Weather, Flora and Fauna
Primary 4 · Social and Religious Studies
Weather, Flora and Fauna
Lesson 2 of 5
14 min
Behind Mugisha's school there is a small fenced garden. Inside it stands a white wooden box on legs, a spinning thing with little cups, and a plastic tube on a post. "What are these for?" Mugisha asks. "That is our weather station," says his teacher. "Each one measures a different part of the weather."
Weather is made of several parts. We call them the elements of weather. Scientists who study weather are called meteorologists, and each element has its own instrument.
| Element | What it tells us | Instrument | Unit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Temperature | How hot or cold the air is | Thermometer | degrees Celsius (°C) |
| Rainfall | How much rain fell | Rain gauge | millimetres (mm) |
| Wind direction | Where the wind comes from | Wind vane | compass directions (N, S, E, W) |
| Wind speed | How fast the wind blows | Anemometer | kilometres per hour (km/h) |
| Sunshine | How long the sun shines | Sunshine recorder | hours |
| Humidity | How much water vapour is in the air | Hygrometer | per cent (%) |
| Clouds | How much of the sky is covered | Our eyes | (we describe it) |
Rain gauge: rain falls into the open top and collects in a tube with a scale. Each day, the reading is written down and the gauge is emptied.
Example: On Monday the gauge shows 12 mm, on Tuesday 0 mm and on Wednesday 8 mm. The total rainfall for the three days is 12 + 0 + 8 = 20 mm.
Wind vane: the arrow turns and points to the direction the wind is coming from. If the arrow points east, an east wind is blowing: it comes from the east.
Thermometer: it is kept inside a white box with slatted sides, called a Stevenson screen. The box keeps the sun off the thermometer but lets the air in, so it measures the temperature of the air, not of the hot sunshine.
Weather stations all over Rwanda send their readings to Meteo Rwanda, the Rwanda Meteorology Agency. Meteorologists use them to make a weather forecast: a report of the weather that is expected in the coming days. You can hear it on the radio or see it on television. Farmers use it to decide when to plant, and drivers use it to know when roads may be flooded.
Tip
Match the start of the word to the job
And a meter always measures!
Answer: A rain gauge.
Answer: Degrees Celsius (°C).
Answer: From the north. It is a north wind.
Answer: 5 + 15 + 10 = 30 mm.
Answer: So that the sun does not heat it directly. It must measure the temperature of the air.
What you learned today
Sources and credits
The rest of the lesson, including the practice questions, is written by Ganzaa.
This lesson adapts CC BY-SA material and is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Quick check
Match each instrument to what it measures.
Tap one on the left, then its partner on the right.
