Lesson 1, How does air move?

1. What is the lowest level of Earth’s atmosphere?

2.  Where do most weather conditions occur?

3.  Why does air pressure decrease as you go higher in elevation?

4.  What causes differences in temperatures?

5.  What are convection currents?

6.  Which type of air is heavier?

7.  Which warms and cools faster?  (l) land or (m) water?

8.  How does wind form?

9.  What type of air pressure does cool air bring at the surface?

10.  What type of air pressure does warm air bring at the surface?

11.  What type of weather and where does the jet stream bring?

NC Standard - 5.E.1.3

Students know that local weather conditions are influenced by global factors such as air and water currents.

The jet stream is an air current in the upper atmosphere, located over North America that has a powerful influence on the weather conditions there. The jet stream flows from the west to the east and changes location depending on global conditions.

Lesson 3, What causes severe weather?

1.      What is a thunderstorm?

2.      What causes lightning?

3.      What causes thunder?

4.      What causes tornadoes?

5.      What is a funnel cloud?

6.      When do hurricanes form?

7.      From where do hurricanes get their energy?

8.      What are the effects of El Nino?

9.      What are the effects of La Nina?

NC Standard - 5.E.1.3

In the Pacific, there is an oscillation of water temperatures known as El Nino/La Nina. This oscillation impacts the climate of North and South America for long periods of time. 

Hurricanes are major storms that form over warm ocean water and are caused by global weather patterns.

Lesson 5, What is climate?

1. What is climate?

2.  What are some factors that affect climate?

3.  Why is it colder in the mountains and high altitudes?

4.  Which warms and cools slower, land or water?

5.  Which temperature changes quicker, over land or over water?

6.  What makes the climate warmer or cooler?

7.  What type of water do the Gulf Stream and North Atlantic Drift currents carry?

8.  What effect on climate do cold currents that flow from Alaska to California have on coastal climates?

9. Why are there different climates in the northern and southern hemispheres?

10.  What are some factors that can cause climate change?

NC Standard - 5.E.1

Understand weather patterns and phenomena, making connections to the weather in a particular place and time.

5.E.1.1 --Different latitudes and hemispheres there are different (and sometimes opposite) seasonal weather patterns.

 5.E.1.3 -- Students know that local weather conditions are influenced by global factors such as air and water currents.

b.  The Gulf stream is a warm water surface current in the Atlantic Ocean that moves from south of Florida up the eastern seaboard and then across the Atlantic. The Gulf stream moderates weather along the eastern seaboard, warming the air and land there during the cooler months.