The second two weeks of school we learned about forecasting using Layers of Learning, year 2 unit 2.

We read a book about weather words.

We learned about prevailing winds and pressure zones.

We made a weather station with a rain gauge, wind sock, barometer, and thermometer.

We learned about wind shear and watched a video about a plane crash from 1985.

We made a psychrometer. We placed two thermometers side by side and put a cotton ball soaked in water on the bulb of one of them. Then we used a fan to blow air on the thermometers for 5 minutes. The dry thermometer didn’t change temperature very much, but the wet thermometer dropped by almost 4 degrees Celsius.

We demonstrated how a thermometer works. We mixed half water half rubbing alcohol in a bottle. We inserted a straw and then sealed the top with clay. We used a hair dryer to blow warm air on the bottle. As the liquid inside heated up, it expanded and had nowhere to go but up the straw.

We learned about wind speed and made an anemometer. We discovered that the wind was blowing from the southwest that day.