weather+experiments

=**Weather Experiments**=

__**Making a Wind Vane.**__

WALT: We are learning to make a wind vane so that we can learn from what direction the wind is coming from.

Materials: Stiff cardboard cut to 20 cm x 16 cm. An enlarged photocopy of the arrow diagram. Scissors. Sticky tape. The cap of a felt tip pen. A kebeb skewer or a knitting needle that will fit through a cotton reel. A piece of cardboard cut 20cm x 20cm. A pencil. felt tip pens. A ruler. A magnetic compass. Two cotton reels. Blu-tack. A terracotta pot.

Method; Fold the 20 x16cm piece of cardboard lengthways in half. Trace the photocopied arrow onto the card and carefully cut it out through both layers of cardboard. You should now have two cardboard arrows. Tape the arrows together, fixing your pen cap between them midway along. The open end of the cap should face towards one of the long sides. Insert the tip of the skewer into the pen cap. Check that the wind turns the arrow freely on it. Take the arrow off again in the meantime. Mark North, South, East and West compass points on the 20 x 20cm card. Stand the non pointed end of the skewer inside the cotton reel, using Blu-tack to fasten it in an upright position. Place the terracotta pot upside down over the compass card so that the skewer is poking up through the hole in the base of the pot. Place the arrow back onto the point of the needle or skewer and put your wind vane outside in an open space. Use the commercial compass to find north and align the compass card accordingly. Stand back and watch which way the wind is blowing.

__**Making a Rain Gauge.**__

WALT: We are learning to make a rain gauge to determine the amount of rainfall we have and to draw conclusions about rainfall at this time of year.

Materials; Plastic drink bottle. Scissors or craft knife. An ice-cream container. Sand or pebbles.

Method: Cut off the top of the plastic bottle just below the shoulder, turn the top upside down to make a funnel, and push it back inside the the cut-off rim of the bottle. To stop the gauge from falling over, place it in an ice-cream container and fill the surroundings with sand or pebbles. Leave your gauge in the school grounds for a week. Each day, use the ruler to record the amount of water collected. Make sure you collect your data at the same time each day. In this way, you will be gathering results from an exact 24 hour period. Remember to tip out the water and dry the rain gauge each day after you have recorded your data. Display your results in an attrasctive way...charts, graphs etc.

__**Making A Barometer**__

WALT: We are learning to make a barometer so that we can measure atmospheric pressure and understand the weather that comes with high/low pressure.

MATERIALS: A balloon. Scissors. A large jar. A rubber band. sticky tape. A long, narrow straw. cardboard. Felt pen. Ruler.

Method: Cut a piece from the balloon and stretch it over the neck of the jar. Secure the piece of balloon in place with the rubber band. Use sticky tape to attach one end of the straw to the middle of the stretched balloon. Make sure the straw is horizontal. Stand a piece of cardboard behind your barometer. Mark an appropriate scale on the card to show when the air pressure is high, average or low. Stand the barometer somewhere away from the direct sunlight.It can be indoors or outdoors.

.__**Making a Cardboard Thermometer.**__

WALT: We are learning to make a cardboard thermometer.

TIB: We need to be able to read and understand thermometer readings and especially degrees below zero.

Materials: A photocopy of a thermometer; glue; cardboard; scissors; hole punch; piece of white string twice as long as the thermometer, plus 10 centimeters;red felt tip pen.

Method Glue photocopy of thermometer onto cardboard. Cut out thermometer. Punch a hole at each end, in the bottom of photocopy and above the 50 degree mark. Use felt tipped pen to colour half of the string red. Thread the string through the holes, with the red colour at the bottom of the thermometer. Behind the thermometer, knot together the ends of the string. Change the position of the red string to show: 0 degrees, 10 degrees, 35 degrees and minus 15 degrees.