Subscribe

6th grade · Science · Unit 8 of 10

Climate & Climate Change

What shapes climate, and why Earth is warming.

What your child practices

Practices how latitude, oceans, mountains, lakes and winds shape regional climate, such as the milder winters on Long Island and the colder Adirondacks, and the evidence for and causes of rising global temperatures.

New York State Learning Standards learning standard: MS-ESS2-6; MS-ESS3-5 · what shapes regional climate, and the causes of rising global temperatures

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Climate is the average weather over many years.
  2. Greenhouse gases, like carbon dioxide, trap heat. Burning fossil fuels is the main cause of recent warming.
  3. Using renewable energy reduces carbon dioxide emissions.
  4. Lake-effect snow makes places just east of Lake Ontario some of the snowiest in the eastern United States.

Example: Which is a greenhouse gas: oxygen or carbon dioxide? Greenhouse gases trap heat near Earth's surface. Carbon dioxide does this. Answer: carbon dioxide

Climate & Climate Change in New York

In the New York State Learning Standards, this is unit 8 of 10 in 6th grade Science, after Weather Systems and before Growing & Reproducing.

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.

Source: New York State Education Department (NYSED)

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    A graph shows global temperature rising over 100 years with ups and downs. The overall pattern is…

    • warming
    • random only
    • cooling
    • no change

  2. Question 2

    Which action uses less energy?

    • Heating an empty house
    • Walking or biking short trips
    • Driving alone everywhere
    • Leaving lights on

  3. Question 3

    Lakes in New York staying frozen for fewer days each winter is evidence of…

    • a warming climate
    • a cooling climate
    • more volcanoes
    • the moon getting closer

  4. Question 4

    Places near the equator are warmer because they get…

    • fewer clouds every day
    • more direct sunlight
    • more wind
    • more moonlight

  5. Question 5

    Lake-effect snow makes places just east of Lake Ontario some of the…

    • warmest places in New York
    • sunniest places in winter
    • snowiest places in the eastern United States
    • driest places in the country

  6. Question 6

    The main cause of the recent rise in global temperature is…

    • burning fossil fuels
    • more volcanoes every year
    • fewer stars
    • the moon getting closer

More 6th grade