Grade 6 Lesson plan
Ardenmill's Incoming Front: Weather Data and Reservoir Inflow
A 50-minute grade 6 lesson in which students read a day of Ardenmill weather station data, track a passing cold front, and estimate the reservoir inflow it produced.
NGSS · Middle School (6–8)
MS-ESS2-5 Collect evidence for how air masses drive weather changes
Collect data to provide evidence for how the motions and complex interactions of air masses result in changes in weather conditions.
Clarification statement: Emphasis is on how air masses flow from regions of high pressure to low pressure, causing weather (defined by temperature, pressure, humidity, precipitation, and wind) at a fixed location to change over time, and how sudden changes in weather can result when different air masses collide. Emphasis is on how weather can be predicted within probabilistic ranges. Examples of data can be provided to students (such as weather maps, diagrams, and visualizations) or obtained through laboratory experiments (such as with condensation).
Assessment boundary: Assessment does not include recalling the names of cloud types or weather symbols used on weather maps or the reported diagrams from weather stations.
Why water teaches this standard well
Humidity, precipitation, and condensation put water at the center of this weather standard, and one of its core ideas is the roles of water in surface processes. Tracking how incoming storms change local rainfall connects the atmosphere to the reservoirs and stormwater systems that must absorb what falls.
Materials tagged with this code are written to the full standard , including its clarification statement and assessment boundary, and each carries a written note explaining the alignment. See how we review materials.
2 materials aligned to MS-ESS2-5
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Projects
Grade 8 Project
Hollins Row Rain Gauge Network: How Rain Varies by Block
A five-session grade 8 science project in which students build and site rain gauges, log two weeks of storms, and report findings to a fictional stormwater board.