Online Learning Activities
Winter Storms: A Severe Weather and Natural Disasters Activity
Reading activities, timelines, experiments, and firsthand accounts give students get a comprehensive look at winter storms.
- Grades: 3–5, 6–8
“Winter Storms," which is part of Scholastic’s Weather Watch: Severe Weather and Natural Disasters series, brings students face-to-face with heavy snow, freezing rains, and high winds. Various interactive activities make up this project, including:
- The Basics: Students read an introduction to winter storms and what causes them
- In-Depth: An interactive timeline, complete with images, shares the stories of memorable winter storms from the 1700s to 2000
- Experiments: Students simulate how rain — and snowflakes — are created with a simple experiment involving a glass jar, a plate, hot water, and ice cubes.
- Witness Account: David George Gordon shares his experience as a junior in high school when a major blizzard hit his hometown of Chicago.
- Words to Know: This interactive activity tests students’ know-how. They read an article on winter storms and fill in missing key words to complete sentences.
- Experts Say: Dr. Jeffrey Masters, director of Meteorology, discusses the tools he uses to predict weather, why snow is white, the warmest place it’s ever snowed, and more.
- Be Ready!: Students learn the basic emergency supplies to have in case you lose power during a winter storm. Plus, how to protect yourself outside in very cold temperatures.
Learning Objectives
Students will:
- Formulate questions to help guide their own learning
- Gain knowledge of weather terms and their appropriate usage
- Use observation skills to determine current weather conditions
- Gather data from several sources
- Forecast probable weather conditions after analyzing available data
- Complete a research project on a topic of their choice
Related Resources
These activities for students of various ages teach weather conditions through visual observation, collecting data, and analysis.
- Subjects:Content Area Reading, Independent Reading, Research Skills, Vocabulary, Measurement, Natural Disasters, Real-World Science, Science Experiments and Projects, Scientific Method and Process, Winter, Snow, Ice, Blizzards, Winter Themes, Communication and the Internet, Computers, Educational Technology, Teaching with Technology
- Skills:Online Sources, Science, Timelines, Research Skills, Vocabulary
