compass
Astrolabe
Longitude
Properties
Evaporation
Gravity
Watershed
Sextant
Sailing Ship
Migration
Convection
Condensation
Atmosphere
Variable
Chronometer
Latitude
Colonization
ORAL LANGUAGE/READING/WRITING SKILLS
Poetry
5TH GRADE ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS STANDARDS
READING
1.0
Word Analysis, Fluency, & Systematic Vocabulary Development – The student uses
his/her knowledge of word origins and word relationships, as well as historical and literary
context clues, to determine the meaning of specialized vocabulary and to understand the
precise meaning of grade-level-appropriate words.
2.0
Reading Comprehension – The student reads and understands grade-level-appropriate
material. He/she describes and connects the essential ideas, arguments, and perspectives of
text by using understanding structure, organization, and purpose.
3.0
2.1
Understands how text features (e.g., format, graphics, sequence, diagrams, illustrations, charts,
maps) make information accessible and usable.
2.4
Draws inferences, conclusions, or generalizations about texts, identifying and assessing evidence
that supports those ideas.
Literary Response & Analysis – The student reads and responds to historically or culturally significant
works of world literature, particularly American and British literature. He/she clarifies the ideas and
connects them to other literary works.
3.2
1.0
Identifies the main problem or conflict of the plot and explains how it is resolved (character,
setting, events, problem, solution, climax, conclusion).
Writing Strategies – The student writes clear, coherent, and focused essays. Writing exhibits
awareness of audience and purpose. Essays contain formal introduction, body of supporting
evidence, and conclusions. The student successfully uses the stages of the writing process, as
needed.
1.2
Creates multiple-paragraph expository compositions:
a)
Establishes a topic, important ideas, or events in sequence or chronological order.
b)
Provides details and transitional expressions that link one paragraph to another in a clear
line of thought.
c)
Offers a concluding paragraph that summarizes the important ideas and details.
1.6
Edits and revises manuscripts to improve the meaning and focus of writing by adding, deleting,
consolidating, clarifying, and rearranging words and sentences.
ENGLISH LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT STANDARDS – Grade Span 3-5
LISTENING AND SPEAKING
The following ELD standards relate to ELA L/S 1.1
BEGINNING
EARLY INTERMED.
INTERMEDIATE
EARLY ADVANCED
Independently use common social greetings and simple repetitive phrases (e.g.,
“May I go and play?”)
Orally communicate basic needs (e.g., “May I get a drink of water?”).
Actively participate in social conversations with peers and adults on familiar topics
by asking and answering questions and soliciting information.
Actively participate and initiate more extended social conversations with peers and
adults on unfamiliar topics by asking and answering questions, restating, and
soliciting information.
The following ELD standards relate to ELA L/S 2.4
BEGINNING
EARLY INTERMED.
INTERMEDIATE
EARLY ADVANCED
ADVANCED
Begin to speak with a few words or sentences, using some English phonemes and
rudimentary English grammatical forms (e.g., single words or phrases).
Begin to be understood when speaking, but may have some inconsistent use of
standard English grammatical forms and sounds (e.g., plurals, simple past tense,
pronouns he/she).
Be understood when speaking, using consistent standard English grammatical forms
and sounds; however, some rules may not be in evidence (e.g., third person singular,
male and female pronouns).
Be understood when speaking, using consistent standard English grammatical forms
and sounds, intonation, pitch, and modulation, but may have random errors.
Speak clearly and comprehensibly using standard English grammatical forms,
sounds, intonation, pitch, and modulation.
The following ELD standards relate to ELA Reading – Vocabulary & Concept Development 1.2
BEGINNING
EARLY INTERMED.
INTERMEDIATE
EARLY ADVANCED
ADVANCED
Read aloud simple words in stories or games (e.g., nouns and adjectives).
Apply knowledge of content-related vocabulary to discussions and reading.
Use content-related vocabulary in discussions and reading.
Use common idioms in discussions and reading (e.g., “scared silly”).
Use common idioms, some analogies and metaphors in discussion and reading.
The following ELD standards relate to ELA Reading – Comprehension 2.6
BEGINNING
EARLY INTERMED.
INTERMEDIATE
EARLY ADVANCED
ADVANCED
Respond orally to stories read to them by answering factual comprehension
questions, using one- or two-word responses (e.g., “brown bear”).
Orally identify examples of fact/opinion in familiar texts read to them.
Read and orally identify examples of fact/opinion and cause/effect in literature and
content area texts.
Distinguish between explicit examples of fact, opinions, inference, and cause/effect
in texts.
Distinguish between fact/opinion, inference, and cause/effect in text.
The following ELD standards relate to ELA Writing – Strategies 1.10
BEGINNING
Write the English alphabet legibly. Label key parts of common objects. During group
writing activities, write brief narratives and stories using a few standard grammatical
forms.
EARLY INTERMED. Produce independent writing that is understood when read, but may include
inconsistent use of standard grammatical forms.
INTERMEDIATE
Independently create cohesive paragraphs that develop a central idea with consistent
use of standard English grammatical forms. (Some rules may not be in evidence.)
EARLY ADVANCED Arrange compositions according to simple organizational patterns.
ADVANCED
Independently use all steps of the writing process.
The following ELD standards relate to ELA Writing – Written and Oral English Language Conventions
1.2 and 1.3
BEGINNING
Use capital letters when writing own name and the beginning of sentences. Use a
period at the end of a sentence.
EARLY INTERMED. Use capital letters to begin sentences and proper nouns. Use a period at the end of a
sentence, and use some commas appropriately.
INTERMEDIATE
Use standard word order but may have some inconsistent grammatical forms (e.g.,
subject-verb agreement).
EARLY ADVANCED Use standard word order but may have some inconsistent grammatical forms,
including inflections.
ADVANCED
Use complete sentences and correct word order. Use correct parts of speech, including
correct subject-verb agreement.
MATH/SCIENCE/HISTORY-SOCIAL SCIENCE SKILLS
5TH GRADE MATHEMATICS STANDARDS
Number Sense 1.1
Measurement &
Geometry 3.6
Mathematical
Reasoning 1.1
Reads and writes whole numbers in the millions.
Visualizes, describes, and makes models of geometric solids (e.g., prisms, pyramids) in
terms of the number and shape of faces, edges, and vertices; interprets two-dimensional
representations of three-dimensional objects; and draws patterns (of faces) for a solid
that, when cut and folded, will make a model of the solid.
Analyzes problems by identifying relationships, discriminating relevant from irrelevant
information, sequencing and prioritizing information, and observing patterns.
5TH GRADE SCIENCE SKILLS - INVESTIGATION AND EXPERIMENTATION
4.0 Scientific progress is made by asking meaningful questions and conducting careful investigations. As a
basis for understanding this concept and addressing the content in the other three strands, students should
develop their own questions and perform investigations.
a.
Differentiate observation from inference (interpretation), and know that scientists’ explanations
come partly from what they observe and partly from how they interpret their observations.
b.
Measure and estimate weight, length, or volume of objects.
f. Follow a set of written instructions for a scientific investigation.
5TH GRADE HISTORY/SOCIAL SCIENCE SKILLS - ANALYSIS SKILLS
5.1
Students place key events and people of the historical era they are studying in a chronological sequence
and within a spatial context; they interpret time lines.
5.2 Students correctly apply terms related to time including past, present, future, decade, century, and
generation.
5.3 Students explain how the present is connected to the past, identifying both similarities and difference
between the two, and how some things change over time and some things stay the same.
5.4 Students use map and globe skills to determine the absolute locations of places and interpret information
available through the map’s or globe’s legend, scale, and symbolic representations.
5.5 Students judge the significance of the relative location of a place (e.g., close to a harbor, on trade routes)
and analyze how relative advantages or disadvantages can change over time.
