Instructional Unit

Instructional Context:
Grade Level: 4th Grade
Content Area/Course: Science
Unit Name: Changes in Weather
Time Frame: Five Days
Required Supplies:
The Water Cycle Handout
The Water Cycle Handout (Differentiated Version)
Science Notebooks
Blue construction paper
Cotton balls
Glue
Black markers
Scissors
Big Bowl
Large Sponge
Water
Paper Towels
Crushed Ice
1 frozen white onion, scored
Alum, Epsom Salt, and Sugar Solutions
Paper
Q-tips
Required Devices/Programs:
The Water Cycle Interactive Website
Discovery Education Interactive Website
Google Earth
Google Slides
Youtube
Whiteboard
PowToon
Smart Board
FlipSnack
Differentiation Plans are addressed in each daily lesson.

Standards Addressed:
Wisconsin State Science Standard Addressed:
E.4.5 Describe the weather commonly found in Wisconsin in terms of clouds,
temperature, humidity, and forms of precipitation, and the changes that occur over time,
including seasonal changes

ISTE Standards Addressed:

1.b. Create original works as a means of personal or group expression.
3.d. Process data and report results.
6.b. Select and use applications effectively and productively.

1.
2.
3.

4.
5.

Essential Learning/Lesson Objectives:

Students will demonstrate their knowledge of the elements of the water cycle by
completing a handout with 100% accuracy.
Students will demonstrate their knowledge of cloud types and formations by completing
an informal art project, and presenting their ideas to a small group.
Students will demonstrate their knowledge of the four different types of precipitation by
participating in a lab, presenting their group findings to the class, and individually
creating a flipsnack.
Students will demonstrate their knowledge of hurricanes by creating a PowToon
presentation with a partner.
Students will demonstrate their knowledge of the changes in weather unit by creating a
Toontastic weather forecast that employs at least three different types of weather
changes.
Instructional Activities and Samples:
Day 1: Introduction of the Changes in Weather Unit & the Water Cycle
Intro: The Water Cycle Song
The students will watch The Water Cycle Song, and will be prompted to jot down notes
on the elements of the water cycle that are presented in the song.
The students will compare their notes that they have written with a partner.
The students will then have a class discussion on the elements of the water cycle as
they have been presented in the song.
The Water Cycle Interactive Website
Go to: http://water.usgs.gov/edu/watercycle-kids-beg.html
(Intermediate Version for most of the students, Beginner Version for
students who need differentiated instruction to tailor to a variety of learning
styles)
The students will complete a handout that corresponds with the interactive website on
the water cycle by clicking through all of the elements of the water cycle and filling in the
definitions in their own words (For students who may need differentiated instruction to
tailor to a variety of learning styles, students will be provided with a scaffolded
worksheet that requires the students to match each term that pertains to the water cycle
to the pre-filled definition).
Summarizer
Go to: http://player.discoveryeducation.com/views/hhView.cfm?guidAssetId=087777c84ff0-45d2-878f-e7cd90f7ee19

 As an informal assessment, the students will complete the online activity to selfevaluate the amount of knowledge that they have attained throughout the activities in
the lesson of the water cycle.

The Water Cycle Handout

The Water Cycle Handout (Differentiated Version)

Day 2: Clouds

Explain how certain weather conditions must exist in order for clouds to form.
Introduce new vocabulary
Stratus clouds
Cumulus clouds
Cirrus clouds
Cumulonimbus clouds
Altostratus clouds
Altocumulus clouds
Stratocumulus clouds
Cirrocumulus clouds
Watch How Clouds are Formed and Cloud Types video
Class will discuss the information from the video
Share the characteristics of each cloud type and their differences
Online Activity
Students will visit Web Weather for Kids:Clouds and select one of the four tabs: how
clouds form, cloud image gallery, cloud matching game, and cloud types.
Students will have enough time to visit all four tabs.
Informal assessment
Students will be given a piece of blue construction paper
On the construction paper, students will write the four different cloud type names
Students will be given a handful of cotton balls and must recreate the different types of
clouds under their specific name
Under the recreated clouds, students must write three characteristics about each cloud
type
Ex:

Wrap Up
In small groups,
students will present
their recreated clouds and discuss the different characteristics that were written under
each.
Differentiation: If needed, students will be presented with adaptive scissors and
markers. Students with visual impairments will be given a computer to use with an
increase in zoom in order to read and play on Web Weather for Kids.

Day 3: Precipitation
Read the picture book Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs by Judith Barrett.
Explain that although this book is fiction, there are different types of precipitation that
falls from the sky.
Explain the difference between rain, snow, sleet, and hail
Divide the class into four small groups. Each group will be assigned to a different type
of precipitation.
Group

Rain

Materials You Will Need

Big Bowl
Large Sponge
Water
Paper Towels

Steps to Take

1. Hold the sponge. Record how it feels.

(light, heavy, etc.)
2. Dip the sponge into water.
3. Let the sponge absorb a lot of water.
4. Record what you observe.
5. Record how the sponge feels.
6. Hold the sponge over the big bowl.
7. Record what you observe.
8. Describe what this might be like in the
natural world.
9. Gently squeeze the sponge and watch
the water drop into the bowl.
10. Record what you observe.
11. Describe in what ways the sponge is like
a rain cloud. In what ways is it different?

Group

Sleet

Materials You Will Need

Large Bowl
Crushed Ice
Water
Paper Towels

Steps to Take

1. Observe the crushed ice in the large

bowl.
2. Record how it looks (color, shape, etc.).
3. Record how it smells.
4. Record how it feels (temperature, texture,
etc.).

