the weather clil unit - xtec · clil unit the weather teaching notes imma puntí freixer ... lesson...

CLIL UNIT THE WEATHER Teaching notes

Imma Puntí Freixer CEIP Alexandre Galí 1

THE WEATHER

CLIL unit Teaching Notes

Imma Puntí Freixer

Nottingham, January-April 2009



Resources needed: Power point presentation Worksheet 1: Observation Song: “Raining in my heart” by Buddy Holly Worksheet 2: Complete the song

Introduction: This lesson is designed to introduce the weather vocabulary, to know what a weather forecast is and what it is useful for, and to start collecting weather data.

Activity 1 Grouping: plenary

PowerPoint presentation As a warm up, the teacher shows some pictures of weather phenomena on the power point (clouds, sun, rain, rainbow, snow, wind,…) as a guessing game. Children should know most of these words because they have used weather words since the first level of Primary. Can you hear that sound? What do you think it is? What’s the weather like? It’s raining, it’s cloudy, it’s sunny…

Activity 2 Grouping: plenary The teacher tells the children to watch carefully a video (weather forecast clip). (The first video is a Catalan weather forecast so, it should be watched with no volume at all; pupils attention will be focused on the images) Types of questions after the video and possible answers to elicit: Who is this person? (the weather man/woman) What is he talking about? (the weather) What can you see on the screen? (maps, sun, arrows, clouds, numbers…) What do they mean? (it is going to rain, it’s sunny… ) Are all the maps the same? (no) Why? (they predict the weather of two different days)

Do you think predicting the weather is useful? Who benefits from weather forecasts? (fishermen, sports people, farmers, children,… everybody!)

Why? (to travel, to go fishing,…) How does he know what’s the weather like? (he observes/studies/measures it) Does he need any instruments to know and to predict the weather? (yes)

Teaching notes

The weather

Lesson 1: Introducing the unit and the vocabulary



Are you familiar with any of these instruments? (thermometer, barometer…) If pupils answer in Catalan, the teacher will try to repeat their sentences in English (as long as it doesn’t disturb communication). There’s another video link to the BBC weather forecast. It may be interesting to watch it in English and try to understand words or sentences related to the topic.


Worksheet 1 Observation The aim of this activity is to show the pupils the importance of being rigorous when collecting data: without this rigour, gathering this kind of information would be useless. Besides, they are going to collect data without any instruments, just observing and “feeling” the weather (that is going to be very useful during the next lesson where they will understand the need for accuracy and precision when measuring the weather). The teacher shows the worksheet to the pupils and explains to them that they are going to observe the weather every day, during one week, at the same hour. As a group, pupils will discuss what kind of words or expressions can be used to complete the chart: it’s sunny, it’s hot, it’s very hot, it’s raining,,, This is going to be a reminder of all the vocabulary and expressions they already know from previous years. They must copy these words on their observation worksheet so they’ll be able to use them without the help of the CLIL teacher. Useful vocabulary Nouns: rain, snow, clouds, fog, rainbow, storm, wind, waves… Adjectives: fine, bad, good, excellent, fantastic, terrible, dry, wet,(It’s) sunny, windy, Rain, hot cold.… Adverbs: a lot, a little, very… And all the words they may be interested in when preparing the activity.

Activity 4 Grouping: groups of 4 Children go out and take notes on their worksheets. Teacher monitors the groups to help them with the vocabulary. This activity must be done every day of the week (teacher must talk to the other teachers of the group to make sure that they allow the pupils to do the activity every day).




CD Song: “Raining in my heart” by Buddy Holly Worksheet 2 Song To finish the lesson, and if there are 10 spare minutes, listening to this song can be fun for the children. The aim is to listen to a song, pay attention to all the words referring to the weather and write them down in the correct place. If pupils find difficulties in understanding the words, the teacher can write them down on the board (not in order!) to help them. May be this is a more linguistic activity but it can also be seen as the weather (and the weather metaphors) being present in our daily lives and concerns… and besides, all children love singing and listening to music!



Teaching notes

The weather

Lesson 2: Air pressure. (I)

Resources needed: Experiment 1 Water- funnel with a very narrow tip-small clear plastic bottle-sharpened pencil- modelling clay.

Experiment 2 (for each group) a stick (50 cm long)- 2 balloons- Sell tape- drawing pin- string. Worksheet 5

Introduction: In this lesson pupils should see the need for accurate measurement of the weather; to do that, they must learn gradually how and why the weather phenomena takes place. Air pressure is the first topic to be studied.

Activity 1 Grouping: plenary Warm up: The teacher reminds the pupils what the topic is. He reminds them what they did in the last lesson and (if necessary, with flashcards), helps them remember all the weather vocabulary used previously. They talk about the current weather, trying to use the expressions they wrote on worksheet 1 and that they’ve been using during 5 days of weather observation.

Activity 2 Grouping: plenary Pupils sit in the same groups of four they’ve been in during the previous week and, with worksheet 1 in front of them, compare the results with the other groups. The teacher leads the discussion and helps them to express the result of their observations and writes the answers on the board. To help them express themselves, he/she can write/show a substitution table more or less like this:



very a little terribly

On

Monday Tuesday

Wednesday Thursday

Friday

the weather

was

----

Fine Hot

Cold …

Rainy Sunny Cloudy Stormy Windy

On

Monday Tuesday

Wednesday Thursday

Friday

there

were

lots of some

no

big small grey white

clouds

in the sky

As these are not rigorous and precise observations, the results should be different: i.e. where one group may say On Monday it was very hot another one may say On Monday it was hot. Pupils should see that a more strict way of observation is necessary and that measuring instruments should be used. But before using more precise instruments they must learn why things happen the way they do so, step by step they are going to study how and why the weather phenomena occur. Air is going to be the first step.


Experiment 1 materials

Teacher starts doing an experiment and the aim is that pupils discover why it happens.