RESOURCES AND MATERIALS –
Non-Fiction
Hiscock, Bruce. The Big Storm. New York: Atheneum, 1993. Hiscock follows the 1982 April blizzard
that paralyzed the East Coast from its beginnings in the Northwest through all of its changes as
tornadoes in Texas to hail in Kentucky, and shows how it affected people.
Gibbs, James. Shipwrecks of the Pacific Coast. Binfords & Mort, Publishers, 1962.
Horner, Dave. Shipwrecks, Skin Divers, and Sunken Gold. Dodd, Mead & Company, 1965.
Kahl, Jonathan. Weatherwise: Learning About Weather. Minneapolis, Lerner, 1992.
McVey, Vicki. The Sierra Club Book of Weatherwisdom. Boston: Little Brown, 1991. Natural signs of
approaching weather changes have been observed by Native Americans and passed on to their children
as "weatherwisdom" for generations. McVey tells stories of how this wisdom helped young people
predict bad weather and survive in the wilderness.
Suzucki, David. Looking At Weather. New York: Wiley, 1991. How weather affects people's lives and
how people affect the weather.
Watson, Benjamin. The Old Farmer's Almanac of Weather and Natural Disasters. New York: Random
House, 1995.
Wolff, Barbara. Evening Gray, Morning Red: A Ready-to-Use Handbook of American Weather Wisdom.
New York: Macmillan, 1976. Rhymes, sayings and signs used to forecast the weather.
Allaby, Michael. How the Weather Works. Pleasantville, NY: Readers Digest, 1995. While many of the
experiments presented here require a lot of adult supervision, the attempt to include an activity to
demonstrate each concept is admirable. The color photos of children performing the experiments are
extremely helpful.
Ardley, Neil. Science Book of Weather. San Diego: Harcourt, 1992. An excellent and comprehensive
book with lucid explanations of weather phenomenon. Highly recommended.
Bower, Miranda. Experiment with Weather. Minneapolis: Lerner, 1994. This introduction to
meteorology answers common questions about and offers activities to demonstrate how rainbows, fog,
wind and clouds are formed.
Branley, Franklyn. It's Raining Cats and Dogs: All Kinds of Weather and Why We Have It. Boston,
Houghton, 1987.
Flint, David C. Weather and Climate. New York: Gloucester, 1991. Simple experiments and information
on the composition of the atmosphere. Part of the Hands-On-Science series.
Gardner, Robert. Science Projects About Weather. Hillside, NJ: Enslow, 1994.
Lambert, David. The Weather and Its Work. New York: Facts on File, 1987.
Levenson, Elaine. Teaching Children About Life and Earth Sciences. New York: TAB Books, 1994.
McMillan, Bruce. The Weather Sky. New York: Farrar Straus, 1991.
Morgan, Sally. Weather. New York: Time Life, 1996.
Simon Seymour. Weather. New York: Morrow, 1993. Simon is able to organize complex information on
wind currents and the effects of uneven atmospheric warming and present it in a complete narrative
rather than in short chapter snippets as it is in other books.
Wyatt, Valerie. Weatherwatch. New York: Addison Wesley, 1990. Suggestions for how to set up a class
weather station and weather record keeping activities.
Fiction
Water’s Way by Lisa Westberg Peters
Bryan, Ashley. The Story of Lightning and Thunder. New York: Atheneum, 1993. A Nigerian weather
folktale.
Davis, Hubert. A January Fog Will Freeze a Hog and Other Weather Folktales. New York: Crown,
1977. Thirty sayings, their origins and what they mean.
Mayo, Gretchen. Earthmakers' Tales: North American Indian Stories about Earth Happenings. New
York: Walker, 1989.
Milord, Susan. Tales of the Shimmering Sky. Charlotte, VT: Williamson, 1996. Ten folktales from
around the world that explain celestial and weather phenomenon.
Teacher Resources
The Guinness Book of Records
The Earth’s Dynamic Systems by W. Kenneth Hamblin
Harcourt Science, California Edition, Grade Four
National Geographic Magazine, various back issues
United States Meteorological Survey, “Ask a Meteorologist” on the World Wide Web
McGraw-Hill, California Edition, Grade Four
Twister video or DVD
The Perfect Storm video or DVD
Materials
Lava Lamp
White chalk to use on blue paper (cloud pictorial)
Project GLAD – La Mesa-Spring Valley School District
5th Grade Earth Science GLAD Unit
Planning Pages
I.
FOCUS/MOTIVATION
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Inquiry Chart
Realia (lava lamp) – Exploration Report
Picture File Cards of severe weather events and clouds
o Classify and Record Observations
Poetry
o Chants/Songs (I’m a Meterologist Bugaloo, Clouds Here/There, Planet Earth Yes Ma’am ,
Explorer Sound Off , Earth Science Family, Atmosphere Yes, Ma’am, Earth Science Family)
o Class Poetry Booklet
Observation Charts
Big Book
Prediction Scenario – Cyclone
Music: “Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head”
Video: Clips from “Twister,” “The Perfect Storm,” and “Akira Kurosawa’s Dreams –
The Blizzard”
II.
INPUT
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10-2 Lecture
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Geography – World map input chart with latitude/longitude, convection cells, major ocean
currents, hurricane patterns, El Niño.
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Geologic Timeline
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Pictorial Input Chart – Meteorology
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Narrative Input Chart – “Coming to California Around the Horn!”
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Read Aloud – Water’s Way
III.
GUIDED ORAL PRACTICE
 T-graph for Social Skills - Cooperation
 Mind Mapping (clouds: types, physical attributes, locations, examples, effects, comparisons)
 Process Grid ( Levels of the Atmosphere)
 Sentence Patterning Chart (clouds)
 Observing and Classifying (This cloud is…. and that cloud is …)
 Comparison T-chart (Clouds are… Clouds are not…)
 Chants and Poetry
 Personal Interactions – Team Evaluation and Goal-setting
 Numbered Heads Together
 Weather Cycle Game (like “Fruit Salad”)
Project GLAD – La Mesa-Spring Valley School District
5th Grade Earth Science GLAD Unit
Planning Pages, Continued…
IV.
V.
READING/WRITING
A.
Whole Group
 Story Map for Water’s Way
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Problem-Solution Graphic Organizer (How do meteorologists save lives?)
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Descriptive Paragraph (Let’s describe our cloud so we can draw it accurately)
 Teacher-generated Cause and Effect Paragraph (Cause: El Niño. Effect: Changes in rainfall
totals in various parts of US.)
 Strip Books Frame
 Picture File Cards Exploration Report
 Listen and Sketch – Excerpt from The Perfect Storm
B.
Cooperative Reading and Writing
 Team Tasks
 Story Mapping – Water’s Way
 Cooperative Strip Paragraph #1 - The Earth’s atmosphere has many levels.
 Cooperative Strip Paragraph #2 - Different kinds of weather form in different levels of the
atmosphere.
 Guided Reading – Flex group of emergent readers using student-generated text extension of
Cooperative Strip Paragraph
 Ear-to-ear Reading (Poetry Booklet)
 Expert Group Guided Reading – Direct instruction in study skills and summarizing
C.
Individual Activities
 Learning Log (Text-You)
 Interactive Journal Writing
 Poetry Booklet
 Diagrams and Illustrations
 Reading Choices
 ABC Book of Meteorology
D.
Writer’s Workshop
 Mini-lesson
 Planning and Writing
 Author’s Chair
CLOSURE
 Read the Walls, Add to Observation Charts
 Team Feud Game
 Process Inquiry Chart
 Test
Project GLAD – La Mesa-Spring Valley School District
5th Grade Earth Science GLAD Unit
Sample Daily Lesson Plan for Demonstration Training Session
Day 1
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B. FOCUS/MOTIVATION
Standards (Make good decisions, solve your problems, show respect.)
Cognitive Dictionary/Signal Word – Meteorology
Observation Charts (Write a comment, question, or prediction.)
Big Book
Inquiry Chart
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C. INPUT
Timeline – Geologic Time
World Map – Input chart with latitude/longitude, convection cells, major ocean currents, hurricane
patterns, El Niño.
