By Lauryn Hedges
A group of students gazed up at the sky, jotting down observations about the weather around them in their science notebooks.
Seventh grade science students have been learning about weather and the water cycle. As a way to get them involved with what they are learning, the students have been going outside to take observations of the weather.
Caroline Ramsey, seventh grade, has taken observations and learned about weather before. “They were observations in third grade about the weather and the cycles of the moon,” Ramsey said. This year, seventh graders are learning about the steps in the water cycle and how to read weather maps.
“Since we’re studying weather, it’s important that you understand how to make your own observations and it ties into the other topics we’re talking about in class,” Mrs. Tracy Krause, seventh grade science teacher, said.
Krause said that students have been keeping a log in their science notebooks, as well as talking about using their observation skills during class.
The students have also learned how to find relative humidity.
“You take this meter and you dip the end that has a bulb in it in water. Then you spin it in the air for about thirty seconds and you check what temperature it’s at. You do the same thing again and subtract the temperatures and use the chart to find the relative humidity,” Sage Parikshak, seventh grade, said.
Overall, both Ramsey and Parikshak said that their favorite part of completing weather observations was going outside, and Parikshak also enjoyed using different science tools.
Krause said that learning about weather is important because everyone has to deal with it. “Weather affects everybody, everyday, everywhere, anywhere,” Krause said.