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Topic(s):
Climate, Elementary (K-4), Lithosphere
Scenario: Climate Poem
Climate and Land
The Sun shines on the Earth. It warms the land it lights.
It comes up, then goes down to make the days and nights.
The Earth, it spins as it goes around our Sun.
Do you know how long it is before one trip is done?
Winter, spring, summer and fall you know as the four seasons.
Seasons change during the year for very complicated reasons.
What each season is like where you live has to do with climate.
The land you see in the summertime, how would you describe it?
Maybe your land in summer is dry and turns a dusty brown.
Or maybe it's wet and muddy with puddles on the ground.
Now think about how that land changes in the fall.
Does it get cooler, dryer, wetter? Or does it change at all?
If you went out in winter and scooped up a bit of land.
Brought it indoors and looked closely at it in your hand.
Maybe it would be all hard and cold or maybe soft and wet.
What's land like where you live and how cold does winter get?
What happens to your land in spring could be most surprising.
Maybe it rains and wets your land and grass from it starts arising.
Maybe your land stays cold and dry, with some snow still showing.
Does planting seeds in your spring land get them to start growing?
Polar land can be dry and cold, one choice for a vacation spot.
Perhaps you prefer walking on desert land, very dry and hot.
Or maybe you like the soft, mushy land often found in the tropics.
What words best describe your land using climate topics?
Polar, tropical, and desert climate lands could be called extreme.
Temperate is a word that describes climate lands in between.
Finding words for all the climate lands can really be quite tough.
Would cold and dry, wet and warm, and hard or soft be enough?
The words you'd choose to describe the land outside your door.
Have to do with your climate, the time of year and more.
From day to day or hour to hour it changes with the weather.
To picture it this time next year, would climate help you better?
Climate and Land Essential Questions
As you work through this module see if you can find answers to these essential questions and other questions of your own about climate and land.- What climate words would you use to describe the land in your neighborhood?
- How does the land in your neighborhood change with the seasons?
- What does the elevation and location of the land where you live have to do with your climate?
- How does your climate change the land in your neighborhood?
- How is the land in your neighborhood same or different from the land in places on Earth with a different climate?
Date: 11/18/2009
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Scenario Images
Earth's land can be wet or dry. It can be warm or cold. It can be soft and moist or it can be hard and dry. It can change with the seasons. Dirt is made from rocks. Dirt can be rocky or sandy It can be full of clay or loamy and great for growing plants. How wet, dry, cold or warm the dirt is depends on the climate. How would you describe the dirt and the climate in your neighborhood? Images: clipart.com
Sunshine around the world. What do the colors mean? The Sun shines and warms our air, water, land and us, too. Not all of the places on Earth get the same amount of sunshine. Even the same place on Earth gets different amounts of sunshine at different times (seasons) of the year. Watch this and see how the amount of sunshine changes during the year and from year to year around the world. Image credit: NASA Earth Observatory
Land temperatures around the world. What do the colors mean? In some places the land is warm and in other places the land is cold. Watch this animation that shows how land temperatures change from year to year. Image credit: NASA Earth Observatory
Soil moisture around the world. What do the colors mean? Rain and snow falls on the land. Some of the water from the rain and snow soaks into the soil in the ground. The amount of water in the soil determines the kinds of plants that can grow there. Cactus grow in dry, sandy soil in warm places. Palm trees grow in damp, sandy soil in warm places like around an oasis in the desert. Watch this and see how the amount of water in the soil changes from month to month and year to year around the world. Image credit: University of Wyoming: Department of Geography
Dust and other particles in Earth's air. What do the colors mean? Dust and other particles can get blown up into the air by winds, sea sprays or volcanoes and other explosions. Watch this to see how the amount of dust and other particles in the air changes from year to year. Image credit: NASA Earth Observatory
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Resources
Climate: Land
(Cycle A)
These sites for kids have age appropriate information about climate and land:
Earth Science Basics
(Cycle A)
Need information about Earth's cycles, systems and processes? These resources are for you:
Learn About Climate and Land for Teachers
(Cycle B)
Use these resources to build your understanding of climate and land: - What is Climate? This Exploring Earth investigation explores factors affecting climate.
- World Climates Information about climate classification, biomes and more.
- The World's Biomes from the University of California's Museum of Paleontology.
- NSTA Science Objects NSTA Science Objects are on-line interactive inquiry-based modules that help teachers better understand the science content they teach. Many objects are free to non-members and can be saved in a personal library by creating an account. On the home page select Earth and Space Science from the Subjects menu. Scroll to find topics of interest and these free specific objects from the weather topics:
- Global Climate Patterns
- Ocean Effects on Climate and Weather: Global Circulation Patterns
- Oceans Effects on Climate and Weather: Global Precipitation and Energy
- Effect of Oceans on Weather and Climate
- Global Climate Change from NASA's Eyes on the Earth - a complete resource for exploring climate change.