10/2 Lecture, Primary Language Groups
Poetry: Clouds Here, Clouds There.
Song: Earth Science Family
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D. GUIDED ORAL PRACTICE
T-graph for Social Skills – Cooperation (Numbered Heads Together) – Team Points
Realia: Whole Group Observations of Lava Lamp
Whole Group Exploration Report of Lava Lamp
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E. READING/WRITING
Reading the Walls with Partner (while ELLs have preview of read aloud in L1)
Read Aloud: Water’s Way
Story Map: Water’s Way
Learning Log: Text/You
Research Center
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F. WRITER’S WORKSHOP
Mini-lesson (What it is, how to get started)
Prewriting and Writing (Conferencing comes later, after students have the pattern)
Author’s Chair
G.
H. CLOSURE
Home/School Connection
Project GLAD – La Mesa-Spring Valley School District
5th Grade Earth Science GLAD Unit
Sample Daily Lesson Plan for Demonstration Training Session
Day 2
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I. FOCUS/MOTIVATION
Cognitive Dictionary/ Signal Word – Review yesterday’s word. What does it mean? New predictions?
Teams put heads together and nominate a new word, class votes on new signal word.
Process Home/School Connection in Teams
Review Timeline and Map with “Review Cards”
Poetry – Review Clouds Here, Clouds There by highlighting “gold nugget words”
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II. INPUT
Pictorial Input Chart – Big picture of earth science, especially meteorology with implications for human
life, especially explorers
o 10/2 with Primary Language
o ELD review/Learning Logs
Chant – Is this the Earth? Yes, Ma’am!
Narrative Input Chart – “Coming to California ‘Round the Horn!”
Poetry: Explorer Sound Off!
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III. READING/WRITING
Learning Log
T-Chart (Clouds are…/Clouds are not…)
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IV. GUIDED ORAL PRACTICE/READING/WRITING
Expert Groups: Do 2 of 4 groups.
o Team Tasks (Team map, timeline, poetry, dictionary, narrative input)
o L1 Preview of “Expert” information
Ear-to-Ear Reading with piece of text (textbook)
Team Evaluation and Goal-Setting
V. WRITER’S WORKSHOP
Mini-lesson (Any of the Six Traits of Writing: Voice, word selection, sentence fluency, ideas,
organization, conventions.)
Writing
Author’s Chair
VI. CLOSURE
Add to Charts
Home/School Connection
Project GLAD – La Mesa-Spring Valley School District
5th Grade Earth Science GLAD Unit
Sample Daily Lesson Plan for Demonstration Training Session
Day 3
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I. FOCUS/MOTIVATION
Process Home/School Connection
Cognitive Dictionary/ Signal Word – Review yesterday’s word. What does it mean? New predictions?
Teams put heads together and nominate a new word, class votes on new signal word.
Review Pictorial Input Chart with Review Cards
Poetry – Review Yes, Ma’am! or Explorer Sound Off by highlighting gold nugget words
II. INPUT
Poetry: I’m a Meteorologist Bugaloo
Finish Expert Groups
o Team Tasks (“Add to the Walls,” pictorial input chart, sentence patterning chart, team sentence;
continue team map, timeline, poetry, dictionary, narrative input.)
o L1 Review of “Expert” information, strategize with beginners in English about how to teach
their team
III. GUIDED ORAL PRACTICE
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Sentence Patterning Chart (“Farmer-in-the-Dell”)
o Trading Game
Team Presentation (“a task we’re proud of.”)
IV. GUIDED ORAL PRACTICE
Extended Name Tag (Favorite cloud, weather, stage of water cycle; most memorable weather event ever
experienced)
T-Graph for Social Skills - Cooperation
V. READING/WRITING
Process Grid (Experts teach their teams, numbered heads add to Process Grid.)
Co-operative Strip Paragraph (Compare and Contrast)
o Respond – Revise – Edit
VI. CLOSURE
Team Sharing/Process Cooperation T-graph
Interactive Journal Writing
Home/School Connection
Project GLAD – La Mesa-Spring Valley School District
5th Grade Earth Science GLAD Unit
Sample Daily Lesson Plan for Demonstration Training Session
Day 4
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I. FOCUS/MOTIVATION
 Cognitive Dictionary/Signal Word – Teams put heads together and nominate a word, class votes on the
day’s signal word
 Process Home/School Connection in Teams
 Video: Weather Channel
Review of Narrative Input Chart with Story Map
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II. GUIDED ORAL PRACTICE
Poetry – Recite the Repertoire!
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III. READING/WRITING
Flexible Groups (while teams work on team tasks) - struggling readers with student-generated text of
Cooperative Strip Paragraph, advanced readers with high level text, ELL group for ELD story retell on
Narrative Input Chart
o Team Tasks (team process grid, team Yes, Ma’am poem, team Here/There poem, team story,
team exploration report, team strip paragraph, team strip book Snow is…/Snow is not...)
IV. WRITER’S WORKSHOP
Mini-lesson (Any of the Six Traits of Writing: Voice, word selection, sentence fluency, ideas,
organization, conventions.)
Writing
Author’s Chair
V. CLOSURE
Process Inquiry Chart
Family Feud
Home/School Connection
Project GLAD – La Mesa-Spring Valley School District
5th Grade Earth Science GLAD Unit
Sample Daily Lesson Plan for Demonstration Training Session
Day 5
I. FOCUS/MOTIVATION
 Process Home/School Connection
 Cognitive Dictionary/ Signal Word – Review yesterday’s word. What does it mean? New predictions?
Teams put heads together and nominate a new word, class votes on new signal word.
 Revisit Observation Charts
 Inspiration: The rich cultural diversity of the United States is partly due to the meteorological factors
that brought various tides of migration here over the centuries.
 Chants and Songs
 Video: The Perfect Storm
II. GUIDED ORAL PRACTICE
 Team Action Plan
 Water Cycle Game (like “Fruit Salad”)
 Group Frame: Problem-Solution Brainstorm and Graphic Organizer
III. READING/WRITING
 Problem-Solution Essay
 Found Poetry
 Sketch and Write
 Team Writing Workshop – use picture file cards to write four compositions simultaneously (round robin
writing structure)
 Get together with some other experts and add to the Process Grid.
IV. CLOSURE
 Journal Writing with Peer Assessment of Journals
 Multiple Choice Test
World Map Showing Longitude and Latitude Lines (Print out to play a "Find that Location" using
global positioning, longitude and latitude numbers.)
METEOROLOGY:
It’s in the Air!
PROJECT G.L.A.D. UNIT
Based on the California Science Standards
5TH GRADE EARTH SCIENCE STANDARDS
COMPILED BY SALLY FOX
LA MESA-SPRING VALLEY SCHOOL DISTRICT
1-5-03
Meteorology studies
atmospheric
phenomena and air
movement caused by energy
from the Sun: mainly
weather. Weather has a big
effect on human life.
The Earth is a unique planet in our solar system. It
orbits the Sun because it’s attracted by the Sun’s
gravitational pull. Scientists believe the Earth is 4.5
billion years old. That’s written with 8 zeroes:
4,500,000,000 years old!!
METEOROLOGY:
It’s in the air!
Meteorology studies atmospheric
phenomena and air movement caused
by energy from the Sun: mainly
weather. Weather has a big effect on
human life.
The Earth is made of elements and minerals. Its
structure is like an onion, layer upon layer. The heaviest
elements are drawn to the center core by gravity. The
lightest ones form the crust (where we live) and the
atmosphere (where we breathe).
METEOROLOGY:
It’s in the air!
Meteorology studies atmospheric
phenomena and air movement caused
by energy from the Sun: mainly
weather. Weather has a big effect on
human life.
The lightest layer of Earth is the atmosphere. Scientists
have observed several levels in the atmosphere: first the
troposphere (where we live and breathe, where the birds
fly, and where the weather is), the stratosphere (where
jet planes fly), the mesosphere (where meteor trails
occur), and the thermosphere (where the satellites and
space shuttles are). That’s the atmosphere, lightest layer
of Planet Earth!
