General Objective: Describe weather conditions and climate.

Lesson Objective: Students will discover how a wind vane helps determine wind direction.

Motivator: On a windy day, have the students look out the window and to name as many things as they can that tell them that the wind is blowing. Ask them if they can point in the direction that the wind is coming from.

• Scissors
• Glue
• Drinking straws
• Straight pins
• Paper clips
• Pencils with erasers
• Tagboard
• Tape
• 3" by 5" note cards
• Make a wind vane work sheet
• Electric fan

1. Tell the students to follow the directions on the hand-out. You could also do it step by step with the class.
2. After the students have finished constructing their wind vanes, test them with and electric fan.
3. Now take the students and their wind vanes outside to see how they work.
4. After they have seen a wind vane work, ask them if they can think of people who need to know the direction of the wind. (pilots, sailors, parachutists, hunters, air traffic controllers, farmers, weather forecasters)

Teaching Strategies: Discussion, observation, cooperative learning and guided discovery.

• Wind- movement of the air.
• Wind vane- an instrument that shows you what direction the moving air or wind is coming from.

Assessment: Group discussion- Group Assessment

Teaching and Learning Processes: Observing, classifying, predicting, applying.

• Another type of instrument used to determine wind direction is a windsock. Have the students observe a windsock or even make one with paper.
• Wind vanes come with decorations sometimes. You could have the students draw and design their own wind vanes.
• Students could brainstorm all of the things that fly in the air or use the wind. (Birds, insects, kites, balloons, clouds, seeds, gliders, planes, etc.)
• Students could make their own paper airplanes and decorate them. They could use the air around them to fly them.

Hoover, E; Mercier, S. Primarily Earth AIMS Activities. AIMS Education Foundation. 1996

Ward, B; Ward, P. Meteorology. Mark Twain Media/Carson-Dellosa Publishing Company, Inc. 1994