Homeschool Voyager's Weather Report

In wrapping up our weather studies, we wanted to come up with an activity to sort of tie it all together. And I think we did!

First, we had the little voyagers watch a few weather reports on youtube, to get an idea of what they involve -- including some funny ones -- or bloopers.

Next, we talked about our current weather, made predictions, and checked the local weather forecast on the internet. (weather.com)

After we decided on what the report should include, we worked the the little voyagers on the script. 

Since this was their first real video report, we tried to keep it simple, and give each little voyager a role in the broadcast.

Weather in San Diego can be pretty boring sometimes, but on this day, Mother Nature was on our side, and even provided us with some rain! 

Enjoy our video!

If you are also studying the weather, we would love to see some student weather reports from around the United States. Please leave us a link in the comments or email us and we will post your video here, too!

Keeping a Weather Record

The little voyagers continue to use the worksheets in the Living Life Intentionally Weather Packet. Rosetta has become quite proficient at reading the thermometer.

As you can see here, she is recording the temperature twice a day.

She and Saralina are also graphing the weather conditions. 
(Sorry, this one is a little blurry.)

This graph is for the types of clouds they see in the sky.

This fun worksheet is used to illustrate the child's favorite type of weather, then write a sentence about it.

NOTE: I can see a few words in Rosetta's sentence that will be added to her weekly spelling practice!

I created a basic "weather words" printing practice worksheet for Saralina, using the ESL Writing Wizard.  These words can also be added to her "weekly sight words," and used for a weather-themed spelling list.

Rosetta's "weather words" printing practice worksheet includes a few difficult words:  Fahrenheit and temperature. 

Ideally, students learn and practice reading the temperature on a real thermometer. But for assessment and permanent proof of mastery, you might consider making these handy worksheets to keep in a student's portfolio or weather notebook:

These worksheets were created using the custom temperature worksheet tool on the SoftSchool website. The nice thing about using this FREE tool, is having he ability to choose the temperatures. For Saralina's (kindergarten) worksheet, I chose basic, round temperatures like 40 and 60 degrees F.

Rosetta, being in 2nd grade can do more difficult ones like 62 and 84.

Not only can you choose temperatures to show on the thermometers, you can also choose (fill it in) ones that just show the temperature!

Looking for a fun File Folder Game? FileFolderFun has one for 2nd grade called Whether or Not!  For preschool, they have HOT or COLD, which could also be used for kindergarten.

Things are Heating Up!

A big part of "WEATHER" is the temperature, and so, our little voyagers are learning to read a thermometer and record their findings. They are trying to do it everyday, morning and afternoon, and, have been mostly successful.

This was project #2 for the DIY Meteorologist badge:

To spark interest, and introduce the "temperature" concept, we started off with our own version of  this (DIY recommended) thermometer project from Instructables:

We didn't have any film cannisters, but these protein scoopers were a similar size, and we had some Zero Water lids that were a tight fight, so... this is what we used:

Materials Needed:

small plastic containers with tight fitting lids

thin straws (we used the stir straws for coffee)

food color

modeling clay or hot glue gun for sealing

water

First, drill a hole in the center of lid. This is where you will stick the straw.

Now, insert the straw...

See - Like this!

Next, add water...

Add food color...

And more water -- We added a little water, the dye, then more water, 

so we wouldn't have to stir it.

Put the lid on -- Make sure the straw is way down in the container, but not touching the bottom. Then use the modeling clay or hot glue to create a good seal around the straw.

We first tried using our hands to warm the "thermometers," but that didn't do anything! We tried cold water -- uneventful. But the hot water worked! Especially in the case of Spiderman's blue thermometer! 

His worked the best out of the three --maybe because he just had to add "a little extra" dye, which made the rising water easier  to see in the straw. He also pushed his straw down in a little further than the girls, and that might have helped, too! So much for following the adult's directions, and good thing he didn't, or we would have been sorely disappointed.

Although this was a fun project, if I were to do it again, I would probably try a different homemade thermometer. This one from EnergyQuest is VERY similar, but looks like it would have more potential for success:

I think using a bigger bottle would make it easier to see the temperature change. Has anyone made this type of thermometer before? How did it work?