Chapter 9 Weather and Climate

Fig 9.1 Powerful convection currents drive weather events 
Photo: Михал Орела,Wikimedia Commons.

Featured websites

Website 9.1 Weather song
Songs with supporting cartoons about the weather and other topics for young children.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfAB4BXSHOA

Website 9.2 Water cycle
A cartoon that introduces key terms and the basic principles of the water cycle for children.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncORPosDrjI

Website 9.3 Convection currents
An excellent demonstration of convection currents in a water tank using red and blue food colouring 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mUU69ParFM

Picture books

Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain by Verna Aardema (1981 Pan Macmillan).   
A cumulative rhyme relating how a Masai boy who herded cows brought rain to the drought-stricken Kapiti Plain.

The North Wind and the Sun by Brian Wildsmith (1964) (2007) 
A beautifully illustrated version of Aesop’s fable about the elements.

Other resources

Carbon clock
The Mercator Research Institute carbon clock indicates that present levels of global carbon emissions will result in 1.5 degrees temperature rise by 2030 and a 2 degree temperature rise by the mid 2040s.   
https://www.mcc-berlin.net/en/research/co2-budget.html

Climate Museum UK
Resources and information from the Climate Museum UK – an activist museum which brings together associates who are developing their own collections and activities.
https://climatemuseumuk.org/who/

Clouds
A video for younger children introducing the main cloud types.
https://scied.ucar.edu/video/cloud-types-video

Glaciers and sea ice
A short video from BBC Newsround programme about the changes in glaciers and sea ice.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/56054309

Lets go carbon neutral
Move into campaign mode along with lots of others schools by signing up to this campaign.
https://letsgozero.org/

The fight for the future
Bill McKibben explains that climate change is humanity’s greatest and grimmest achievement and that confronting it is the essential challenge facing us all
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvfAfQivnmQ

Youth climate change summit
Children from Robert Ferguson Primary School, Carlisle, UK explain why climate change matters and say what we can do about it.
https://www.rferguson.org/environmental.php