Extensions

• daily activity -- Show students how you made a barometer. Later students will make their own barometers for this activity (see lesson plan for "My Very Own Barometer"). Create another helper's job to be the daily barometer reader. Make sure the students understand what it measures and what it is used for before beginning. As with the temperature, read and record the barometer scale.
• unit activity -- Go on a "wind walk" on a windy day and blow bubbles. Observe characteristics of the wind. Explain the use of similes and metaphors for the children to describe the wind in creative ways. Have the students write as many sentences as they can think of and pick their six favorite. The students will make "Breezy Day Mobiles" (see included directions) and write each sentence around the spiral. Hang the finished product above the students' desks.
• unit activity -- Give a demonstration for the students how hot air rises. Put a balloon on the mouth of an empty bottle and chill. Put the bottle in warm water and observe what happens. Discuss what the students think happened.
• center -- Students will make two instruments to measure the wind, the wind vane and anemometer. They will eventually take these outside to measure the wind and take recordings of what they observe.