Experiment 1 Take the bottle and ask: is there anything in the bottle? Surely one of the pupils will say “air”. The teacher then can explain that they are going to prove it. Put the funnel in the neck of the bottle and pour water inside till the bottle is half full. Teacher asks again “what’s in the bottle? Is there still air in the bottle? Where has the air gone?”. Then, teacher empties the bottle, replaces the funnel and puts modelling clay around the neck of the bottle. It must be completely sealed.



“If I pour water in the funnel, what will happen?” Teacher pours water and it remains in the funnel, not in the bottle. Then, with the pencil, the teacher or a pupil makes a hole in the clay with the sharpened pencil. “What happens?” (the water gets into the bottle). “How did the air escape?” Air can not be seen but it takes up space, air has volume.

Activity 4 Grouping: groups of 4 Experiment 2 materials Worksheet 5 (for each group) a stick (50 cm long)- 2 balloons - Sell tape - drawing pin - string. Air also has weight. Pupils will discover this by working in groups on experiment 2. “How can we prove with a balloon that air takes up space?” Pupils should say that it can be proved blowing it up. The teacher provides each group with the materials and the worksheet. They have to follow the drawn instructions. They should know most of the words they’ll need but, just in case, the teacher can pre-teach or remind them of some useful words and expressions: sell tape, tape, blow up a balloon, equal size, balance, punch the balloon,… While they are doing the experiment, the teacher monitors and helps the groups if necessary. Complete the worksheet.

Activity 5 Grouping: Plenary

Talk about what has happened. Make pupils explain what they have done and what the two experiments done in class proved (air takes up space and air has weight). Explain to them that in the next session they’ll learn more things about air.



Teaching notes

The weather

Lesson 2: Air pressure. (II) Resources needed: Flashcards: sun, storm, rain, fog, faces (happy, nervous, sad, bored, scared) A picture of a hot-air balloon Experiment 1 3 sheets of paper Unsharpened pencil or a ruler Worksheet 6

Experiment 2 Empty milk tetra brick A nail or sharp pencil Cards with numbers 1,2,3 and “yes” “no” for each pupil. A big shallow tray.

Experiment 3 Set of 3-4 picture and word cards (see complementary materials)

Introduction: In this lesson pupils should learn what is the air pressure and how it varies depending on height and on the air temperature.

Activity 1 Grouping: plenary Flashcards Warm up. Idiom: to be under the weather Teacher puts the flashcards on the board and asks some pupils to match the facial expressions with each of the weather cards. The teacher chats with pupils about the weather, how it affects their mood, why… Then he explains to them there’s an English idiom “to be under the weather” which means some one is feeling ill, not as well as usual. Miming game: one pupil stands up and the teacher shows him/her a weather card. He/she changes his/her face expression, tries to reflect a specific mood. The rest of the class must guess which weather card it is according to his/her face. (The teacher should try to use, every now and then, this idiom during the lessons)



Activity 2 Grouping: plenary and pair work A balloon Experiment 1 materials Worksheet 6 As a reminder of last session, the teacher blows up a balloon and asks pupils what can they say about it; does a balloon prove anything regarding weather?. Pupils should say that air takes up space, it has weight. Then the teacher explains that there’s still another quality of air that must be very much taken into account when talking about the weather: air pressure. To learn what it is, children are going to do a small experiment in pairs. The teacher hands out worksheet 6 and, first of all introduces the new vocabulary: fold in halves, in quarters, to flip. The pupils do the activity in pairs. The teacher walks around and monitors them. Children complete the worksheet. After a while, they change partners and compare their notes to see if they have the same results.


Experiment 2: materials The teacher talks about the experiment and emphasizes that air pushes down on objects and that is called air pressure. Then, he/she explains that air is everywhere and that we live at the bottom of an ocean, an ocean of air which exerts pressure on everything on earth. This ocean is called the atmosphere. The higher in the atmosphere, the less the air pushes down. To prove this, the teacher does an experiment. He/she takes the empty milk tetra brick and makes three holes in one of its sides and leaves it on the tray (perhaps the holes should already be made). Each hole has a number (1,2,3). Then he/she pours water in the tetra brick. Pupils must think of possible answers to the teacher’s questions and hold up a card with a number (1,2,3). Questions: “If I pour water in the tetra brick, through which hole is it going to go out? “Will all the streams of water go out with the same force? “Through which hole will the water go further?” “Does this happen because of the water temperature?” “Is it because of water pressure?” “Which stream has least water pressure?” At the end of the experiment, teacher explains that what they’ve seen with water is the same with air. “Where is the greater air pressure? On top of a mountain?” “At sea level?”



Activity 4 Grouping: Groups of 6-8 Balloon Hot-air balloon flashcard Experiment 3 materials Experiment 3 cards (pictures and words) Air pressure changes not only with height; temperature affects it as well. The teacher blows up the balloon again. He/she ties it and lets it go. The balloon goes to the floor because air has weight. Teacher asks, “What’s the difference between the balloon and the hot-air balloon?” Why does the hot-air balloon go up?” The teacher explains that temperature has much to do with air pressure and that they are going to find out the answer to this question by doing a matching activity. He/she gives a set of 8 picture and word cards to each group. They have to match the pictures to the word cards and then put them in order. Before they start the activity, the teacher must remind them to use English expressions such as: “This one goes first!”. “This is the second step!”. “This text goes with this picture”. .. When they are finished, they check other groups’ results.

Activity 5 Grouping: Plenary To finish the session, pupils read aloud the text. Then the teacher asks if anyone can tell now why a hot air balloon rises up in the sky whereas the regular one falls down. If the teacher has a set of bigger cards s/he can put them on the classroom wall. Finally, and as a summary, the teacher asks the children what they have learnt during the session. (air pushes down on objects, air pressure depends on height and on temperature, hot air rises through cold air).