METEOROLOGY:
It’s in the air!
Meteorology studies atmospheric
phenomena and air movement caused
by energy from the Sun: mainly
weather. Weather has a big effect on
human life.
Energy from the Sun makes several things happen in
the atmosphere. One of the most important things is that
the Sun’s energy powers the water cycle, also called the
hydrologic cycle. The water cycle explains how water
moves between the atmosphere, the land, the rivers, and
the oceans.
METEOROLOGY:
It’s in the air!
Meteorology studies atmospheric
phenomena and air movement caused
by energy from the Sun: mainly
weather. Weather has a big effect on
human life.
The processes that keep the water cycle rolling are
evaporation, condensation, and precipitation.
Evaporation makes liquid water change to the gaseous
state, as water vapor in the air, often in clouds.
Condensation makes the water vapor in the air turn
back into liquid. Precipitation makes the water fall back
down to Earth as snow or rain.
METEOROLOGY:
It’s in the air!
Meteorology studies atmospheric
phenomena and air movement caused
by energy from the Sun: mainly
weather. Weather has a big effect on
human life.
Many people call Earth “The Water Planet.” Astronauts
tell us that Earth looks like a whirly, swirly blue marble
from space. That blue is the planet’s water (and
particles in it) reflecting the blue part of the spectrum of
sunlight. Most of the water on Earth is found in the
oceans—it’s saltwater that we can’t drink. Other water
is unavailable to drink because it’s frozen as snow and
glaciers, too. Water people need for drinking and
irrigation is a precious commodity.
METEOROLOGY:
It’s in the air!
Meteorology studies atmospheric
phenomena and air movement caused
by energy from the Sun: mainly
weather. Weather has a big effect on
human life.
People can help the water we have available be enough
for our needs in several ways. First, we can be careful
not to waste water. That’s called conservation. Second,
we can use water over and over. That’s called
recycling. Many golf courses use “gray water” to
irrigate their huge lawns. Third, we can take care not to
contaminate the local watershed so that runoff water
can be used safely. That’s called preventing pollution.
METEOROLOGY:
It’s in the air!
Meteorology studies atmospheric
phenomena and air movement caused
by energy from the Sun: mainly
weather. Weather has a big effect on
human life.
Another way the Sun makes things happen in the
Earth’s atmosphere is by heating up the surface of the
planet. Since Earth’s surface is irregular (mountains,
plains, valleys, high areas, low areas, areas covered by
plants, deserts), the heating is uneven. The uneven
heating causes convection currents to move at different
speeds. This variable air movement causes weather.
METEOROLOGY:
It’s in the air!
Meteorology studies atmospheric
phenomena and air movement caused
by energy from the Sun: mainly
weather. Weather has a big effect on
human life.
Because Earth’s surface is heated unevenly, and
because the planet is constantly rotating as it spins on
its axis around the sun, the air is in constant motion,
too. Surface winds move from the poles of Earth toward
the equator. If Earth weren’t rotating, these winds
would move north to south, but because of the rotation
they curve east or west depending on how close they
are to the equator.
METEOROLOGY:
It’s in the air!
Meteorology studies atmospheric
phenomena and air movement caused
by energy from the Sun: mainly
weather. Weather has a big effect on
human life.
Ocean currents and the water cycle effect weather and
climate. The cycle of water evaporating into clouds,
which is subsequently returned to the Earth as
precipitation (i.e., rain or snow). The cycle of ocean
currents can greatly affect the weather of coastal areas.
For example, the Gulf Stream brings warm water from
the Caribbean to England, giving it a much warmer
climate than it would otherwise have. Ice ages are also
part of the water cycle. They occur over period of
several thousand years.
METEOROLOGY:
It’s in the air!
Meteorology studies atmospheric
phenomena and air movement caused
by energy from the Sun: mainly
weather. Weather has a big effect on
human life.
To shorten the journey from New York to London,
Benjamin Franklin was the first to chart ocean currents
in the Atlantic. In 1777, he mapped the Gulf Stream by
measuring water temperature. Franklin recommended
that captains carrying mail between America and
Europe follow the Gulf Stream to save time.
METEOROLOGY:
It’s in the air!
Meteorology studies atmospheric
phenomena and air movement caused
by energy from the Sun: mainly
weather. Weather has a big effect on
human life.
One of the important benefits of meteorology is the
weather forecast. Meteorologists predict the weather by
gathering data and looking for patterns. The weather is
affected by many variables, such as pressure, humidity,
temperature, wind speed and direction, and geography.
Meteorologists use instruments like weather balloons,
satellites, barometers, Doppler radar, and anemometers
to collect the data they need to make a prediction.
METEOROLOGY:
It’s in the air!
Meteorology studies atmospheric
phenomena and air movement caused
by energy from the Sun: mainly
weather. Weather has a big effect on
human life.
The Earth’s atmosphere exerts downward pressure
because the force of gravity is attracting (pulling)
matter toward the center core. Although air is mainly
invisible, it actually contains a lot of matter that weighs
more than you might think. Atmospheric pressure is
subtler than temperature or humidity. In La MesaSpring Valley, air weighs about 15 pounds per square
inch yet you probably don’t notice it! The higher you
go in the atmosphere, the less pressure is exerted.
METEOROLOGY:
It’s in the air!
Meteorology studies atmospheric
phenomena and air movement caused
by energy from the Sun: mainly
weather. Weather has a big effect on
human life.
Probably everyone has a weather story or two to tell.
Hurricanes, tornadoes, monsoons, droughts,
thunderstorms, lightning, heatwaves, blizzards, freezing
rain, hail—the weather affects us in many ways.
Meteorologists have helped us predict severe weather
so that fewer people are killed or injured by it and less
property is damaged. Still, it’s an important factor in
our daily lives.
THE EARTH SCIENCE OF
METEOROLOGY, and THE STUDY OF
ATMOSPHERIC PHENOMENA (LIKE
WEATHER)
ARE WAY UP THERE
In the a-i-r, air!!!
Remember, like some restaurants, the
weather may not be nice but it
always has a lot of atmosphere.
Project GLAD Meteorology and Explorers
5th Grade Unit
POETRY
BOOKLET
Name ____________________________________________
Winds Here, Winds There!
Winds here, winds there,
Winds, winds, everywhere!
Prevailing winds blowing westerly,
Trade winds moving easterly,
Polar winds chilling,
And cool winds flowing to replace heated air.
Santa Ana winds from the deserts of California,
Chinook winds down the mountainside,
Scirocco winds across the Sahara,
And the Mistral down from the Alps. Brrr!
Winds here, winds there,
Winds, winds, everywhere!
WINDS, WINDS, WINDS!!!
By Sally Fox, LMSVSD, 1-15-03
Is This the Earth? Yes, Ma’am!
Is this Planet Earth?
Is this Planet Earth?
Well how do you know?
Well how do you know?
Tell me all about it.
I thought you said four.
Yes, ma’am.
Yes, ma’am.
It’s in orbit around the Sun.
It has four major layers.
The crust, mantle and core.
The atmosphere surrounds them all.
Is this the atmosphere?
Is this the atmosphere?
And how do you know?
And how do you know?
Give me some examples.
Give me some examples.
Yes, ma’am.
Yes, ma’am.
It’s usually invisible.
It’s like a blanket of air.
Troposphere and stratosphere.
Ionosphere and exosphere.
By Sally Fox
Project GLAD, LMSVSD
2002
Water Here, Water There!
Water here, water there,
Water, water everywhere!
Solar-heated ocean water evaporating,
Cooled atmospheric water vapor condensing,
Accumulated water vapor in clouds precipitating,
And water droplets freezing into snow and ice.
Saltwater in the oceans and seas,
Freshwater in the rivers and lakes,
Wastewater and storm runoff in the wetlands,
And crystal clear spring water up in the mountains.
