Weathering Teacher Resources

Learn about the factors that affect the way oxygen dissolves in salt water with a chemistry lab. After studying the molecular structure of water, young scientists figure out how aeration, temperature, and organic waste affect...

Sixth graders discover the problems that early Mesototamian farmers faced while developing agriculture in the land between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. They design a working model that solves those unique challenges.

Students examine the differences between air temperature and ground temperature.  In this investigative instructional activity students find NASA data on the Internet and use it to create a graph. 

Young scholars use lecture and research to answer the question: Why is the sky blue? students research a variety of other sky phenomena, chart their observations and participate in experiments.

Varve: a deposit of cyclical sediments that help scientists determine historical climates. Individuals analyze the topography of a region and then study varve datasets from the same area. Using this information, they determine the...

Students examine the phases of the water cycle and water's different forms it can have. They work in groups to create pantomimes to illustrate the water cycle to their classmates.

Students look at the differences that exist in all four seasons. The resources of animation are available to be used to illustrate scientific concepts in a media that is engaging to students.

Students explore how clouds are produced through three different age-appropriate hands-on experiments.

Learners use their prior knowledge to being their examination of the water cycle. In groups, they complete an experiment in which they can see water evaporating and coming back to the ground. They discover the ocean's water evaporates...

Third graders consider outer space. In this introductory solar system lesson, 3rd graders complete a KWL chart and listen to the story The Magic School Bus: Lost in the Solar System, by Joanna Cole & Bruce Degen. They will contribute...

Third graders create a model of the solar system. In this solar system lesson, 3rd graders create a scale model of the solar system. Working in pairs students solve mathematical problems to correctly measure the distance each planet is...

Pupils research and produce an oral history that reflects the importance of meterologists in the lives of people in their community.

Pupils use raw data to make a climatograph; they explain the process of orographic precipitation and the concept of a rain shadow.

First graders make daily observations about clouds, write in their cloud books, make cloud charts, and make a poem about clouds.

Pupils become plants in an interpretive play that depicts what happens throughout the seasons in a rain garden. As you narrate, students bloom, flower, and go to seed accordingly. The lesson is first in a series of lessons written for...

Students explore, via a CD-ROM, the Virginia's five geological regions and discover the rocks and minerals located in each. In stone kits, they examine samples of rocks and minerals and answer questions about them. After discovering the...

Fourth graders study the Great Salt lake and the ecosystem that encompasses it. They study the relationship between an individual of a species, a population of that species, a community that includes that population, and the...

Students examine the characteristics of a tornado. They practice using new vocabulary and participate in a question and answer session. They use the internet to gather more specific information.

Third graders explore how barrier islands work. In this erosion lesson, 3rd graders create barrier islands in stream tables and simulate wave action to see how it affects their island.

Eighth graders use a geologic cross section to study the rock cycle of the Gettysburg battlefield. For this rock cycle lesson, 8th graders connect the rock cycle and continental rifting.

Students take a quick examine part of the water cycle, and the combined gas laws. The lesson lead them through the conditions necessary for cloud formation and allow them to create clouds in three different hands-on activities.

Students examine a crushed rock and sort the minerals they find in that rock by color and other properties.

Middle schoolers begin their examination of the climate zones found around the world. Using a software program, they identify the relationship between the vegetation, climate and temperatures of the different zones. They also plot...

Students complete an experiment. In this precipitation instructional activity, students complete an activity where they make rain in a jar.