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Lesson Plan
Science and Mathematics Initiative for Learning Enhancement (SMILE)

Smile: The Air Out There

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Cooperative learning activity in which students will create a windmill and a weather vane. Students will find the direction of wind and the speed relative to the spinning windmill. Great for K-2.
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Website
Weather Wiz Kids

Weather Wiz Kids: Wind

For Students Pre-K - 1st
What is wind? How is it caused? This site offers simple answers to many common questions about wind as well as a chart of the Beaufort scale, which "is an empirical measure for the intensity of the weather based mainly on wind power."
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Website
Missouri Botanical Garden

Missouri Botanical Garden: Waves

For Students 9th - 10th
This site from the Missouri Botanical Garden provides a brief description of how waves form and move. Click on the "waves" link in the toolbar to the left. This site is basic, but very informative. Includes colorful animations...
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Handout
Kidport

Kidport Reference Library: Energy

For Students 3rd - 5th
A simple introduction to energy, offering information on hydro-electric energy, fossil fuels, nuclear power, solar energy, and wind energy.
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Handout
Wikimedia

Wikipedia: Weather Front

For Students 9th - 10th
This Wikipedia site tells all about weather fronts, or boundaries between two air masses with differing characteristics. Includes many hyperlinked terms to additional information on related subjects.
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Article
Weather Wiz Kids

Weather Wiz Kids: Wind

For Students 6th - 8th
Wind is air in motion. It is produced by the uneven heating of the earth's surface by the sun. Since the earth's surface is made of various land and water formations, it absorbs the sun's radiation unevenly. Two factors are necessary to...
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Activity
PBS

Pbs Teachers: Balancing Balls on Air

For Students 1st - 5th
Investigate how the force of moving air from a blow dryer interacts with the force of gravity to keep a ping-pong ball perfectly balanced in midair.
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Handout
Other

Stormfax: El Nino Glossary

For Students 9th - 10th
This site offers definitions for terms related to El Nino, including information on southern oscillation and its relationship to the trade winds.
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Activity
Education.com

Education.com: Learn Where Wind Comes From

For Students Pre-K - 1st
[Free Registration/Login Required] Directions for a simple activity that will help students understand where wind comes from.
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Activity
Center of Science and Industry

Cosi Columbus: Paper Cup Anemometer

For Students 3rd - 8th
Make your own anemometer like meteorologists use to measure the speed of wind. Includes full list of materials, procedures, and scientific explanation of what makes wind.
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Whiteboard
ClassFlow

Class Flow: Sources of Energy

For Teachers 9th - 10th
[Free Registration/Login Required] In this flipchart, students are introduced to the different sources of energy produced on earth. Students will learn the names of different energy sources, the mechanisms of how each works along with...
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Whiteboard
ClassFlow

Class Flow: Tornado Experiment

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
[Free Registration/Login Required] This flipchart has a full lesson plan (with standards and adaptations) about Tornadoes. An experiment is included with materials description, pictures, and every step. It is intended to be easy to read...
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Website
Other

National Pollutant Inventory: Background Information

For Students 9th - 10th
This site focuses on water and air pollution in Australia, with a brief mention of sea breezes.
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Handout
Energy4Me

Energy4me: Wind Energy

For Students 9th - 10th
Learn about the alternative energy source, wind energy. Find out the history of this renewable resource and how it works to convert wind energy into electricity.
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Whiteboard
ClassFlow

Class Flow: Weather Hurricanes

For Teachers Pre-K - 1st
[Free Registration/Login Required] This flipchart describes hurricanes and the processes that come together to create hurricanes. It tells us the right precautions to take if a hurricane is coming our way!
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Whiteboard
ClassFlow

Class Flow: Weather Conditions

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
[Free Registration/Login Required] This flipchart is a beginning of a unit on weather. The flipchart contains information about fronts, air masses, and wind. There is an assessment quiz at the end.
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Online Course
Cosmo Learning

Cosmo Learning: Ocean Currents

For Students 9th - 10th
The atmosphere forces the ocean in three ways: addition and removal of heat, precipitation and evaporation, and wind stress. The former two processes influence the density of sea water. Gravity acts on these density differences to cause...
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Website
Ducksters

Ducksters: Earth Science for Kids: Weather: Wind

For Students 1st - 9th
Kids learn about wind including how it is formed, how it is measured, local and global winds including prevailing, westerlies, trade, and polar easterlies.
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Graphic
Kansas State

Kansas State University and Usda: Wind Erosion Control

For Students 9th - 10th
This website provides numerous pictures and brief descriptions that illustrate a variety of ways to control wind erosion. Clicking on a picture will enlarge it to provide a better view.
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Website
Ducksters

Ducksters: Earth Science for Kids: Erosion

For Students 1st - 9th
Study the subject of erosion including water, wind, and glacial erosion, fun facts, human causes, and controlling it on this site.
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Website
Ducksters

Ducksters: Kids Science Projects and Experiments: Wind

For Students 1st - 9th
Kids learn by experimenting with science. Project showing how wind is created.
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Whiteboard
SMART Technologies

Smart: Weather

For Teachers Pre-K - 1st
Students will learn about the six common weather conditions: sunshine, wind, rain, snow, fog, and thunderstorms.
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Activity
Other

Unep/siem D2 Weather

For Students 9th - 10th
This site offers information on the effects of weather on islands. There is some mention of sea breezes.
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Handout
NASA

Nasa: Looking at Earth From Space Prevailing Westerlies

For Students 9th - 10th
This site from NASA provides a basic definition for what prevailing westerlies are.