Water here, water there,
Water, water everywhere!
WATER, WATER, WATER!!!
By Sally Fox, LMSVSD, 3-17-03
METEOROLOGIST BUGALOO
I’m a meteorologist and I’m here to say
I study weather systems ’round the world today
Sometimes I check the rain gauge; sometimes send up a balloon,
Sometimes I check the satellite to find the nearest typhoon!
Atmosphere, convection cells, oscillations, too!
Doing the meteorologist bugaloo!
Analysis and prediction of the weather’s my job
When you see a twister coming you’ll feel your heart throb!
The physics of the atmosphere explains the cyclone
Early warning systems help the affected zone.
Atmosphere, convection cells, oscillations, too!
Doing the meteorologist bugaloo!
Advances in technology—forecasts more reliable!
Satellites and computers—patterns identifiable!
Data and observations from meteorologists all together
Show pressure and circulation that determine the weather.
Atmosphere, convection cells, oscillations, too!
Doing the meteorologist bugaloo!
By Sally Fox, LMSVSD
12-27-02
EXPERT GROUP #1
Low Level Cloud Formations
Most clouds owe their existence to upward vertical motion of air, hence they are often associated with weather
producing phenomena, such as fronts, troughs, and low pressure systems. The processes of evaporation and
condensation are always involved in the formation of clouds since clouds are made of water in the air. However,
topography of the landforms can also help move air upwards and produce clouds. What keeps all this water
weight suspended in the air in a cloud? Indeed, why don’t all clouds fall out of the sky? The reason is that
windy updrafts suspend the cloud particles.
Clouds are generally classified based on characteristics, such as, altitude, appearance, or origin. The simplest
classification system is based on the various layers of the atmosphere. Low level cloud formations are found at
altitudes below 7,000 feet. Their physical characteristics often include a puffy, popcorn-like appearance. Their
chemical composition is the same as all clouds, which is to say they’re made of water. The state of matter of the
water in low level clouds is most often liquid. Low level clouds are composed of water droplets, but can have
ice crystals in colder climates.
Examples of low level clouds are the cumulus, stratocumulus and stratus clouds. Cumulus are usually puffy
and often have very distinct edges and usually a noticeable vertical development. Stratocumulus can be widely
scattered but are usually concentrated closer together in clusters or layers and have very little vertical
development. Stratus often appear as an overcast deck, but can be scattered. The individual cloud elements
have very ill-defined edges. Fog can be considered as a low stratus cloud in contact with the ground. When the
fog lifts, it usually becomes true stratus.
Chemical Composition
Elevation
Forces and Processes
Physical Attributes
Interesting Facts
EXPERT GROUP #2
Mid Level Cloud Formations
Most clouds owe their existence to upward vertical motion of air, hence they are often associated with weather
producing phenomena, such as fronts, troughs, and low pressure systems. The processes of evaporation and
condensation are always involved in the formation of clouds since clouds are made of water in the air. However,
topography of the landforms can also help move air upwards and produce clouds. What keeps all this water
weight suspended in the air in a cloud? Indeed, why don’t all clouds fall out of the sky? The reason is that
windy updrafts suspend the cloud particles.
Clouds are generally classified based on characteristics, such as, altitude, appearance, or origin. The simplest
classification system is based on the various layers of the atmosphere. Mid level cloud formations are found at
altitudes between 7,000 and 18,000 feet. Their physical characteristics are less distinct than low level clouds.
They’re often referred to as “overcast.” Their chemical composition is the same as all clouds, which is to say
they’re made of water. The state of matter of the water in mid level clouds may be liquid or solid. Mid level
clouds may be composed of water droplets and/or ice crystals.
Examples of mid level clouds include altocumulus and altostratus. Altocumulus clouds have distinct cloud
elements and are either in a patchy, scattered distribution or can appear in linear bands. Altostratus clouds have
a more uniform and diffuse coverage where it is difficult to detect individual elements or features.
It’s interesting to note that mid-level cloud names are preceded by an "alto" prefix. “Alto” means tall or in
Spanish and comes from the Latin root. It’s also interesting to note that these clouds share many similarities to
the cumuloform and stratiform high clouds.
Chemical Composition
Elevation
Physical Attributes
Forces and Processes
Interesting Facts
EXPERT GROUP #3
High Level Cloud Formations
Most clouds owe their existence to upward vertical motion of air, hence they are often associated with weather
producing phenomena, such as fronts, troughs, and low pressure systems. The processes of evaporation and
condensation are always involved in the formation of clouds since clouds are made of water in the air. However,
topography of the landforms can also help move air upwards and produce clouds. What keeps all this water
weight suspended in the air in a cloud? Indeed, why don’t all clouds fall out of the sky? The reason is that
windy updrafts suspend the cloud particles.
Clouds are generally classified based on characteristics, such as, altitude, appearance, or origin. The simplest
classification system is based on the various layers of the atmosphere. High level cloud formations are found at
altitudes above 18,000 feet. Their physical characteristics often include a wispy, wavy, fleecy, curly, or patchy
appearance. Their chemical composition is the same as all clouds, which is to say they’re made of water
suspended in air. The state of matter of the water in high level clouds is most often solid. High level clouds are
composed of ice crystals.
Examples of high level clouds are cirrus, cirrocumulus, and cirrostratus. Cirrus are high altitude wispy clouds.
Cirrocumulus are high clouds that have a distinct patchy and/or wavelike appearance. Cirrostratus are high
clouds that usually blanket the sky in ill-defined sheets. Another special type of cirrus cloud can be formed
from the vapor contained in the exhaust of a jet engine of an airplane when they are flying at high enough
altitudes for cold temperatures to cause the vapor to turn into ice crystals that like cirrus clouds. These clouds
are called "contrails" (short for "condensation trails") and look like lines in the sky.
It’s interesting to note that high-level cloud names are preceded by a "cirro" prefix. This prefix means “curl” or
“fleece” in Latin. It’s also an interesting fact that what appears to be cloud-free air (virtually) always contains
sub microscopic drops of water, but as evaporation exceeds condensation, the drops do not survive long after an
initial chance clumping of molecules.
Elevation
Chemical Composition
Forces and Processes
Physical Attributes
Interesting Facts
EXPERT GROUP #4
Multi-level Cloud Formations
Most clouds owe their existence to upward vertical motion of air, hence they are often associated with weather
producing phenomena, such as fronts, troughs, and low pressure systems. The processes of evaporation and
condensation are always involved in the formation of clouds since clouds are made of water in the air. However,
topography of the landforms can also help move air upwards and produce clouds. What keeps all this water
weight suspended in the air in a cloud? Indeed, why don’t all clouds fall out of the sky? The reason is that
windy updrafts suspend the cloud particles.
Clouds are generally classified based on characteristics, such as, altitude, appearance, or origin. The simplest
classification system is based on the various layers of the atmosphere. Multi-level cloud formations are found at
altitudes from below 7,000 to above 18,000 feet. They are vertically thick clouds spanning multiple layers.
Their physical characteristics include a tall columnar look, or a mushroom or anvil-like appearance. Their
chemical composition is the same as all clouds, which is to say they’re made of water. The state of matter of the
water in multi-level clouds may be liquid or solid. Multi-level clouds are composed of water droplets at lower
level and snow or ice crystals in the higher levels.
Examples of multi-level clouds are nimborstratus and cumulonimbus. Nimbostratus are multi-layer clouds
because their vertical extent often goes well into the middle cloud region. Cumulonimbus are the clouds that
can produce lightning, thunder, heavy rains, hail, strong winds, and tornadoes. They are the tallest of all clouds
that can span all cloud layers and extend above 60,000 feet. They usually have large mushroom or anvil-shaped
tops. Some people call them “thunderboomies” or “thunderheads” because they often indicate thunderstorms are
on the way.
