January Resource Pack: Weather

January is a time when weather is always a key topic of conversation in Minnesota! Capture students’ curiosity about the causes and types of weather events with this month’s Resource Pack. The January pack includes a variety of engaging resources from eLibraryMN, Ebooks Minnesota, and Minnesota Digital Library all about weather and climate. The pack provides teachers with a mix of academic articles, ebooks, and primary sources for students of all ages to really dig in to this timely topic.

For younger learners, it may be good to start with an overview of how weather happens. EBSCO Explora Primary and Britannica have rich introductions to the topic of weather, along with links to specific topics that will allow students to follow their interests. Another type of resource that we have highlighted this month are EBSCO Ebooks on clouds, tornadoes, and hurricanes, which are available for reading in any browser with unlimited simultaneous users. These non fiction, elementary level titles can serve as a basis for study and exploration about weather topics. 

As students enter middle and high school, they will be ready to dig deeper into the science behind the weather and the social impacts of climate change. Use Gale in Context’s topic collections on weather and climate change to find a collection of multimodal resources, find EBSCO Ebooks on various weather topics, or offer resources to help students look at different points of view on climate change issues.  Science minded students can find peer reviewed academic research articles on meteorology and climate science in Academic Search Premier. 

Turning to Ebooks Minnesota, younger readers can explore an introduction to weather topics. Titles like Changing Weather and How do Tornadoes Form will offer a broad overview of the subject that can inspire students to want to learn more. Secondary students will find books in the Ebooks Minnesota collection within the Climate Change Series including Living in a Warmer World, Myths and Controversies, the Science, Social Solutions, Technological Solutions, and Water and Ice.

For those interested in how the weather affected Minnesotans in the past, be sure to check out the featured primary sources from the Minnesota Digital Library. Students can view historical photographs and records of blizzards, ice storms, floods, lightning, hail, tornados, and more. Plus, check out MDL’s curated primary source sets on natural disasters and the Mayo Clinic (formed after a tornado struck Rochester), and the exhibit on the devastating wildfires of 1918.

Browse the Weather Resource Pack today! And be sure to see the other resource packs on a variety of topics for more.

Image credit: Highland Park streetcar and conductors in deep snow, Duluth, c. 1910. Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections, https://collection.mndigital.org/catalog/nemhc:1709