Teacher Page
A Weather WebQuest for Sixth Graders
There's No Place Like Home,
or
The "Oz Effect!"
Introduction
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The United States has many different weather conditions that can occur
throughout the year. The weather can include sunshine,
precipitation, and even the occasional scary storm. Weather fronts can
cause havoc to cities all over the nation. Blizzards, hurricanes, thunderstorms,
and tornadoes can result from unstable air masses in our atmosphere. There
are many ways to protect yourself when storms occur in your area. In
this web quest, you will be learning about different weather conditions
that affect the United States, as well as how to protect yourself from
these severe weather conditions. Are you ready to be blown
away? Task
To use websites as references to learn
more about weather, and to create an educational product that will teach
other people about severe, or hazardous, weather.
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You will:
1. Participate in a Scavenger Hunt to learn more about weather.
2. Participate in a Weather WebQuest -
design one of the following culminating projects.
Culminating
Products
Hazardous
Weather Broadcast (Indiana/U.S.) – small group (4)
Your group
will be responsible for presenting a broadcast from an area in the United
States. See rubric for project requirements. Your group will
also prepare an oral script of your broadcast to the class.
Weather Brochure – small group (2)
The
brochure will contain weather safety tips, pictures of severe weather,
conditions that exist in certain areas, and facts about the weather.
This project will not require an oral presentation.
Process
What do you know about WEATHER? Become a Weather
Watcher and look at the following links to begin your hunt through
information on SEVERE weather!
All Weather Watchers start here:
Continue to investigate by visiting the
following links!
* WEATHER FACTS
* SEVERE WEATHER
(Click on Severe Storms)
* SAFETY
GUIDE 
Choose
ONE of the following tasks: Weather
Broadcast Step 1: Prepare an introduction
to your weather broadcast that will get the viewers attention. A
weather trivia question, weather record from the past, or anecdote to
"segue" into your weather broadcast may be used in the
introduction. You may want to "tease" the viewers with
hints about your upcoming report on a major "weather event"
(what's happening with the weather) at that time. Step 2:
Report on current
weather conditions for the area of the country you have chosen.
(Under Local forecast by "City, St" or zip code---type in the
city and state you need.) Click here to obtain a copy of the
Weather
Reporters' Data Sheet to use in creating your report. Using
poster board, create a map of your chosen
area and use it to report on the following information:
a. high and low temperatures for the day
b. precipitation for the day
c. cold and (or) warm fronts affecting your area
d. report on a type of severe weather approaching your area
Step 3: Report on a 3-day forecast.
This forecast should include the high and low temperatures and the
precipitation possibilities. Step 4: State in your weather
broadcast how the approaching severe weather will affect
activities happening in your area.
a. safety tips to take before, during, and after the severe
weather event Step 5: Create a conclusion
to your broadcast by restating the safety tips to take for the approaching
severe weather! Remember: EACH member
of your team needs to participate in presenting your weather broadcast
to the class. In addition, you will need to hand in your
WRITTEN script of your broadcast. Brochure Step
1: Obtain paper from your teacher and fold the paper to create a
brochure. (Your teacher has examples of various brochures. This
project may also be adapted by using Microsoft Word.) Step
2: Create an appealing front cover to get
readers' attention. Step 3: Write down in one section of
the brochure weather facts (at least
10) that you feel all people should know. Step 4: Write
down in a second section information on the following: types
of severe weather---cause of, what occurs during the storm, dangers of,
etc.:
a. thunderstorms
b. tornadoes
c. hurricanes
d. blizzards Step 5: Write down in a third
section safety tips
to follow before, during,
and after a severe storm. Step 6: Include a short
question and answer or quiz section with answer key over your
weather information. Step 7: Proofread for
spelling and (or) grammar mistakes. Remember: You
will not need to present this brochure to the class. Make the
brochure neat and colorful to appeal to readers. Evaluation
Use the Weather
Broadcast rubric or Brochure
rubric to score projects. Conclusion
The United States has many different weather conditions that can occur
throughout the year. The weather can include sunshine,
precipitation, and even the occasional scary storm. Weather fronts can
also cause havoc to cities all over the nation. Blizzards, hurricanes, thunderstorms,
and tornadoes can result from unstable air masses in our atmosphere. In
this web quest, you learned about different weather conditions
that affect the United States, as well as how to protect yourself from
these severe weather conditions. Were you blown
away by what you learned?
How well did you listen to classmates' presentations? Take the following 10-point mini-quiz over weather
facts, terms, and tips!
