LESSON THREE Beary O'Mometer Investigates the Reason for the Seasons

Grade Level (s): Fourth - Sixth

Subject(s):  Science, Language, Mathematics, Social Studies, Computer Technology

Learner Outcomes:
  The students will:

•  conduct and and evaluate an experiment.
•  access weather information using the Internet.
•  use graphic organizers to compare and contrast information.
•  use diacritical markings and define vocabulary.
•  locate the seven continents and identify a major city on each.
•  divide the seven continents into the northern and southern hemispheres.
•  identify the effects of seasons.
•  compare the diameter and area of the moon to that of the earth's.
•  subtract and multiply decimals.
•  draw and measure angles.

     Science:  Three sessions of  45 minutes each
     Language: 30 minutes
     Mathematics:  45 minutes
     Social Studies:  30 minutes

Materials:

• 2 sheets of 11" x 14"  white paper for each team of students
• flashlight per team
• pencil/black markers
• directions for making a solar cooker:  "As Easy As Apple Pie" for each team
• 4 ( 3 oz.)  paper cups
• 4 ( 9 oz.)  Styrofoam cups
• plastic wrap
• 4 sheets of  81/2" x 11" white construction paper
• aluminum foil
• scissors
• tape
• fresh apple slices of the same size for each group, one per group
• thermometer per group
• newspaper
• 4 bricks or blocks to create " tilt"
• ruler per group
• shoe box for each of four groups
• recording form marked with four divisions (fall, winter, spring, summer) with two columns-- prediction and actual for groups' conclusions
• dictionaries appropriate to grade level
• globe that rotates around a tilted axis
• small table lamp
• seven nails with large flat heads
• tape
• protractors
• 4" x 8" sign labeled NORTH
• signs 6"x8" labeled with each of the four seasons
• basketball
• softball
• map of one country from each continent
• Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs  (Bennett)
• Cloudy with a Chance of Decimals - activity sheet
• white poster board
• small hand mirror
• dark shirt for one of the students
• 10 (4" x 51/2") sheets per student for moon flip book

• multimedia computer with Internet access
• data projector
• word processing program/Dreamwriters
• Spell checkers
• calculators

• Part of the discrepant activity is done outside.  A sunny day,  pleasant enough for the students to work outside for approximately 30 minutes is needed.
• Without the sun there would be no weather.  Sunshine, wind, rain, snow, storms, fog, etc. occur because the sun keeps the atmosphere in constant motion.
• The moon and the sun appear to be about the same size in the sky because the moon is much closer to the earth than the sun (384,400 km versus 150,000,000 km).  While the moon is much closer , it is also much smaller than the sun.  The diameter of the moon (3,500 km) is approximately one quarter of the earth's (12,750 km), while the diameter of the sun (1,392,000 km) is about 109 times the earth's.
• The seasons of the earth are caused by the tilting of the earth on its axis.  The sun strikes the earth at different angles during the changing seasons of  the year.

Discrepant activities to open the lesson:
1) Divide the class into teams of two.  Ask the students why it is warm during some months and cold during others.  Place a sheet of  11x 14 white  paper  on the floor between team members. Have one student hold the flashlight one foot above the paper and shine directly down. The teammate is to trace around the illumination  and label straight rays on this piece of paper.  Repeat on another piece of paper except angle the flashlight.  Label this paper slanted rays.  Discuss results in terms of winter and summer seasons. Using a globe and a flashlight the teacher points out the equator, the Tropic of  Cancer, the Tropic of Capricorn, the Arctic Circle , and the Antarctic Circle as imaginary circles used to explain why we have seasons.
2) Let the students know that they are going to use this information to set up an experiment to show the power of the sun's rays  during different seasons.   Divide the class into four groups. Discuss the directions for the solar cooker. Be sure each group has items 4 - 16 from the materials list contained within a shoe box.  Each group should decide before going outside whether they will represent spring, summer, fall, or winter.  After finding the proper outside location, label NORTH with the prepared sign.  Students are to set up each group's solar cooker following the specific directions. Each group will then utilize a brick or block to angle the cup to simulate the sun's rays during their chosen season.  Check the temperature  after 30 minutes.  Record the group's predictions and actual observations and discuss results.

