4th grade · Science · Unit 10 of 14
Weather and the Water Cycle
What makes the weather change
What your child practices
How the Sun, air, water and land interact to cause daily weather, the water cycle, tools for measuring weather, and why long-term forecasting is hard.
Alabama Course of Study content standard: 4.10 · evaporation, condensation and precipitation in the water cycle, and the weather they bring
How we explain it
Children can open this short lesson before they practice.
- Weather is what the air is like at a certain time and place.
- Rain, snow, sleet and hail are all precipitation.
- Warm air rises. Low pressure usually brings clouds and rain. High pressure brings clear skies.
- A thermometer measures temperature, a rain gauge measures rain and an anemometer measures wind speed.
Example: The air pressure is falling. What weather might come? Low pressure usually brings clouds and precipitation. Answer: cloudy, wet weather
Weather and the Water Cycle in Alabama
In the Alabama Course of Study, this is unit 10 of 14 in 4th grade Science, after Sense & Respond and before Wind, Water, Ice.
Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.
Sample questions
A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.
Question 1
What is weather?
- the conditions in the air outside at a certain time and place
- the average of 30 years of temperature
- the kind of soil in a field
the conditions in the air outside at a certain time and place
Hint: Weather changes from hour to hour and day to day.
Question 2
Which tool measures air pressure?
- anemometer
- barometer
- thermometer
barometer
Hint: A barometer shows the pressure of the air.
Question 3
A wind vane shows…
- how much rain fell
- how fast it blows
- the direction the wind comes from
the direction the wind comes from
Hint: The arrow points into the wind.
Question 4
What is a front in weather?
- where two air masses meet
- a very big cloud
- a kind of snow
where two air masses meet
Hint: Fronts often bring changing weather.
Question 5
A seven-day forecast is usually less sure about…
- day 7 than day 1
- day 1 than day 7
- nothing at all
day 7 than day 1
Hint: The further away, the harder to predict.
Question 6
A puddle dries up on a sunny day. Where did the water go?
- it disappeared
- into the ground only
- into the air as water vapor
into the air as water vapor
Hint: Evaporation moves water into the air.