Start a tornado in a bottle, make your own rain, and set off lightning on a plate! Rebecca Rupp nurtures budding meteorologists by combining impeccable science, 20 exciting hands-on experiments, and mind-boggling facts in this exciting book that will inspire kids to explore the fascinating world of weather. Learn how the earth’s atmosphere keeps our eardrums from exploding, how rainbows work, and why snow can sometimes turn pink. Creating young weather experts while encouraging curiosity and experimentation, Weather! is a perfect storm of educational fun.
Rebecca Rupp is the author of SARAH SIMPSON'S RULES FOR LIVING, JOURNEY TO THE BLUE MOON, THE DRAGON OF LONELY ISLAND and THE RETURN OF THE DRAGON. She lives in Swanton, Vermont.
This is such a great book about all things weather. Perfect for middle school age kids with engaging text, great photos and whimsical illustrations by Melissa Sweet. But, truthfully, I really appreciated this book, too, because the science was so accessible and fun to read.
1. Personal reaction – This book is fabulous for hands-on learning! It is approximately 120 pages of explaining how weather works through experiments and fun explanations that not only make sense to kids, but kids will see the relevance of the information to their everyday lives.
2. Purpose(s)/Use in the classroom • read aloud to make a curricular connection: I would absolutely utilize this book when doing a science unit on weather. It has great ideas for fun and easy experiments for students as well as anecdotes that explain why a certain phenomenon occurs. The learning is guided versus explicit.
• independent reading (a particular age group or child with a particular need or interest) – I would split students into groups to read and perform their own experiment. They could then share their findings with the class in a visual way.
• For nonfiction: Pictures with captions, a list of terms, and separate chapters are a few elements to this book that make it easy to comprehend.
3. Other: This book is great for students in grades 3-4. They would most likely have to be guided through each experiment, but would be able to realize the significance on their own or grasp it from reading the book.
This book is ideal for when teaching about harsh weather conditions. This book provides real life photography. This book provides strong scientific vocabulary as well.
Another one we pulled off the shelf to re-read to supplement a GenSci weather unit. You're never too old for fun illustrations, photos, experiments, and explanations.