5. Carefully add the water to the crushed

ice.
6. Record how it looks.
7. Record how it feels.
8. Describe in what ways it is different with
water than without.
Group

Hail

Materials You Will Need

1 frozen white onion, scored

Steps to Take

1. Take frozen onion, peel the skin off, and

trim the ends.
2. Score only of the onion. Do not cut all
the way through, only going as far as the
bulb inside.
3. Remove the layers of the onion until you
reach the inner bulb. Carefully setting
each layer next to each other.
4. Observe the inner bulb. This represents a
water drop in a cloud. The water drop
has formed around a dust particle.
5. In order for the layers to form, they have
to accumulate or collect ice particles. Add
about three layers of the onion onto the
bulb.
6. As the hailstone becomes larger it
becomes heavier and begins to fall
through the cloud. Add about three more
layers.
7. If there is an updraft then the hailstone
will remain inside the cold cloud and grow
more. Add remaining layers to the onion.
8. If there is no updraft, the hailstone will fall
to Earth, melting some as it falls. Hold
the onion high, slowly bring it to desk
level, and melt the hailstone by letting
some of the onion layers come off.

Group

Snow

Materials Teacher Must Create

Make solutions with each of 3 substances

and water (alum, Epsom salt, and sugar).

To make the solutions:

1. Boil water.
2. Pour boiling water in a heat-proof dish.
3. Add Epsom salts until the salts are fully
dissolved. Allow to cool slightly.
4. Repeat for the sugar and again for the
alum.
Materials You Will Need

Steps to Take

Alum, Epsom Salt, and Sugar Solutions

Paper
Q-tips
1. Fold paper in 4ths.
2. Label the four squares with your name, A
(for alum), E (for Epsom salts), and S (for
sugar).
3. Only use one solution at a time.
4. Dip a Q-tip (one per person) in the
solution and draw a snowflake on the
paper (modeled below). Make sure the
Q-tip is saturated.

5.
6.
7.
8.
9.

Return the Q-tip to the proper solution.

Set the papers in a sunny location to dry.
Use hand lens to observe crystals.
Record Observations.
Discuss with your group how snow is
made up of crystals.
10. Predict which solution will grow the best
crystals.
Each group will present to the class their observations from the activity. They will be
invited to share what they learned regarding their specific form of precipitation.
Individually, students will then create a precipitation pamphlet using www.flipsnack.com.
Students must first create a title page labed, My Precipitation Pamphlet and then write
their name.
They must then create four more pages for each type of precipitation discussed: rain,
snow, sleet, hail.
Each page must include a label, image or illustration, and a description of the type of
precipitation.
Here is an example:

 http://www.flipsnack.com/debruin/my-precipitation-pamphlet-example-ftn0zsqsu.html
Differentiation: When presenting findings from the lab, groups can choose the way they
display their information (PowerPoint, orally, posterboard, etc.)

Day 4: Extreme Weather

Introduction:
The teacher will create a Web on whiteboard with the term: Hurricane at the center.
Give each student a post-it note and instruct the students to write down any word or
idea that comes to mind when they hear hurricane. The teacher will allow the students
3 minutes to contemplate and write on their post-it note. The teacher will then invite
students to place their sticky notes on the web (students will place sticky-note around
the term Hurricane) The teacher will then review the terms aloud with the class and
ask the students to share their thoughts and opinions (why they chose the word, etc.)
The teacher will then begin the lesson by defining the following term Tropical Cyclone.
The Teacher will do so by writing the terms and their definitions on the whiteboard as
well as verbally stating them to the students.
Tropical Cyclone: A localized, very intense low-pressure wind system, forming over
tropical oceans and with winds of hurricane force
The teacher will then show the students the areas in which hurricanes form on the
ocean as well as the states that are usually impacted by hurricanes. This will be done
using Google Earth.

Activity:
After showing the areas where hurricanes form, the teacher will transition into the
lesson. The teacher will pass out the flow chart worksheet to the students and then will
have students pair together and go to:
http://www.cbsnews.com/htdocs/natural_disasters/hurricanes/framesource_flash.html
The students will watch the animation and fill in their flow chart. Upon completion,
students will form into small groups and discuss their results. After small-group
discussion, the teacher will bring all students together and invite the students to share
any information they have learned as well as additional information they want to add or
take away from the Web they created at the beginning of the lesson.

Review & Assess

The teacher will have the students work with their original partner to create a PowToon
presentation of what they have learned about Hurricanes. This will include: new terms,
phases of hurricanes, and common areas hurricanes form as well as areas that are
impacted. After the presentations are completed, students will upload the presentation
to the classroom website for all students to see.
Here is an example:
https://www.powtoon.com/online-presentation/fpN8cMlhwIm/?mode=presentation#/
Rubric for PowToon Presentation:

Differentiation: For those who need differentiated instruction to better meet their needs,
provide a fill-in-the-blank flowchart for a more guided approach.

Day 5: Final project/Summative Assessment of the Changes in Weather Unit:

Students will use the Toontastic app to create a weather forecast that incorporates at
least 3 of the weather changes that were learned about throughout the unit (i.e. parts of
the water cycle, different forms of precipitation, cloud types and formation, and extreme
weather/hurricanes).
Students will be advised that the weather forecast can be fictional and humorous, which
will allow for at least three types of weather changes to be incorporated into their
weather forecast.
Differentiation: Students can have the option to upload photos instead of drawing their
photos. Furthermore, students can use captionings and/or audio.
Example of a weather forecast using the Toontastic app