Whatever the weather....young meteorologists!

Hi everyone! April 20th has been very busy!  After six weeks, pages of reading, reams of writing, dozens of drawings, and research galore, have wrapped up our current study of weather!

We began to day with a visit (paid for by our generous PTA) from the Portland Audubon Society to show us how weather effects the habitats of Oregon - and the animals that live in the many habitats of Oregon.  The speaker took us through a virtual tour of the state habitats, and the animal pelts allowed us to see how the animals are different depending on their environment.

A cougar pelt

this is a Timber wolf!

In the afternoon, we invited other students to join us and learn more about weather.  First we working with 4th grade, and then with Kindergarten students.

OUR RESEARCH

INFORMATION POSTERS

MORE SHARING....

 Finally, we welcomed out parents!  We hoped you learned something new about weather!

Plasma Ball

Thanks for all of the support from home for your child's learning at school.

Young Meteorologists

We continue to learn more about how weather works.  Before break we learned more about the science of wind and how it works.  We made our own anemometers.

After we made a wind gauge, we created our own water gauge, completing our personal weather stations. The water gauge was part of our learning more about the water cycle and how different forms of precipiation are part of the cycle.  This week we learned more about the science of rain and snow.

This week we are continuing our study by learning more about storms: how they develop and what makes a storm.  Get ready to hear about lightning!

Heat and temperature!

Hi everyone - we re continuing our work as meteorologists.  This week we concentrated on finding out more regarding how heat affects the weather on Earth.  We found out that all heat comes from the Sun - so the sun is a weather machine - here is some of our class research so far:

We also learned that thermometers measure the heat in the air - so we made our own thermometers.  These water thermometers demonstrate that molecules that heat up take up more space - so when the water gets hot, it goes up the straw - when in goes down, the water is cooling off.

We put thermometers in hot water to observe what happens!

Enjoy the second part of your homemade weather station!

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss and getting started with weather

Hi everyone!
We  had a great time yesterday celebrating Read Across America by having our own read - a -thon where we got comfortable with a snuggly and enjoyed our time as readers! Most students declared it a huge success!

WEATHER

This week we began our study of weather which relates to food because the weather around us helps determine what food can grow.  We began with our own stories about how weather effected us - stuck inside because of ice, getting a sunburn, losing power in a windstorm were just a few.

The rest of the week we have been exploring the ideas of air pressure and atmosphere.  We read books and researched ideas.  Then, we discovered that air is strong - it takes up space and can hold up objects.  We blew air into bags - then the bags could hold heavy things!

After more reading, writing, and drawing ideas, today we made a version of a tool meteorologists use to determine air pressure - a barometer!  Look for an explanation sheet coming home that will help you set up the barometer and use it to forecast the weather!  Get ready to have your own homemade weather station!