WELCOME TO A SMART PROJECT!
The following project is currently under progress by Rhode Island teachers. Although in some activities, the teachers have borrowed and adapted ideas from other teachers and current programs and sources on the Internet, the work is their own. The activities are displayed here in their original form , unedited as they have submitted them. In most cases, these are ongoing projects. The names, school districts, and email addresses of the authors are included. Please feel free to contact the authors with any suggestions, comments, or even participation.Teaching and learning are cooperative efforts.
"NEWPORT WEATHER PROJECT"
Project Goal
To explore the possibilities of integrating the computer and Internet resources with the study of weather.
Curriculum Focus
- Science:
- Learning about daily weather conditions including temperature, precipitation, humidity, etc. Also included would be climate characteristics and storms relative to a particular region.
- Math:
- Experiences with graphing and charting, including activities which require comparing and contrasting data gathered by the students.
- Social Studies:
- Introduction of longitude and latitude, continents, and different climate regions
- Language Arts:
- Written work using e-mail. Creation of Weather Books and Weather Newspaper.
- Computer:
- Familiarity with the use of word processing, e-mail, and Internet Resources such as Netscape.
Curriculum Activities
- Each class will collect inside and outside temperatures three times each day for one week. They will e-mail results between classes and use graphs to compare the findings.
- Each class will have a world map. The Grade Three students will study the seven continents and record average temperatures, storm conditions, and other climate conditions. Grade Four students will plot storm movements, study weather maps from different regions of the world, and work on weather forecasting.
- Students will explore bookmarks created by the teacher to familiarize them with the possibilities of Netscape and the Internet. Grade Four students will then create bookmarks for weather study for Grade Three students to use.
- The students in each class will create a weather trivia question once or twice a week and e-mail the questions and the guesses to each other.
- The students, using what they have learned, will make predictions about temperature and weather conditions for specific dates in the future. The predictions will be graphed and on the date selected will be evaluated.
Internet Activities
These activities will include e-mail and use of Netscape including bookmarks and Net searches.
- Project Outcomes:
- Grade Three students will create a picture book as a class for younger students to teach about weather. The book will be presented to the library for distribution to students in the school.
- Grade Four students will create individual and a class book about weather including terminology, maps, and weather conditions.
- Both classes will write articles, cartoons, editorials, and puzzles for a Weather Newspaper. There could be a naming contest between classes. Work for the newspaper will be shared via e-mail. The Writing Center program will be used to publish the newspaper.
- When the all the project components have been completed, a meeting of both classes will be arranged. The newspapers will be distributed and information shared face-to-face.
AUTHORS:
- Day, Karen ride1189@ride.ri.net Newport Elementary - Newport, Rhode Island grades 3 - 4
- Owens, Kathy ride1169@ride.ri.net Corey School - Newport, Rhode Island grades 3 -4
- Rose, Tina ride1175@ride.ri.net Sheffield School - Newport, Rhode Island grade 3 elementary