As March progresses, many elementary, middle school, and junior high teachers cover the topic of
weather in their science curriculum. University of Illinois Extension has several weather websites that
are perfect additions to classroom material.
Riding the Winds with Kalani is designed for Kindergarten through second grade, and provides
information on how the earth moves, what temperature is, basic types of clouds, and what precipitation
is. The student section allows students to read the words or listen to narrative. Animations have been
provided to enhance the learning of weather processes. A teacher section includes activities and the
story of Billy the Air Bubble that can be read to students.
Riding with Winds with Kalani can be accessed at http://urbanext.illinois.edu/kalani.
Treehouse Weather Kids is designed for teachers and students in the 5th – 8th grades. It provides basic
information on weather topics such as winds, moisture, air pressure, seasons, and storms. Activities
have been provided that are appropriate for classroom settings. Student activities include creating
Weather Comics, Identifying Clouds, and Forecasting. Classroom activities include making a weather
video, creating a weather proverb, and having students do on line weather research.
Treehouse Weather Kids can be accessed at http://urbanext.illinois.edu/treehouse.
For short videos of specific weather topics, a series of You Tube videos have been developed on topics
such as the Wind Chill and Heat Indexes, Types of Thunderstorms, Good and Bad Ozone, and What
Causes the Seasons. These can be found at http://www.youtube.com/user/UIExtension.
These sites are some of the many U of I Extension websites suitable for classroom use. Schools Online
is a wonderful interactive curricula for students about a variety of science and social studies topics, and
can be found at http://web.extension.illinois.edu/.
