Make your own weather station at school.
Make learning science fun for your students by providing them with hands-on activities. Weather is one unit you can expect to teach elementary age students. Help your students see how meteorologists use instruments to measure the weather by making your own weather station at school.
Instructions
Thermometer
1. Fill an empty juice bottle half full with room temperature water.
2. Add a few drops of red food coloring to the water and stir.
3. Place a clear straw in the bottle and wrap clay around the straw to hold it in place. Make sure the clay completely seals the bottle around the straw.
4. Fill a cup with cold water and put the bottle with the straw (your thermometer) in the cup. Watch what the water in the juice bottle does when it is placed in the cup. Take it out.
5. Empty the cup and refill it with hot water. Place the bottle and the straw back in the cup and watch what happens.
6. Explain to students that cooler water lowers the temperature of the air, causing the water to condense, which results in a lower temperature reading. The air in the bottle heats up when it is in hot water, causing the water to expand and show a higher temperature.
Wind Vane
7. Write "North," "South," "East" and "West" on the back side of a paper plate.
8. Cut an arrow point and an arrow tail out of an index card.
9. Tape the arrow point and tail to the ends of a straw. Push a straight pin through the middle of a straw and into the top of an eraser on a pencil. Leave enough space between the straw and the eraser so the straw easily turns.
10. Push the top of the pencil through the side of the plate with the directions written. Put some rocks or clay inside another plate (sitting right side up) and use glue or tape to attach the plate with the directions to the base plate.
11. Choose a location to set your wind vane. Use a compass to make sure the plate is set according to the correct directions. Explain to students that the wind is blowing in the direction the arrow points.
Rain Gauge
12. Cut a two liter bottle in half with a pair of scissors. File any sharp edges with a nail file.
13. Attach the spout of the cut bottle to the spout of another, uncut two liter bottle with some duct tape.
14. Tape a fine mesh screen over the top of the funnel and push it in slightly.
15. Mark in ¼ inch increments up the side of the bottle with a permanent marker, starting at the bottom. Pour a little vegetable oil into the bottom of the rain gauge to keep rain water from evaporating.
16. Find a shady, but uncovered spot outside and place the rain gauge. Check it periodically for rainfall amounts. Students can also keep a log of daily rainfall totals.
Anemometer
17.Cut the top off of four paper cups. Color the outside of one of the paper cups.
18. Staple two equal-length cardboard strips together in the middle so they make a plus sign. Staple a paper cup to each end. Make sure the cups all face the same direction.
19. Place a push pin in the middle of the cardboard strips and push it into the top of an eraser on a pencil. Make sure the cardboard and cups can spin freely.
20. Roll up a ball of modeling clay and place it where you want to put your anemometer. Good spots include a porch railing, fence rail, rock or wall. Push the pencil into the clay.
21. Record how many times the anemometer spins around in one minute by counting the colored cup each time it passes. Explain to students that you are measuring the wind speed in turns per minute.
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