Teaching notes

The weather

Lesson 3: The water cycle. (I) Resources needed: Worksheet 8 DIN A3 Evaporation graph Condensation sentence cards (see complementary materials) Experiment 1 Spray bottle with water Fan Stopwatch Small portable chalkboard (or similar surface where water droplets can be visible)

Experiment 2 Glass jars (1 for group) Food colouring Ice Water Paper towels Large jar

Experiments adapted from Weather by Evan-Moor Corp. 2002 Introduction: In this lesson the pupils should learn two of the main steps in water cycle: evaporation and condensation. They are also going to start analysing weather forecast maps.

Activity 1 Grouping: plenary Warm up The teacher shows a weather forecast map to the pupils (from the newspaper, from the BBC website, www.meteo.cat …) to start a conversation about the weather. From now on, this activity is going to be carried out at the beginning of every lesson. To help pupils, it is helpful if there are model sentences hung on the classroom’s walls as well as the most frequent used weather symbols (see suplementary materials 2). Teacher can ask questions such as: What’s today’s weather forecast? Will it be sunny? Where will it be rainy? , Is it going to be windy? How do you know? Where would you like to go? ( e.g. To ….) Why? (because it’ll be snowy and I like snow). In the following sessions the pupils should be able to make sentences without being asked, for instance: Tomorrow it will rain in Barcelona. On Tuesday the weather will be fine, …



Activity 2 Grouping: plenary Experiment 1 materials Understanding evaporation is the aim of this activity. The teacher tells the pupils that they are going to talk about water during the next lessons. The first step is an investigation about evaporation. “Do you know what happens to the water in puddles?” (draw a puddle on the board if they don’t remember the word).They should say “it evaporates” (they know the concept because they’ve studied it previously in their mother tongue). Then the teacher takes a spray bottle and mists the surface of the portable chalkboard (or similar): three full squirts (it’s important to use the same quantity of water in all the following steps). A pupil uses the stopwatch to check how long it takes for the water to disappear. Children write the time interval on their charts. Then the teacher asks, “Can we find a way to make the water disappear faster?” Wind or fan should be said by someone in the class. Repeat the procedure again. “Can the water disappear faster?” Someone should say sunlight (if pupils don’t suggest anything, the teacher can give them clues). All the class goes to the playground to repeat the procedure. This time, teacher can spray water directly on concrete which has already been exposed to sunlight for a long time. The teacher explains that when water disappears it turns into water vapour, which is an invisible gas. The name of this process is evaporation.

Activity 3 Grouping: groups of 4

Worksheet 8 DIN A3 evaporation graph Children return to the class and in groups of four try to answer the questions on worksheet 8. Meanwhile, the teacher asks some pupils to do the DINA3 evaporation graph. It is going to be hung on the classroom wall, next to the rest of the weather information. When they finish, they check the answers all together, look at the DINA3 bar graph and answer the questions “Where is evaporation faster?” “Where is evaporation slower?” “What affects the speed of evaporation?” (wind, temperature)

Activity 4 Grouping: Groups of 4 - 5 Experiment 2 materials Condensation sentence cards This activity is about condensation. Teacher reminds pupils what they’ve just learnt about evaporation and then he/she can ask them “What do you think happens when the water



vapour is getting colder?” To find this out, students sit in groups of 4. Each group has got a glass jar and a paper towel. The teacher prepares a big jar of iced water with some food colouring in it and pours some water into each group’s jar. He/she then explains that there’s water vapour in the class even though they can’t see it, and asks them to watch carefully what happens in the jar. Then he/she guides the conversation to the final result: condensation . “Why are there small droplets of water outside the glass?” “Touch the glass.” “What colour is this water?” (check with the towel paper). “Is it the same colour as the water inside the glass?” “Where does this water come from?” “What has happened?” (cold water cooled the water vapour in the air and it has condensed on the glass). “The name of this process is condensation”. Then, each group is given a set of word cards and they have to put them in order. Then, standing up, each one holding one of the cards, they read the sentence to their class colleagues. To help the pupils, the teacher should remind them that every sentence starts with a capital letter and finishes with a full stop. There are 5 different sentences and, once ordered, the teacher can hang them on the class wall where all the weather activities and information are displayed. The sentences to put in order are: 1. There is/ water vapour/ in /the air. 2. Water vapour/is/ an/ invisible gas. 3. When/ water vapour/cools,/ it condenses/ into water droplets. 4. Water vapour/condenses/ around/ dust particles/ in the air. 5. Condensation:/ water vapour/changes/from gas/ to liquid.

Activity 5 Grouping: Plenary Review with the pupils the process of evaporation and condensation to see how they are related and that one process is the reverse of the other. Ask some pupils to draw the relation between evaporation and condensation on the board. Drawing a diagram or sketch is not that easy so it would be great if the rest of the class gave ideas as well to show evaporation and condensation (it must be clear that it is a cycle, a repetitive process).



Teaching notes

The weather

Lesson 3: The water cycle. (II) Resources needed: Worksheet 9 Clouds flash cards (see complementary materials) Clouds Power Point Experiment 1 2-litre clear plastic bottle. Matches. Warm water.

Introduction: In this lesson pupils should learn what clouds are, how are they formed and the characteristics of some types of clouds. They are also going to continue analysing weather forecast maps.

Activity 1 Grouping: plenary Warm up As in last session, the warm up is going to be a conversation about the current weather forecast found in the papers or on some websites.

Activity 2 Grouping: plenary The teacher reminds the pupils about what they learnt the previous day (evaporation and condensation). Pupils can read the sentences hang on the display. He/she explains that in this session they are going to know more about condensation and about clouds. He/ she can ask: “What do you think clouds are?” “What are they made of?” “Are all the clouds alike?” “Look through the window. Are there clouds in the sky?” “Describe them” “Big or small?” “What colour are they?” …



Then the teacher says that before learning about kinds of clouds, they are going to see how a cloud is formed.