It’s interesting to note that multi-level clouds contain the root “nimbus.” This comes from the Latin for “heavy
rain.” Multi-layer clouds are the heavy precipitation producers—that is, they make a lot of rain. The depth of
these clouds give precipitation hydrometeors a better environment to develop and grow. It’s also an interesting
fact that multi-level clouds indicate that the atmosphere is quite unstable and can also be an indicator of
impending severe weather.
Chemical Composition
Elevation
Forces and Processes
Physical Attributes
Interesting Facts
PROCESS GRID (For Teacher Use Only)
CLOUD ELEVATYPE
TION
LOW
LEVEL
PHYSICAL
ATTRIBUTES
Below
7,000 feet
Often have a puffy,
popcorn-like
appearance.
CHEMICAL
FORCES
EXAMPLES
ATTRIBUTES AND
PROCESSES
REFLECTED
INTERESTING FACTS
Most often
composed of
water droplets,
but can have
ice crystals in
colder
climates.
Cumulus are usually puffy and
often have very distinct edges and
usually a noticeable vertical
development. Stratocumulus can
be widely scattered but are usually
concentrated closer together in
clusters or layers and have very
little vertical development.
Stratus often appear as an
overcast deck, but can be
scattered. The individual cloud
elements have very ill-defined
edges.
What keeps all this water
weight suspended in the
cumulus cloud? Indeed,
why don’t all clouds fall
out of the sky? The reason
is that updrafts suspend the
cloud particles.
Altocumulus have distinct cloud
elements and are either in a
patchy, scattered distribution or
can appear in linear bands.
Altostratus have a more uniform
and diffuse coverage where it is
difficult to detect individual
elements or features.
Mid-level cloud names are
preceded by an "alto"
prefix.
Evaporation
Condensation
Gravity
Temperature
Pressure
MID
LEVEL
Between
7,000 and
18,000 feet.
Less distinct than
low level clouds.
Composed of
ice crystals
and/or water
droplets.
Same as
above.
Fog can be considered as a
low stratus cloud in contact
with the ground. When the
fog lifts, it usually becomes
true stratus.
Many similarities to the
cumuloform and stratiform
high clouds.
HIGH
LEVEL
Above
18,000 feet
Composed of
ice crystals.
Wispy, wavy, or
patchy.
Vertically
MULTI- thick clouds
LEVEL spanning
Mushroom clouds
multiple
(thunderboomies).
layers from
a few
thousand
feet to
18,000 feet
high.
srf 12/27/02
Same as
above.
Composed of
liquid water
droplets, snow
and or ice.
Same as
above.
Cirrus are high altitude wispy
clouds. Cirrocumulus are high
clouds that have a distinct patchy
and/or wavelike appearance.
Cirrostratus are high clouds that
usually blanket the sky in illdefined sheets. Contrails are
special clouds that are actually
condensation trails formed by jets.
Vapor contained in the exhaust of
a jet engine at high enough
altitudes for cold temperatures to
turn the vapor into ice crystals
like cirrus clouds.
High-level cloud names are
preceded by a "cirro"
prefix.
Nimbostratus are multi-layer
clouds because their vertical
extent often goes well into the
middle cloud region.
Cumulonimbus are the clouds
that can produce lightning,
thunder, heavy rains, hail, strong
winds, and tornadoes. They are
the tallest of all clouds that can
span all cloud layers and extend
above 60,000 feet. They usually
have large anvil-shaped tops.
Multi-layer clouds are the
heavy precipitation
producers. The depth of
these clouds give
precipitation hydrometeors
a better environment to
develop and grow.
What appears to be cloudfree air (virtually) always
contains sub microscopic
drops, but as evaporation
exceeds condensation, the
drops do not survive long
after an initial chance
clumping of molecules.
They indicate that the
atmosphere is quite
unstable and can also be an
indicator of impending
severe weather.
NARRATIVE INPUT – 5TH GRADE METEOROLOGY
Adapted from Born in the Breezes: The Seafaring Life of Joshua Slocum by Kathryn Lasky
1)
Ahoy, there! My name is Joshua Slocum and I’m here to tell you
landlubbers about the life of a Yankee ship’s captain in the last years of the great
sailing ships. The great sailing ships, powered by wind and ocean currents, brought
people and goods from distant lands to places all over the world. The trade and
exploration made possible by these incredible vessels changed the world and
changed life for millions, even billions of people. In my day, I was what you call a
celebrity. Do you know why? Because I was the first sailor to go all the way
around the world in a sailboat, ALONE. I wrote a book about it called Sailing
Around the World. I’ve seen my share of interesting weather all around the world.
I’ve even had my life put in danger by violent storms. It was critical for my
survival to know and understand the weather and how to keep the ship afloat in
high seas. Meteorology, you know, is the study of the many phenomena in the
atmosphere. Those phenomena can sink a ship, especially in a “perfect storm!”
2)
I love the wind. I used to say I was born in the breezes. My father wanted me
to work with him making shoes, but I knew my life was to be on the ocean,
powered by the winds and currents. I ran away from home when I was fourteen to
work on a sailing ship. I was really crazy about the ocean and about sailing—that’s
all I thought about, all I studied, all I read about, all I cared about. When I was
sixteen, I sailed to Ireland, then to China, then to Australia. It was a fantastic life
full of adventure! The officers noticed how serious I was, and what a hard worker I
was. By the time I was eighteen I was promoted to second mate. At 25 years old, I
was given my first ship’s command as Captain Joshua Slocum. As captain, the
lives of many people depended on my decisions. That kind of responsibility will
shiver your timbers! Every day I would scan the horizon and look out for coming
danger, whether pirate ships or storm fronts. You know what they say, “Red at
night, sailors’ delight. Red in the morning, sailors take warning.”
3)
We seafaring types have a long history, you know. The Age of Exploration
really made the world our oyster. The desire to know the unknown has been a
driving force in all of human history, you know. Go back to the ancient Greeks, the
ancient Romans, the ancient Egyptians, and the ancient Chinese. The ancients
wanted to spread their religion, to conquer other peoples, to find new and faster
trade routes, and to search for gold and silver. When people talk about the age of
exploration they usually mean the time from the 1300’s to the 1700’s. But the
floodgates of global exploration opened when Christopher Columbus sailed the
ocean blue in 1492. Columbus’s last voyage was affected by storms and
hurricanes, although the winds blew his ships off course, he finally made it home
to Spain safe and sound in 1504. When he died, he still believed he had set foot in
Asia, not America. I feel a close connection to Columbus. Once, when I became
violently ill during the height of a big storm, a member of Columbus’s crew from
the Pinta came to me as a phantom. He guided my ship while I was sick. Well,
that’s another story.
4)
Later Magellan sailed around the world, that’s called circumnavigation, with
a fleet of five ships and nearly 300 crew. He left from Spain, sailed to the
Americas across the Atlantic, and followed the coastline south towards Antarctica.
He and his ships found a way through the straits instead of having to go all the way
around Cape Horn. Now we call those straits the Straits of Magellan. By finding
this route, Magellan found the way to the Pacific Ocean from the Atlantic and the
world would never be the same. Then the English and Dutch began to compete
with the Spanish and Portuguese for spices and the other riches of Asia and the
East. Magellan’s ship sailed 43,380 sea-miles in her voyage of circumnavigation.
After many storms, hurricanes, shipwrecks, and even abandonment by one of the
ships, Magellan’s ships returned home without their captain. You see, Magellan
was killed in a battle in the Philippines in 1521.
5)
The straits Magellan found would continue to be important to sailors
rounding the Horn. For the next 400 years thousands of ships from Europe and the
Americas would follow Magellan’s lead from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Some of
the sailors were whalers, meaning they hunted whales to sell the blubber and
whalebone for a profit. Whalers were masters of the harpoon. Another group of
Cape Horners were the 49ers. When gold was discovered in California in 1848,
prospectors took every ship they could find and headed for San Francisco. Then
the merchant marine was created as an extension of the age of exploration—it was
a time of commercial and industrial exploitation of the Pacific. Those were the
beginnings of the best times in my life: when I was captain of a beautiful tall ship,
my wife Virginia and our children lived on board with me, and our family traveled
the seven seas taking cargo from place to place for a fee.
