Snow

Objectives:

• Students will understand what snow is.

• Students will understand how snowflakes develop.

• Students will know why predicting snowfall is hard.

Suggested Grades:

3rd Grade - 4th Grade - 5th Grade

Lesson Procedure:

Print the reading comprehension passage and questions (see below).

Students should read the passage silently, then answer the questions. Teachers may also use the text as part of a classroom lesson plan.

Lesson Excerpt:

Did you know that there are many different types of snow? Like rain, all snow comes from water vapor in the air. When water evaporates from oceans, lakes and rivers, water vapor forms clouds in the air. As the air becomes cool, the water vapor condenses - it turns into liquid, which can fall to the ground as rain. When it is very cold, some or all of the water vapor turns into crystals of ice instead of water. In the air, crystals form around specks of dust or tiny pieces of ice. Without dust, crystals of snow would not form, and the water vapor would just stay in the air as a cloud.

Continued...