![]() In a solid, particles are arranged closely packed and these particles vibrate and move around a fixed point. All matter has particles that are in constant motion and this is based on the kinetic-molecular theory. What defines the difference between a solid, liquid, and a gas is the way in which the particles that make up the matter are arranged and behave. Matter exists on Earth in the forms of solids, liquids and gases. Matter is anything that takes up space and has mass. To understand how these phenomena occur, we must first start with understanding matter. Weather can be warm or cold, dry or wet, windy or cloudy. ![]() Weather is the state of the air at a particular place and time. My attempt is to take the "scary" out of chemical equations and make it more comfortable for me to teach and have confidence and to hope that others will benefit from this information, as well. For years, I have been made aware that many elementary teachers are somewhat intimidated by science and avoid teaching it to their students. What I intend to accomplish in this unit is to explain these weather topics in a language of chemistry, not necessarily for my students, but for other teachers that may have to teach weather on an elementary level and want to know the true science behind it. I teach about air pressure, seasonal changes, global warming, the water cycle, etc. The subject of weather is the unit that I will develop my curriculum unit on. The sixth grade curriculum has four science standards that must be taught throughout the year and these are: Ecosystems, Simple Machines, How Human Activities Affect Our Waters, and Weather. Science is departmentalized at Betsy Ross and each class period is fifty-two minutes long. Betsy Ross is a true magnet school that attracts students from a variety of surrounding suburbs in Connecticut due to the strong arts program therefore, we have a diverse population of students. This unit will be taught to four sixth grade general science classes at Betsy Ross Arts Magnet School in New Haven, CT., which is an inner-city school district. I know that there's chemistry everywhere and this is an attempt to relate weather to basic chemistry. I didn't see how weather and chemistry related. When I think of chemistry, I think of chemicals, Bunsen burners, goggles, and rubber gloves. All that I was teaching my students I had no idea of the chemistry behind the weather. We even made flags and went out and observed the wind direction and strength of the wind. If it rained, we put out buckets and measured and recorded how much rain fell in a certain time period. We took daily temperature readings, drew pictures showing the amount, or lack thereof, of cloud cover in the sky. I remember teaching my second graders about weather. After all, weather is what prompts one into making decisions, or the parents, into what to wear each day. ![]() Elementary teachers are faced with teaching students at a very early age about the weather. ![]() ![]() My unit topic is to explore and explain the chemistry behind weather. The Chemistry of Weather by Deborah James-Johnson Introduction ![]()
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