Activity 3 Grouping: groups of 4 Experiment 1 materials To do this activity, as it is an investigation with matches, the help of an assistant or two is necessary. This is the way to do the experiment found on the website www.weatherwizkids.com

A cloud in a bottle

“Fill the clear plastic 2-litre bottle one-third fu ll of warm water and place the cap on. As warm water evaporates, it adds water vapour to the air inside the bottle. This is the first ingredient to make a cloud.

Squeeze and release the bottle and observe what hap pens. You’ll notice that nothing happens. Why? The squeeze represents the warming th at occurs in the atmosphere. The release represents the cooling that occurs in t he atmosphere. If the inside of the bottle becomes covered with condensation or water d roplets, just shake the bottle to get rid of them.

Take the cap off the bottle. Carefully light a matc h and hold the match near the opening

of the bottle.

Then drop the match in the bottle and quickly put o n the cap, trapping the smoke inside. Dust, smoke or other particles in the air is the second ingredient to make a cloud.

Once again, slowly squeeze the bottle hard and rele ase. What happens? A cloud appears when you release and disappears when you sq ueeze. The third ingredient in clouds is a drop in air pressure .

EXPLANATION:

Water vapour, water in its invisible gaseous state, can be made to condense into the form of small cloud droplets. By adding particles s uch as the smoke enhances the process of water condensation and by squeezing the bottle causes the air pressure to drop. This creates a cloud!”

http://www.weatherwizkids.com

After the investigation, the teacher asks the pupils what are the ingredients needed to make a cloud and writes them on a large card. Later, some pupils can draw the process on the card, next to the sentences. The large card is going to be hung in the weather display, on the class wall. This is a sample of the poster:



1.WATER VAPOUR

2. DUST PARTICLES IN THE AIR

3. A DROP IN AIR PRESSURE



Activity 4 Grouping: Plenary Clouds PowerPoint Worksheet 9 Watch the Clouds PowerPoint. There are different types of clouds and the presentation is a tool to introduce clouds to the pupils. The teacher can ask them: “Look out through the window and try to identify what type of clouds you can see”. Watch the power point and complete Worksheet 9. In this worksheet pupils have to match the image of the cloud, its name, the associated weather and an activity they can do when they see those clouds in the sky. These are the answers to worksheet 9.

Clouds (draw)

Description Weather You can… (draw)

Nimbus

Large clouds,

black and large

Lightnings, storms

Watch out and stay inside!

Cumulus

Big, puffy and white clouds

Fair weather

Stay outside and have fun!

Stratus

Low and grey

clouds

Possibility of snow,

rain... Not very nice weather!

Watch the news and watch

the sky!

Cirrus

The highest clouds.White

and wipsy

Windy day

Go sailing!

Activity 5 Grouping: Groups of 4 Memory game. If there is time left, pupils can play a memory game. The teacher gives each group a set of cards and they carry out a memory activity. The group puts all the cards face down in three parts: one with the pictures of the clouds, another with the names and another with the associated weather. Each player, in turns, flips up one card from each part. When he/she matches three cards, he/she keeps the cards and tries again. The winner is going to be the player who has won more groups of cards. This activity can be used to review all the content about clouds and, in future sessions can be used to assess the pupils.



Teaching notes

The weather

Lesson 3: The water cycle. (III) Resources needed: Experiment 1 Crushed ice. Water. Aluminium pie plate. Glass beaker Hot plate to warm up water. Oven mitten

Worksheets 7a-7b-7c-7d-7e All kinds of papers and materials (plastic, String, fabric…) Glue Scissors

Introduction: In this lesson pupils should review/learn what the water cycle is and how all its elements are interrelated. The pupils will make a display to explain how the water cycle works. They are also going to continue analysing weather forecast maps.

Activity 1 Grouping: plenary Warm up As in last session, the warm up is going to be a conversation about the current weather forecast found in the papers or on some websites. The pupils could also watch the clouds and, recalling the last lesson, try to remember the types of clouds and the weather associated with them.

Activity 2 Grouping: plenary Experiment 1 materials The teacher explains to the pupils that they are going to talk about the water cycle and checks if they remember the concepts previously learnt: evaporation and condensation. S/he explains that to complete the water cycle there is another step: precipitation. ”Does anybody know what precipitation means?” “What types of precipitation do you know?” “Where does the rain come from?” (from the clouds) “Why do some clouds give rain and some others do not?” “…”



Then the teacher explains that they are going to do an experiment to show how the water cycle works. As hot water is necessary, it is better that the teacher does the experiment and the pupils watch. S/he is going to demonstrate how the processes learnt tie together in nature. First the teacher shows all the materials s/he is going to use. Then, he puts a beaker full of water on the hot plate (turned to “high” temperature). S/he fills the aluminium pie plate with the crushed ice. S/he explains that the aluminium plate represents the cooler air in the atmosphere , and the steaming water represents the evaporation , the water vapour rising from the Earth surface. Once the water starts boiling, s/he puts on the oven mitt and holds the aluminium plate above (60 to 90 cm) the steam of water vapour. In a while, the pupils will see that a cloud is formed where the hot vapour hits the cooler air under the plate. Then, as more condensation takes place, the plate becomes saturated . So, there will be drops of water under the plate and, finally, this drops will fall as precipitation . After this demonstration, the pupils and the teacher discuss all the water cycle elements paying special attention to the scientific words.

Activity 3 Grouping: groups of 4 Worksheets 7a-7b-7c-7d-7e Jigsaw activity To understand completely the water cycle process the teacher organizes a jigsaw activity. S/he divides the class in groups of 5, gives them one different copy of each worksheet to each member of the group and tells the pupils that they are going to make a display about the water cycle. But first they need to have complete information about it. To collect this information each member of the group is going to be a specialist in one of the processes of the water cycle. So, all the pupils with worksheet 7b sit together and try to complete their task (the same with the pupils with worksheets 7c, 7d, and 7e). They have to read a text, circle the right word and draw some of the words in the text. Once they have finished, they have to read the text and be sure they understand it because they will have to explain it to the rest of the group. Then, they go to their former group and read their texts. They have to understand them and put them in order. Finally, the teacher gives them worksheet 7a and, as a summary, they have to complete all the missing words of the water cycle.

