Winter Window Weather Journal

What you need

• Notebook, 1 notebook or 7 sheets of paper
• Crayons or markers, 1 box
• Pencil, 1
• Digital or outdoor thermometer, 1 (optional)
• Phone, 1, for checking the forecast (optional)

How to do it

Grown-up prep: Pick one window with a good view of the sky and, if you can, people walking by. Gather a notebook, crayons and a pencil. A digital or outdoor-mounted thermometer is great; skip glass ones since they can break. No thermometer? A weather app works too.

1. Set up your journal with one page for each day of the week.
2. Each morning, look out the same window at the same time.
3. Write down the sky: sunny, cloudy, snowy or rainy.
4. Read the temperature and write the number down.
5. Spot people outside and write what they are wearing.
6. Write one thing that changed since yesterday.
   Ask: How can you tell if it is colder than yesterday before you check the number?
7. Sketch a small picture of today's sky in your box.
8. Before bed, predict tomorrow's weather, then check it in the morning.
   Ask: What do you think the sky will look like tomorrow, and what clues make you think so?
9. At the end of the week, find your coldest day and its sky.
10. Show your weather week to your family! What will you track next?
    Ask: Was your coldest day sunny or cloudy, and why do you think that happened?

Play it again

• Forecast face-off: you and a grown-up both predict tomorrow, and whoever is right gets a point.
• Clothes detective: only track what people wear, then guess the temperature before checking it.
• Season swap: keep a journal again in spring and compare it to your winter week.