Description
This is a nine-day instructional unit that was taught to a K/1 combination class at Chapman Elementary. The objective was to have students recognize that certain months of the year have more days of specific types of weather (sunny, cloudy, rainy, windy, cool or warm) than do other months and to recognize that the differences in relative temperature over the course of a day are directly related to the time of day. Students collected weather data from first-hand observations outside the classroom and organized it on a classroom calendar. Students built a practice thermometer to use to learn how to read a thermometer. Over the course of two weeks, students began recording the temperature outside the classroom at four different times throughout the day using a large classroom thermometer. The culminating lessons for the unit had students identify relationships and describe patterns in the weather and temperature data they organized.