• After discussion of the "solar cooker" takes place, have students create a vocabulary page with the following words recording both the diacritical markings and definitions for each: axis, direct, solar heat, rays, revolve, revolution, seasons, tilt, rotate, orbit, solstice, and hemisphere.  Students may prepare vocabulary logs using a word processing program.
• While the students are working on their vocabulary, teacher will remove the shade from a small table lamp placing it on the floor about 11/2 feet from a rotating globe.  Choose a direction as north and label with sign.  Find where the class lives on the globe and tape a large headed nail, head down on top of this location.
• Before bringing the class to the lamp/globe area in the room, use a map to review the seven continents of the world. Use the equator to show the division of the northern and southern hemispheres.  Yarn may even be taped to the map to "highlight" the equator. Have a  student select a city from each continent. (Capitols would be convenient for information gathering.)  Give each of the seven students a small nail with a large head and a piece of tape.
• Have the class join you at the lamp/globe area.  Identify the city and continent you have already marked showing where the class lives. Have the seven student volunteers mark their continents by taping the nails, heads down on top of the locations  chosen during the continent review. Position the globes to show the seasons on earth. Discuss the results for marked locations.  Stress the importance of the hemispheres and the slant of the sun's rays at different times of the year.  During which season is the nail's shadow shortest (indicates strong, direct rays)?  During which season is the nail's shadow longest (indicates weak sunlight)?  Label the globe with season cards for class location and compare what kind of season the other marked locations are having. Students visit the site "Here Comes the Sun" and write/word process four summary sentences about the sun and its effect on the earth's seasons.
•  Let students know that they are going to be recording international weather results from each of the seven continents.  Let then choose continent teams. Use the data projector to let students browse a sample of  graphic organizers. They may choose one or design an original organizer to make for a room bulletin board for their international weather results. The class will also need to decide which weather factors to compare and contrast.  Any of the lesson weather sites from the reference section could then be utilized.  This bulletin board needs to continue until overall conclusions can be drawn; be sure to tract through at least one seasonal change.  (Locating the weather organizer near the world map from the Introduction unit would be helpful.)
• Further investigation of the sun can be done by visiting the solar tutorial site.  Let students read through the material offered and then make up a set of questions to challenge classmates, especially on the areas of seasons and seasonal temperature changes.
• As an opening to a math lesson read Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (Judi Barnett) and discuss the variety of weather that is occurring at the same time around the world.  Students may use calculators to complete the activity sheet, "Cloudy with a Chance of Decimals."
• At science time propose the following question, "Does the tilt of the earth have any affect on the seasons?"  Divide the class into groups of four.  Give each group a globe on an axis, a flashlight, a piece of poster board on which a large circle divided into 24 sections for each hour of the day is marked, and a variety of colored pencils.  Have the students place the flashlight in a stationary place to represent the sun and the globe in the center of the circle on the poster board.  Position the earth to represent the different seasons first on a straight axis then on the tilted axis. Color the number of hours of sunlight received in each position on the 24 sectioned circle.  Discuss the results and conclude the affect of tilt on seasons.  Colored areas on the circle could be converted to angles and compared.

Discrepant activity:
Divide your class into two teams, the Earth Team and the Moon Team.  Each team has access to a supply of balloons and water or sand.  The Earth Team must fill a balloon with water or sand and measure the diameter of the filled balloon.  The Moon Team must then fill a smaller balloon until the sizes of the balloons are proportional to the actual sizes of the Earth and Moon (4:1).  Each team then estimates and measures the actual amount of water or sand used.  Investigate to see if the proportions are still 4:1.

Discuss results.

Challenge the students to predict how many of the moon sized balloons it will take to fill the earth sized balloon.  Conduct an actual experiment and discuss results. (It will take about 64 moon sized balloons because the radius of each sphere is cubed to compute the volume.)
*  The same activity could be done with two old balls whose diameter are the proportion of 4:1 such as a tennis ball and a rubber playground ball.

• Have the students note on a piece of chart paper what they know about the moon and what questions they have about the moon. Challenge them to prove or disprove the following;

        Students are to use the lunar tides site or online multimedia encyclopedia.
        Specific questions may be directed to Dr. Sten Odenwald.

• Place the flashlight on a table and turn it on.  The flashlight is to be the only light source in the room.  Have a student wearing a dark shirt stand about 12 in. from the light.  He/she is to turn toward the left until he/she faces away the light.  Hold a mirror to reflect light onto the back of the shirt.  Have the student complete the turn and observe the front of the shirt as he/she turns.   Lead a class discussion of the results of this activity.  How would this natural occurrence affect weather?   (The shirt represents the earth, the mirror the moon, and the flashlight the sun.  The turning imitates the rotation of the earth on it axis.  As the earth turns toward the east, the light from the sun moves across the rotating earth.  Daytime is experienced by the people on the side facing the sun, and reflected light from the moon brightens the side of the earth turned away from the sun.)
• Visit the site Dr. Sten Odenwald for information on the moon phases.  Have the students make flip books by drawing a moon phase on each 4x 51/2" sheet of paper. Be sure students include both waxing and waning moon phases.  Sequence the pages correctly and staple. A quick "flip" through the book will show the moon changing.  Verify the moon phase books by researching at the moon site.

