Cassandra Manghum
Krista Allen
Lesson Plan: Weather
Standard: 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).
Grade Level: 1st
Lesson Title: Wonderful World of Weather
Lesson Overview:
After completion of the lesson, students will be able to:
1. Associate changes in weather to changes in temperature, cloud cover, wind, and
precipitation.
2. Observe daily weather conditions and record data in chart.
3. Understand that weather conditions can and do change during each day, and from day to
day.
4. Understand that a thermometer gives us the temperature of our surrounding atmosphere.
List of Materials:
Handout: Weather charts
Pencils or colored pencils/ crayons
Construction paper
Tape
Scissors
Engage the Learner:
Read aloud: Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett
Explore the Concept:
Pass out thermometers that students can touch and examine. Tell them that the thermometer
measures the temperature of the air around us. Ask students what they can observe about the
thermometers. Where is it red? Where are there numbers? Explain that we will be reading the
thermometer in degrees Fahrenheit (abbreviated with the letter F.)
Have students create their own thermometer out of construction paper and have them record the
outside temperature on their thermometer.
Procedure:
1. Each student should have half a sheet of red paper (cut “hot dog” style), and two sheets of
another color. Draw a thermometer in the center of one white sheet of paper.
2. Color the bulb of the thermometer red.
3. Cut out and remove the section of the thermometer above the bulb.
4. Have the students mark dashes along the side of the thermometer and label them with dashes
from 0 to 100 degrees. They can write them in intervals of 5 or 10.
5. Tape the sides of the two sheets of larger paper together, and slide the red paper inside of the
two sheets of taped paper. The red half sheet should be able to move up and down to adjust
the temperature to match the temperature of the air.
6. Out of poster board, make a large thermometer for the display board in the same fashion.
Safety concerns: Remind the students to be careful not to break glass thermometers and remind
them not to put the thermometers in or near their mouth. If possible, use thermometers with plastic
covers to protect against breakage.
Have students observe the weather outside and record their findings on their weather chart by
drawing a sun if it is sunny, clouds if it is cloudy, the temperature in degrees Fahrenheit, precipitation
in correct form (snow, hail, rain, freezing rain), and wind (one wave if it is calm, two waves if it is
moderately windy, and three waves if it is very windy.) Have them predict what the weather will be
tomorrow based on weather conditions for today.
Have the students assist us in recording data on our weather poster. The weather poster is a board
that will be at the front of the class all year. The poster will hold the same information as the chart,
and it will include:
 A large display thermometer that will be made out of poster board.
 A space to record cloud cover with picture cut-outs. These can be interchangeable with
Velcro, or with clear pockets. The pictures will have the common weather symbols (a sun for
sunny, a cloud if the sky is cloudy, and a “partly cloudy” symbol where a cloud partly covers
the sun).
 A space for precipitation where we can place a picture of snow, rain, hail, or freezing rain.
 A space for wind where we can place the symbols of wind that we discussed in the chart.
Explain the Concept & Define the Terms:
Begin by asking students to make inferences about their results. If it was sunny, hot, and clear, would
snow make sense? Continue to explain that the reason is no because clouds produce rain and snow,
and snow requires colder temperatures, otherwise the water would fall to the ground as rain. If it is
very windy, we would feel colder because the warm air around us would be pushed away by the wind.
We cannot directly see the wind but we can see it move a weather vane, a flag, trees, and our hair as
it moves past us.
Vocabulary:
Atmosphere- the air surrounding us.
Weather- the condition of the atmosphere around us (hot/cold, cloudy/clear, windy/calm, rain/snow,
etc.)
Cloud- a large collection of very tiny drops of water or ice crystals.
Rain- liquid water that falls from clouds to the earth’s surface.
Snow- water in the form of white ice crystals that falls from clouds to the earth’s surface.
Freezing Rain- rain that falls in liquid form but freezes when it hits the ground.
Hail- ice that falls from clouds to the earth’s surface.
Wind- moving air.
Temperature- a degree of hotness or coldness that can be measured using a thermometer.
Elaborate on the Concept:
Ask prompting questions to assess students’ understanding: If it is very cloudy, do you think it will be
more likely to rain or snow today? Why? If it is very warm, do you think snow is likely? Why or why
not?
Show the children pictures of clothing: Scarves, hats, mittens, shorts, and a light jacket. Throughout
the year, have the students add these pieces of clothing next to the temperature on the large
thermometer that coincides with when they are wearing those pieces. For example, when the
temperature is above 70 degrees F, are some students wearing shorts? The students can place the
pair of shorts next to the 70° F on the thermometer. This activity will help the students see the effect
of the daily weather changes on their clothing choices.
Evaluate Students’ Understanding of the Concept:
We will evaluate the students’ ability to successfully complete objective 1 by asking them prompting
questions about what they observed about the weather and recorded in their weather charts. For
example, if it is sunny, hot, and clear outside, would snow make sense? Why or why not? We will look
for a verbal understanding that in order for it to snow, the temperature needs to be lower and there
needs to be clouds. This will be a formative assessment, as this will inform whether they understand
the objective or whether we need to provide more direction to help them reach understanding.
We will evaluate the students’ ability to successfully complete objective 2 by observing them while
they record their observations about the weather in their weather charts. This will be a formative
assessment, as this will inform whether they understand the objective or whether we need to provide
more direction to help them reach understanding.
We will evaluate the students’ ability to successfully complete objective 3 by asking them prompting
questions after they predict weather for the next day. Was their prediction correct? If not, what
changes occurred? We will ask them if weather can change during a day or from one day to the next
to check their understanding that indeed it can and does change. This will be an assessment for
learning as this will inform whether they understand the objective or whether we need to provide more
direction to help them reach understanding.
We will evaluate the students’ ability to successfully complete objective 4 by asking them prompting
questions about the purpose of a thermometer and observing them record the current temperature on
their handmade thermometers. This will be a formative assessment as this will inform whether they
understand the objective or whether we need to provide more direction to help them reach
understanding.
References:
Barrett, Judy. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Macmillan Publishing Company, New York, NY:
1978.
VanCleave, Janice. Weather: Mind-Boggling Experiments You Can Turn into Science Fair Projects,
John Willey & Sons, New York, NY: 1995.
http://www.weatherwizkids.com/weather-wind.htm
http://www.sdcoe.k12.ca.us/SCORE/Cloudy/cloudytg.htm
http://www.proteacher.org/c/105_Weather_Unit.html
Weather Diary
Sun
Rain/Snow
Temperature
Wind
Cloud
Tomorrow it
will be…
Mon
Tues
Wed
Thur
Fri
Sat
Sun