Activity 4 Grouping: Groups of 4 Materials Papers (all kinds and colours), cardboards, plastic, string, scissors, glue, model clay,… It would be very useful to have an assistant teacher to do this activity.



It is highly recommended to do this activity during another session. Making a wall display and a table display is a very nice and challenging activity, especially if the children can organize their work and decide how are they going to do it. If they can have at least 45 minutes to do the activity, the results are going to be much more interesting. The teacher asks each group to try to represent the water cycle with the given materials. Some of them are going to make a wall display and some of them a scale model of the water cycle to be displayed on tables. As pupils work in groups, the teacher monitors to help them (with their task and with their English too). Usual class sentences should be remembered: “Can I borrow the scissors, please?” “Can you pass me the glue, please?” “Have you got a piece of paper, please?” And the content sentences as well: “This is the river”. “The sun warms the water” “Water vapour condenses and forms clouds” They can put small signs in different parts of the display to make it clearer (river, ocean, condensation, evaporation, …) When they finish, they have to prepare an explanation of the water cycle. They can read the text in their worksheets but during the presentation, they will not be allowed to read; they will have to point to the display and say a correct sentence (at least one sentence each member of the group).

Activity 5 Grouping: Groups of 4 This last activity can be used as an assessment activity. To finish this session, each group shows their work to the rest of the class and explains how the water cycle works. The wall displays and the table displays can be exhibited in the corridor so all the pupils of the school will see them.



Teaching notes

The weather

Lesson 3: The water cycle. (IV) Resources needed: All kinds of papers and materials (plastic, string, fabric, cards, packages, plasticine, thick cardboard, wire …) Glue Scissors

Introduction: In this lesson pupils should summarise what the water cycle is and how all its elements are interrelated. The pupils will make a display to explain how the water cycle works. They will explain to their partners the result of their work in a mini presentation. They are also going to continue analysing weather forecast maps.

Activity 1 Grouping: plenary Warm up As in last session, the warm up is going to be a conversation about the current weather forecast found in the papers or on some websites. From now on, and depending on the level of the students, they can try to use past tense and future tense sentences. The teacher should provide them with models (written on the board or on the weather display on the classroom wall) like: “Yesterday the weather was…” “Tomorrow it will be…” The teacher can show the pupils this kind of chart to help them to talk about the weather forecast (http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/europe/barcelonaforecast.html). These are just examples, many more diagrams can be found. It would be a great idea to change them every now and then to provide the children with different models of weather forecasting.



Activity 2 Grouping: groups of 4 Materials Papers (all kinds and colours), cardboards, plastic, string,… scissors, glue, model clay,… It would be very useful to have an assistant teacher to do this activity. In this session the pupils will prepare a 3D display to explain the water cycle. They will have the worksheets used in the previous lesson to help them with the content and with the mini-presentation they will have to do. Making a wall display or a 3D display is a very nice and challenging activity, specially if the children can organize their work and decide how are they going to do it. If they can have at least 30 minutes to do the activity, the results are going to be much more interesting. The teacher asks each group to try to represent the water cycle with the given materials. As pupils work in groups, the teacher monitors them (with their task and with their English too). Usual class sentences should be remembered: “Can I borrow the scissors, please?” “Can you pass me the glue, please?” “Have you got a piece of paper, please?” And the content sentences as well: “This is the river”. “The sun warms the water” “Water vapour condenses and forms clouds” They can put small signs on different parts of the display to make it clearer (river, ocean, condensation, evaporation, …) When they finish, they have to prepare an explanation of the water cycle. They can read the text in their worksheets but during the presentation, they will not be allowed to read; they will have to point to the display and make a correct sentence (at least one sentence each member of the group). In order to make the mini-presentations more interesting and varied, it could be a great idea not to do them at the end of the lesson but every 10 minutes during the class. If all the presentations were done at the end of the class, all the pupils would explain more or less



the same and it could be a little bit boring. If presentations are done during the class, the pupils could explain what are they doing, how they are planning to do the display and what their results are so far. It could be very similar to a cooking programme where the chef does not just show the final result of his/her work (i.e. an apple pie) but all the process to lead to the delicious dish. Of course, the first group to talk will only be able to explain their idea, the second group will explain the first steps of their display, and the last group will describe their display already finished. Doing the presentations like this can be a good idea to make English more present in class; as pupils are going to do group work, they will probably speak in Catalan so, with a presentation every 10 minutes, English will be heard and spoken every 10 minutes! Before the presentation, the teacher or the assistant should help the pupils with their sentences. Each pupil should say at least one sentence. This activity can be used as an assessment activity. Eventually, the 3D displays can be exhibited in the corridor so all the pupils of the school will be able to see them.

Activity 3 Grouping: Plenary To finish the lesson, and if there is time left, the teacher can teach them a tongue twister (just for the fun of it!):

Whether the weather be fine, or whether the weather be not, whether the weather be hot, whether the weather be cold, we’ll weather the weather whatever the weather whether we like it or not.

