Lesson Title: How Mountains Affect Weather and Climate
Subject area / course / grade level: Science 5 th Grade
Introduction: TTW write a letter at a time on the board and have the students guess what she is writing. TLW blurt out the answer as soon as he/she knows what is being written. TTW do the same for two other words. (The words are: mountain, weather, and climate.) TTW explain that this is what we will be talking about in this lesson.
Lesson Length: 1 hr.
Materials: Laptops, Scientist Notebook, Pencil, and Paper
Lesson Overview: TLW experiment with making a new island to see how this can change weather and climate. TLW complete an experiment to show how mountains affect weather and climate.
Tennessee Standards: Science – GLE 0507.8.1 Analyze and predict how major landforms and bodies of water affect atmospheric conditions. S.P.I. 0507.8.2 Explain how mountains affect weather and climate.
Lesson objective(s): TLW explain how mountains affect weather and climate.
ENGAGEMENT
 Describe how the teacher will capture students’ interest.
 What kind of questions should the students ask themselves after the engagement?
TTW write a letter at a time on the board and have the students guess what she is writing. TLW blurt out the answer as soon as he/she knows what is being written. TTW do the same for two other words. (The words are: mountain, weather, and climate.) TTW explain that this is what we will be talking about in this lesson.
EXPLORATION
 Describe what hands-on/minds-on activities students will be doing.
 List “big idea” conceptual questions the teacher will use to encourage and/or focus students’ exploration
TLW experiment by making new islands using the web site http://www.eduweb.com/portfolio/earthsystems/climate/climate5.html to see how mountains affect weather and climate.
How does the temperature/weather/climate change when your island/mountain is taller? How does it change when it is shorter?
EXPLANATION
 Student explanations should precede introduction of terms or explanations by the teacher. What questions or techniques will the teacher use to help students connect their exploration to the concept under examination?
 List higher order thinking questions, which teachers will use to solicit student explanations and help them to justify their explanations.
TTW ask the following questions: How does the temperature/weather/climate change when your island/mountain is taller? How does it change when it is shorter?

TLW record his/her findings in his/her scientist notebook.
TTW ask the following higher order thinking questions: What would happen to the temperature if the island/mountain was taller? What if it were much shorter?
ELABORATION
 Describe how students will develop a more sophisticated understanding of the concept.
 What vocabulary will be introduced and how will it connect to students’ observations?
 How is this knowledge applied in our daily lives?
TLW complete the following experiment. Then, he/she will record his/her findings in his/her scientist notebook:
Each group will need the following materials:
• Open, clear container, such as a glass baking dish
• Rocks
• Paper cup
• Food coloring
• Measuring cup
• Hot water
• Room-temperature water
1.
Divide your class into groups, and have each group prepare for the activity by creating a "mountain range" by arranging the rocks near the center of the bottom of the clear container.
2.
Instruct students to use a pencil point to poke 10 holes in the sides of the paper cup, and then tape the cup into a corner of the container.
3.
Students should fill the container with room temperature water until the rocks are covered.
4.
Have a member of each group add three drops of food coloring to one cup of hot water and slowly pour the hot colored water into the paper cup.
5.
Students will observe the colored water diffuse through the holes in the cup, but barely mix with the cold water. Most of the hot water will stay near the top of the container, "floating" on top of the colder water.
6.
Have students repeat the experiment, filling the container with hot water and adding cold colored water to the cup. The cold water will sink to the bottom and diffuse through the hot water until it reaches the "mountain range," where it will be blocked. The cold water will not be able to pass the rocks because it will be unable to rise over them.
7.
After explaining that hot and cold air move in similar ways to hot and cold water, lead a discussion about how the results of the experiment illustrate the way in which mountains can block rainstorms, which are usually brought on by cold-weather fronts.
8.
Have each student write two paragraphs explaining, first, how she or he thinks the rise of mountains can affect the surrounding land, and second, how such changes in the land can cause changes in the plant and animal life in an area. (Students should note that the rise of mountains can create deserts.)
EVALUATION
 How will students demonstrate that they have achieved the lesson objective?
 This should be embedded throughout the lesson as well as at the end of the lesson

TLW answer the following Exit Question using complete sentences: Explain how mountains affect weather and climate.