We took part in the Kent Weather Watch project. This was set up to encourage schools to use technology to share their local weather data, thus allowing each other to compare the climate in different places. The project wasn’t limited to Kent, however, and there were schools from all around the world submitting their data.
One of our most enjoyable lessons during this project combined skills from Science, Geography, Literacy, Speaking and Listening, and Computing. The children had already identified different types of weather, and they then worked in pairs to research their own local weather data using Wunderground. They then used the forecasts on this site to write their own script for a TV-style forecast, using relevant weather vocabulary, along with any other phrases they may have heard when watching these at home. We also watched some examples of weather forecasts from Youtube.
Once the children had written their scripts, they created a Powerpoint presentation which was used as the backdrop for the forecast.
When these were completed, one child from each pair copied their script onto the fantastic Cueprompter site to run an ‘autocue’. Their Powerpoint presentations were then projected onto the whiteboard, so that the other child could present the forecast. Their forecasts were filmed with a camera, so that we could watch them again and evaluate their performances later.
It was really interesting to see how each group had tackled this complex task, interpreting the weather data from Wunderground, creating a script, adding their own advice to those watching the forecast (“wrap up warm this evening!”), making a presentation, and then bringing it all together to create something that looked really professional.