Description

The Trees and Weather Module provides students with solid experiences to help them develop an understanding of what plants need to survive and the relationship between their needs and where they live. By monitoring local weather, students experience the patterns and variations in weather and come to understand the importance of weather forecasts to prepare for severe weather. Systematic investigation of trees over the seasons will bring students to a better understanding of the place of trees at school and in the community. Students will observe day-to-day changes in weather over the year as well as the impact weather has on living things.

Students investigate this phenomenon and related problem:

• Anchor phenomenon 1—Changes to trees
• Anchor Phenomenon 2—Different clothes for two trips

Throughout the module, students engage in science and engineering practices by asking questions, carrying out investigations, observing, recording, and interpreting data to build explanations, and obtaining information from photographs. Students use models and engage in argument from evidence. They gain experiences that will contribute to an understanding of the crosscutting concepts of patterns; cause and effect; systems and system models; structure and function; and stability and change. It is recommended students engage with this module in the fall and then continue to collect data on trees and weather through the seasons.