The science geek in me loves the topic of weather. I think it's vastly interesting and it's something that applies to everyone, no matter how old you are or where you live - weather is everywhere! However, I can't say the feeling is mutual for students, especially middle schoolers. The weather unit that I teach is large; there are many topics to cover and instead of focusing on two or three in depth, I cover several topics on a surface level because they haven't been exposed to weather before they reach my class.
So, the question that I found myself asking a lot was, "How can I make weather exciting and interesting to them?" or "How can I teach them about weather in a way that they will find valuable to them?". One of my favorite tricks is to take something typical (or in the eyes of a complaint-loving student, "boring") and turn it in to something unusual and *gasp* possibly even fun.
As we all know, each classroom is filled with a multitude of learners. There are the writers, the drawers, the composers, the doodlers, the researchers, the makers, etc. When I have the ability to be creative with an assignment, I like to try to reach as many of those different kinds of learners as I can.
Here are two assignments I've used when teaching weather, and my students have really enjoyed them.
(1) Severe Weather Warning! Report
One of the most exciting topics to teach with weather is the different kinds of severe weather including tornadoes, hurricanes, thunderstorms, and blizzards. It is set up as a graphic organizer and asks students to explain, draw, research, and think outside the box. I allowed my students to choose how they wanted to complete the assignment - either on their devices (we use iPads) or as a paper copy. Surprisingly, many of my students chose paper copies and turned in every colorful, eye-catching reports. I loved them! You've gotta love seeing your students ENJOY learning....
Here is a preview of the graphic organizer:
(2) Daily Weather Report
Another aspect of teaching about weather is helping students about all of those common, everyday weather terms that they've probably heard a hundred times on the news, but don't know what it means and how it affects them. This graphic organizer, which also allows creativity for those students who like to draw, color, doodle, or write bubble-letter words, includes several vital aspects of daily weather reporting, including temperature, precipitation, humidity, wind, and a five-day forecast. Students also need to identify an appropriate weather icon for that day's report, and draw the weather on a radar map. This graphic organizer includes half of the state of Wisconsin, but you can easily delete that image and add your own, or leave it blank and ask students to draw the entire image themselves.
Here is a preview:
By the time I finish my weather unit, I'm sure not all of my students will be weather-loving, cloud-identifying, super science dorks like me, but I'll bet they enjoyed learning about weather and completing out-of-the-ordinary assignments (even if they don't admit it!).
If you'd like to download either of these assignments, check out by Teachers Pay Teachers store by clicking this link.
Enjoy the weather.... Emily :)