• Students who are unable to type independently can orally dictate to the teacher, peer, or adult volunteer.
• Students who are physically unable to use the keyboard may use a verbal command program such as Corel Word Perfect 8 Dragon Naturally Speaking or an assistive technology program such as TouchWindow  (Edmark) which allows choices to be made by touching the screen directly without involving the keyboard.
• Team members can be assigned so that students with learning disabilities can be working with on-level or advanced students.

• Divide  the class into seven groups, one for each continent.  Provide a map with a distance scale for a country located on the group's continent.  Explain that spring travels northward 15 miles per day.  Start at the southern tip of your country's map and calculate how many days of spring weather you would travel in until you reach the most northern tip.  Record your findings by using the country's cities, rivers, or other geographical information from the map so that your have a daily diary.  Which country would require the most travel time?  the least?  Have the groups share their results and discuss.
• Students could enjoy legends about how seasons occur such as "How Grandmother Spider Stole the Sun" ( Teacher's Read Aloud Anthology by Margaret Lippert ; the Wright Group Publishing Company has a wide variety of legend books available.)
• Students may utilize the recordings of George Winston ("Spring into Summer," "December," "Autumn," and "Winter into Spring") by creating seasonal murals with a variety of art materials.
• Have the students search in poetry anthologies for poems about the seasons.  Shel Silverstein has written several humorous poems about the earth, sun, or moon.  Students may memorize their favorites and present to the class or create an original poem using the following format:

• Exchange e-mail with another country on the seven continents if possible.  Discuss how the season influences the behavior of the people, animals, and plants.  Exchange information describing the appearances of trees, specific plants.
• Provide weather maps from USA Today.  Students locate cities on the seven continents and compare temperatures.  How does latitude, longitude, and water affect temperatures?
• Ask secondary language teachers for the season words in their particular foreign languages to teach the students.
• Instruct students to make salt maps of the moon by covering a large styrofoam ball with salt dough.  Computer labels folded over toothpicks may be used as flags to label the "seas" and craters.
• Have students create original explanations for the "face" on the moon or what they think the moon is made of, both a fictional version and a nonfiction one.
• Create a contest to see how many words the students can locate that have sol and luna  as a root.  Where did these words originate?
• Students may design cartoons that explain the role of the sun and/or moon in the weather.

• Participation in class discussion and experiments
• Completion of recording sheets and vocabulary log
• Satisfactory score on activity sheet, "Cloudy with a Chance of Decimals"
• Correct sequencing of moon phase pages to make moon "flip book"

Language Arts
Writing
1.  Uses the general skills and strategies of the writing process
2.  Uses grammatical and mechanical conventions in written compositions
3.  Gathers and uses information for research purposes
Reading
1.  Uses the general skills and strategies of the reading process
2.  Uses reading skills and strategies to understand and interpret a variety of informational skills
Viewing
Uses viewing skills and strategies to understand and interpret visual media

Mathematics
1.  Uses a variety of strategies in the problem solving process
2.  Uses basic and advanced procedures while performing the processes of computation
3.  Understands and applies basic and advanced properties of the concepts of measurement
4.  Understands and applies basic and advanced properties of the concepts of geometry
5.  Understands and applies basic and advanced properties of the concepts of statistics
      and data analysis
6.  Understands the general nature and use of mathematics

Science
Earth and Space
Understands the composition and structure of the universe and Earth's place in it
Physical Science
Understands forces and motion
Nature of Science
1.  Understands the nature of scientific knowledge
2.  Understands the nature of scientific inquiry

Technology
1.  Knows the characteristics and uses of computer hardware and operating systems
2.  Understands the relationships among science, technology, society, and the individual
3.  Understands the nature and uses of different forms of technology
 

West Virginia Instructional Goals and Objectives:

Science

• Nature Of Science:    4.4, 4.5, 4.6, 4.7, 5.4, 6.6
• Scientific Attitudes/Habits of Mind:  4.10, 4.11, 4.16, 5.13, 6.10,
• Scientific Processes/Thinking Skills:  4.21, 4.24, 4.25, 4.26,  5.14, 5.1 7, 5.20, 6.16, 6.17
• Laboratory Investigations/Hands-On Learning:   4.27, 4.28, 4.29, 5.21, 5.22  6.21, 6.22,
• Science Themes and Subject Matter:  4.30, 4.32, 4.65, 5.27, 5.40, 5.46, 5.52, 5.53, 5.54, 6.24, 6.25, 6.26, 6.50, 6.53, 6.56, 6.63, 6.71
• Computer Technology:   4.80, 4.81, 4.83, 5.67, 5.68, 5.69, 5.70, 5.79, 6.88

