#1
First Grade
Blackhawk Science Sacks
Title: Weather Watchers
Theme: Earth and Space
Skill: Predicting and Measuring
TEKS: 1.8A Record weather information, including relative temperature, such as hot or cold, clear or cloudy, calm or
windy, and rainy or icy
Safety Rules of Science
1. NEVER put anything in your mouth.
2. Listen carefully to the instructions.
3. Make sure all supplies are returned to the Science Sack and clean up your work area!
Key Question:
How can I record weather information?
For Parents’ Eyes Only:
Weather is the condition in the atmosphere at a specific time and at a specific place. It is more than just temperature,
and whether or not it is sunny outside. Weather includes temperature, wind speed/direction, air pressure, humidity, and
precipitation. Weather for an area is due to four factors: the amount of heat energy present, air pressure, wind, and
moisture. (In first grade, students focus on measuring heat energy, and observing wind strength.)
 Heat Energy—Heat energy is absorbed and released by Earth’s surface. The sun is the source of heat energy on
Earth. Heat energy is measured by temperature.
 Air Pressure—Falling air pressure usually brings about story weather, while rising pressure usually brings sunny to
fair weather. Temperature affects air pressure. The higher the temperature, the lower the pressure. As temperature
drops, pressure increases.
 Wind—Wind is created by the uneven heating of Earth’s’ surfaces by what is known as convection currents. As
surfaces are heated, some surfaces absorb heat faster. The air about the hotter surface starts to rise. As a result, the
cooler air from above the surfaces that do not heat as quickly moves in to replace the rising air. The moving air is the
wind. Air pressure affects the strength of wind. The greater the difference, the stronger the wind. Air moves from
high to low pressure.
 Moisture—the amount of moisture is called the humidity.
Big Idea:
By the end of this activity, your child should understand that weather is not just the temperature outside. Your child
should understand how to record the weather by using the weathercaster as a resource on the evening news, and
recording the information into the data table and graph.
Materials in the Science Sack:
 Student notebook (Use page 1 ONLY for this activity)
 Pencil
 Glue
 Red colored pencil
 Blue colored pencil
 Green colored pencil
 Purple colored pencil
Over
#1
First Grade
Blackhawk Science Sacks
Procedure (What to do!):
1. Watch the evening news and listen to the weather report. Record the information on the Student Page.
2. Watch the same channel for the next three days and record only the temperatures and the type of weather.
3. Make a graph to show the actual temperatures for all four days. Show the high temperature in red and the low
temperature in blue.
Discussion Questions:
Have a discussion with your child about whether the weathercaster was accurate or not in the forecast for each day.
If you want to take the experiment further:
Continue recording the weather with your child throughout the school year.
Please check materials list to be sure all materials stay with the Science Sack!
#1
First Grade
Blackhawk Science Sacks
Weather Watchers
Student Page
Watch the evening news and listen to the weather report. Ask your parent(s) to help you record the information:
I watched channel _____________ with weathercaster ______________________________________.
The high temperature today was ________________ degrees.
The low temperature today was _________________ degrees.
The weather today was _________________________________ (sunny, windy, rainy, snowy, etc.)
The record high temperature for this date was ______________ degrees in __________ (year)
The record low temperature for this date was ______________ degrees in __________ (year)
The five day forecast is:
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
Temperature
Weather
STOP! No more work today!
Now, watch the same channel the next three days and record only the temperatures and the type of weather for that
day.
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Today’s High Temp
Today’s Low Temp
Today’s Weather
Now, make a graph to show the temperatures of each day you recorded. Use a different color for each day.
110
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Page 1