Chapter 9 Introduction

Materials:

• Several old magazines, newspapers, or drawing materials.

Objective:

• Students will be introduced to the Earth's Atmosphere.
• Students will create a drawing or collage of things (living and nonliving) that depend on the air.

Anticipatory Set:* Discuss the picture on Page 202. Have students tell of a time when they saw a double rainbow. What conditions need to exist to produce a rainbow? Introduce a prism and tell how it is like a raindrop. Then show how it can break light up into its component colors.

Break students up into pairs. While looking at the word atmosphere have them jot down with their team members as many facts about the atmosphere as they can. Create a whole group brainstorm by writing two facts about the atmosphere from each site on the screen. During the course of this chapter we will revisit this screen and have the students verify or cross out the facts as they find out more about them while studying the chapter.

Teacher Input:* Teacher will read the introductory paragraph on Page 203. Teacher will go through the organization of the chapter on Page 203. Teacher will go through the goals for learning on Page 203.

The atmosphere is related to weather so we want to discuss observing the weather. Why do we observe the weather? What type of people try to predict the weather and why? Where can you go to get weather predictions? Show three sources.

news Miner: http://arcticcam.com/ and http://www.adn.com/

NOAA weather service: http://www.nws.noaa.gov/

Other Internet sites: http://www.wunderground.com/US/AK/

Guided Practice:* After the introduction to weather, students will complete the Observing Weather Community Connection Sheet.

Independent Practice:* Students will complete a poster collage or drawing. They will identify things (linving or nonliving) that depend on the atmosphere to function. Under each object they will write a one sentence summary why the item is on the collage.

Duration:

30 minutes + 10-15 for Independent Practice (Could be longer if taken for homework).

Alaska Content Standards Addressed in this lesson:

• SCI A-4 Students will understand observable natural events such as tides, weather, seasons, and moon phases in terms of the structure and motion of the earth (Earth);

• SCI A-15 Students will use science to understand and describe the local environment (Local Knowledge); and: