Climate Around the World: The Sun

 

World Climate Map

Day One

• Study World Weather Maps:

http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/climate.html ( biomes)

http://www.climate-charts.com/World-Climate-Maps.html ( maps of climates)

http://www.classzone.com/books/earth_science/terc/content/visualizations/es2103/es2103page01.cfm?chapter_no=21 ( cool interactive)

http://www.climate-zone.com/ ( interactive)

The Weather Book by Michael Oard

 Day Two

• Color in the climate zones on the world map. Use a different color for each zone.
• Define the 8 zones

Polar and Tundra

Cold Forest

Temperate

Mountain

Deserts

Dry Grassland

Tropical Grasslands

Rain Forest

• Define the three basic climate groups.

Low Latitude Climates

Mid Latitude Climates

High Latitude Climates

Day Three

• How does climate affect our food supply? ( activity)http://extension.usu.edu/aitc/teachers/pdf/lesson/winter00_agzone.pdf ( lesson plans on food and climate)
• How do we use maps and climate to plan our gardening? ( activity)

http://www.tulipworld.com/hardinesszipzone.asp US planting zones

http://www.raintreenursery.com/map_usdaHardiness.html US planting zones

 

• What is Latitude and Longitude?  ( Review for my kids so a short lesson. You may want to spend more time here and do maps etc)

http://nationalatlas.gov/articles/mapping/a_latlong.html

http://www.worldatlas.com/aatlas/imageg.htm interactive

http://itouchmap.com/latlong.html interactive

Day Four

Sun Rays

• Activity 1 ( pencils) Janice Van Cleave's Weather

• Sun Rays Activity 2 (cardboard) Weather and Climate, Barbara Taylor

 

Earth not tilted                                            Earth Tilted

• Sun Rays Activity 3 ( earth model) Weather and Climate. Barbara Taylor

Keep the ball spinning at a 23.5 degree angle and walk around the sun.

• Sun Rays Activity 4 using spray paint and a ball

Spray straight on with earth ( ball at a 23.5 degree )

http://www.fourmilab.ch/cgi-bin/Earth This site will enable you to see how the above activities work.

Seasons of the Year Activities

o Draw a diagram of How Seasons Work

 

http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/the_universe/uts/seasons1.html 

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/astronomy/planets/earth/Seasons.shtml 

 

 

Day Five

The Power of the Sun

Hot Air Activities

o Bubbles Activity

o Spiral Activity ( Convection) Kids love this one. The spiral moves and dances. The camera picks up convection really well.

What is convection?

"Convection" has several, related meanings in weather....but it always involves rising air. It usually refers to "moist convection", where the excess water vapor in rising air parcels condenses to form a cloud. The heat released through this condensation can help to sustain the convection by warming the air further and making it rise still higher, which causes more water vapor to condense, so the process feeds on itself. Convection can also be dry, as occurs on a sunny day over the desert. The sun warms the ground, and convective air currents help to remove the excess heat from the surface. Dry convection also occurs during the day even when clouds are forming...you just can't see it.

Interesting facts:

MAKING THE EARTH LIVEABLE: Convection (both dry and moist) help to make the Earth liveable by removing excess heat from the surface, and transporting it high into the atmosphere. It has been calculated that, without convection, the average surface air temperature on the earth would be about 125 deg. F, rather than the current 59 deg. F.

Can You Cook with the Sun? ( a bit off topic)

 http://www.solarcooking.org/

http://www.re-energy.ca/pdf/solaroven.pdf 

http://pbskids.org/zoom/activities/sci/solarcookers.html 

http://www.freewebs.com/sunnycooker/suntasticcookerplan.htm

http://www.hometrainingtools.com/articles/build-a-solar-oven-project.html

Vocabulary

Just for fun try this! http://education.jlab.org/vocabhangman/index.html 

 

Axis

A line on which an object rotates. The Earth’s axis runs

through its center from the North Pole to the South Pole.

Plane of Ecliptic

The plane of the Earth’s orbit around the Sun. Except for

Pluto, all of the planets’ orbits lie roughly in this plane.

Revolution

The motion of one body around another.

Rotation

The spinning motion of a planet or other object on

its axis.

Solstice

Two times during the year when the sun is at its

Greatest distance from the celestial equator and

appears to be farthest north or south. Northern

Hemisphere, June 21 or 22, the summer solstice

is the longest day of the year. Dec. 21 or 22 is

the shortest day of the year, winter solstice.

Vernal, having to do with spring; vernal

equinox, about March 21.

Autumnal, having to do with autumn or fall;

autumnal equinox, about September 22.

Equinox, Two times during the year when

the center of the sun crosses the celestial

equator, and day and night are of equal

length in all parts of the earth.

Equator, an imaginary circle around the

middle of the earth, halfway between the

North Pole and the South Pole.

Perpendicular, at right angles to a given line,

plane, or surface.

Parallel, two lines that lie in the same plane

and do not intersect.

Ellipse, oval having both ends alike.

Longitude, the distance east or west on the

earth’s surface, measured in degrees from a

certain meridian, usually the Prime Meridian.

Latitude, the distance north or south of the

equator, measured in degrees. A degree of

latitude is 69.2 miles.

Day: The period of 24 hours of day and

night; time it takes for the earth to make one

rotation on its axis.

Night: The time between evening and

morning; the time from sunset to sunrise.

Year: The period of the earth’s revolution

around the sun; 12 months or 365 days (366

in leap years).