Teacher Resources Websites
:
·
USA Today (Weather):
http://www.usatoday.com/weather/windex.htm
·
Weather Underground (UM): http://www.wunderground.com
·
The Beaufort Scale:
http://www.anbg.gov.au/jrc/hayak/beaufort.htm
·
WW2010 (U of I)—Reading W. Maps:
http://ww2010.atmos/uiuc.edu/
·
Meteorology A to Z:
http://www.wxdude.com/topics.html
·
The Weather Channel:
http://www.weather.com/
·
WINDandSEA Teachers’ and Students’ Corner:
http://www.lib.noaa.gov/docs/education.html
·
Live Access to Climate Data (NOAA):
http://ferret.wrc.noaa.gov/ferret/main-menu.html
·
PSC Meteorology Program Cloud Boutique:
http://vortex.plymouth.edu/clouds.html
·
Welcome to How Stuff Works: http://www.howstuffworks.com/
·
One Sky Many Voices: (Neat links, also!)
http://groundhog.sprl.umich.edu/site/links/links.html
·
Indy TV Meteorologists:
--WTHR: www.wthr.com
www.wthr.com/weather/radar-image.html
(live radar picture)
--WISH: www.wishtv.com
--WTTV: www.theindychannel.com
--WXIN: www.wxin.com
--WLFI:
www.wlfitv18.com/ (Lafayette
channel)
·
Discovery:
·
The Learning Channel: www.tlc.discover.com
·
NASA: http://www.nasa.gov
·
http://spacelink.nasa.gov
(Teacher site?)
·
NOAA: This has several links to “kids’ pages” that
deal with weather, as well as a teachers’ site!
http://www.education.noaa.gov/sweather.html
(http://205.156.54.206/om/reachout/kidspage.shtml)
Forecasting: http://www.oar.noaa.gov/k12/html/forecasting.html
·
Scholastic: (Good
sites!) You need to go here—a LOT of neat links!
http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/wwatch/reporters/index.htm
http://teacher.scholastic.com/researchtools/researchstarters/weather/index.htm
(NEAT weather links!)
http://scholastic.ehosts.net/eshare/serve?action
(Ask Our Weather Experts!)
·
Purdue Meteorological Department:
www.eas.purdue.edu/
·
PBS (Weather Videos?):
·
FEMA: www.fema.gov/kids/
·
Children’s Museum: www.childrensmuseum.org
·
Prentice Hall: www.science-explorer.phschool.com
(Write out steps!)
·
National Weather Service: http://205.156.54.206/om/educ/directry.htm
·
Yahooligans: www.yahooligans.com
Indiana Standards:
Science:
6.1.1 Explain that some scientific knowledge, such as the length
of the year, is very old and yet is still applicable today.
Understand, however, that scientific knowledge is never exempt from review
and criticism.
6.1.2 Give examples of different ways scientists investigate
natural phenomena and identify processes all scientists use, such as
collection of relevant evidence, the use of logical reasoning, and the
application of imagination in devising hypotheses and explanations, in
order to make sense of the evidence.
6.1.5 Identify places where scientists work, including
offices, classrooms, laboratories, farms, factories, and natural field
settings ranging from space to the ocean floor.
6.1.6 Explain that computers have become invaluable in science
because they speed up and extend people's ability to collect, store,
compile, and analyze data, prepare research reports, and share data and
ideas with investigators all over the world.
6.1.7 Explain that technology is essential to science for such
purposes as access to outer space and other remote locations, sample
collection and treatment, measurement, data collection and storage,
computation, and communication of information.
6.1.9 Explain how technologies can influence all living things.
6.3.5 Use models or drawings to explain that the Earth has
different seasons and weather patterns because it turns daily on an axis
that is tilted to the plane of the Earth's yearly orbit around the
sun. Know that because of this, sunlight falls more intensely on
different parts of the Earth during the year (the accompanying greater
length of days also has an effect) and the difference in heating produces
seasons and weather patterns.
6.3.9 Illustrate that the cycling of water in and out of the
atmosphere plays an important role in determining climatic patterns.
6.3.12 Describe ways human beings protect themselves from adverse
weather conditions.
6.3.13 Identify, explain, and discuss some effects human activities,
such as the creation of pollution have on weather and the atmosphere.
6.5.4 Demonstrate how graphs may help to show patterns, such as
trends, varying rates of change, gaps or clusters, which can be used to
make predictions.
Language Arts
6.2.1 Identify the structural features of popular media
(newspapers, magazines, online information) and use the features to obtain
information.
6.2.4 Clarify and understanding of texts by creating outlines,
notes, diagrams, summaries, or reports.
6.4.7 Use a computer to compose documents with appropriate
formatting by using word-processing skills and principles of design,
including margins, tabs, spacing, columns, and page orientation.
6.7.5 Emphasize important points to assist the listener in
following the main ideas and concepts.
6.7.7 Use effective timing, volume, tone, and alignment of hand
and body gestures to sustain audience interst and attention.
6.7.11 Deliver informative presentations that develop the topic
with facts, details, examples, and explanations from multiple
authoritative sources, including speakers, periodicals, and online
information.
Social Studies
6.3.2 Use latitude and longitude to locate places on Earth and
describe the uses of locational technology, such as Global
Positioning Systems (GPS) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS).
6.3.6 Explain how Earth/sun relationships, ocean currents, and
winds influence climate differences on Earth.
Math
6.5.1 Select and apply appropriate standard units and tools to
measure length, area, volume, weight, time, temperature, and the size of
angles. 6.6.1 Organize and display single-variable data in
appropriate graphs and explain which types of graphs are appropriate for
various data sets. 6.6.2 Make frequency tables for numerical data,
grouping the data in different ways to investigate how different groupings
describe the data. 6.7.1 Analyze problems by identifying
relationships, telling relevant from irrelevant information, identifying
missing information, sequencing and prioritizing information, and
observing patterns.
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