As part of the curriculum for Kindergarten, your child will be learning fundamental science core ideas, Science and Engineering Practices, and crosscutting concepts that will enhance their understanding of the natural and designed worlds. We hope you will support their curiosity about the world around them at home. In the first Unit, we learned about Weather and Climate. As we began our exploration of weather, we helped your child ask questions and make observations of the changing weather. Continue to talk with them about weather forecasting in the newspapers, on TV, the internet, or radio to find out the next day’s forecast. We will continue to discuss a variety of weather conditions including severe weather. Support their understanding of how to respond to and prepare for severe weather as a way to stay safe.

You can support your child’s learning by reinforcing their developing understanding of weather – cloudy, rainy, snow, sunny, cold, warm, and hot. Create a routine around a weather report. Look at the weather maps in media. Developmentally, a Kindergarten student is a concrete learner. They were introduced to data and icons that represent weather conditions. We also talked about the sun’s role in weather. They found out what Meteorologists do and had a chance to act like one. At the end of Unit 1, your child had the opportunity to be an engineer in designing a structure that will protect an object from the heat of the sun in class.

In this unit, we will study how the Sun plays the important role of warming the earth. Understanding how the Sun warms the earth is a foundational component as students study weather in the K-12 continuum. We will explore how to gather information to predict and prepare for severe weather.

BIG SCIENCE WORDS

In this unit, we will use some words that are unique to Science. It is not the intention that all students will master these words, but with exposure to these words, some students may start using them appropriately.

Students will start to connect to the “Big Science Words.”

Data – facts and statistics about a topic for reference or analysis; can be quantitative (numbers) or qualitative (characterizes but does not measure.)

Meteorologist - an expert in or student of meteorology; a weather forecaster.

Prediction - a statement about what will happen or might happen in the future.

Severe Weather - any dangerous meteorological phenomena with the potential to cause damage, serious social disruption, or cause injury to human life.

Trend - general direction in which something is developing or changing.

Unit 1: What is Weather?

Driving Question: How does the weather affect me?