Friday, November 21, 2008

Outdoor Hour Challenge #40 Seasonal Weather Study


Last week we read through a large section of the Handbook of Nature Study on water forms and hopefully everyone was able to go outside and observe the weather conditions in your particular area of the world. So far there have been a few entries on Mr. Linky for last week's weather study and I am always interested to see how different our experiences are even within the same week of time. A couple of us had absolutely no clouds to observe all week. A few families had snow already!

We went outside on several days to try to catch some clouds and it just didn't happen. I am going to save our official entry for last week's challenge until we can draw some clouds in our journals.

This week we will start a year long, four season weather observation study. This challenge will be to make a record of some sort of your record during the current season....autumn. I have put together a simple weather study notebook page if you want to use it for your records or you can simply record the information in your a nature journal.

Outdoor Hour Challenge #40
Weather Challenge #2
Seasonal Weather Observation-Autumn

1. Read pages 790-791, sections on Thermometer Scales in Use and Distribution of the Temperature and Pressure, in the Handbook of Nature Study. Read the sections with a view to finding a few facts to share with your children this week about what influences the temperature and the atmosphere around us.
"The heat received on the earth from the sun is the controlling factor in all weather conditions."
Handbook of Nature Study, page 791
2. Pick a day this week to spend 15-20 minutes outdoors observing the weather and recording the conditions using the Seasonal Weather Study notebook page. We will be completing a weather study challenge during each season in the coming year and the more detailed you get in your observations, the easier it will be to compare the weather from season to season.

3. To follow up your outdoor time, spend a few minutes discussing what you experienced with your children. Find out if they have any questions about the weather that you can research together this week. The Handbook of Nature Study on pages 812-814 lists numerous specific weather related activities that will help demonstrate weather concepts for your children. Please complete any of the activities that interest your family and that you have time to complete.

4. For your nature journal this week, fill out the Seasonal Weather Observation notebook page. If you prefer to record you observations into your nature journal and not on a notebook page, look to the sample blank chart on page 791 of the Handbook of Nature Study for a basic record keeping idea.

5. Post an entry on your blog sharing your experiences and then come back to the Outdoor Hour Challenge post and add your link to Mr. Linky. All the challenges are listed on the sidebar of the Handbook of Nature Study blog.


Here is the link to the Seasonal Weather Study Notebook Page:

Seasonal Weather Study

If you would like to print out this week's challenge, here is the link:
Outdoor Hour Challenge #40 Seasonal Weather Observation-Autumn

Barb-Harmony Art Mom