AUTHOR ALERT: We met Belinda Jensen!

We really enjoyed meeting the author of Bel the Weather Girl when she did a book-signing at Scout and Morgan Book Store in Cambridge in August 2016. Bel is one of our new favorite book characters. We've been learning tons about weather! One of the things I like most about the books is that there is an easy-to-do experiment at the back of every one.

Plus, we like supporting local, Minnesota authors. Belinda Jensen is a homegrown, female author that you'll recognize from Channel 11. She's the kind of person I hold up as a role model for my kiddos.

About Belinda (from her web site):
Belinda Jensen has been a meteorologist for 25 years and has been curious about the weather since she was an elementary school student! She is now the Chief Meteorologist for KARE 11 News, the NBC affiliate in Minneapolis/St. Paul.


Belinda loves to visit classrooms to share her passion and enthusiasm for weather-related topics, and during those many visits she’s discovered that for some students, weather is an exciting mystery—but that for others, it’s a scary subject. Believing that knowledge is power, Belinda developed a series of engaging and enlightening presentations that reveal the science behind weather, and discovered, just as she hoped, that children aren’t nearly as frightened when they are informed.

Belinda continues to pursue her goal to help kids understand the science and mystery of weather with her series of children’s books featuring the character “Bel the Weather Girl,” who, like Belinda herself, is already fascinated with the weather as an 8-year-old. 

Although Belinda herself has never feared the weather, her own 8-year-old daughter along with her 6 year old Bernese Mountain Dog are both very apprehensive about weather and provided her true inspiration for the series.

Belinda grew up in the upper Midwest, sometimes dubbed the “Super Bowl of weather.”

From the web site:
Bad weather can be scary—but not for Bel the Weather Girl! Her mom the meteorologist has taught eight-year-old Bel a lot about what makes the wind whirl and the thunder roar. Now Bel is sharing fun weather facts with her cousin Dylan, whose fear of storms is soothed by Bel’s weather-ready tips.
Weather is powerful and sometimes unpredictable, but each of the books in this science-based series offers young readers a playful yet fact-filled explanation for a different weather wonder. As Bel likes to say, “Every day is another weather day”—and every day is also an opportunity to read about another adventure featuring Bel, Dylan, and Stormy the Weather Dog!

Read 'em all yourself!
- The Sky Stirs Up Trouble: Tornadoes
- A Party for Clouds: Thunderstorms
- Raindrops on a Roller Coaster: Hail
- A Snowstorm Shows Off: Blizzards
- Spinning Wind and Water: Hurricanes
- Weather Clues in the Sky: Clouds




Get lesson plans for teachers/homeschoolers here.

FIAR: 'Storm in the Night' - weather experiments!

Our unit on "Storm in the Night" has been all about weather. There are so many fun weather experiments to do!

We read:
- "Down Comes the Rain" by Franklyn Mansfield Branley
- "Flash Crash Rumble and Roll" by Franklyn Mansfield Branley
I can't believe how much I learned about thunder and lightning in this story!
- "A Drop of Water" by Gordon Morrison
- "A Rainbow of My Own" by Don Freeman
- "Like A Windy Day" by Frank Asch
- "Thundercake" by Patricia Polacco
Polacco is a fantastic storyteller. "Thundercake" is about how a little girl shows bravery despite being scared of a storm. The Girl really wanted to make a Thundercake when we were done with this story!
- "Courage" by Bernard Waber
This story is about having courage, which can include during storms!
-  "Wind is to Feel" by Shirley Cook Hatch
As you read through this story, there are tons of tactile things for kids to do to help them understand wind better.

We did:

Making rain in a jar by observing how hot air condenses at the top and then drips back down. For this experiment you just need 2 jars and hot water. Put hot water into one jar and place the other one upside down over the first to capture the air.

We know a homeschool family with a middle schooler, and they're enjoying a bunch of chemistry experiments and games in a unit published by the American Chemistry Society. This was a great game that shows how water molecules like to join together, but you can separate them back out, too!

As we got ready for two of our experiments for the day, I read to the kiddos out of our DK Weather book.

We also made rain in a jar with shaving cream, water and food coloring. By watching how the food coloring finds its way through the shaving cream we learned how rain falls down from the clouds.

This experiment taught us a bit about tornadoes. We used the most clear soda we had on hand (Ginger Ale), added water and then agitated the water in a circle. A funnel formed! We did this one until my arm was too tired! So cool!

Salt and ice cubes in the can. Shake it up, and watch the magic! Frost forms!

Find all my posts on "Storm in the Night" here.

Five in a Row Book 2: 'Storm in the night'

We had a great time with "Storm in the Night" as it gave us an excuse to study the weather, water and more.

(Click here for other blog posts on weather experiments and clouds.)

We read:
- "Do You Know that Clouds Have Names?" - Online book from The Globe Program
- "Clouds" by Anne F. Rockwell
- "It Looked Like Spilt Milk" by Charles Green Shaw
- "Little Cloud" by Eric Carle
One of The Girl's favorites
- "The Cloud Book" by Tomie DePaola
One of my favorite books
- "Down Comes the Rain" by Franklyn Mansfield Branley
- "Flash Crash Rumble and Roll" by Franklyn Mansfield Branley
I can't believe how much I learned about thunder and lightning in this story!
- "A Drop of Water" by Gordon Morrison
- "A Rainbow of My Own" by Don Freeman
- "Like A Windy Day" by Frank Asch
- "Thundercake" by Patricia Polacco
Polacco is a fantastic storyteller. "Thundercake" is about how a little girl shows bravery despite being scared of a storm. The Girl really wanted to make a Thundercake when we were done with this story!
- "Courage" by Bernard Waber
This story is about having courage, which can include during storms!
-  "Wind is to Feel" by Shirley Cook Hatch
As you read through this story, there are tons of tactile things for kids to do to help them understand wind better.

We watched:
- The Magic Schoolbus Kicks Up a Storm
- The Magic Schoolbus: Wet All Over

We did:
 We made wind chimes out of paint, string and tin cans. And added a bit of sparkle with beads.

 We did a few books using a lapbook from over at HomeschoolShare.com. There wasn't one specific to "Storm in the Night", but there is one about weather.

 I tied in some of the Five Senses work we'd done previously when reading "Lentil" by talking about What Senses We Use on sunny days, rainy days, snowy days and stormy days.

We paid attention to our daily weather, making each day's temperature onto a graph I found over at http://homeschoolcreations.com.

We added in some math games, playing with our Tangram game (foam geometric shapes that can be assembled to create various patterns), and making a geoboard to practice The Girls math skills. I drove short nails in a circle, like the hours on a clock face around the board. Then my student could stretch rubber bands or string from nail to nail, creating geometric shapes.

The Bible Story about Jesus walking on water fit in perfectly with our stories about weather and water. Free printable.