DISPATCH – May 29, 2020

Hi Trailblazers! If you look out of your window, you’ll see that spring has definitely sprung. But the weather has also been a little unpredictable… Wasn’t it snowing last week? Today, we’ll discover a tool that will help us know a bit more about our weather!

DISCOVER

A weather vane is an instrument used to show the direction of the wind (north, east, south and west) and is often placed on the highest point of a building. The head of the weather vane (in our case the beaver’s head) will point in the direction that the wind is blowing. The weather vane was invented in both China and Greece around the same time in the 2nd century BCE. 

With a weather vane and a bit of research you can know if a chilly northern wind is coming your way, or if you can get put on a t-shirt because a warm southern gust is rolling in!

CREATE

There are different ways to make a weather vane using materials you can find around the house and in your recycling bin. Your weather vane will need to have a base that is weighted so that it doesn’t blow away, a pointer or arrow and north, south, east and west directions (you could use the compass we made back in our first dispatch to find these directions!). Get creative with your materials. How it looks is entirely up to you! Check out these examples:

https://www.education.com/activity/article/forecast-weather-weathervane/

https://www.sunhatsandwellieboots.com/2014/05/diy-weather-station-for-kids-to-make.html

SHARE

We’d like to see your weather vanes! Take a picture and ask your adult to post it on social media. You can tag us @ROMToronto and use the hashtag #ROMTrailblazers

Can you tell which way the wind will blow? Hopefully with your weather vane will make predicting the weather a little easier! We’ll be back next week with a full Gazetteer! 

Mahmoud and Caitlin