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Weather

Generic skills

Rain, Hail or Shine

Key Questions

What is the weather today?

How does weather affect us?

Knowledge and Understanding

The girls will have an understanding of:

Weather
Wind
Rain
The Sky
Changing weather and its effects on the environment/humans

The girls will know and understand that:

The weather can have a powerful effect on people
People alter their environment in response to natural conditions.

Skills

The girls will:

Observe using all the senses
Analyse, sythesise, apply, comprehend and evaluate information
Record data and refer to it
Combine a variety of materials to make simple drawings, models and structures
Name needs and wants of people
Make practical changes to existing products.

Values and Attitudes

The girls will be encouraged to:

Persevere with activities to their completion
Work co-operatively in whole class, paired and small group situations
Display curiosity about the natural environment
Gain satisfaction from their efforts to investigate, to design and make.

Activities and Learning Experiences

Weather

Brainstorm different types of weather. (Knowledge)
Categorise information on a data bank. (Analysis)
Interview others at home for more words to describe weather. Add information to data bank.
Design suitable symbols to represent different kinds of weather. (Synthesis)
Record weather on an individual weather chart each day using symbols.

Wind

Discuss the evidence of wind. (Comprehension)
Investigate making wind using a balloon. (Analysis)
Look at a picture of a person on a windy day. Discuss aspects of a windy day.
Design a simple picture beaufort scale - from still to a hurricane. (Application)
Given tissue paper, writing paper, card, light wood, string - construct a wind tester. (Application)
Read about the dispersal of Charlotte's spiders in Charlotte's Web.

Rain

Water Cycle - explain the interrelationship of the features of the water cycle.
Demonstrate with boiling water and a metal lid.
Brainstorm and list why we need rain. (Knowledge)
In pairs predict 'a world without rain'. Draw and write about it.
Other pairs predict 'A world with too much rain'. (Comprehension)
Compare the two worlds. (Analysis)
Role play our behaviour in wet weather. Discuss reasons for behaviour.
Look at aspects of our new building which have been designed with wet weather in mind.
Design and make a waterproof outfit for a favourite toy. Select appropriate material. After the outfit has been made discuss design features. (Evaluation)

The Sky

Explain the importance of never looking directly at the sun.
Discuss what colour the sky can be, why we can't see the sun at night-time (use a torch and globe to demonstrate). (Knowledge)
Display pictures of different cloud types. Children describe and label appropriately.
Use a frame to look at the sky and draw/record clouds over several days. (Analysis)

Weather and Us!

Gather an example of each part of the Junior School uniform. In pairs, discuss and label what type of weather each part on the uniform is suitable for.
Imagine our school is in Antarctica. Design extra pieces of clothing or modifications of our current uniform. (Synthesis) Explain designs, giving reasons for modification.

Relevant Literature

Weather poems
Flat Stanley, Jeff Brown
The Wind Blew, Pat Hutchins
Charlotte's Web, EB White
The Snowy Day, Ezra Jack Keats
The Snowman, Raymond Briggs
When the Wind Changed, Ruth Park

Generic Skills and a Weather Day Project Science focus

Following a term's unit about weather and how the weather affects us, a Weather Day Project was planned. The idea of the day was to give children the opportunity to apply their knowledge of the weather in a practical way. They were asked to plan and work in groups to design a weather station using junk material.

Generic Skills	Learning Experiences
Following Instructions - The skills of attending to verbal or written instructions, of understanding them accurately and organising behaviour effectively in response.	Verbal and written instructions explaining the project and the expectations of groups
Discussing - The skills of contributing effectively to discussion, clarifying one's own ideas in the process and helping the group to draw some conclusions.	A few days before the Weather Day Project, the girls were put into (mixed ability) groups and given the opportunity to discuss what would be needed in a weather station. On the day of the Weather Day Project the girls were asked to work in their groups and further discuss their ideas. They began to record what would be needed in the weather station.
Analysis - The skill of breaking a whole into meaningful parts in order to classify, categorise, compare, show relationships or patterns or create a hierarchy or a narrative.	The groups and whole class analysed a weather station and what we thought it would be made up of.
Decision Making - The skills of evaluating options against the needs of the situation, selecting according to sound criteria and evidence and evaluating the selection objectively after its implementation.	They were asked to explain their decision to others in their group or the teacher.
Applying - The skill of putting into practice whatever has been learned: a theory, a strategy, a hypothesis or a skill.	Through making a weather station, each girl was applying their knowledge, learnt throughout the weather unit and how we measure it.
Research - The skill of locating, evaluating selecting, analysing and organising information in order to answer a question, substantiate an argument or produce a finished product.	Research about weather and its effect on us occurred throughout the term.
Evaluating - The skills of making a judgement of the worth of something by assessing it against criteria.
Group Work - The skill of producing the best possible product from a group while maximising individual learning.	Group work was an important skill being developed during our Weather Day Project. The girls each took one aspect of the weather station to make but they discussed within their group what needed to be made and who was going to make which part. This required co-operation and group work skills.