Science Weather Vocabulary Lesson Freebie

Vocabulary can be one of the biggest hurdles for students in science.  This activity is designed to actively engage students in memorable vocabulary building.  The 7 steps to success for this weather vocabulary activity are:

1. Pass out the vocabulary chart to students.
2. Share with students that they are only responsible for filling out the vocabulary box that is in bold and starred.  Encourage students to use different methods for explaining their term (labeled diagrams, examples, descriptive text, etc.).  Remind students they have limited space so they need to be thoughtful over how they use that small space.
3. Have students use their textbook or other resources to assist them in filling out their one box.
4. Optional: After students finish you can chose to collect their papers to ensure their description is accurate or you can have students transition straight into sharing.
5. Setup ground rules for sharing.  I have my students give their description orally.  I explicitly tell them that I don’t want to see them copying another students paper directly.  My reason for this is to have students TALKING about science vocabulary as much as possible.  I explain that they are not learning the vocabulary by sitting their doing nothing while they are waiting for their partner to copy from their paper.  I also encourage students to share a different vocabulary term each time they met up with a new partner.
6. Have students circulate the room to share their description in exchange for a description for another box.  This activity is an adaption of the “Give one, Get One” strategy from Strategies to Enhance Literacy and Learning in Middle School Content Area Classrooms.
7. Have students use their filled out page as a study guide for a vocabulary quiz or a bingo board.

You can download the activity through Google Drive or my Teachers Pay Teachers store.  This freebie is a pdf file that is 17 pages long.  Pages 1-16 each have one of the 16 different vocabulary terms in bold and starred to save you time (so you don’t have to go through and do it yourself).  The last page is blank so you can tailor this activity to your students vocabulary needs.

The weather vocabulary in this freebie includes clouds (cumulus, cumulonimbus, stratus, and cirrus), fronts (cold fronts, warm fronts, occluded fronts, and stationary fronts), weather tools (anemometer, barometer, hygrometer, and rain gauge), and precipitation types (rain, sleet, snow, and hail).

I use this activity with my ninth graders at the beginning of our weather unit because I expect them to know and use these terms throughout the unit.  I find this setup to be a good solution for providing extra exposure to vocabulary terms for students that need it without boring students that already have a deeper understanding.

Do you have any vocabulary advice for helping science students?