Outdoor Hour Challenge #40 Weather #2

This morning we had just a few clouds that we labeled cirrostratus. Although there were only a few clouds in the sky they were unusual clouds.

It looked like when you take an eraser and rub it in a straight line across a blue background, which is what we did to get the same effect on our notebook page.

Then we checked our outdoor weather station to find the temperature, wind speed and direction, and precipitation.

We copied all this information onto the great notebooking page that Barb provided for us. This challenge was specifically a seasonal challenge. Therefore we will be repeating the same exercises each season to compare the differences in the weather. We are already looking forward to the winter challenge and plan to record our findings on a snow day.

This is a rain gauge that the boys just had to have. They reasoned that they could read it from the inside of the house on a rainy day.

Outdoor Hour Challenge #39 Weather

This week there has not been a cloud in the sky! Nevertheless, we have completed weather observations three times this week. We have had beautiful clear skies, with temperatures in the low 70's. It has been a great week to be outdoors.

My oldest son has been very glad to be doing a weather challenge. He has rain gauges of various sizes, thermometers, barometers, and wind gauges that he keeps an eye on. He has learned the cloud names and is working on a photographic book of clouds.

As much as we have studied the weather in the past we found the chapter in, The Handbook of Nature Study, on water forms to be wonderful. We loved the way she used the picture of the invisible cap and the "magic" word cold that causes the invisible hat to come off. Her explainations of condensation and evaporation were very visual and we had fun retelling it.

Here is an example of cumulus clouds we made using Amanda's watercolor technique #6 .

Instead of dropping the alcohol onto the paper, we used our cotton swab to shape clouds.