• Listening/Speaking: 4.10, 4.12, 4.13, 4.14, 4.15, 4.16, 4.17, 4.18, 5.11, 5.13, 6.2, 6.3, 6.4, 6.6,  6.8, 6.11
• Reading Comprehension:  4.20, 4.23, 4.24, 4.26, 4,27, 4,29, 4.30, 4.35, 4.37, 4.40, 4.42, 5.16, 5.17, 5.22, 5.27, 5.28, 5.31, 5.32, 5.33, 5.34, 6.19, 6.20, 6.22, 6.25, 6.27, 6.29, 6.33, 6.34
• Reading Vocabulary:  4.45, 4.46, 4.47, 5.36, 5.49, 5.50, 6.44, 6.46, 6.51
• Writing:  4.48, 4.49, 4.50, 4.55, 5.52, 5.53, 5.54, 5.57, 5.62, 5.64, 6.52, 6.54, 6.60, 6.64, 6.66
• Spelling:  5.82, 5.87, 5.94, 6.67, 6.70, 6.86, 6.87
• Language:  4.69, 4.70, 4.71, 4.72, 4.73, 4.75, 4.78, 4.80, 4.81, 5.130, 6.155                     6.107, 6.108, 6.109, 6.110, 6.112, 6.129, 6.131
• Study Skills:  4.83, 4.84, 4.85, 4.86, 4.87, 5.162, 5.164, 5.168, 5.172, 5.176, 5.177,           6.136, 6.139, 6.140, 6.143, 6.147, 6.148, 6.150, 6.151
• Computer/Technology:  4.98, 4.99, 4.100, 4.101, 5.179, 5.180, 5.186, 5.188,                     6.153, 6.154, 6.160

• Number Theory and Number Sense:   4.1, 5.1, 5.5, 6.2, 6.6
• Fractions and Decimals:  4.11, 4.12, 4.14, 4.15, 4.16
• Whole Number Operations and Computations:    4.17, 4.18, 4.20, 5.10, 5.11, 5.12, 5.14,    6.8, 6.9, 6.10, 6.11, 6.13,
• Patterns and Relationships:  4.25, 5.20, 6.19, 6.21
• Probability and Statistics:  4.27, 4.28, 4.29, 5.23, 5.24, 5.25, 5.26, 6.24, 6.25
• Geometry and Spatial Sense:  4.33, 4.36, 4.38, 4.39, 5.29, 5.35, 6.28, 6.32, 6.34, 6.36, 6.38
• Measurement:  4.47, 4.49, 5.39, 5.42, 5.43, 5.45, 6.44, 6.46, 6.47
• Computer and Technology:  4.50, 4.53, 4.56, 4.57, 5.47, 5.48, 5.50, 5.52, 5.53, 5.54, 5.55, 6.48, 6.49, 6.51, 6.53, 6.54, 6.55

• Geography:  4.28, 4.30, 5.22, 5.23, 6.21, 6.26, 6.27,
• Study Skills: 4.43, 4.44, 4.45, 4.47, 4.49
• Computer Technology:  4.50, 4.51, 5.59, 5.60, 5.61, 6.59, 6.61, 6.62

References Cited (urls):
International weather sites
Meteorologist
World Weather Watch
Information Please Kids Almanac
Old Farmer's Almanac
Weather or Not
Weather or Not Jr.
Additional Resources:
Literature-
World of Weather (Troll)
Weather (Seymour Simon)
Our Planet-Weather
The USBORNE Book of Weather Facts (Howard E. Smith)
The Weather Report (Mike Graf)
The Weather Sky (Bruce McMillan)
AIMS related materials: Finding Your Bearings,  "The Forecast for Today"
Weather maps from USA Today
CD/Technology:
"Sun and Seasons" (MECC)
"Five Star Forecast:Weather" (MECC)
"Learning about Weather and Climate" (Queue)
"Weather Wizards" (Entrex)
"Everything Weather" (Sunburst)
Geo Safari:   Geopack Science #11 Weather
 

Authors:

Donna Hebb	dhebb@access.k12.wv.us	Lakewood Elementary
Yvonne Martin	ymartin@access.k12.wv.us	2089 Lakewood Drive
Carol Mathis	cmathis@access.k12.wv.us	St. Albans, WV   25177

 
 

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