As a middle school science teacher, I understand the time constraints and pressures of the classroom, especially when it comes to engaging students in learning about complex topics like weather. Exciting weather phenomona might engage students but actually learning the ins and outs of reading a weather map or practicing the vocabulary are less exciting. Here are some low prep tools and tricks I’ve used in my seventh and eighth grade classrooms to helps students.
Weather Unit Plans
Day 1
A great introduction to your middle school weather unit is the weather stations scavenger hunt. Students travel to 10 stations where they will find 10 questions. The answers to each question are in short paragraphs on different stations. This allows students lots of movement around the classroom and the opportunity to read the 10 short paragraphs about weather several times.
Use a slide show to guide a discussion about the evolution of the earth’s atmosphere.
Day 2
A fun lab or demo to do this day is calculating the percentage of oxygen in the air. To do this, measure the volume of water in a test tube. This will tell you the volume of air in the test tube when it’s empty. (Let’s imagine the volume is 100 mL.)
Then, fill a shallow pan with water and place a candle in the center of the pan. Light the candle.
Invert the empty test tube over the candle in such a way that the lip of the test tube goes under the water.
The candle will go out when the oxygen in the test tube is used up and water will rise to replace the used up oxygen. Use a wax pencil to mark the place on the test tube where the water rises.
Then, fill the test tube with water up to the line you just drew. (Let’s imagine the volume is 70 mL.) This represents the volume in the test tube that wasn’t consumed by the fire. In other words, that volume of water is the same as the volume of gases in the atmosphere that aren’t oxygen (primarily nitrogen).
If you subtract the volume of nitrogen (70 mL) from the total volume of the test tube (100 mL), you’ll find the volume of oxygen. Simple calculations will show you the percentage of the atmosphere that is oxygen.
Day 3
Use a slide show to guide a discussion about the layers of the earth’s atmosphere.
This is a great day in your weather unit to introduce a long term data collection project. In this activity, students collect weather data for several weeks and then analyze the data, identify patterns, and use what they learn to predict the weather.
Introduce students to weather data by looking at some weather graphs worksheets. This is a great way to get familiar with the vocabulary before learning definitions.
Day 4
A great lab to include today is the Ice Cream phase change lab.
While students are mixing their ice cream, use a slide show to introduce students to the topics of energy transfer in the atmosphere.
End the class by eating your ice cream!
Day 5
Even though students have been collecting weather data for a few days already, here’s a good place to learn what the weather terms mean. Use a slide show to guide students through terms such as air pressure, wind, air masses, and fronts.
To practice, have students look at weather maps and identify what types of fronts are pictured and what types of weather each location on the map is going to have.
Day 6
Another hands on learning day, Day 6 is the perfect day to allow students to build their own weather devices.
Day 7
You’ve already tackled a lot of vocabulary in this unit and here’s a good place to stop and review.
Task cards are a versatile tool for engaging middle school students in science. Distribute the cards to students individually or in small groups, allowing them to work through the tasks at their own pace. Digital task cards like Boom cards help students practice their skills independently with immediately feedback.
A tarsia puzzle is another great practice activity. Students cut out triangles and match up words with definitions. This is fun to glue into an interactive notebook or onto a separate sheet of paper.
Day 8
Day 9
After all that vocab review, this is a good time to collect some summative data with a quiz.
By now, students have learned enough vocabulary that they’re ready to learn about storm formation. Start with thunderstorms and use your slide show to guide students through storm formation.
Day 11
Students can work independently to complete the hurricane workbook. This activity walks them through hurricane formation and hurricane tracking.
Day 12
Practice what you learned in the weather unit about hurricanes today by mapping a historically famous hurricane. This activity tracks the path of Hurricane Laura which hit Louisiana on August 27, 2020, in a record breaking hurricane year. In this activity, students will map the path of Hurricane Laura using real data and make decisions about issuing warnings for the storm.
4 Enrichment Activities
- There are always students who are super excited to learn about severe weather. This book, geared for 5th-7th graders, is a more detailed exploration of severe weather including hail, flash floods, blizzards, and tornadoes.
- Photograph weather events to create a bulletin board. If your students have cell phones or access to cell phones, challenge them to take a picture of each type of cloud before the unit is over. Have a photo contest to see who can represent the most kinds of weather in a collage.
- Have students research weather phenomena. Most students will know how rainbows are formed, but do they know about sun dogs or lenticular clouds or dust devils? Ask students to find an image and create a slide show. Use this opportunity to teach citation skills and check two things off your list! Make the project even more engaging by filming the weather reports using green screen technology. WeVideo.com is one inexpensive digital editing tool students can easily learn to use. There’s even a free version.
- Try this free digital escape activity. Students practice and review weather vocabulary to find clues and solve puzzles.
I hope your students enjoy learning about weather as much as mine do!
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