SC.5.E.7.4

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Distinguish among the various forms of precipitation (rain, snow, sleet, and hail), making connections to the weather in a particular place and time.
General Information
Subject Area: Science
Grade: 5
Body of Knowledge: Earth and Space Science
Idea: Level 3: Strategic Thinking & Complex Reasoning
Big Idea: Earth Systems and Patterns - Humans continue to explore the interactions among water, air, and land. Air and water are in constant motion that results in changing conditions that can be observed over time.
Date Adopted or Revised: 02/08
Content Complexity Rating: Level 3: Strategic Thinking & Complex Reasoning - More Information
Date of Last Rating: 05/08
Status: State Board Approved
Assessed: Yes

Related Courses

This benchmark is part of these courses.
5020060: Science - Grade Five (Specifically in versions: 2014 - 2015, 2015 - 2022, 2022 and beyond (current))
7720060: Access Science Grade 5 (Specifically in versions: 2014 - 2015, 2015 - 2018, 2018 - 2023 (current), 2023 and beyond)

Related Access Points

Alternate version of this benchmark for students with significant cognitive disabilities.
SC.5.E.7.Pa.3: Recognize the weather conditions including hot/cold and raining/not raining during the day.
SC.5.E.7.In.4: Describe types of precipitation, including rain, snow, and hail.
SC.5.E.7.Su.4: Identify different types of precipitation, including rain and snow.

Related Resources

Vetted resources educators can use to teach the concepts and skills in this benchmark.

Lesson Plans

Catch Me If You Can: Engineering Design Challenge:

In this lesson, 5th grade students work in small groups on a STEM challenge that involves science and math standards related to the water cycle, as well as learning the engineering design process.

Type: Lesson Plan

Making It Rain:

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. In this lesson, students will analyze an informational text that addresses how different types of precipitation are formed. The lesson plan includes a note-taking guide, text-dependent questions, a writing prompt, answer keys, and a writing rubric. Options to extend the lesson are also included.

Type: Lesson Plan

Water Cycle:

This lesson teaches the water cycle through class experiments/ displays, videos and diagrams.

Type: Lesson Plan

You're Moving Where?:

Students will look over data and rank locations from the most attractive state to the least attractive state and help their friend's grandparents decide what locations would be the best states to move to, based on their needs and wants. Students will consider the following factors: natural disasters, seasons, landforms, bodies of water, climate zones and yearly precipitation.

Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. Click here to learn more about MEAs and how they can transform your classroom.

Type: Lesson Plan

Sunshine Beach Hotel MEA:

This Model Eliciting Activity (MEA) asks students to develop a procedure to select a hurricane shutter company.

Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. Click here to learn more about MEAs and how they can transform your classroom.

Type: Lesson Plan

Original Student Tutorials

Traveling With Boolean Logic Part 1: Not Gates:

Expand your coding skills with Boolean logic as you use the inverter NOT function to make decisions while learning about different biomes.

This is part 1 of 4 in a tutorial series about Boolean logic and biomes.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head… OR WAIT, Is It Snow? Or Sleet? Or Hail?:

Learn to identify precipitation as rain, snow, sleet and hail in this interactive tutorial.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Presentation/Slideshow

The Water Cycle (at Tarheel Reader):

This is an accessible, easy-to-read book about the water cycle. It can be downloaded in Power Point, Impress, or Flash formats. For struggling or non-readers the book can be read aloud in a variety of voices. All of the books on the Tar Heel Reader site can be used with the Intellikeys keyboard with a custom overlay, a touch screen, and 1-3 switches. The text and background colors can be modified for students with visual impairments.

Type: Presentation/Slideshow

Text Resources

What Makes it Rain?:

This informational text is intended to support reading in the content area. The text informs readers about how several types of precipitation are formed in the atmosphere, including rain, hail, freezing rain, and snow.

Type: Text Resource

Sleet and Freezing Rain: What's the Difference?:

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. The article and graphics explain the atmospheric conditions needed to form different types of precipitation: snow, freezing rain, and sleet.

Type: Text Resource

Video/Audio/Animation

Precipitation Observation:

Precipitation is water that falls from the sky, such as rain or snow. Precipitation can affect your day-to-day life, even though it is just one aspect of the weather. However, precipitation is also vital to the water cycle as it returns water from the atmosphere back to Earth's surface. In this video clip three different types of precipitation are observed - rain, hail, and snow.

Type: Video/Audio/Animation

STEM Lessons - Model Eliciting Activity

Sunshine Beach Hotel MEA:

This Model Eliciting Activity (MEA) asks students to develop a procedure to select a hurricane shutter company.

Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. Click here to learn more about MEAs and how they can transform your classroom.

You're Moving Where?:

Students will look over data and rank locations from the most attractive state to the least attractive state and help their friend's grandparents decide what locations would be the best states to move to, based on their needs and wants. Students will consider the following factors: natural disasters, seasons, landforms, bodies of water, climate zones and yearly precipitation.

Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. Click here to learn more about MEAs and how they can transform your classroom.

Original Student Tutorials Science - Grades K-8

Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head… OR WAIT, Is It Snow? Or Sleet? Or Hail?:

Learn to identify precipitation as rain, snow, sleet and hail in this interactive tutorial.

Computer Science Original Student Tutorials

Traveling With Boolean Logic Part 1: Not Gates:

Expand your coding skills with Boolean logic as you use the inverter NOT function to make decisions while learning about different biomes.

This is part 1 of 4 in a tutorial series about Boolean logic and biomes.

Student Resources

Vetted resources students can use to learn the concepts and skills in this benchmark.

Original Student Tutorials

Traveling With Boolean Logic Part 1: Not Gates:

Expand your coding skills with Boolean logic as you use the inverter NOT function to make decisions while learning about different biomes.

This is part 1 of 4 in a tutorial series about Boolean logic and biomes.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head… OR WAIT, Is It Snow? Or Sleet? Or Hail?:

Learn to identify precipitation as rain, snow, sleet and hail in this interactive tutorial.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Presentation/Slideshow

The Water Cycle (at Tarheel Reader):

This is an accessible, easy-to-read book about the water cycle. It can be downloaded in Power Point, Impress, or Flash formats. For struggling or non-readers the book can be read aloud in a variety of voices. All of the books on the Tar Heel Reader site can be used with the Intellikeys keyboard with a custom overlay, a touch screen, and 1-3 switches. The text and background colors can be modified for students with visual impairments.

Type: Presentation/Slideshow

Video/Audio/Animation

Precipitation Observation:

Precipitation is water that falls from the sky, such as rain or snow. Precipitation can affect your day-to-day life, even though it is just one aspect of the weather. However, precipitation is also vital to the water cycle as it returns water from the atmosphere back to Earth's surface. In this video clip three different types of precipitation are observed - rain, hail, and snow.

Type: Video/Audio/Animation

Parent Resources

Vetted resources caregivers can use to help students learn the concepts and skills in this benchmark.

Presentation/Slideshow

The Water Cycle (at Tarheel Reader):

This is an accessible, easy-to-read book about the water cycle. It can be downloaded in Power Point, Impress, or Flash formats. For struggling or non-readers the book can be read aloud in a variety of voices. All of the books on the Tar Heel Reader site can be used with the Intellikeys keyboard with a custom overlay, a touch screen, and 1-3 switches. The text and background colors can be modified for students with visual impairments.

Type: Presentation/Slideshow