Objective
The students will be able to draw isotherms on a weather map to identify temperature patterns.
Description
In this lesson, students will recognize isolines on a weather map and be able to draw isolines based on temperature data on a weather map.
Website(s)
www.Weather.com
The Weather Channel
Duration
One 42-minute period
Materials
SMART Board, Laptop with internet access bookmarked to www.weather.com, LCD projector, Printouts of that day's weather map. (The teacher should print out the current temperature map from the website provided to give to the students.)
Do Now Isolines on a Weather Map.xbkExample of Daily Weather MapPDF of Do Now
Procedure
The students will first do their Do Now (projected on the SMART Board) while attendance is taken. See .xbk file under SMART Board.
When the students are finished, the teacher will read through the notes with the students to explain, answer questions, and make connections.
Motivation: The teacher will go to weather.com and project the daily US temperature map up on the SMART Board and ask the students: “I wonder what all similarly colored areas on the map have in common.?” As answers are spoken, the teacher may write the new ideas on or next to the map to record the students’ thoughts.
Current Temperatures in the Continental United States
First Instructional Activity:
The students are given black and white printouts of the weather map and in groups of 2 are asked to put a small red dot on their paper every place they think it is fifty degrees. (Remind students that, as they go from a place that is 45 degrees to a place that is 55 degrees, they can estimate 50 degrees to be about halfway in between.) Each group should have at least ten dots on their map.
When groups begin to finish up, the teacher should ask for volunteers from each group to come up and place one of their dots on the SMART Board. When the teacher determines there are enough dots to correctly make the 50 degree isotherm on their weather map, the last group should be asked to connect the dots with a curve as best they can.
At this point, each student should be asked to go back and reread their Do Now. Students should then be directed to take 2 minutes and write down in their notes or on their maps something they learned so far today about isotherms. The teacher will then ask for a volunteer to share his/her findings as a medial summary.
Second Instructional Activity:
Students will now be asked to work in groups of four to complete the isotherms for their weather maps using a 10 degree interval. Each isoline should be color coded in a pattern that makes sense - similar to the one on Weather.com where purple is used for the coldest and red for the hottest.
When finished, students may shade in each segment of their map according to the color they chose for that temperature to arrive at a color coded isotherm map of the United States for that day. Teachers should collect maps for evaluation.
If time allows, the students should trade maps with a neighbor and say one thing they like about their neighbor’s map.
SMART Board
This instructional content was intended for use with a SMART Board. The .xbk file below can only be opened with SMART Notebook software. To download this free software from the SMART Technologies website, please click here.
Assessment
This is the rubric for the lesson.
Lesson Rubric
Author
Dan Winstedt, Enlarged City School District of Middletown
