Weather and Climate
Adapted from lesson by Carol Davidson OSGI 1995

Overview:

After hearing a story, students will note the influence of climate and weather on people of different cultures through whole group and small group activities.

Connection to the Curriculum: Geography,

Language Arts, Science (weather), Multicultural themes

Teaching Level: 1-5

Connection to State Content Standards:

4 Explain how humans and the physical environment impact and influence each other.

Connection to National Standards:

5 That people create regions to interpret Earth's complexity
7 The physical processes that shape the patterns of Earth's surface
14 How human actions modify the physical environment
15 How physical systems affect human systems

Materials:

Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain by Verna Aardema (Dial, 1981)
chart paper, crayons, markers

Procedure:
  1. Introduce the words "plain" and "climate", explaining that a plain is a flat stretch of land and climate is the usual kind of weather a region has each season. Ask what might happen if rain never fell. Do a Guided Reading preview of the story. Explain that you will be reading a story set in Kenya. Show on map or globe. Read story to class. After reading, ask questions such as:
  • What kinds of animals lived on Kapiti Plain? Wild? Domesticated?
  • Why was Ki-Pat so worried about his cattle?
  • How did the plain change after the rains came?
  • How would you feel if your land needed rain and the rain cloud above just wouldn't burst open?
  • What part of this story seems real-life? Make -believe?
  • Why is an eagle a good symbol for rain?
  • What would Ki-Pat tell his son about how to bring rain to Kapiti?
  1. Draw a web on chart paper with Portland in the middle and the four seasons in each of four circles off the middle.
  2. Discuss weather in Portland. Would we want so desperately for rain to fall? What if no rain fell for a long time? What would happen to the landscape if it rained a whole lot? Brainstorm weather and weather-related events that happen in Portland in each of the four seasons. Write on web.
  3. Divide class into four groups. Pass out a page of chart paper and crayons or markers to the groups. Assign one season to each group. Each group then writes a 4-line poem in the same meter as the Kapiti story, to describe the weather in their season. They then draw a picture to illustrate their poem.
  4. When completed, invite each group to share their picture/poem with the class.

Extension:

Contrast/compare this story to other story heroes who helped their land or people. Keep a story map as you read the stories:

Title Setting Characters Problem Solution Ending

Sample stories: Legend of the Bluebonnet, Legend of the Indian Paintbrush, Tomie de Paola, Min-You and the Moon Dragon, Elizabeth Hillman, Kate Shelly and the Midnight Express, Margaret K. Wetterer, Ming Lo Moves the Mountain, Arnold Lobel (not really a hero, but a good one about weather/topography)

Suggested Assessment for "Weather and Climate"

This scoring guide could be used in addition to the reading comprehension and analysis questions given in step one of the procedure as assessment for this lesson.

Scoring Guide for Model Lesson "Weather and Climate"

4. All lines of the 4-line poem describe the weather of the assigned season. All lines of the poem are in the same meter as the Kapiti story. A picture is included to illustrate the poem.

3. Most lines of the 4-line poem describe the weather of the assigned season. Most lines of the poem are in the same meter as the Kapiti story. A picture is included to illustrate the poem.

2. Some lines of the 4-line poem describe the weather of the assigned season. Some lines of the poem are in the same meter as the Kapiti story. A picture is included to illustrate the poem.

1.    A few lines of the 4-line poem describe the weather of the assigned season. A few lines of the poem are in the same meter as the Kapiti story. A picture is included to illustrate the poem.