WEATHER    

Written by: Seymour Simon

"Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it."            -Mark Twain

Webpage created by: Lisa Heaton

Grade Level: Third Grade (3.5)

  SUMMARY: 

The book Weather is a Scholastic Reader that takes readers through everything from cloud formations to water cycles and air fronts to frost and snow. This book stresses that weather has influence on everything we do such as: how we dress and what we do. Seymour Simon has amazing pictures which he took all over the world in this book...it's almost like you are there!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Seymour Simon is the award-winning author of over 200 science books. He got his start teaching but decided to leave his full time position in the classroom nearly ten years ago and devoted all of his time to writing. Seymour does research all over the world ("but not on Mars" he says) and he enjoys spending a lot of time photographing and writing atop a hill near Hudson Valley in New York. If you would like to learn more about Seymour Simon and see pictures and view more of his books, click here to visit his website.

DIRECTIONS:

Read the directions for each activity. After reading the directions, click on the word or words that are highlighted and underlined in a light blue color to go to your activity. If the activity you are doing requires you to print off a worksheet, print off the sheet and return to your computer. Please make sure you read ALL directions before starting the activity. Have fun!

PRE-READING ACTIVITIES:

1. Before you begin reading WEATHER, print out this worksheet and have a pencil or pen handy to write with. Once you have printed out the worksheet, fill out each column of the chart. On the "K" side of the chart, you should list at least 5 things that you already know about weather, how it works, what time of year certain weather happens, etc. For this column, list ANYTHING that you know about weather! For the column labeled "W," you will fill in at least 5 things that you want to know about weather. Be creative with this column, think of things that you have always wondered about when it is storming, or snowing, or even sunny. The last column, the "L" column, will be finished AFTER you have read Weather by Seymour Simon. Once you have read the book, fill in the "L" column with at least 5 things that you learned by reading this book.

2. There are lots of weather conditions that don't happen in your area. To get a better idea of what other weather conditions may look like, click on this weather link to see videos of different weather conditions. Choose at least 4 different weather videos to watch. For example, you can choose one tornado video, one blizzard video, one hurricane video, and one flooding video.

READING ACTIVITIES

1. As you are reading Weather, you will probably come across some words that you might not know. For this activity, your goal  is to write down at least 10 words on this worksheet that you do not know, as you read. Once you have 10 words on your list, go to this online dictionary to look up your words! After you have found your words, write the definition on the line next to your word.

2. Have you ever been caught in some really bad weather? For this reading activity, you are writing a journal entry that describes some really bad weather that you have been in. Make sure that for your entries, you use lots of describing words so I can visualize exactly what the weather was like. Some questions to help guide your writing are: What kind of weather was it (tornado, hurricane, avalanche, snow storm, etc?) How did you feel when you were in this weather? Were you cold or hot? I want to know all about it! Click on this link to get your journal paper and print it out!

AFTER READING ACTIVITIES

1. Alright, now that you have finished reading it is time to finish that last section of the K-W-L chart that you worked on before you started reading. The last column, the "L" column, will be finished AFTER you have read Weather by Seymour Simon. Once you have read the book, fill in the "L" column with at least 5 things that you learned by reading this book. Upon completing your K-W-L chart, make sure that your NAME and the DATE are on your worksheet before turning it in.

2. So, you have finished reading and you know a lot more about weather than you might have known before. For your final post-reading activity, your goal is to write down at least 3 questions that you have about weather that the book did not answer. Make sure that your questions have proper punctuation and capitalization and make sure you put some good thought into each question. Once you have finished writing your questions, check that your NAME and the DATE are on the sheet and you can turn it in. Click here to get your questions sheet.

Assessment

  Click here to get the grading rubric for this assignment.

You should have 4 papers to hand in.

Make sure your NAME and the DATE are on all of your worksheets before you turn them in.