Traditional nursery rhyme



Teaching notes

The weather

Lesson 4: Wind (I) Resources needed: Worksheet 10 Flashcards: sailing boat, plane, kite, windmills, sailor, plants, wind vane, anemometer Experiment 1 A balloon

Introduction: In this lesson pupils should learn what wind is, how it affects different human activities and how it can be measured. They should also learn what the Beaufort scale is. Activity 1 Grouping: plenary Warm up To start this lesson the teacher could ask if anybody remembers the tongue twister they read at the end of last session. They could practice it a couple of times. Then, a student could talk about the current weather forecast and about yesterday’s weather (this activity should be done by a different child each day). The resources needed are the same used in last session. Activity 2 Grouping: plenary Materials: a balloon The teacher asks the pupils to think about the wind. “What is it useful for?” “Is it useful? To whom?” With this last question, the teacher can use the wind flashcards (see complementary materials) to help the pupils with the vocabulary and to give them clues about the answers.



“Do you like the wind? Why?” “Can you feel the wind next to the sea?” (Our school is next to the beach; perhaps it could be a great idea to go out and to make the pupils feel the wind on their faces.. It depends on the time and on the children’s mood). Can anybody tell me where does the wind come from? Do you remember when we talked about hot air and cold air? What does the hot air do? (It rises up through cold air) What does the cold air do? (It takes the space the hot air has just left) The teacher draws on the board a diagram about the circulation of hot air and cold air in the atmosphere similar to this: The pupils must understand that the wind is the air that moves around. And it is related to air pressure (which they learnt five sessions before). When the sun heats the air, hot air rises, there is less air pressure on that point; cold air sinks down and creates a zone of high pressure. When the air goes from a zone of high pressure to a zone of low pressure it is what people feel as wind. The teacher asks one of the pupils to blow up a balloon. S/he must hold it (without tying it up) Where do you think the air pressure is higher? (in the balloon) Where is the zone of lower air pressure? (outside the balloon) If we release the balloon, what is going to happen? (the air will go out ) Why? (because the air in a zone of high pressure tends to go to a zone of low pressure) This air going out is the wind.



Activity 3 Grouping: plenary and pair work

Worksheet 10

In this activity the teacher is going to explain that it is necessary to measure the wind. Weather people use different instruments to measure the wind’s strength and direction: wind vane, anemometers… (see the flaschards in the complementary materials)

But there is another way of knowing the strength of the wind. The Beaufort Scale.

(http://home.howstuffworks.com/easy-outdoor-science-experiments-for-kids.htm)

“In the early 1800s, a British admiral named Francis Beaufort came up with a system so that describing the wind's strength would mean the same thing to everybody. The table below shows the Beaufort Scale, which describes what the effect of each level of the wind is”.

The teacher explains to the pupils that with this table, they can be a sort of "wind detectives" just by using their powers of observation. When they step outside, do they notice if the leaves on the trees are moving? Can they feel a breeze against their skin? Can they see the flags flapping?

Before being detectives, they have to complete the grid in their worksheets. This is pair work and each pupil has a different copy of the Beaufort Scale with some gaps in them (pupil A and pupil B worksheet). They have to complete their tables asking questions to their partners. They have got a model of questions in their worksheets but it would be better if the first steps of the activity were done with the whole class in order to help the children with the activity (the type of the activity and the vocabulary are quite new to them!). The teacher should also explain basic vocabulary such as wind, breeze, gale, ripples, wavelets, waves and the adjectives gradation: light,gentle, moderate, fresh,strong.



BEAUFORT SCALE

Beaufort number

Kind of wind Wind speed Effects of wind

0

Calm

0-1 Km/h

Air feels still. Smoke rises straight up.

Smooth water

1

Light air

1-5 Km/h

Smoke moves. Small ripples on the sea

2

Light breeze

6-11 Km/h

Leaves move. Can feel wind on face

Small wavelets on the sea

3

Gentle breeze

12-19 Km/h

Leaves move constantly. Flags extend

Larger wavelets on the sea

4

Moderate breeze

20-28 Km/h

Raises dust and papers. Flags flap

Small waves on the sea 5

Fresh breeze

29-38 Km/h

Small trees sway. White caps on water

6

Strong breeze

39-49 Km/h

Large branches move. Umbrellas turn inside out

Larger waves on the sea

7

Moderate gale

50-61 Km/h

Big trees sway. Inconvenient to walk against wind

Waves 5 to 7 metres

8

Gale

62-74 Km/h

Breaks twigs off trees. Difficult to walk against w ind

Waves 7 to 9 metres

9

Strong gale

75-88 Km/h

Slight building damage. Chimneys and antennas remov ed

Waves 7.5 to 10 metres

10

Storm

89-102 Km/h

Buildings are damaged. Trees are uprooted


11

Violent storm

103-117 Km/h

Building damaged all around. Cars can be overturned

Waves 10 to 15 metres

12

Hurricane

118 + Km/h

General destruction





Once each pupil has finished his/her work, the teacher asks them to read the Beaufort Scale aloud and thus, the vocabulary can be checked and reviewed again. A kind of game can be played if the teacher asks questions such as: What’s the name of the wind that causes general destruction? What’s the speed of a strong breeze? What are the effects of a storm? … Then, if there is time for it, the class can go out, look around and try to guess what the current wind speed is. There is also a 7 minutes film (see complementary materials “Air and wind”) very useful to illustrate what is the wind and its effects on people, things and landscape. The video is perhaps a little bit difficult to understand but there is some written support on the images and the pupils may grasp the general idea. The images are great.



