Unit 1 — Weather
Description
Students develop understanding of patterns and variations in local weather and the use of weather forecasting to prepare for and respond to severe weather. The crosscutting concepts of patterns, cause and effect, interdependence of science, engineering, and technology, and the influence of engineering, technology, and science on society and the natural world are called out as organizing concepts for the disciplinary core ideas. Students demonstrate grade-appropriate proficiency in asking questions, analyzing and interpreting data, and obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information. Students observe and record daily weather conditions, identify patterns over time using qualitative and quantitative data, and learn that weather is the combination of sunlight, wind, precipitation, and temperature. The unit progresses from observing weather patterns to understanding how weather forecasting helps communities prepare for severe weather events. Students define problems caused by severe weather by asking questions, making observations, and gathering information. This unit is based on K-ESS2-1, K-ESS3-2, and K-2-ETS1-1.
Essential Questions
- How does weather forecasting help to keep people safe?
- What types of patterns can be observed in local weather conditions?
- How does weather forecasting help us to prepare for dangerous weather?
Learning Objectives
- Use and share observations of local weather conditions to describe patterns over time.
- Ask questions to obtain information about the purpose of weather forecasting to prepare for and respond to severe weather.
- Ask questions, make observations, and gather information about a situation people want to change to define a simple problem that can be solved through the development of a new or improved object or tool.
Supplemental Resources
- Watching Weather (OER) - Students make weather stations with thermometers and weather vanes to observe local weather
- Weather Patterns (OER) - Two-part series helping students understand repeating patterns in weather including seasonal patterns in temperature and precipitation
- Weather Walks (OER) - Students take walks during various weather conditions to observe and describe weather phenomena through firsthand experiences
- Science-Weather (OER) - Interactive whiteboard activity exploring weather in relationship to season and temperature
- About the Weather (OER) - Students use local weather to make observations, measure, collect, and record data to describe patterns over time
- Chart paper for recording daily weather observations
- Markers and colored pencils for graphing weather data
- Whiteboard and dry-erase markers for displaying temperature comparisons
- Printed images of different weather conditions for sorting activities
- Sticky notes for documenting student observations
Engineering, Technology, and Applications of Science
Earth and Space Sciences
Students engage in ELA literacy practices across all five science units. They ask and answer questions about key details in informational texts, participate in shared research and writing projects, compose informative and opinion pieces using drawing, dictating, and writing, add visual displays to descriptions, and use speaking and listening skills to seek information and clarify understanding in the context of science investigations.
Students apply mathematics practices and measurement standards throughout the science units. They reason abstractly and quantitatively, model with mathematics, use appropriate tools strategically, describe and compare measurable attributes of objects, classify and count objects into categories, and know number names and the count sequence to analyze and represent data from science investigations.
Formative Assessments
- Observe and use patterns in the natural world as evidence and to describe phenomena.
- Use observations (firsthand or from media) to describe patterns in the natural world in order to answer scientific questions.
- Use and share observations of local weather conditions to describe patterns over time, including qualitative observations (sunny, cloudy, rainy, warm) and quantitative observations (numbers of sunny, windy, and rainy days in a month).
- Observe patterns in events generated by cause-and-effect relationships.
- Read grade-appropriate texts and/or use media to obtain scientific information to describe patterns in the natural world.
- Ask questions based on observations to find more information about the designed world.
- Ask questions to obtain information about the purpose of weather forecasting to prepare for and respond to severe weather, with emphasis on local forms of severe weather.
- Define a simple problem that can be solved through the development of a new or improved object or tool.
- Ask questions, make observations, and gather information about a situation people want to change to define a simple problem.
Summative Assessment
Students create a poster to protect plants and animals in the rainforest from being affected by hotel development. Students design a playground cover that protects against sun and different types of weather. Students write a story from the perspective of an animal moving into a new exhibit at the zoo. Students create a game using pushes and pulls.
Benchmark Assessment
— not configured —
Alternative Assessment
Students tell a story about an animal living on Mars that addresses its needs. Students conduct an experiment to determine effects of sunlight on temperature of ice water. Students use physical characteristics of animals to match them to the appropriate habitat. Students use ramps at different angles to demonstrate the effect on speed and distance traveled.
IEP (Individualized Education Program)
During weather observations and discussions, provide picture-supported weather charts and visual schedules so students can express what they notice using pointing, gestures, or verbal responses rather than written output. Offer sentence frames or picture-word cards to support oral descriptions of weather patterns, and allow students to dictate their thinking to a teacher or aide when communicating ideas for the engineering design task. Breaking multi-step observation and design activities into smaller, numbered steps with visual cues will help students stay focused and process each part of the task successfully.
Section 504
Ensure students have preferential seating during whole-group weather discussions and read-alouds about severe weather so they can attend to visual displays and demonstrations without distraction. Provide additional time during observation and recording tasks, and offer a reduced-complexity recording tool, such as a picture-based weather chart, to support participation without creating a barrier to access.
ELL / MLL
Use real objects, photographs, and short video clips of different weather conditions to build the vocabulary students need to describe and discuss weather patterns, severe weather, and weather forecasting. Provide a personal weather picture dictionary with key terms in both English and the student's home language where possible, and give simple, clear directions paired with visual demonstrations before observation and design tasks begin.
At Risk (RTI)
Connect weather concepts to students' everyday experiences by beginning with familiar weather events they have personally seen or felt, helping them build confidence before moving to more abstract ideas like forecasting or engineering design. Provide highly visual, hands-on entry points for recording weather observations, such as picture-based charts or sorting activities, so students can demonstrate understanding without being limited by emergent literacy skills. Frequent check-ins during tasks will help ensure students stay connected to the core concept before complexity increases.
Gifted & Talented
Invite students to investigate how weather patterns differ across regions or seasons and consider how those differences would change the engineering solutions communities need, pushing beyond local observation toward broader comparison and analysis. Encourage students to think about trade-offs in their weather-protection designs, such as cost, materials, or multiple weather conditions, and to articulate their reasoning through discussion or illustration, building early habits of evidence-based argumentation in science.