1:Global Weather Patterns Guide

2: Guide Creation Information

Guide Author	Jim Kruger
District	St. Peter Middle/High School, ISD 508
Date Created	08/05/2011
Guide Description	Students will use photos of excessive snowfalls and floodwaters in local sites to determine in which years they occurred. Once the years are identified, the students will research how the global weather patterns may have played a role in the snowfalls and floods.

3: Guide Characteristics

Title of Main Academic Standard used in Guide	Minnesota Academic Standards: Science K-12 (2009 version)
Grade Level	8
Learning Level	Reinforced
National Holiday/Special Occasion (optional)
Source Format Emphasized	Photos
Geographic Region Emphasized (optional)	South Central Minnesota
Other Minnesota Reflections Guide(s) Related to this Guide (optional)

4: Main Standard Emphasized in Guide

Standard Title	Minnesota Academic Standards: Science K-12 (2009 version)
Category
Strand	Earth and Space Science
Sub-strand	Interdependence Within the Earth System
Standard	Patterns of atmospheric movement influence global climate and local weather
Benchmark 1: standard number	8.3.2.2.3
Benchmark 1: text	Relate global weather patterns to patterns in regional and local weather
Benchmark 2: standard number	8.3.2.2.2
Benchmark 2: text	Analyze changes in wind direction, temperature, humidity, and air pressure and relate them to fronts and pressure systems.
Benchmark 3: standard number
Benchmark 3: text
Benchmark 4: standard number
Benchmark 4: text

5: Another Standard Emphasized in Guide (optional)

Standard Title	Minnesota Academic Standards: Science K-12 (2009 version)
Category
Strand	Earth and Space Science
Sub-strand	Interdependence Within the Earth System
Standard	Water, which covers the majority of the Earth's surface, circulates through the crust, oceans and atmosphere in what is known as the water cycle.
Benchmark 1: standard number	8.3.2.3.2
Benchmark 1: text	Describe how the water cycle distributes materials and purifies water.
Benchmark 2: standard number
Benchmark 2: text
Benchmark 3: standard number
Benchmark 3: text
Benchmark 4: standard number
Benchmark 4: text

6: Additional Standards and/or Skills (reading, math, media literacy, interdisciplinary)

Reading: standard number
Reading: standard text
Math: standard number
Math: standard text
Media Literacy: standard number	9.9.5.5
Media Literacy: standard text	Make strategic use of digital media (e.g., textual, graphical, audio, visual, and interactive elements) in presentations to enhance understanding of findings, reasoning, and evidence and to add interest.
Interdisciplinary Connection

Minnesota Reflections Resources

7: Search Strategy

Things to Think About	Is there a relationship between the global patterns of la Nina and el Nino to the years of the photos in the guide? Can one find a connection to the excessive local weather events seen in the photos in all years of recorded weather?
Keywords	Weather, snow, floods
Other ideas (to assist with discovery)
Challenges to finding resources on this standard

8: Minnesota Reflections Top Picks

Title	Date created	Description	Format (photo, map, letter …)	"Cite the Item" link
Snow on South Front Street Mankato	1881	Snow on South Front Street Mankato indicates that there was very heavy snow during the 1881 winter.	Photo	http://reflections.mndigital.org/u?/blue,1396
Front Street Mankato, Minnesota	1909	Snow on Front Street Mankato, Minnesota, indicating that there was a great deal of snow in the 1909 winter.	Photo	http://reflections.mndigital.org/u?/blue,1399
Randall and Smith	1871	Snow on Randall and Smith Streets, Mankato, MN. The 1871 winter proved to be one of great snow	Photo	http://reflections.mndigital.org/u?/blue,1418
Snow storm in Mankato	1/21/1916	1916 winter had a great deal of snow. This photo shows the snow piles from the storms in Mankato of that year.	Photo	http://reflections.mndigital.org/u?/blue,1762
Snow on Front Street, Mankato, Minnesota	1925	Snow piles on street in Mankato, Minnesota. 1925 was a year of great snow in south central Minnesota	Photo	http://reflections.mndigital.org/u?/blue,2468
Snowdrift in Mankato	1908	Snow drift near Mankato, Minnesota, in 1908. These drifts indicate a large amount of snow fall in 1908. Power and telephone poles were shorter in 1908 in comparison to today, so a discussion with students on how frames of reference can influence what you see and interpret would be valuable.	Photo	http://reflections.mndigital.org/u?/blue,2495
Snow on South Front Street	1928	Snow on South Front Street, Mankato. 1928 was a year of great snow in southern Minnesota.	Photo	http://reflections.mndigital.org/u?/blue,2561
Snow Near Pemberton	1936	Snow drifts near Pemberton, Minnesota. Great amounts of snow fell in south central Minnesota in 1936.	Photo	http://reflections.mndigital.org/u?/blue,2614
Red Wing after the 1886 blizzard, Red Wing, Minnesota	1886	Snow piles in street of Red Wing after 1886 blizzard. This was a very intense storm in 1886 in south eastern Minnesota.	Photo	http://reflections.mndigital.org/u?/gust,338
Armistice Day Blizzard, St. Peter	1940	Snow drifts from Armistice Day blizzard in St. Peter, Minnesota. This was a historic snow event in southern Minnesota.	Photo	http://reflections.mndigital.org/u?/nico,2095
Floodwaters, Mankato, Minnesota	1881	Flood waters, Mankato, Minnesota. 1881 was a year of great flooding in southern Minnesota	Photo	http://reflections.mndigital.org/u?/blue,1481
Floodwater on Glenwood Ave, Mankato, MN	1916	Flood waters, on Glenwood Ave, Mankato, Minnesota. Great flooding took place in south central Minnesota in 1916.	Photo	http://reflections.mndigital.org/u?/blue,1929
Minnesota River flood at St. Peter	1908	St. Peter flood of 1908, a year of massive flooding.	Photo	http://reflections.mndigital.org/u?/nico,1390
1965 St. Peter Flood	1965	Flood at St. Peter in 1965. Water levels in St. Peter were at very high levels in the 1965 flooding.	Photo	http://reflections.mndigital.org/u?/nico,2015
Mississippi Flood, St. Cloud	1965	Floodwaters of Mississippi River flood in St. Cloud. The Mississippi River was flooding at great levels in 1965.	Photo	http://reflections.mndigital.org/u?/stearns,1583
Flood, Winona, Minnesota	1880	Floodwaters of Winona, Minnesota in 1880. Pictures show how Winona was hit by the 1880 flood.	Photo	http://reflections.mndigital.org/u?/wch,234
Randolph M. Probstfield Journals: 1878-1879	1878	Randolph Probstfield's journal on page 32 tells how intense the winter was in 1878. This would be some of the earliest times that weather in Minnesota would be recorded.	Journal	http://reflections.mndigital.org/u?/mhd,754

9: Specific Minnesota Reflections Collection(s) to Consider (optional)

10: Helpful Tips (optional)

Students could use local newspaper or TV links to locate more pictures and stories related to the snow amounts and flooding.

11: Ideas for Lesson Plans Using this Guide (optional)

Use the photos as an introduction to find years in which intense local weather events took place. Relate these years to the possible global weather patterns of el Nino and la Nina. Expand research to local great snowfall and flooding amounts of all years since weather has been recorded. A question for students to answer could be: Does el Nino and/or la Nina have an influence on snow fall and flooding in south central Minnesota? An extension of this guide could lead to another science standard. That standard would be found in "The Nature of Science and Engineering" strand and "The Practice of Science" substrand for grade 8. Students and teacher could generate and research investigative questions regarding el Nino and la Nina and their influence on weather patterns.