BACKGROUND:

There are four key elements of weather including temperature, moisture, pressure and wind.  Temperature refers to how the Sun rays warm up our atmosphere.  In the winter the angle of the Earth is tilted away from the Sun.  During the summer the Earth is titled toward the Sun, making the rays of Sun more powerful to heat the atmosphere. Moisture would include rain, snow, hail, and dew.  Air pressure can either be low pressure or high pressure.  Low or light pressure usually signals rainy weather while high or heavy air signals sunny weather.  Wind is created when different air pressures are near each other.  This creates a movement of low pressure moves to high pressure.  

Each of the elements work together to give us different weather conditions. A change in one element usually causes a change in the weather.

PROCEDURE:

1. Review with students that the water, oceans, atmosphere, and weather are all related. Each one helps explain the others. The key ingredient to much of the subject lies in the understanding of water. Weather is part of our everyday life, but yet it is controlled by many factors.
   

2. You may want to read Feel the Wind. This book is about air is always moving. We can’t see air moving, though we can watch it push clouds across the sky, or shake the leaves of a tree. We can heart it whistle and feel it tickle our faces. The author, A. Dorros shows children gentle breezes to powerful hurricanes as they learn about what causes wind.
     

3. Give students a Weather worksheet to look at. Go over the elements of the weather including wind, temperature, air pressure and moisture.
     

4. Temperature can be measured by a thermometer. Ask students why temperature is important to them.
   
   The Sun heats up our atmosphere unevenly depending on the angle the rays strike our Earth.  The winter is when the appropriate hemisphere is tilted away from the Sun.  Summer is when that hemisphere is tilted toward the Sun.  The Sun heats areas up and helps move the "wind" around. 
     

5. Ask students what kind of weather is under "moisture." They should answer rain, hail, snow, and dew (or morning or night wetness).  Moisture is caused by water content in the air.  
     

6. Ask students if the air ever feels heavier than other times? The answer is yes, but students may not have noticed this.
   
   Air pressure is caused by the unevenness of cool and warm air.  Low pressure usually signals moisture while high pressure usually signals fair weather.  Students will learn more about this is later grades, just to say the word is enough for kindergarten.
     

7. The power of the wind also defines the weather. Sometimes it feels cooler outside because of the wind.   Wind is caused when cool, dry air sinks and replaces warm, moist air which moves upward.  This creates movement we call wind. 
     

8. You might want to discuss and compare the different types of weather. You may want to use a graph like below.

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