WEATHER & CLIMATE

Hey everyone,

In the past two weeks, students have worked on a Severe Weather PSA multimedia project. Many of the presentations were absolutely wonderful! We also had our Watching the Weather discussion concluding our 3-week assignment of making observations about the weather using only our senses.

Below: One of the video projects that some of your students made, they were very creative and used a green screen to key out and put in some fun backgrounds!

During our discussion, students could compare what we've been doing in class to the real world. Students learned that weather isn't just a bystander in our lives but plays a very active role in our day-to-day experiences.

To the right: A picture of a QBall that we used during our classroom discussion. It's a tossable microphone! That way even the quietest person can be heard by everyone.

Currently, we are in the final week of our unit. We are learning about climate and climate zones. Today students were analyzing climate precipitation and temperature graphs and making note of the differences between the 5 main types of climates (Dry, Tropical, Temperate (Mild), Continental (Cool), and Polar). Tomorrow, students will be taking data from two cities and creating temperature and precipitation climate graphs for each. Then they will answer some reflection questions about what they created.

Next week, we will end the unit with a discussion on the Greenhouse Effect and Climate Change. Then we'll spend 3 days reviewing for our unit exam that will take place on Friday, March 3rd.

After the unit ends, I have a fun debate planned after we watch a documentary about the changes that our planet has had over the past 90-100 years. It'll be a great way to just use all of what they learned in the Weather & Climate unit to support their positions in the debate.

Following that debate, we will begin our Astronomy unit. Astronomy will be broken into two parts. The first part will focus on Space Exploration, The Sun, Day, Night, and Seasons.

As always if there are any questions feel free to reach out!

Thank you,

Mr. Silverwood

ALL ABOUT THE WEATHER

Hello everyone,

Over the last two weeks, students have been learning about ALL things weather! They have learned about air pressure, wind, air masses, fronts, clouds, precipitation, weather maps, and symbols. It has been slightly fast pace as we move through these topics that students have begun incorporating into their daily "Watching the Weather" observations.

THIS FRIDAY: Next accountability check for weather observations.

NEXT TUESDAY: Last accountability check before our classroom discussion on Wednesday, February 15th.

This week, we have been covering Severe Weather and students started working on a Weather Preparedness Public Service Announcement (PSA) project.

Next week, students will be presenting their 3 min presentations on Monday and Tuesday. Students have the option of creating a video, podcast, brochure, or slide presentation on 5 different types of severe weather. They could choose tornadoes, hurricanes, blizzards, floods, or droughts.

I'm very excited to see what students come up with! Below is a video of one of the PSA's my students created last year. This one was fun and very creative.

After next week, we will have a week learning about Climate. Topics include Weather Vs. Climate, Climate Zones, Climate Change, Greenhouse Effect, Global Warming, etc. We will have a week of review and a Weather and Climate Unit test following that.

When the unit is over, we will be watching a documentary and then having a classroom debate. It should be a fun project before we move into Astronomy.

As always, if there are any questions you can email me at curtis_silverwood@conestogavalley.org

Thank you,

Mr. Silverwood

WATCHING THE WEATHER!

Hello everyone!

Over the last two weeks, students have been learning about the Water Cycle and then began work on and currently finishing up their Heating & Cooling Inquiries. During the inquiry, students created an experiment to see whether soil or water heated faster and which cooled faster. This was to have them revisit the topic of heat transfer we were talking about not that long ago. It also pre-frame's the topic of Sea & Land Breezes we'll be discussing soon.

Below is an image of Water Cycle Diagram's that students created in class as a summative/quiz grade.

Starting today, students were introduced to their 3-week weather observation assignment.

06 Watching the Weather - Silverwood - 2023.pdf

Download PDF • 131KB

Attached to the right is the PDF of the assignment that you can take a look at for what your student will be doing. Overall, students will be observing the weather each day until February 14th. They will only need to take 2-3 minutes a day to make their observations. They are NOT allowed to use technology or outside resources. That means NO thermometers, barometers, compasses, phones, computers, apps, websites, news channels, etc.

Students should ONLY use their 5 senses to make their observations. Well... they probably won't use taste, but all other senses will allow them to make great observations.

The goal of the assignment is for students to observe and understand trends or patterns in the weather. They can use their observations to predict future weather! During the next 3 weeks we will be talking about a bunch of ways to make their observations even MORE exceptional!

At the end of the 3-week assignment, we will be doing a classroom discussion. Students will have to participate 3 times during the discussion to receive full credit. To keep students accountable, I'll be checking students observation packets each Friday. Students should remember to bring their packets to class on Friday since those weekly checks will count as a homework grade.

Please note: If students fail to complete their observations, or have more than 5 observations missing in their packet, they will not participate in the classroom discussion and will be given an alternative textbook assignment that is not nearly as fun! I encourage you to be active in their observations because you may also notice some really cool things about the weather! 😁

I anticipate that majority will have their packets completed. Students should only be doing their observations out of school and they should not be doing them in class (any class). This should be a great grade booster for students. It's a lot of fun!

I will be doing the project with them and making my own observations daily so I can compare students observations to mine.

If you have any questions on how you can help your student, please let me know! You can email me at curtis_silverwood@conestogavalley.org

Thank you,

Mr. Silverwood