Will It Be A White Christmas In Your Town? Teaching With Technology in the Elementary School
Kathy Cothran
Will it be a White Christmas in Your Town or wherever you'll spend the holiday? If you live in an area of the world that sometimes has snow at Christmas you know about the annual anticipation of whether or not it will be a white Christmas. Will it be a white Christmas in your town? Are the odds strong or weak? Are there places in the United States that are guaranteed to have snow on Christmas? Your students can use the internet to read maps of historic data to decide what the chances are for your area to see snow on Christmas. After looking at the historic data, use the internet to find the local forecast for your particular area. Students may have different information to analyze based on where they stay or travel to for the holiday. Another aspect of the weather to compare is how the weather for the month of November and December compares to previous years. Has it been colder or warmer? Why could that be? Reading these maps is also a great time to introduce the concepts of Lake Effect Snow that is especially prominent around the Great Lakes. There are maps online that show this data also and explains the process of Lake Effect. Combine this activity with others to create a set of literacy work stations or centers based around the holiday theme. Use the holiday season as a disguise for finding information, reading maps, analyzing historic data versus current conditions, and sharing with classmates. This is the kind of information that kids will go home and share with their families.
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