Weather Theme in the Mups

The Mups began their latest unit in Theme directly following winter break. Our new focus for the next several weeks is Weather. We began the unit in the fruitful way we sometimes do, by talking with classmates and sharing what we already know about the subject. We make a list on the board, encounter some introductory material to get our brains thinking about what questions we might have, and then compile a list of what we want to learn. Our introductory material this time was a book called When Cloud Became a Cloud by Author and Illustrator Rob Hodgson. This engaging story follows our protagonist, Cloud, on a complete journey through each phase of cloud formation. This book serves as a basic introduction to the water cycle and many key elements of the subject of weather. 

Some amazing questions emerged as we wondered as a class what we would like to learn in this weeks long exploration of weather. Questions such as: Why doesn’t the wind blow every day? What makes wind? Why are some days colder than others? How does hot and cold inside a cloud make lightning? How did the water cycle begin? Was there an original wind?

We are breaking the unit up into several subunits including the water cycle, how weather shapes the land, and climate change. Some units will be a few classes long and others might take a couple of weeks. As a new Center School teacher, I appreciate the freedom that we have in our classes to take the time we need to cover our material responsively,  rather than for a prescribed allotted time. If a particular class needs to go long or we need to add another in the week, we have the flexibility to do so and this is greatly beneficial to our studies.

Here is a simplified trajectory of this year’s weather curriculum with essential questions we are investigating as we progress. In addition to these teacher-generated guiding questions, we make sure to reference and address those questions that we came up with as a class.

The water cycle

What are the main components of the water cycle? How does the water cycle affect our daily lives? How does the water cycle relate to weather? 

How weather shapes the land

How does weather physically change the landscape around us? How does this happen over a short period of time vs. a long period of time? How does the way weather affects the land relate to how humans choose to build their civilizations?

Climates in different regions of Earth

How are climate and weather different? What are the different types of climates around the world and what characteristics do they have? How do these characteristics shape how and why humans live in these areas?
Climate change

What is climate change? Who is affected by climate change and are all people affected equally? Because climate change is caused by humans, what role should humans play in addressing climate change?

Dotted throughout the unit we have projects, experiments, and one field trip to the Worcester EcoTarium where we will have a chance to explore their science museum and attend an interactive program, Understanding Weather. 

In one small experiment, while we were learning about the water cycle, we watched as the water in a saltwater solution disappeared from our paper test cups over the period of a week and left only salt crystals behind. We are also conducting an ongoing data collection project over many weeks. Each day during quiet time a different student braves the cold to check our two classroom weather instruments tacked to the wall outside our class;  a thermometer and a hygrometer. In addition to recording the temperature and relative humidity, they also record whether it is sunny, cloudy, partly cloudy, rainy, snowy, or windy. At the end of the unit, we will do a graphing project and explore ways to interpret our data.

This weather unit challenges students to think deeply about the natural processes they encounter daily and to draw upon their skills in reading, writing, and math to develop a greater understanding of them.