Curriculum Standard
Tennessee Standard 1.1a: Observing is a process used to develop an awareness of the surrounding environment.
Description: Using this site teachers will prepare their students to explore the world of weather with a focus on rain. This site contains general activites and disscussion question to help the students learn about weather. The site also contains pre-reading activities for kindergarten students. It also contains a vast amount of resources to guide the teacher in teaching this unit.
Evaluation: Some of the internet links do not work on this page however, because of the vast amount of additional print resources and on this page, I believe that a teacher would find it very useful when teaching a weather unit.
Weather Unit: Science Applications
http://faldo.atmos.uiuc.edu/w_unit/weather.html
Author: Bill Chapman
Purpose: This unit can be used by the teacher to help students understand
the process and concepts of the water cycle.
Description: This unit allows students to use their observation skills to develop an awareness of the surrounding environment. The unit contains lesson plans on the complete water cycle. It also contains individual lessons about evaporation, condensation, and precipitation.
Evaluation: All of the links to the different contents area work. Under each content area their are useful lesson plans that pertain to weather. The home page is well designed and easy to navigate.
Description: The "Weather Dude" allows you to enter your zip code and get your local forecast. I t also has links to an online books about weather basics, definitions of weather terms, forecasts, maps, weather songs, resources for teachers and parents, and resources for kids. The links for teachers and parents contain activites and worksheets about the water cycle. The link for kids also has information about the water cycle and a song about the water cycle. It also includes a printable coloring book, directions on how to make a weather station, and fascinating weather facts.
Evaluation: This site is kid friendly. It is colored attractively
to get kids attention. All of the links work. The parent and teacher
site give good information about the water cycle and other weather components.
The kid site allows kids to do anything from reading weather books to drawing
weather pictures.
Description: This site contains resources, software, and references for teachers in the Earth Sciences.
Evaluation: This site contains a plethera of workable resources for
teachers. It is divided into catergories and is easy to navigate.
Description: This is a quick and informative animated movie about the water cycle. It describes the components of the water cycle and describes ways we can conserve water. It also has a quiz after the movie.
Evaluation: The movie is an effective teaching strategy. It is
short and animated to keep kids attention. The movie may take a few
minutes to load depending on the quality of your computer.
Bottled Water Cycle
Author: Scholastic Incorporated
http://www.scholastic.com/magicschoolbus/games/teacher/storm/water.htm
Purpose: This is an activity for children to make with the help of
an adult. It allows the children to make and observe a water cycle.
Description: Children learn about the water cycle by making their own miniature bottled water cycle.
Evaluation: Components of the water cycle are listed at the bottom of
the page, however these links do not work. They take the user to
the Scholastic home page and let him or her search from there.
Description: This site contains an overview of the water cycle and explains the specific terms related to the water cycle. It also includes a link to learn about cloud formation.
Evaluation: This graphics on this site really aid in the users understanding
of the water cycle. All of the links on this site work and are informative.
Water Science for Schools (Follow a Drip Through the Water Cycle)
http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/followdrip.html
Author: This site is maintained by the United States Geological Society
Purpose: This page can be used directly by the student and/or the teacher.
Description: This page follows a drip of water through the water cycle and allows the user to click on specific terms to find out more about them. It also contains links to other water related topics.
Evaluation: This page may be hard for younger children to read because it contains some big words. However it does a good job describing the water cycle and its' components. All of the links work.
Description: This site contains a list of homework help sites just for kids.
Evaluation: This site is well maintained and easy to navigate. It contains many good workable sites for kids to get homework help.
Description: This site contains simple experiments that let you create a thunderstorm, lightning, and tornadoes in the classroom.
Evaluation: These are interesting and exciting experiments for kids.
It lets kids experience weather first hand. All of the links work
and provide easy to follow instructions about how to do the experiments.
Created by Rebecca Hamilton
April 29, 2001