Weather: Watch It, Record It, Find Patterns

Look out the window. Is it sunny, cloudy, rainy, or windy? Weather changes from day to day. Let’s watch it, draw it on a chart, and find what comes back again and again.

This lesson takes about 15 minutes. You can take a break after each part.

Before you start

Weather: Watch It, Record It, Find Patterns

Learning objectives

  • I can name kinds of weather: sunny, cloudy, rainy, windy, snowy.
  • I can record the weather each day on a chart.
  • I can tell that a sunny afternoon is usually warmer than the morning.
  • I can find a weather pattern by counting days on a chart.

What is the weather like?

Weather words

Weather is what it is like outside right now. It can be sunny, cloudy, rainy, windy, or snowy. It can feel warm or cold.

Use your senses

You can see the Sun, the clouds, and the rain. You cannot see the wind, but you can feel it on your face and see what it moves.

Twelve small pictures of the same house with a tree: sunny, partly cloudy, cloudy, foggy, rainy, windy, a thunderstorm with lightning, a tornado far away, hail, heavy rain with puddles, snow, and a rainbow after the rain.
The house does not change, but the weather does: sun, clouds, fog, rain, wind, storm, snow and a rainbow.

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Watch and record

A weather chart

Scientists observe the weather and record it. Your class can do it too: each day, look at the sky and draw one small picture on a weather chart.

One picture a day

A sun for a sunny day. A cloud for a cloudy day. A cloud with raindrops for a rainy day. A snowflake for a snowy day.

Five weather tools on posts in a garden: a thermometer, a rain gauge with some water in it, a spinning cup wind tool, a wind vane shaped like an arrow, and an orange and white windsock.
Scientists use tools to watch the weather: one tells how warm it is, one catches the rain, and three show the wind.

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Warmer and cooler

Morning and afternoon

On a sunny day, the Sun warms the ground and the air. So the morning is usually cooler, and the afternoon is usually warmer.

Feel the difference

You do not need numbers: you can feel if it is warmer or cooler. Your clothes tell you too: a jacket in the morning, no jacket in the afternoon.

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Find the pattern

Count the days

After many days, look at the whole chart. Count the suns, the clouds, and the rainy days. The biggest number tells which weather came most often.

Weather through the year

Some patterns come back every year. In many places, summer days are warm and winter days are cold, sometimes with snow. We choose our clothes by looking at the weather.

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Review game

Final assessment

To master the lesson, you need at least 60% correct answers.

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Summary

  • Weather is what it is like outside right now: sunny, cloudy, rainy, windy, or snowy, warm or cold.
  • We see the weather and we feel it. We cannot see the wind, but we see what it moves.
  • We record the weather every day on a chart, because it can change from one day to the next.
  • On a sunny day, the morning is usually cooler and the afternoon warmer.
  • Counting days on the chart helps us find patterns, like warm summers and cold winters in many places.

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