Student slideshow: English | Spanish

Teacher printout: English & Spanish

For a limited time, view archived reading extensions here.

Wind in the Trees Ask your students: “Look out the window and tell me if it’s windy. How do you know?”

Here are some possible answers: Your Breeze Buddies show you the wind is blowing. So does a flapping flag or fluttering leaves!

Now ask everyone to think about what it's like to be a tree in the wind. Have everyone stand up and pretend to be a tree on a calm day. That’s easy. Now pretend to be a tree when the wind is blowing really hard! That’s a lot more fun — and a great way to burn off excess energy.

The Beaufort Wind Scale. Two hundred years ago, a British Navy officer named Francis Beaufort made observations that told him how fast the wind was blowing. He created what people now call the Beaufort Scale, a simple way to judge the wind’s speed.

Check out a simple chart of the Beaufort Scale here. Challenge your students to figure out how fast the wind is blowing!

You can elaborate student learning and engagement with Mystery Science mini-lessons.

• Can animals really predict the weather? In this mini-lesson, students examine the possibility of animals predicting the weather.

If you are in an NGSS state, this mini-lesson supports the DCI ESS2.D: Weather and Climate