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Central Focus/Big Idea: Patterns of weather and factors that affect weather
Subject of this lesson: Types of precipitation and how meteorologists measure precipitation.
Scientific Vocabulary
o Precipitation
o Rainfall
o Rain Gauge
o Measurement
o Downpour
o Sleet
o Hail
o Freezing Rain
o Snow
Instructional Objective: Students will learn about different types of precipitation and the
scientific tool that meteorologists use to measure rainfall. Students will be asked to complete a
sentence and drawing where they will identify what they would do if an inch of rain had fallen,
and what they would wear if an inch of rain had fallen in which they are required to have all 4
elements of the assignment.
Content Knowledge (teacher): The teacher must know what the different types of precipitation
are (rain, snow, sleet, freezing rain, and hail). The teacher should also understand how a rain
gauge works. The rain gauge measures how much rain we got during a rainstorm. After the
rainfall is measured, meteorologists will look at the other weather instruments to see what the
conditions were like right before it rained. They will record this data. When they see the other
instruments, all measuring the same again before another rainstorm, they can predict how much
rain we will get with the storm coming in.
The materials needed to create the rain gauges are easy to gather and are relatively inexpensive.
However, you MUST get 2-liter bottles with straight sides (no curve Coca-Cola bottles).
In your procedure, be sure to include all of the following 5 Es. Your procedure should be
detailed enough for a colleague to follow. If you will be relying on technology (e.g., a YouTube
video), describe your back up plan thoroughly. Imagine your most novice colleague needing to
teach from your plan. Dont just answer the questions. Additionally, I expect you to include
possible questions you could ask for each section. This needs to include higher-order questions.
Note: It would be a good idea to have backup printed pictures of precipitation in case you
have technical difficulties.
Explanation:
1) Bring students back together as a whole group.
2) Ask the students, How much rain did you collect in a light rain?
3) Would you expect to collect more or less rain during a heavy rain?
4) Ask students to compare and contrast the light rain and the heavy rain. Ask them to use the
measurements that they took to explain their answers.
5) Did anything change in your rain gauge when there was no rain at all?
6) Did all of the water from your storm make it into the rain gauge? (Answer: no, but because
the rain falls evenly over both the gauge and the ground, the measurement is still accurate)
7) Ask each group to pick a place around the school that they think would be a good spot for
their rain gauge. Remind them that the rain gauge needs to be placed in a clear spot, away
from anything that can cover it, so that we can get accurate measurements of rainfall.
Elaborate:
1) Ask students to return to their desks.
2) Why do you think meteorologists needs to know how much rain has fallen? (Answer: Having
that data will help them to make predictions about the weather in the future)
3) Why is it important that meteorologist have data to help them predict what the weather will be in
the future? (Answer: So that they can use the data to make informed predictions about the
weather. That allows the rest of us to prepare for the weather!)
4) Can you think of any other people who might use a rain gauge to know how much rain has fallen?
(Answer: Farmers, city planners, regular people who garden!)
5) Give each student a Rainfall Worksheet Inform the students that they will be answering two
questions and drawing a picture of their response for each question. Encourage students to be
creative and that you would love them to add color to their picture. Let students know that you
would like the to use complete sentences in their responses. Also let the students know that this
will be graded, so they should be as creative as while also including all the required elements.
Give the students their Must Do List:
1. Answer the questions with complete sentences.
2. Draw your pictures with pencil
3. Color in your pictures
6) Give students time to work on their Rainfall worksheet. The teach should be walking around to
monitor progress and answer and questions students may have.
7) If time allows, you may allow some students to share their responses under the document camera.
Evaluate:
-In this assignment, I will be looking for all the required elements that students were
asked for. These include:
1. Two complete sentences that answer the question.
2. Two pictures that depict the students answers to the questions.
Formative Assessment- The formative assessment is all the questions that you are asking
throughout the course of this lesson. The teacher should be asking questions to assess students
understanding of core concepts as well as their ability to follow the lab directions that are clearly
written on the lab activity sheets.
Reflection on lesson: