Graphing Weather

Basics:
Name: Caitlin Field Time Allotted: 45 Minutes
Grade Level: 3rd Subject(s): Science
Intentional Room Set Up:
Students desks will be set up in groups with visibility to the white board and overhead projector.
The groups will be between 2-4 students.
Materials Required:
Papers with seasons printed on them- Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter one of each season
Papers with the months on them- 3 months on each paper, 4 papers in all
Weather Bar Graph worksheet- one per student
Example Weather Bar Graph- one per student
Weather Bar Graph Rubric one per student
Weather Data Sheets: Winter (Weather History for Jackson, MI, 2016)- 1 per student in group A,
and B
Weather Data Sheets: Spring (Weather History for Jackson, MI, 2016)- 1 per student in group C,
and D
Weather Data Sheets: Summer (Weather History for Jackson, MI, 2016)- 1 per student in group
E, and F
Weather Data Sheets: Fall (Weather History for Jackson, MI, 2016)- 1 per student in group G,
and H
Color Paper Strips Normal- 50 strips
Color Paper Strips Thin- 50 strips
Crayons- one box per group
Markers- one box per group
Colored Pencils- one box per group
Tape- twelve strips
Scissors- one per group
Glue- one per group
Magnets- four
Dry Erase Makers- two
White Board - one
Overhead projector - one

Michigan Content Expectations: 3-ESS2-1. Represent data in tables and graphical displays to
describe typical weather conditions expected during a particular season.

Objective(s):

Objective 1: The student will represent data in a bar graph to describe typical weather
conditions expected during a season by earning 6 out of 8 on the Weather Bar Graph
Rubric, during independent work at the end of the lesson.

50
Assessment:

Objective 1 Informal Formative Assessment: When the students are discussing what data
they would include in their bar graph, which is located under guided practice, the teacher
will observe if the students are understanding what is required from them. The teacher
should be listening for the students explaining why they chose the data they did. For
example the student would be telling their group that they are choosing to use the highest
temperature because it shows how warm it got for all three months in the summer. The
teacher should also listen to see if the students are finding the numbers that they are going
to use and what measurement they are in. For example temperature is in degrees
Fahrenheit, and precipitation is in inches.

Objective 1 Formal Formative Assessment: At the beginning of the lesson the teacher
asks questions to gauge students knowledge on weather, seasons, and months in those
seasons. The teacher determines at this point in the lesson, during the anticipatory set,
whether the students have enough knowledge to move on. The teacher will know if the
students know the information by checking students responses, and how many people
are responding. If only one person is raising their hand, the other students might not
know the information. The teacher can ask the students who are not raising their hand a
question. The teacher could also ask the students to give thumbs up or down if they
understand. The teacher can look at facial expressions to see if students are engaged and
if they look confused. The teacher can also have a choral response from the class.
o Data & Intervention: This Formal Formative Assessment shows if the students
have the background knowledge, or remember what was previously taught, in
order to build further knowledge on top of that. The prior standard that they
should know is K-ESS2-1 Use and share observations of local weather conditions
to describe patterns over time. If the students do not have a mastery of those
concepts then the teacher would discuss the definitions of the words the students
do not understand. Some examples of words that might need defining are season,
weather, and precipitation. The teacher would also give examples to further
student understanding. The teacher might give examples of what weather is, like
the temperature, or the amount of precipitation.
o If the students did show mastery for the Formal Formative Assessment, then the
teacher would continue the lesson as planned. The teacher would not spend as
much time on the review of previous knowledge.

Objective 1 Formal Interim/Summative Assessment: The Weather Bar Graph Rubric is

the summative assessment. It comes at the end of the lesson during independent practice.
The students complete the Weather Bar Graph and the teacher assesses their knowledge
by comparing their graph to the rubric.

51
 o Data & Intervention: The Formal Summative Assessment would tell the teacher if
the students were able to meet the objective, which was to use data to make a bar
graph showing the typical weather for a season. If students did not meet the
minimal proficiency level I would have the students practice making graphs for
other things. For example I would have the students make a bar graph showing
the number of boys and the number of girls in the classroom. After they have
mastered how to make a bar graph I would have them practice choosing correct
data to include in a bar graph, and then transfer the data to the bar graph. When
the students have mastered this I would have them look at the weather data for a
particular season, and then make a bar graph based on that data.
o If the students mastered the objective for the Formal Summative Assessment, I
would have them look at a different bar graph that had data about weather and ask
the students to explain what the graph was showing. This would show that the
students understand not just how to make a graph, but how to read a graph.

Instructional Procedure:

Anticipatory Set: (Allotted Time_4 min_)

a. Post the four papers, with each season printed on them, on the board, using the
magnets, in a row with a little bit of space in between each paper.
b. Ask the students what month it is.
c. Ask the students to look outside and look to see if there is anything outside that
tells them about that month. (ex. flowers, green grass, snow, etc.)
d. Ask the students if they walked outside would they feel anything that would tell
them about that month. (ex. cold, warm, etc.)
e. Ask the students what this information says about the month. What is the weather
like for the entire month? An example answer is that the month is cold and snowy.
f. Ask the students about the months surrounding it. What is the weather like in
those months? An example answer is that it is also cold in snowy in those months.
g. Tell the students that those months are in the same season. Tell them what the
season is.
h. Ask the students what they think the weather would be for the entire season. An
example answer is that it is cold and snowy during that season.
i. Tell the students that they just identified the season the month belonged to by
describing the weather. The teacher is conducting the Formal Formative
Assessment for objective 1 at this time.
j. Give the students the month cards and have them place them on the season that it
belongs to. If they do not know where a month goes they can ask their peers.
k. Then ask the students what weather, or observations, they would expect for each
of the seasons and months. Write these observations on the board next to each
season using the dry erase markers.

52
 l. Tell students Over the past couple of days we have been learning about
progression, or change over time. Today we are going to observe and display data
that shows the change in seasons over time, from one month to the next.
m. State behavior expectations:
i. Raise your hand if you have a question.
ii. Be respectful when other people are talking.

State Purpose and Objective of Lesson: (Allotted Time_1min_)

a. Tell students that in the previous lesson we learned to tell time by the minute.
Now we are going to focus on a more broad time. We are going to look at the
measurement of months, or groups of months that form into the seasons.
b. Tell the students that they are going to learn how to graph the weather of the
seasons by using a bar graph.
c. Tell the students that it is important to learn this so they can analyze data and be
able to represent it in a way that is easy for others to read.
d. Tell the students the Objective:
i. I CAN create a bar graph to show the weather conditions during a season
by earning 6 out of 8 on the Weather Bar Graph Rubric.

Instruction:
a. Direct Instruction & Modeling: (Allotted Time _10 mins__)
i. Tell the students that we explored what we thought the weather would be
like for different seasons based on our past experiences. Now we are going
to look at data, which are facts that have been put together.
ii. We are going to transfer the information we chose and create a bar graph
to show that data.
iii. Show the students 4 examples of bar graphs on the screen or overhead
projector.
iv. Ask the students what they notice all the bar graphs have. (ex. title, labels,
scales/numbers, bars)
v. Define scale for them by saying that the scale is the distance between
each line that is going vertically, or on the left side. Zero starts at the
bottom and you can go up by ones, twos, or fives. Show the students
this by using one of the example graphs.
vi. Show the students the rubric and have them compare the rubric to one of
the example graphs.
vii. Tell the students that they will be creating a bar graph and using the rubric
to make sure they are completing it correctly, and they have all the
components to get the points.
viii. Pass out the Weather Data Sheets. Each student gets their own data sheet,
but each member in the group has the same data sheet.
ix. Tell the students that there are a few words that we are going to define.
x. The first word is Temperature, which is how hot or cold. It is measured
by degrees Fahrenheit, which is the (F) under temperature. Show them
where it is on the data sheet using the overhead projector.

53
 xi. The next word in average, which is what the weather was like most of the
time.
xii. The last word is precipitation, which is rain, or snow that falls to the
ground.

b. Guided Practice: (Allotted Time _12 mins__)

i. Tell the students to discuss what information they think they would need
to make the bar graph, and why they think it is important. Tell the students
to circle the information that they would like to include in their bar graph.
Remind the students that they do not have to agree with the other students
on what they think is the most important.
ii. During this time the teacher should be walking around and observing the
students. Looking to see what information they are going to include and
their reasoning behind their choices. Ask the students questions about
what data they are choosing. Why they think it is important? How do you
know that it is important? Informal Formative Assessment for objective 1
is occurring at this time.
iii. When the students are finished ask some of the students to share their
ideas, or what data they are going to include in their graph, with the class.

c. Independent Practice: (Allotted Time _15 mins__)

i. Then tell the students that they are going to apply the data they chose to
make the bar graph on their own.
ii. Pass out the Weather Bar Graph worksheets, as well as the Weather Bar
Graph Rubrics for each student. This is the Formal Interim/Summative
Assessment for objective 1.
iii. Pass out markers, colored pencils, crayons, and the color strips, scissors,
and glue to each table. Tell the students that they can chose whichever
material provided to them to create their bars.
iv. Tell the students if they finished early and their bar graph follows the
rubric, then they can pick up a graph paper that has more vertical lines and
they can graph every season and compare them all together.

Differentiated Consideration:
If students finish early they can create a bar graph that compares all the seasons to
each other.
If students are struggling creating their bar graph they can refer back to the example
bar graph.
Students who are more tactile learners can use the color paper strips to create their
bars instead of crayons, colored pencils, or markers.

Closure: (Allotted Time_3 mins_)

a. Have the class come together and ask a few students if they found anything
interesting, or they learned something new when they graphed their data.
b. Restate the objective: I CAN create a bar graph to show the weather conditions
during a season by earning 6 out of 8 on the Weather Bar Graph Rubric.

54
c. Ask the students to give thumbs up if they think they reached the objective.
d. Have the students show their partner their work to show that they have met the
objective.
e. Tell the students that in the next lesson we will be learning about how to add time.
We used bar graphs to represent the weather data, but now we will use other tools
or methods to solve real world problems.

55
 References

Weather history for Jackson, MI. (2016). Weather warehouse. Retrieved from http://weather-

warehouse.com/WeatherHistory/PastWeatherData_JacksonReynoldsField_Jackson_MI

_January.html

56