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Weather Patterns

Lesson 2.2: Reading “Disaster in California!”

Lesson purpose: to build upon students’ understanding of energy transfer and how it relates to the cooling of an air parcel�

Please refer to this lesson’s Materials & Preparation section in the digital Teacher’s Guide or the print Teacher’s Guide for information about preparing to teach this lesson, including any applicable safety notes. Below are links to resources used in this lesson.

“Disaster in California!”

Printable Article: “Disaster in California!”

Active Reading Guidelines

Annotation Tracker Instructions

Annotation Tracker

Annotation Summary Sheet

Example Annotation Trackers and Summary Sheet

Weather Patterns Investigation Notebook, pages 44–47

Weather Patterns Glossary

Weather Patterns Multi-Language Glossary

Note: These materials are made available exclusively for use by students and teachers for whom the corresponding materials have been purchased or licensed from Amplify. Any alterations you make should only be shared within your own school or district. Any other distribution or reproduction of these materials is forbidden without written permission from Amplify.

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How does the temperature of the air in the troposphere change from the bottom of the arrow to the top of the arrow?

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Activity 2

Weather Patterns: Lesson 2.2

Today, you will read an article about severe rainstorms that happened more than 100 years ago in California.

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Activity 2

Weather Patterns: Lesson 2.2

Learning about these storms may help us think about the question we’re investigating:

Investigation Question:�What determines how much an air parcel will cool?

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“Disaster in California!”

Open the Article:

30 MIN

Weather Patterns: Lesson 2.2

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Activity 3 - Screen 1

Weather Patterns: Lesson 2.2

Next, you’ll look over your annotations and choose some to discuss.

Let’s review the different hashtags you’ll use to select your annotations.

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Discussing Annotations

Weather Patterns: Lesson 2.2

Activity 3 - Screen 1

Step 3: Prepare to Present

Choose an interesting or unanswered question to present to the class.

Tag it with #present.

Step 1: Prepare to Share

Step 2: Discuss

Choose an interesting question or connection to share with a partner.

Tag it with #share.

Talk about your chosen annotation with a partner.

Tag it with #discussed if you were able to resolve your questions.

#share

#discussed

#present

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Weather Patterns: Lesson 2.2

Activity 3 - Screen 1

Let’s discuss your questions and connections as a class.

What unanswered questions or interesting connections do you want to share with the class?

🍐 This is a Pear Deck Text Slide

🍐 To edit the type of question, go back to the "Ask Students a Question" in the Pear Deck sidebar.

👉Teacher action:�Facilitate a brief class discussion about annotations. Encourage students to respond to one another and to look back at the article to answer their peers’ questions.�

👉Teacher action (to focus on the strategy of making deeper connections):

If you noticed a good example of a deeper connection that was made by a student, either in the Annotation Tracker or during the class discussion, ask for him or her to share this example. Help the class reflect on how identifying these deeper connections supports them in a deeper understanding of the science text.

👉Teacher action (to highlight exemplary or noteworthy annotations):

Refer to your Annotation Tracker and invite students with annotations that you noted to share them with the class.

Provide specific, positive feedback as students share, noting when annotations show evidence of Active Reading.

Examples might include annotations that make a connection to science ideas, annotations that use vocabulary from the unit, or instances in which students were able to answer their own questions.

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Activity 4

Weather Patterns: Lesson 2.2

For this activity, you will use the Internet to gather information about rainfall in our area.

There are suggested search terms you can use.

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Use the Internet to research climate data about your state and town. Some terms and phrases to use to help you in your search include:

(your state/town) climate data

average rainfall in (your state)

United States climate data

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Weather Patterns: Lesson 2.2

End of Lesson

Published and Distributed by Amplify. www.amplify.com

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Weather Patterns

Lesson 2.3: Simulating a Large Storm

Lesson purpose: to help students understand that the higher the temperature of an air parcel, the higher it will rise in the troposphere; the higher the air parcel rises, the more it will cool and lose energy, which will lead to more rainfall�

Please refer to this lesson’s Materials & Preparation section in the digital Teacher’s Guide or the print Teacher’s Guide for information about preparing to teach this lesson, including any applicable safety notes. Below are links to resources used in this lesson.

Weather Patterns Sim

Weather Patterns Data Tool activity: Weather Data Analysis

“Disaster in California!”

Printable Article: “Disaster in California!”

Weather Patterns Investigation Notebook, pages 48–53

Weather Patterns Glossary

Weather Patterns Multi-Language Glossary

Note: These materials are made available exclusively for use by students and teachers for whom the corresponding materials have been purchased or licensed from Amplify. Any alterations you make should only be shared within your own school or district. Any other distribution or reproduction of these materials is forbidden without written permission from Amplify.

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Vocabulary

Weather Patterns: Lesson 2.3

Activity 2 - Screen 2

something we observe to be similar over and over again

pattern

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Activity 3

Weather Patterns: Lesson 2.3

You read about the causes of the Great Flood of 1862.

Today, you’ll use the Sim to better understand the conditions that cause such large storms.

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Activity 3

Weather Patterns: Lesson 2.3

Running tests in the Sim will help us answer the question we’ve been investigating.

Investigation Question:�What determines how much an air parcel will cool?

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Activity 3

Weather Patterns: Lesson 2.3

You’ll work with a partner to make clouds with:

severe rain
moderate rain
very severe rain

I’ll show you how to do the first one.

