Categories
Books Climate Change Primary

Book Review: A Climate in Chaos

A climate in chaos book
 
A Climate in Chaos

And How You Can Help

Author: Neal Layton 
Year: 2020
Publisher: Wren&rook
Suggested age range: 7-10
Price: £7.99

A Climate in Chaos is a 30-page, comprehensively illustrated book which was shortlisted for the Association for Science Education’s Book of the Year awards in 2021.

“Hey folks! Have you heard about climate change? It’s really important. It affects all of us living on Planet Earth right now.” This is how the book starts and finishes, presumably with the aim of explaining why in the pages between – I think it achieves that very well.

It has a lovely overview of the difference between weather and climate, greenhouse gases and climate change before dedicating almost half the book to mitigation strategies ranging from the very small actions that individual young people could easily take, to national-scale policies.  

What I don’t like about this book is very limited but includes that it falls into the common trap of drawing the greenhouse gases in a layer at the top of the atmosphere (a bit like the ozone layer), and maybe that the impacts of climate change it lists focus entirely on the natural world. Including some impacts on people might help the issue seem more relevant.

This book would probably appeal most to a keen reader, particularly if they already had an interest in science and/ or the natural world.

 

Categories
Extreme weather Primary

New Primary Heatwaves Resource

We are delighted to have worked with the Young People’s Trust for the Environment to develop a four lesson scheme of work looking at heatwaves.

This package of lesson plans consists of 4 lessons:

  • Lesson 1: What are heatwaves?
  • Lesson 2: Why are heatwaves dangerous?
  • Lesson 3: How can schools prepare for a heatwave?
  • Lesson 4: What is your school like during a heatwave and how could it be improved?

By the end, students should be able to show which places in the school are most affected by extreme heat, understand what measures could be put in place to reduce the impact of extreme heat and be able to present their learning and research. 

The lessons have been designed to support learners in Key Stage 2 (or equivalent) with understanding more about heatwaves, the reasons why we are likely to face more of them in the future and some steps that schools can take to protect young people during these events. The lessons can be adapted to suit other age groups by modifying the information given in the linked notes.

Young People's Trust for the Environment
Categories
Climate Change Primary Science Teaching

Post SATs Year 6 Weather and Climate Day

We have pulled together a set of Weather and Climate Change resources which could be used with a year 6 class after their SATs exams. Designed as a progressive set of engaging and interactive resources, they introduce skills and knowledge which will help prepare students for secondary school.

The resources can be used in independent lessons, or as part of a whole or half weather and climate themed day.

 

Categories
Books Primary Schools Weather

My First Book of Weather

My First Book of Weather

This beautifully illustrated children’s book is full of fantastic facts about weather, climate and the world around us. It would be a wonderful gift for primary school aged children, with plenty of engaging pictures to keep infants interested as well as lots of interesting facts and trivia to interest junior children. The author, Camilla de la Bedoyere, has written more than 200 books for children and adults, many of which explore the natural world. Cinyee Chiu, the illustrator, believes in a sustainable lifestyle and is interested in projects about environmental/climate issues.

Covering a wide range of subjects, the author and illustrator take us on a tour to discover: ‘what is weather?’ and ‘how does the weather change?’, including how forecasts and charts are made. The book also tells us about Earth’s past climate, wild weather, extremes and climate change. It covers an amazingly large range of topics and both children and adults will likely learn plenty of new information about weather and climate from reading this book together.

As you would expect, the book starts with a gentle introduction to the atmosphere, the Sun and the wind, but it soon goes beyond the more basic kids’ weather books as it shows examples of how wind is measured with the Beaufort Scale. The water cycle and formation of clouds is shown with accurate representations of the different types of cloud. In the section on how the weather changes, it starts with a selection of nature’s weather warnings, where I learnt a new and interesting fact about how crickets chirrup faster and louder as the temperature rises! This is nicely followed by an overview of how storms develop and how we forecast the weather. The only thing that is missing from this section is some time spent in the book talking about supercomputers and the importance of number crunching, which is somewhat glossed over. However, unlike other children’s books about weather, it is nice that this book includes information about weather charts and weather records. There is a large section on world weather, which spans from Earth’s past climate (both hot and cold) to climates and seasons, making links to migrations and the impacts of weather and climate on people. A weather book would not be complete without sections on wild weather, from hurricanes and tornadoes to extreme and strange weather, which is covered very well by this author and illustrator. Finally, climate change has a prominent place in this excellent book, with a focus on renewable energy and how it is generated.

The illustrations in this book are beautiful and the content very engaging and interesting, giving the perfect combination to keep children and adults interested from front to back cover. Dr Sylvia Knight (RMetS) was consulted during the writing of the book, so we can feel confident that the content is accurate. I would definitely recommend this book for primary age school children – a great gift and lovely to read with them as an adult too!

My First Book of Weather, Bedoyere, Camilla (Author) &  Chiu, Cinyee (Illustrator) Templar Publishing, 2021 Hardback £12.99, 64 pp ISBN 978-1-787418-50-9  
 
Reviewed by Jenny Rourke for Weather, July 2021
Categories
Fieldwork Primary

KS1 weather station

The simplest kind of weather station for KS1

a pinecone

Make pine cone weather stations with your class, and see how well they do at telling whether it is raining or not!

Download the instructions here

More experiments and demonstrations