- Human Influence on Global Climate This Exploring Earth investigation explores how human activities influence the global climate system.
- Earth's Climate and Global Change This collection from Windows on the Universe explores a variety of climate topics.
- U.S. Climate Normals This NCDC site has links to free information and data. Select Climate of the States then your state for a brief desciption of your climate.
Design You Own Investigation for Teachers
(Cycle C)
The following provide lesson plans and more relating to climate and weather: - Global Climate Animations
- MY NASA DATA Access lesson plans, activities and more for grades 3-5.
- Kids' Crossing in the Classroom This curriculum guide provides activities and more for use with the Kids' Crossing website from the the folks at UCAR.
- NASA Earth Observatory Image Generator Use this tool to make custom images of climate and weather datasets. Use the images to compare factors like snow coverage over a period of time in your neighborhood. Click on ? icon on the tools menu to learn how.
- Climate Change Wildlife and Wildlands - Toolkit for Teachers - Explore the impacts of climate change on the U.S. by region.
- This issue of Beyond Polar Bears and Penguins online magazine explores Climate Change and the Polar Regions. Includes misconceptions, activities, recommended books and more. Additional archived issues are available here.
- Teach Engineering has activities and lessons that can be sorted by subject and grade level.
- Digital Libray for Earth System Science the ultimate resource for Earth Science lesson plans, investigations and publications.
- This American Library Association site has links to all kinds of great websites for kids.
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Sample Investigations
A Way to Start Understanding Climate: Land
(Cycle A)
This investigation explores the difference between weather and climate and how climate affects land.
My Climate: Land - What would it be like to live in a place where the weather everyday was like the day your were born? Do this investigation to see what your personal climate would be like.
My Climate: Land for Teachers
Difficulty: beginner
Air Temperature, Melting Ice and Disappearing Land
(Cycle A)
The ice is melting, the ice is melting! Climate scientists are worried about how fast huge ice sheets on land called glaciers are melting. Want to learn more about melting glaciers and disappearing land? Then this investigation is for you!
Air Temperature, Melting Ice and Disappearing Land for Teachers
Difficulty: beginner
The Dirt on Dirt and Climate
(Cycle A)
Plants grow in all kinds of places. They grow in cold places. They grow in hot places. They grow in dry places. They grow in wet places. But no matter where they grow, most of the time they grow in dirt. The dirt where they grow might look the same as the dirt in your neighborhood or it could look very different. How hot or cold a place is and the amount of rain or other precipitation a place gets over a long period of time help determine its climate. A place's climate affects the kinds of plants that grow there and what the dirt looks like that they grow in.
In this investigation you look at dirt, the dirt that plants grow in. What the dirt is like, how wet or dry, how warm or cold or how sandy or rocky it is, can help you figure out what the climate is like where the plants grow.
Dirt of Dirt and Climate for Teachers
Difficulty: beginner
Learn About Climate and Land
(Cycle B)
Work with your team to find answers to questions of your own and these Essential Questions about Earth's climate and land: - What climate words would you use to describe the land in your neighborhood?
- How does the land in your neighborhood change with the seasons?
- What does the elevation and location of the land where you live have to do with your climate?
- How does your climate change the land in your neighborhood?
- How is the land in your neighborhood same or different from the land in places on Earth with a different climate?
Difficulty: beginner
Design an Climate: Land Investigation
(Cycle C)
Design an investigation of your own that will help students ask and seek answers to questions like these about Earth's climate and land: - What climate words would you use to describe the land in your neighborhood?
- How does the land in your neighborhood change with the seasons?
- What does the elevation and location of the land where you live have to do with your climate?
- How does your climate change the land in your neighborhood?
- How is the land in your neighborhood same or different from the land in places on Earth with a different climate?
Difficulty: beginner
Standards:
- Science
National Science Education Standards - Science Content Standards
http://www.nap.edu/readingroom/books/nses/html/overview.html#content
The science content standards outline what students should know, understand, and be able to do in the natural sciences over the course of K-12 education.
- K-12 UNIFYING CONCEPTS AND PROCESSES
The understandings and abilities associated with the following concepts and processes need to be developed throughout a student's educational experiences:
- Systems, order, and organization
- Evidence, models, and explanation
- Constancy, change, and measurement
- GRADES K-4 CONTENT STANDARDS
- Science as Inquiry (Std A)
- Abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry
- Understanding about scientific inquiry
- Physical Science (Std B)
- Properties of objects and materials
- Light, heat, electricity, and magnetism
- Earth and Space Science (Std D)
- Properties of earth materials
- Changes in earth and sky
- Science and Technology (Std E)
- Abilities of technological design
- Science in Personal and Social Perspectives (Std F)
- History and Nature of Science (Std G)
- Science as a human endeavor
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