Sometimes we get so caught up in studying plants and animals that we forget that weather is nature, too. Unlike many parts of nature, weather can be studied anytime. It’s always there. Here are some great resources for studying the weather.
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Weather Study Resources
Over the past couple years we have studied weather in various ways. In our first year of homeschooling (3rd grade), we used the Weather book from Usbourne. It is a great book for young readers. It explains weather phenomena in a way they can understand and has good illustrations. We still go back to this book to remember cloud names.
After studying the weather in some detail, we started keeping a weather journal. The kids recorded the temperature, clouds and precipitation at breakfast and dinner time. We just used a notebook.
This fall, we will do another weather study. This one is based on my two new book finds.Everyday Weather and How it Works : Revised Edition
is a gem I found at a used book sale for 50 cents! It was first published in 1951 and has fabulous, classic pencil sketch illustrations. This book is not a textbook. It is a readable book with analogies and word pictures that kids can relate to. I can’t wait to read it aloud with the kids!
I was drawn to the other weather book on vacation while looking through a display of nature guides in a museum gift shop. (HINT: Museum gift shops often have wonderful guide books you may not have seen anywhere else! I’m kind of addicted.) The Ron Cordes Pocket Guide to Weather Forecasting
is a quick guide to using nature to forecast the weather. By looking at the clouds or how nature behaves, you can often predict the weather over the next 24 hours.
For instance, a halo around the sun or moon in the summer months usually means rain is on the way. Or, if you are camping and your campfire smoke rises straight up, the barometric pressure is high and you can expect good weather. However, if the smoke stays near the ground, the pressure is dropping – watch for rain.
Weather Study Links
Ready to study weather? Here are some links I found to help make your study great!
Using Clouds To Predict The Weather
Fun Weather Unit Study for 1st grade
JetStream, the National Weather Service Online Weather School
Fab sites for kids to learn all things weather
Weather Experiments
- http://www.weatherwizkids.com/weather-experiments.htm
- http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/experiments/024
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