Lesson Materials

Per Class

• Annotated United States map from Lesson 19

• blank outline map of the United States (drawn before the lesson)

• markers

• computer and projector

• NASA Sea Surface Temperature visualization

• Consensus Air Mass Map (made in this lesson)

• chart paper or whiteboard

• NASA Rainfall Accumulation Across the United States visualization

Per Student

• science notebook

• scrap of paper

Prep

Review 

• Lesson Plan

• Slides

Prepare 

• Make copies of handouts and ensure sufficient copies of student references, readings, and procedures are available.

•  Prepare an outline map of the United States on chart paper that the class will annotate in the beginning of day 1 of this lesson. You can use a map similar to the one the class annotated in the previous lesson. This map may look similar to the map depicted in the lesson plan. 

• Prior to the lesson, test the NASA visualizations on your device. If internet connectivity is a concern, the NASA visualizations can be downloaded to your desktop from the original source:

  • NASA Sea Surface Temperature visualization located at https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/30008

  • NASA Rainfall Accumulation Across the United States visualization located at https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4337 

• NASA’s resources are continuously updated as new data are collected and shared. Over time, NASA will release new visualizations with more current data. You may want to explore their resources prior to the lesson to see if more current visualizations are available. Visit NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio gallery (https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/Gallery/index.html). In particular, NASA’s Precipitation Measurement Missions (https://pmm.nasa.gov/) is also a good starting point for the most current data visualizations showing precipitation rates.