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Weather Patterns Simulation

Open the

25 MIN

Weather Patterns: Lesson 1.2

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Investigation Notebook pg 51

Activity 3

Weather Patterns: Lesson 2.3

I will model Test 1: making a cloud with severe rain.

You’ll record the data in this table as a reference for your own testing.

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Activity 3

Weather Patterns: Lesson 2.3

For these tests, we’ll use Regional Weather 1 mode.

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Activity 3

Weather Patterns: Lesson 2.3

Let’s set the Surface Water at level 5.

We will keep the surface water at level 5 for all of our tests today.

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Activity 3

Weather Patterns: Lesson 2.3

To make a cloud with severe rain, we’ll need a fairly large amount of energy transferred out of the parcel when it condenses. Let’s set the Sunlight to Surface at level 4.

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Activity 3

Weather Patterns: Lesson 2.3

In Run, let’s observe our air parcel as sunlight hits the surface.

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Activity 3

Weather Patterns: Lesson 2.3

Our air parcel has 47 kg of water vapor.

The temperature turned red at 35°C. That’s the temperature after warming, which we call the starting temperature.

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Activity 3

Weather Patterns: Lesson 2.3

Now we can observe what happens to our air parcel after it has warmed up.

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Activity 3

Weather Patterns: Lesson 2.3

Our air parcel rose to a final height of 6.5 km.

We can see that the temperature of the surrounding air at that height is -30°C.

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Activity 3

Weather Patterns: Lesson 2.3

In Analyze, we can look at the data and check if we created our weather event successfully.

The rainfall level is 3, so we succeeded! We made a cloud with severe rain.

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Activity 3

Weather Patterns: Lesson 2.3

Investigation Notebook pg 51

Record the data from our first weather event.

-30°C

6.5 km

35°C

-30°C

65°C

168 MJ

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Activity 3

Weather Patterns: Lesson 2.3

To create a cloud with severe rain, we set the Sunlight level to 4.

How could you change the sunlight to create a cloud with moderate rain? Explain your thinking.

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Investigation Notebook pgs 51–52

Activity 3

Weather Patterns: Lesson 2.3

Complete Test 2 and Test 3 and record your data in the table.

Then, respond to the questions.

👉Teacher action:

Give partners several minutes to make the other two rainstorms.
One partner can run the tests in the Sim and the other partner can record data in the data table. They can take turns testing and recording, but both partners should have all data filled in after the tests.
Circulate and provide support as needed.�

On-the-Fly Assessment 7: �Investigating How Temperature Affects Amount of Rain�Look for: This activity provides an opportunity for students to observe how the amount of rain can vary depending on how much energy an air parcel loses (Level 2 of the Progress Build). It is important for students to pay close attention to the different components in the Sim in order to build the connection. It is also important that students are varying the amount of sunlight, which changes the air parcel’s starting temperature. The more sunlight there is, the higher the starting temperature of the air parcel will be and the higher it will rise in the troposphere. This will result in the final temperature of the air parcel being lower because the troposphere is colder higher up. It is important that students notice that this Air Parcel Temperature Difference (given in Analyze) is proportional to Energy Transferred Out (also in Analyze). Students may build on knowledge from Chapter 1 that the more an air parcel loses energy, the more rainfall will happen. This is how more energy from the sun can cause there to be more rainfall. If would be helpful, as you circulate the classroom, to make sure students are understanding what each column of the data table on their Amplify Science screens means and why it matters that they are actively engaged in the Simulation.�Now what? If students are not making the connections between starting temperature, temperature difference, energy transfer, parcel height, and amount of rain, have them focus on two columns of the table at a time. After they fill out their data table, prompt them to look at temperature difference and energy transferred out. Ask them if they notice any patterns and guide them to understand that as the temperature difference increases, the energy transferred out also increases. Ask students to think about what would cause a larger temperature difference or larger energy transfer. Have them focus on the starting temperature and energy transferred out and notice any patterns. Guide them to see that a higher starting temperature leads to more energy transferred out. Ask students to think about what causes the air parcel to cool. Have them look at starting temperature and the air parcel height. Guide them to see that the higher the temperature, the higher it goes in the troposphere where it will cool more. Remind students that rain happens when water vapor cools and condenses. Have them find the weather event with the most cooling and most rain to determine what conditions are needed.

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Activity 3

Weather Patterns: Lesson 2.3

Let’s discuss any patterns you noticed in temperature and energy transfer as you ran your tests in the Sim.

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Key Concept

Activity 3

Weather Patterns: Lesson 2.3

3.

(Revised) As an air parcel rises, energy transfers from the warm air parcel to the cold surrounding air until their temperatures become equal.

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Activity 3

Weather Patterns: Lesson 2.3

In this activity, we focused on the starting temperature of the air parcel.

How does the starting temperature influence the amount of rain?

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What causes the parcel to stop rising?

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In which test did the air parcel rise the highest? Is there a pattern in the relationship between starting air temperature and parcel height?

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What pattern is there in the relationship between parcel height and rainfall level? Why?

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Key Concept

Activity 3

Weather Patterns: Lesson 2.3

7.

When an air parcel starts with a higher temperature, it will rise higher and lose more energy, causing more rainfall.

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Activity 4

Weather Patterns: Lesson 2.3

For this activity, you’ll use what you’ve learned to answer the Investigation Question: What determines how much an air parcel will cool?

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Weather Patterns: Lesson 2.3

End of Lesson

Published and Distributed by Amplify. www.amplify.com