Lindsay Novotny 1
EDE 344
Weather Unit Plan- First Grade
Rationale:
Children see and experience weather every day. The importance of this unit is to identify
weather, how it’s formed, different types of weather, and how it is continually changing.
The goal of this lesson is have the students identify what the weather encompasses so they
become more aware of what is happening and why it is continually changing.
Big Idea:
Weather is an important part of our daily life. There are four seasons, which come with
many different weather conditions such as rainy, snowy, cloudy, sunny, windy, and stormy.
We can observe the daily changes in weather and learn more about our environment.
GLCEs:
E.ES.01.21 – Compare daily changes in the weather related to temperature (cold, hot,
warm, cool); cloud cover (cloudy, partly cloudy, foggy); precipitation (rain, snow, hail,
freezing rain); wind (breezy, windy, calm).
E.ES.01.22 – Describe and compare weather related to the four seasons in terms of
temperature, cloud cover, precipitation, and wind.
E.ES.01.31 – Identify the tools that might be used to measure temperature, precipitation,
cloud cover, and wind.
E.ES.01.32 – Observe and collect data of weather conditions over a period of time.
E.ES.01.23 Describe severe weather characteristics.
E.ES.01.24 Describe precautions that should be taken for human safety during severe
weather conditions (thunder and lightning, tornadoes, strong winds, and heavy
precipitation).
Learning Objectives:
Students will be able to identify, describe, and compare different types of weather.
Students will be able to use simple tools to record daily weather changes.
Students will be able to observe, describe, and find weather patterns.
Students will have knowledge of severe weather conditions and the precautions to take for
human safety during these conditions.
Lindsay Novotny 2
EDE 344
Lesson One: What is Weather?
First Grade Lesson Plan – 40 minutes
Material List:
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White Paper
Butcher Paper
Pictures of Four Types of Weather: rain, snow, sun, and clouds
Markers
Oh Say Can You Say What’s the Weather Today? by Tish Rabe
Procedure:
1) Write out your four different categories on the divided butcher paper: Cloudy,
Rainy, Sunny, and Snowy
2) Pass out the pictures to students.
3) Have them come up and place the pictures where they think they go.
4) Read Oh Say Can You Say What's the Weather Today? By Tish Rabe to the students.
5) Review each kind of weather they learned about in the book.
6) Pass out white paper.
7) Students divide their paper into four boxes. (1st fold: Hamburger style; 2nd fold:
hotdog style.)
8) Have them draw four different types of weather in each of the four boxes.
9) Acknowledge that there are more than four types of weather in the book and in our
environment and encourage the students to choose whichever four weather
conditions they wish.
10)On the back, have the students write their favorite type of weather, and where it
comes from. Example: My favorite type of weather is
, and it is made by
.
Assessment:
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Discuss the different types of weather we learned about in the book and observe the
different types of weather included in their pictures.
Lindsay Novotny 3
EDE 344
Lesson Two: Observing and Recording Weather Conditions
Daily Lesson Plan – 15 minutes per day
Material List:
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Daily Weather Chart
Monthly Weather Graph
Thermometer
Procedure:
1) In the morning as a whole group, the students will observe and record the weather
conditions.
2) Students will take turns each day looking at the thermometer outside, recording the
temperature (in degrees and then by category such as: cool, cold, warm, or hot), and
telling the teacher the data to record in the weather chart.
3) At the end of the week, the students will discuss what the weather was like during
the week and record each day into the monthly weather graph.
4) The teacher will enter the day, the condition (sunny, rainy, windy, snowy, cloudy, or
stormy), and then entering the temperature (cool, cold, warm, or hot).
5) Through the daily weather chart, children will be able to see what the weather is
like in a week and then what the weather is like throughout the month using the
monthly weather graph in order to observe and describe patterns in weather
according to the season.
Assessment:
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Discuss the weather throughout the week, make predictions for next week, and
observe patterns according to the season.
Students should recognize and describe different weather conditions.
Lindsay Novotny 4
EDE 344
Lesson Three: Making a Cloud
30 minutes
Materials:
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2-liter clear plastic pop bottle
Matches (children will need adult assistance to light matches)
Warm water
Process:
1) Fill the clear plastic 2-liter bottle one-third full of warm water and place the cap on.
2)
3)
4)
5)
As warm water evaporates, it adds water vapor to the air inside the bottle. This is
the first ingredient to make a cloud.
Squeeze and release the bottle and observe what happens. You’ll notice that nothing
happens. Why? The squeeze represents the warming that occurs in the atmosphere.
The release represents the cooling that occurs in the atmosphere. If the inside of the
bottle becomes cover with condensation or water droplets, just shake the bottle to
get rid of them.
Take the cap off the bottle. Carefully light a match and hold the match near the
opening of the bottle.
Then drop the match in the bottle and quickly put on the cap, trapping the smoke
inside. Dust, smoke or other particles in the air is the second ingredient to make a
cloud.
Once again, slowly squeeze the bottle hard and release. What happens? A cloud
appears when you release and disappears when you squeeze. The third ingredient
in clouds is a drop in air pressure.
Explanation:
Water vapor, water in its invisible gaseous state, can be made to condense into the form of
small cloud droplets. By adding particles such as the smoke enhances the process of water
condensation and by squeezing the bottle causes the air pressure to drop. This creates a
cloud!
Assessment:
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Discuss what students learned while doing this activity.
o How are clouds formed?
o What are they made of?
Lindsay Novotny 5
EDE 344
Lesson Four: Weather Safety
30 minutes
Materials:
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Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett
Thundercake by Patricia Polacco
Hurricane by David Wiesner
Come on, Rain by Karen Hesse
The Magic School Bus Rides the Wind
Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Briggs Martin
Terrible Storm by Carol Otis Hurst
Weather Safety Worksheet
Chart Paper
Poster Board
Markers
Weather-themed news articles
Procedure:
1) Invite small groups of students to browse the picture books or articles and look for
three pictures of people outdoors. Have each group make a T-chart. On one side of
the chart, students should record the weather in each picture. Is it sunny, snowy,
rainy, or windy? On the other side of the chart, have students describe what people
are doing because of the weather. For example, are they wearing special clothes?
Shoveling snow, using umbrellas, etc.?
2) Next, make a whole-class T-chart using input from each group. Be sure to include
any “wild weather” students found, such as tornadoes, hurricanes, blizzards, and
floods. Discuss the safety precautions we take in each of these situations, such as
keeping away from windows in a tornado or drinking plenty of water when it is hot.
3) Distribute the Weather Safety Worksheet or do the worksheet together with the
whole class. Read the sentences fill in the correct words from the word bank.
Assessment:
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Discuss weather safety procedures learned through researching books, articles, and
from the Weather Safety Worksheet.
Lindsay Novotny 6
EDE 344
Works Cited
Galgano, S. (n.d.). Template Links. Retrieved April 12, 2011, from Caesar Rodney's Elementary
Kids': http://teachers.cr.k12.de.us/~galgano/1linkstemp.htm
Wicker, C. (n.d.). Cloud in a Bottle. Retrieved April 13, 2011, from Weather Wiz Kids:
http://www.weatherwizkids.com/experiments-cloud.htm
Wild Weather Safety Checklist. (2009). Retrieved April 12, 2011, from Scholastic:
http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=3752263