Teaching notes

The weather

Lesson 4: Wind (II) Resources needed: Worksheet 11 Flashcards: sailing boat, plane, kite, wind mills, sailor, plants, wind vane, anemometer Scissors Binders Punch Introduction: In this lesson pupils should consolidate what they learnt in the previous session about the wind. They should also make a Beaufort scale wheel to have a useful tool to observe the wind effects. Activity 1 Grouping: plenary Warm up As in each session, a pupil could talk about the current weather forecast and about yesterday’s weather (this activity should be done by a different child each day). The resources needed are the same as used in last session. Today the pupil who talks about the weather should talk about the wind too. Activity 2 Grouping: plenary Worksheet 11 Just to remember what was done in the previous session, the teacher shows again the wind flashcards to start a conversation about the wind. What did we say about the wind? To whom is it important? Is the temperature in the atmosphere always the same? What happens to hot air? What replaces the space left by hot air? In a low-pressure zone, is the air rising or sinking? In a high pressure zone is the air rising or sinking? When the air goes from a high-pressure zone to a low-pressure zone we call it…



With which instruments can we measure the wind direction? And the wind speed? Who was Francis Beaufort? What did he create? … After the conversation, the teacher asks the children to take out the Beaufort scale and they read it again. Then, the teacher explains that they are going to make a Beaufort scale spinner, a very useful tool for them to estimate the wind’s speed. Worksheet 11 is just a sample of how the spinner can be made (the circles provided are not very accurate). The pupils have to draw a picture of the wind effects on the wider part of the circle and write a short description of it and the wind speed. This is an example of how it can be done.

Adapted from: Breen, M. and Friestad,K. (2000) The kid’s book of weather forecasting Williamson books, Nashville, Tenesse

Activity 3 Grouping: individual work and plenary The pupils make the Beaufort Scale spinner. The teacher monitors and helps the children with the vocabulary and encourages them to use English while doing the activity. After they have finished, they compare their different spinners and they go outside to test and use them. To check the accuracy of their observations, it can be very interesting for the pupils to compare the readings of their Beaufort Scale to those on the website: http://www.meteoclimatic.com/index/pg.0.fitxa.php?st=ESCAT0800000008003C&screen_width=1400



This site is very interesting to the pupils in our school because the data is collected in la Barceloneta, the part of Barcelona where the school is located. Other useful links to check current weather data are: http://www.meteobarcelona.com/ (Weather data from different parts of Barcelona) http://www.acom.cat/observatoris.html (weather data from different parts of Catalonia)

Activity 4 Grouping: plenary If there is time left, the teacher can ask the students if they know any of a group of given words: Zonda-Purga-Angin-laut-haboob-kona-tramuntana-chinook-dadur-helm- junk-khamsin-cierzo Maybe some of them know the word tramuntana or cierzo and can guess that all these words are different names for different winds in different countries around the world. Talking about how the weather in general and the wind in particular are part of people’s lives can be a very interesting activity to do. The teacher can play a guessing game with the children, challenging them to complete a grid drawn on the board: (teacher) -Can you guess where these winds blow? ( if necessary, the teacher can write the names of the countries on the board to help the children) (pupils) -Does it blow in Argentina?



This is the complete table of the wordly winds. The words are nice and they can be used in many different ways; the one just mentioned before is just an example.

Wordly winds

Wind name Where it blows What it’s like

Zonda Argentina Hot, dry, westerly Purga Russia, Siberia Cold, blizzards, northeasterly Tramuntana Catalonia Cold, dry northerly gale Angin-laut Malaysia Breeze from the sea Haboob Sudan Sandstorm or dust storm Kona Hawai Southwesterly, brings rain Chinook Western USA and Canada Dry, warm, westerly wind Cierzo Aragon and Navarra Spain Dry and cool northwesterly wind Dadur Ganges valley of India Down-valley wind Helm Eden Valley of Northern England Cold, northeasterly Junk Vietnam Southerly or southeasterly

monsoon wind Khamsin Egypt Desert wind, southerly Here are two quotations that can be of some interest for the children. Perhaps this is just a reading comprehension exercise but it is also a way to make pupils aware of the presence of weather phenomena in literature.

When no wind blows, even the wind vane has character. Stanislaw Lec (1909-1966)

Worldly fame is but a breath of wind that blows now this way, and now that, and changes name as it changes direction. Dante (1265-1321)



Teaching notes

The weather

Lesson 5: Making measuring instruments Resources needed: Worksheet 4 Worksheets 12a –12b –12c – 12d – 12 e The weather PowerPoint Slides To make the measuring instruments

Worksheet 12 a: clear, plastic bottle (500ml. water bottle works) - water - rubbing alcohol - clear plastic drinking straw - modelling clay - food colouring -Index card

Worksheet 12 b: Empty can or wide-mouthed jar - Large balloon - Duct tape - toothpick - clear tape - 2 drinking straws – scissors – Cardboard - empty 5 litre bottle

Worksheet 12 c: 2 litre plastic bottle - weights (stones, marbles…) - Scissors - Clear tape - Clear packing tape (Airon-fix) - water - ruler

Worksheet 12 d: 4 small paper cups - Large plastic cup - 2 drinking straws - pin - scissors - stapler - sharp pencil with a rubber on the top - Packing tape - Square of thick cardboard

Worksheet 12 e : Thick cardboard -Unsharpened pencil -Packing tape-Empty soup can- Scissors-Clay ball- Pen cap- Ruler -Magnetic compass-Stones, sand or heavy objects Introduction: In this lesson pupils are going to create their own measuring instruments. Maybe these instruments are not very accurate when collecting weather data but they are helpful to understand how the real ones work. In this session there should be a teacher assistant: all the activities are going to be quite busy!



Activity 1 Grouping: plenary Warm up In this session, after talking about the weather forecast as in the previous sessions, the teacher will ask the children if they remember how do weather people collect their data to make their predictions. It could be useful to watch the weather Power Point (slides 17 to 22) to review all the vocabulary: rain gauge, anemometer, thermometer, barometer and wind vane.

Activity 2 Grouping: plenary All the materials displayed on a table. Worksheets 12a –12b – 12c – 12d –12e The teacher explains that they are going to create their own measurement instruments in order to have a kind of weather station. S/he shows all the materials and introduces the vocabulary of the materials the pupils do not know. Then, s/he splits the class in five groups and gives each group one of the worksheets and tells them they have to read and follow the instructions. At the end of the activity they will have to present the instrument to the rest of the class and explain how it works. They have a chart at the end of the worksheet to help them with the presentation.