6)
After my wife died and my children grew up, I sailed around the world by
myself. I sailed a small ship, a sloop, called the Spray. It took me more than three
years to do it, from 1895 to 1898. As I entered the Strait of Magellan, I recited an
old fisherman’s prayer: “Remember, Lord, my ship is small and the sea is so
wide.” I made it through. After I was homeward bound, I reached the island of
Grenada in the eastern Caribbean in good spirits. The Spray was booming joyously
for home the way a horse heads happily for the barn after a long gallop. Suddenly
the wind died and we were becalmed for several days in the Sargasso Sea. I had
enough food and water to wait out the dead, doldrums-like weather and I passed
my time looking in the seaweed for interesting animals, like seahorses. I love those
little creatures! Finally, the wind began to blow. It was a gale force wind. That’s
wind blowing more than 30 miles per hour—a gale can make trees sway and break
twigs and branches off! The Spray was jumping like a porpoise on the northward
journey towards home. Just off New York, a fierce electrical storm splintered the
sky, there were thunder and lightning, and torrential rains pounded us. The Spray
ran like a mad dog with bare poles, her timbers shivering and heeling on to her
beam ends. But somehow she always righted herself and sailed on.
7)
So I made it home safely that time, but about ten years later, I wasn’t so
lucky. You know, I never learned to swim even though I spent all those years on
the water. I figured if the sea wanted me, the sea would come and get me. That’s
how a lot of us sailors feel about it. Those terrible storms, the ones with high winds
and heavy precipitation, seem like they’re trying to capsize the ship and wipe us
off the decks. Well, in 1909 I set sail from New England in the Spray, headed for
the Amazon. Something happened, though, and neither the Spray nor I were ever
seen again. Do you think I was caught in a gale? Do you think a hurricane capsized
me? Or do you think a bolt of lightning broke the Spray in two? You can predict all
those things but you’ll never find out. It’ll just have to be another mystery of the
deep blue sea.
THE END
FAMILY FEUD QUESTIONS FOR 5th GRADE EARTH SCIENCE UNIT
1.
What was the southernmost tip of South America, Cape Horn, was named after? (The
birthplace of the first European ship’s captain to successfully sail around it in 1616,
Hoorn, Netherlands)
2.
How high is Cape Horn? (424 feet)
3.
Why is it safer and easier to travel around Cape Horn today than it was one hundred
years ago? (Weather forecasts help sailors avoid dangerous storms)
4.
Why did sea voyages around Cape Horn taper off after 1869? (Because the
transcontinental railroad was completed that year and more people took the train,
which was faster and safer)
5.
What did Francisco Vásquez de Coronado think he would find in the area we now
call the Desert Southwest? (The Seven Golden Cities of Cibola)
6.
What do some people say was the drinking tradition among sailors who had rounded
the Horn and the Cape of Good Hope? (They could put both feet on the table)
7.
Who was the first sea captain to keep a detailed, daily record of his voyage called a
“Captain’s Log?” (Christopher Columbus)
8.
How many times did Columbus use the astrolabe he brought on his first voyage to the
West Indies? (Once)
9.
What invention that many people now wear on their wrists made it possible for sailors
to calculate their longitude? (clock/chronometer)
10.
When cloud water droplets get too big and heavy, what happens? (It rains)
11.
What is hail? (Large frozen raindrops)
12.
How heavy were the ice and icicles estimated between two telephone poles in a
severe storm in New England in 1921? (Four tons)
13.
What is the meaning of the Latin root “stratus?” (Layer)
14.
What are high level clouds usually made of? (Ice crystals)
15.
What are mid level clouds mostly made of? (Water droplets)
16.
What kind of clouds create overcast skies? (Low level)
17.
How high can cumulonimbus clouds reach? (Over 39,000 feet)
18.
What is a contrail cloud? (Condensation trail from a jet engine)
Sally Fox, LMSVSD, 12-29-02
Name_______________________________
EDITING
CHECKLIST
1.
I read my paper out loud.
2. Author’s name is on paper.
3. There’s a title. Are there page
numbers if more than one page
long?
3. The paper is dated.
4. Respond (What did I like?)
6. Revising (Any suggestions?)
(Did it make sense?) (Is it clear?)
(Can I move anything to make it
clearer still?) (Does it flow?)
(How about beginnings and
endings?)
7. Editing skills (Capitals)
8. Editing skills (Punctuation)
9. Editing skills (Spelling)
10. Editing skills (Grammar – Is it
a complete sentence?)
Project GLAD
FIRST
AUTHOR PEER
SECOND
PEER
Project GLAD – 5TH Grade
Earth Science and Social Studies Unit
“METEOROLOGYAND
THE EXPLORERS”
Interactive
Journal
Name _______________________________
Text
You
Project GLAD – 5TH Grade Earth Science and Social Studies Unit
“METEOROLOGY
AND THE EXPLORERS”
LEARNING LOG
Name_____________________________________________
ABC BOOK
Of Meteorology
Words
Selected and
illustrated by:
___________________
Project GLAD
Aa
Bb
Cc
Dd
Ee
Ff
Gg
Hh
Ii
Jj
Kk
Ll
Mm
Nn
Oo
Pp
Qq
Rr
Ss
Tt
Uu
Vv
Ww
Xx
Yy
Zz
EXPLORATION REPORT
OBSERVATIONS:
QUESTIONS:
__________________________________
PREDICTIONS:
Name________________
PREDICTING QUESTIONS
J. Planet Earth
Predict the answer to the flowing questions:
1.
How old do you think Earth is?
2.
What do you think the sky is made of?
3.
Do you think the temperature gets colder as you fly high into the
atmosphere, or hotter? Why?
4.
What are clouds made of?
5.
How does the weather make a difference in people’s lives?
Draw a picture or diagram of the Earth showing what you think it looks like from
space.
Team Evaluation and Goal-setting
For the ___________ Team
MEMBERS:
1. _____________________________
2. _____________________________
3. _____________________________
4. _____________________________
OUR STRENGTHS AS A TEAM (WHAT WE DO WELL):
OUR CHALLENGES (WHAT WE NEED TO WORK ON):
Project GLAD, LMSVSD, 1-2003
Name _________________________
Date ______________
HOME-SCHOOL CONNECTION #1
Meteorology and the Explorers
Take home your paper entitled “Predicting Questions” with the picture you drew earlier today. Ask
someone in your family or an adult friend the same questions and ask him/her to draw/write some of
his/her answers or ideas on this paper. Discuss with him/her. Did he/she agree with you?
Signature of adult __________________________
Nombre y apellido _________________________
Fecha ______________
CONEXIÓN ENTRE ESCUELA Y HOGAR #1
Meterología y los exploradores
Lleva a casa tu dibujo y tus preguntas predictivas de la hoja titulada “Predicting Questions.” Plantea
la preguntas a alguien de tu familia o un amigo adulto y pídenle que escriba algunas de sus ideas
aquí abajo. Hablen acerca de las respuestas. ¿Estuvo de acuerdo contigo? Pídele que firme esta hoja
con un comentario.
Firma del adulto ___________________________
Name _________________________
Date ______________
HOME-SCHOOL CONNECTION #3
Meteorology and the Explorers
Write everything you remember about at least three of the major types of clouds. Draw a picture of
the cloud types you remember in the boxes next to your description.
High Clouds
Intermediate Clouds
Low Clouds
Signature of adult ________________________
Nombre y apellido _________________________
Fecha ______________
CONEXIÓN ENTRE ESCUELA Y HOGAR #3
Meterología y los exploradores
Escribe todo lo que recuerdas sobre un tipo de nube de cada nivel de nubes. Dibuja la nube
específica en la caja al lado de la descripción que escribes.
