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Grade 3. During the module's 15 lessons, students solve problems caused by weather and explain weather phenomena. This module includes a teacher guide, 10 student activity guides, 16 Smithsonian Science Stories student readers, and enough materials for 32 students to use 1 time.

Grade 3. Module Highlights: During the module's 15 lessons, students solve problems caused by weather and explain weather phenomena. This module includes a teacher guide, 10 student activity guides, 16 Smithsonian Science Stories student readers, and enough materials for 32 students to use 1 time.

Student Readers Available HERE

Alignment to the Next Generation Science Standards*
Performance Expectations

• 3-ESS2-1: Represent data in tables and graphical displays to describe typical weather conditions expected during a particular season.
• 3-ESS2-2: Obtain and combine information to describe climates in different regions of the world.
• 3-ESS3-1: Make a claim about the merit of a design solution that reduces the impacts of a weather-related hazard.
• 3-5-ETS1-3: Plan and carry out fair tests in which variables are controlled and failure points are considered to identify aspects of a model or prototype that can be improved.

Disciplinary Core Ideas
ESS2.D: Weather and Climate

• Scientists record patterns of the weather across different times and areas so that they can make predictions about what kind of weather might happen next.
• Climate describes a range of an area's typical weather conditions and the extent to which those conditions vary over years.

• A variety of natural hazards result from natural processes. Humans cannot eliminate natural hazards but can take steps to reduce their impacts.

• Tests are often designed to identify failure points or difficulties, which suggest the elements of the design that need to be improved.

• Different solutions need to be tested in order to determine which of them best solves the problem, given the criteria and the constraints.

Focal Science and Engineering Practices

• Analyzing and interpreting data
• Engaging in argument from evidence

Focal Crosscutting Concepts

• Patterns

Phenomena and Problems Storyline
Lesson Summaries
Lesson 1: When Will Our Kites Take Flight?
Students design and build an anemometer to measure wind speed.
Lesson 2: Test Our Anemometer
Students test two anemometers to compare which anemometer would be better to help Mr. Lee's class know when they can fly their kites.
Lesson 3: Meet A Meteorologist
Students obtain information from text to describe how meteorologists use patterns in data collected by weather tools to predict future weather.
Lesson 4: Be A Meteorologist
Students analyze and interpret weather data to identify patterns and predict future weather. Students predict when Mr. Lee's class will be able to fly their kites.
Lesson 5: Pen Pal Mystery
Students graph high and low temperatures on July 15 where they live for the past five years and most likely conclude that the picture was not taken near where they live.
Lesson 6: World Climates
Students read about the climate of five locations where the picture might have been taken. Students investigate the five major Koppen climate zones in order to narrow down the type of climate where the picture was taken.
Lesson 7: North and South
Students play a matching game and discover the pattern of Southern Hemisphere locations having warmer temperatures in December and cooler temperatures in June. Students revise claims made in Lesson 6 about where the picture could have been taken.
Lesson 8: Where Can It Snow in July?
Students graph the high and low temperature on July 15 of the past five years for each location they think might be where the picture was taken. Students make a claim with evidence about where the picture was taken.
Lesson 9: Hazardous Weather
Students obtain information from a text in order to explain that a hurricane blew the roof off the building.
Lesson 10: Roof Research and Design
Students research roof structures and design a model roof that will reduce the effect of a hurricane on the roof and building below it.
Lesson 11: Build A Roof
Students use their two-dimensional roof designs to design and build a three-dimensional model roof.
Lesson 12: Test a Roof
Students test their model roof and share results with the class. Students use evidence from class roof testing to recommend a roof design that will reduce the impact of a hurricane on the roof and the building below it.
Lesson 13: Kids Cup Part 1
Students represent annual temperature, precipitation, and hazardous weather data on bar graphs.
Science Challenge
Lesson 14: Kids Cup Part 2
Student groups analyze their bar graphs to determine the best time of year to host a soccer tournament in one of the cities.
Lesson 15: Kids Cup Part 3
Groups present the best time to host a soccer tournament in each location, and the class uses evidence from the presentations to make a claim about the best time and location for the Kids Cup.

*Next Generation Science Standards® is a registered trademark of WestEd. Neither WestEd nor the lead states and partners that developed the Next Generation Science Standards were involved in the production of this product, and do not endorse it.