Brite Star Science "Tracking Weather"

Tracking Weather A Brite Star Science Copyright © 2023 by The Brite Star Foundation, Inc., a 501 (c)3 All rights reserved.

Published by The Brite Star Foundation, Inc. 11411 Southern Highlands Parkway Suite 338 Las Vegas, Nevada 89141 Vincent W. Goett, Publisher ISBN Paperback

979-8-89750-109-0

Digital

979-8-89750-110-6

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Itwasa bright sunny day at Brite Star Ranch. Missy wasstarting first grade today and she wasvery excited! Missy couldn’t wait to start school. She had heard older children say that Brite Star School was lots of fun!

“How would you like to be greeted each day, Missy?” Ms. Betty asked. Missy could choose between being greeted witha smile, a high five, a handshake, a fist bump or a hug.

Missy only had to think for a minute before she said, “I’d like a hug, please!”

Missy ran into the classroom. She was happy to see all her friends. Ms. Betty asked the children to sit down because there wasa special guest coming to talk withthem. ItwasJimmy’sdad! He had important information to share withthe students.

“Welcome to first grade!” Ms. Betty said.

“Our special guest today is Jimmy’sdad.

He is a meteorologist. He worksat the weather station right here in Brite Star. He is going to tell us all about the weather.

“Meteorologist is a big word,” Missy thought. “I wonder what he does.”

Jimmy’sdad showed the class pictures of the Brite Star Weather Station. Missy had seen the building before. She always wondered what happened there. It had a funny spinning thing on the top of the building that she liked to look at.

He showed pictures of some of the instruments and charts he worked with every day.

“I went to college to study the weather,” Jimmy’sdad told the class. “Atthe weather station, Ikeep track of the weather every day. Keeping track helps us predict when the weather is going to change.”

“Youhelp us know when to bring an umbrella,” Jimmysaid to his dad.

“That’s right. We tell you what the weather is going to do next.”

Illustration Notes: David with his hand raised and his dad at the front of the class talking.

“Jimmy’sdad has to go back to work now,” Ms. Betty said. “But don’t worry. We are going to take a field trip on Friday to the weather station. We will get to see things that Jimmy’sdad has told us about today.”

Missy wasexcited to think about the field trip!

After Jimmy’sdad left Ms. Betty said, “Class, weare going to be meteorologists, too. We are going to keep track of the weather every day.” Ms. Betty put a poster on the wall. Ithad clouds, sun, rain, snow, wind and temperatures on it. Then she gave each student anotebook.

“This is your Science Notebook. Each day you are to draw a picture in it of what the weather is outside. Youcan write words that describe the weather, too. If you need help writing, just askme.”

Missy loved to draw pictures. She couldn’t wait to draw a weather picture each day.

Next, Ms. Betty took a thermometer and held it out the window.“See this red line on the thermometer,”she said. “Watch what numbers the red line stops at.”

Missy watched the red line climb up the thermometer. Itstopped nextto the number 80.

“That means it is 80 degrees outside,” Ms. Betty said.

“Now, look out the window at the sky,”Ms. Betty said. “What do you see?”

“I see bright blue sky and Ican see the sun,” Missy said.

“Great,” Ms. Betty said. “That means it is a sunny day so draw a sunny day in your Science Notebooks.” Missy got busy drawing the sun and a bright blue sky. She also put the school building in her picture.

Ms. Betty wrote 80 degrees on the board so Missy copied that into her notebook, too.

Missy loved drawing the weather in her notebook every day. By the end of the week she had drawn sunny days, cloudy days, rain and wind. She waited patiently for Friday to come. Finally it wasField Trip Day! The whole class wasexcited to hear Jimmy’sdad talk more about the weather.

Jimmy’sdad showed the students different science instruments that told him about wind and rain and even what the temperature would be for the next few days. They sawweather posters and computers the meteorologists used. “This machine is called an Anemometer. Ittells us how fast the wind is blowing,” he said.

Itwasthe spinning thing on top of the building! NowMissy knew the right name for it. They also sawa chart where the meteorologists recorded the weather— just like the students did in their Science Notebooks!

“Here at the weather station weuse instruments to keep track of temperature, atmospheric pressure, humidity, wind speed, wind direction and precipitation,” Jimmy’sdad told thechildren.

Missy loved learning about all those big words. She decided that she wanted to workattheweatherstationsomeday.

The next day at school the children made a thank you card for Jimmy’s dad.

Even after the weather project wasover Missy kept recording weather facts in her science notebook every day. She liked thinking about what the weather was going to be.

Think About It 1. How did Missy choose to be greeted by her teacher?

2. Who wasthe special guest in class on the first day of school?

3. How did the class learn what the temperaturewas?

4. Where did the class go for a field trip?

5. What wasMissy’s favorite weather instrument?

Let’s work together!

Make aweather chart and keep track of the weather in your town every day. See if you canpredict what the weather might be for the next day.

I will . . .

• Pay attention to what the weather is like each day.

• Keeptrackof the weather and look for patterns • Watch a weather report on television and listen to the meteorologist explain weather patterns.

Meteorologists help people know howto respond to weather by studying the patterns of weather over time.