Nubes altas
Nubes intermedias
Nubes bajas
Firma del adulto _________________________
Name _________________________
Date ______________
HOME-SCHOOL CONNECTION #2
Meteorology and the Explorers
Ask someone in your home or neighborhood to tell you about a time they experienced "extreme
weather." Where were they? What were they doing? What kind of weather was it? Who were they
with? When did it happen? How did they feel? Write the story here and illustrate it.
Signature of adult _________________________
Nombre y apellido _________________________
Fecha ______________
K. CONEXIÓN ENTRE ESCUELA Y HOGAR #2
Meterología y los exploradores
Pídale a alguien en tu hogar o vecindario que te diga todo acerca de una experiencia que haya tenido
de "tiempo extremo." ¿Dónde estuvo? ¿Qué hacía? ¿Qué tipo de tiempo hacía? ¿Con quién estuvo?
¿Cuándo pasó? ¿Cómo sintió? Escribe el cuento aquí y dibuja ilustraciones.
Firma del adulto ___________________________
METEOROLOGY SAMPLE STORYLINE
From http://www.historyoftheuniverse.com
Recent discoveries of planetary systems outside our own are challenging current ideas on how the
Sun and its nine planets, the solar system, originally formed. The story that follows, therefore, may
soon be changed in the light of new discoveries. Now, although there are several planets in our
solar system, we will focus on one relatively tiny planet: the Earth. It is quite small compared to the
Sun and the giant planets Jupiter and Saturn. If we didn't live here we probably wouldn't even notice
it!
Yet there is a very good reason why we should look at this planet and no other. The Earth is the
only planet on which water forms as the liquid that is essential for life. The reason has to do with its
distance from the Sun. A planet further from the Sun, like Mars, is so cold that water freezes into
ice. Closer to the Sun, like Venus, water boils and all the molecules fly apart as vapor and gas. Only
on the Earth can water molecule spend much time in the form of that marvelous substance, liquid
water. The Earth, like most of the other planets in the Solar System, has an almost perfectly circular
orbit. This is unusual. In most of the other planetary systems studied the planets have oval
(elliptical) orbits. If the Earth had an oval orbit, traveling sometimes near to the Sun and sometimes
far from it, life could not have evolved on the planet. At times the oceans would have boiled and at
times they would have frozen, and life as we know it would have been difficult if not impossible.
Because they were made from a spinning accretion disc, all planets spin like tops and they orbit (go
round) the Sun. The Earth spins once a day and orbits once a year. The axis the Earth spins on goes
through the north and south poles.
As the Earth formed out of rocky snowballs it grew hot and probably melted. One theory is that
early in its history a large object hit the Earth, which threw out a shower of rocks. These collected
together to form the Moon. If it is true this would certainly have made the Earth melt.
Inside the hot young Earth the heavy atoms such as iron were able to sink downwards to the center,
forming a liquid metallic core of iron and nickel, possibly with a solid core at the very center. The
central temperature is around 4,000°C.
The lighter atoms, such as silicon, floated upward around the outside of the core and formed the
mantle. Above this floats an ever-changing thin crust 20 to 60 miles thick.
The next important event on Earth related to our study of meteorology is the appearance of the first
volcanoes. There are probably two types of volcanoes. These first volcanoes were emitting gases
from the center layers of the Earth. The first volcanoes released gases, making the first atmosphere.
We are not sure which molecules the atmosphere was made of. It probably contained carbon
dioxide molecules and water, as well as many other molecules. One thing is known: there were no
oxygen molecules in that atmosphere. The atmosphere we know today appeared much later.
The second type of volcanoes is the ones we have today. Today’s volcanoes occur where tectonic
plate activity is causing the process of subduction to occur. Another way to say that is volcanoes on
the Earth today are formed by continental drift. As a result, they are often located close to most
earthquake activity, too.
We now meet an amazing thing about water. When they are as warm as the Earth, water molecules
have enough movement energy to move around, sticking first to one partner and then to another.
They form a liquid. As we will see, this movement is essential for life.
One odd thing about water is that liquid water takes up less space than ice, because as the molecules
move past each other they are able to squash closer together. This is unusual. Most substances take
up more space in liquid than solid form. The result of this is that water expands when it freezes, so
that ice floats on top of liquid water. In most liquids the frozen part sinks to the bottom.
The sticky hydrogen bonds between water molecules in the atmosphere gathered them together into
droplets. The drops fell to Earth as rain, taking the other molecules from the early atmosphere with
them.
Sunlight energy reaches the Earth, the amount depending where you are. Because of the curvature
of the Earth, the amount of energy falls off as you move nearer to the poles.
This variation in sunlight causes the variation in the climate in different parts of the Earth.
Sunlight may have played a part in the evolution of life. Sunlight is a form of radiation.
One of the factors affecting the climate is the greenhouse effect. There is much debate about it, and
how it relates to human activity. So what is it?
Most sunlight energy passes straight through the atmosphere and warms up the Earth's oceans and
continents. These get hot and they give out infra red radiation. This radiation cannot travel through
some gases in the atmosphere, so it gets trapped. So some gases trap heat in the same way as glass
traps heat inside a greenhouse. Hence the name greenhouse effect. The greenhouse effect raises
the average temperature of the Earth by more than 30 degrees, so without it the Earth would be a
very cold place!
Weather is the short term local changes to the Earth's atmosphere, such as wind and rain.
Weather is driven by sunlight. Hot air expands and rises. Cold air sinks down and moves in to take
its place, creating wind. Winds are also affected by the spinning of the Earth, so that instead of
going straight they spiral around. This is sometimes called the Coriolis Effect.
Water evaporates from the oceans to form clouds which are carried around by the winds. When
clouds pass over mountains they rise, cool and rain falls. Evaporation and condensation absorb and
release heat, so making the picture more complex. If it rains on high mountains or near the Earth's
poles the rain will fall as snow which reflects back the sunlight, so cooling the Earth.
Just as the Sun makes the air move, so it also makes the oceans move. Their movement is controlled
by how much salt they contain too. Wind and water act together to produce a complex pattern. Even
with weather stations and satellites, with the best computers in the world and years of practice,
experts still can only predict the weather for a few hours ahead.
Where weather is short term and local, the long term average of weather over a wide area is called
climate. Changes in climate have very important effects upon all life on Earth, including humans.
We need to understand the long term patterns of the climate, and use those patterns to predict what
will happen.
This is especially important today, as the climate is changing. 1997, for example, was the warmest
year since global measurements began in 1860. 1998 saw the largest El Niño on record, causing
forest fires in Indonesia, torrential rains in Peru and East Africa among other problems. Now in
2003 we are seeing another El Niño cycle occurring. This year’s weather is likely to be severe in
many parts of the world.
The Earth's atmosphere today contains the following gases (among others)
Gas
% by Volume
nitrogen
78
oxygen
21
argon
0.9
carbon dioxide 0.03
The oxygen in today's atmosphere has all been released by plants.
Geologic Timeline - Story Elements
15 Billion Years ago
Possible beginning of the Universe
4.7 Billion Years ago
Beginning of our solar system, Earth accretion disc
4.5 Billion Years ago
Beginning of Earth with current structure, volcanoes spewing gases from Earth’s interior
3 Billion Years ago
Methane and ammonia atmosphere, like Jupiter today
2 Billion Years ago
Tectonic plates begin forming, more volcanoes
1.5 Billion Years ago
Oxygen buildup in atmosphere makes evolution of life possible
1 Billion Years ago
First animals begin appearing
300 Million Years ago
Earth has one continent (Pangea) and one ocean ( Panthalassa)
65 Million Years ago
Theory of massive meteorite hitting Earth and causing mass extinctions of dinosaurs.
20 Thousand Years ago
Current Ice Age was at its height (we’re in an interglacial now)
L. 5 Thousand Years ago
Warmest period of current interglacial (it has been getting colder since then, except for
Current theory of global warming, believed to be caused my human activity).