Activity 3 Grouping: groups of 4 - 5 Each group reads the worksheet. Then, pupils go to the table where the materials are, take everything they need and they start making their weather instrument. The teacher and the teacher assistant monitor, ask the pupils questions to encourage them to speak in English, they help them with the vocabulary and with the weather instrument if necessary. When they finish, they have to read and understand how the instrument works. The, they complete the table they have in their worksheets and practice how to say the sentences in the correct way (pronunciation, intonation…) All the children in the group must say at least one sentence.

Activity 4 Grouping: Plenary Presentation of the measuring instruments. Each group shows the weather instrument they have made. The teacher asks questions to them, or to the rest of the class if necessary, to be sure they understand how it works.



Activity 5 Grouping: Plenary Worksheet 4 All the class go to the place intended to set up the instruments correctly; in our school there’s a flat roof where nobody goes and where all the instruments (except the barometer) can be left. There, the pupils and the teacher discuss where is the best place to put them and why. They will need their Beaufort Scale spinner as well. When the group returns to the class, the teacher shows them worksheet 4 and tells them that during a week they are going to collect data using the instruments they have created. It is going to be a much more accurate data collecting than the first one they did at the beginning of the unit. It could be a great idea to check everyday the real weather data and compare them with their own observation results. (http://www.meteoclimatic.com/index/pg.0.fitxa.php?st=ESCAT0800000008003C&screen_width=1400) Pupils collect the weather data in groups and in different times of the day. All the teachers of the group should be aware of this task and should allow the children to go to the “weather station” to collect the data.



Teaching notes

The weather

Lesson 6: Assessment Resources needed: Self-assessment worksheet Computers Video camera Tripod Clouds card game Hot air and cold air flashcards and texts A big map of Catalonia and some weather symbols cards Introduction: In this lesson pupils are going to apply the content and the language they have acquired during this unit. They are going to play games (board games, card games and ITC games) and to make a video recording of a weather forecast. They are also going to think about what they have learnt in this unit and to assess their own results and attitudes towards the fact of learning a topic in English. (In this session there should be a teacher assistant because in some of the activities the pupils may still need an extra help) Perhaps this session could last 2 hours (or two one-hour sessions) instead of 1 and thus, all the pupils could do the three different types of activities

Activity 1 Grouping: plenary Warm up In this last session, the teacher explains to the students that they are going to finish the unit playing games about the weather and recording the weather forecasts they have been doing everyday at the beginning of the sessions. S/he must also explain that, during the final part of the class, they are going to think about what they have learnt about the weather.



Activity 2 Grouping: plenary The teacher explains that there are going to be 3 kinds of tasks: computer games, board games and recording a weather forecast. The pupils can choose two of the activities. Once the groups are made, the teacher or the teacher assistant should go (if possible) to a different classroom with the weather forecasting group in order to do the task in a more quiet way. The remaining two groups can do their activities in the computers room.

Activity 3 Grouping: groups of 4 - 5 Map Weather symbols Props: jacket, pointer… Recording a weather forecast This activity is just recording with a video camera the talk about the weather that the pupils have been done at the beginning of each of the previous sessions. There should be a big map on the board. The group of pupils must decide where to put the weather symbols (they can make the current weather forecast or just invent one). Before recording the video, they should decide who is going to be the cameraman or woman and who is going to be the weatherman/woman and what are they going to say. The different “jobs” could be: weatherman/woman, cameraman/woman, teleprompter and the responsible for the props and the make up It would be great to have some props to help the pupils with their acting (a jacket, a moustache, a pointer…). A model text could be: “Good morning! Today is Wednesday the 25th and the weather will be nice. This morning there will be sunny spells in Barcelona and some showers in the Pyrenees. The temperatures are rising. This afternoon it will be cloudy all around the country. It will be very windy in the north of the country so we will have big waves in the sea: a good day to practice surf!. That’s all for today, good morning and enjoy your day” The pupils could write parts of the text on big cardboards (they would be like a teleprompter) to help the weather person. Before recording the forecast, they should practice some times in order to make the speech more fluent. If there is time left, they can record another forecast changing the roles of the pupils.



Activity 4 Grouping: Individual or pair work Playing computer games There are many websites about the weather where the children can find interesting activities or games to play. Here are some of them: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/whatisweather/home.shtml http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/multimedia/games/ http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/education/primary/students/index.html http://www.weatherwizkids.com/WxGames.htm Depending on the number of computers available, the pupils could do the activity individually or with a partner.

Activity 5 Grouping: Individual or pair work

Clouds cards Hot air and cold air cards Evaporation board game With these sets of cards the pupils can play memory games, happy families games, snap… There are plenty of possibilities!

Activity 6 Grouping: plenary and individual Self-assessment worksheet The teacher explains to the pupils that after each unit it is very important to stop and to think about what they have learnt, what they have learnt easily and where they have found some sort of difficulties. This is important in order to be aware of the own process of learning and of the aspects that need to be reviewed or some extra work. S/he can add that they are also going to think about the ways they have done things (working individually, in pair or in small groups). The teacher hands out the worksheet and reads aloud each item so the pupils can ask anything they do not clearly understand. When s/he is sure that all the pupils have understood their task, s/he gives 5 to 10 minutes to answer the worksheet. Eventually, the whole class can talk about their impressions and their feelings about the topic and about the fact of having learnt all those weather concepts through English.



More ideas It could be a great idea to keep on collecting weather data using their weather station and comparing their results with the official weather data. All these data can be used later in the Science or in the Maths class to create charts, or bar graphs or any kind of scientific way to represent data. It would be absolutely fantastic as well to visit a real weather station, or to visit a television set where the weather forecast is made. And last, but not least, if the school had some money to spend, it would be fantastic to buy, step by step, real weather measuring instruments and create a real weather station to collect weather data with more accuracy and to start a weather project not only with the pupils of year5 and 6 but gradually, with all the children of the school.

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