Present kids with a variety of items for temperature measurement practice. Include pourable solids such as sand from outside and liquids of many different consistencies and temperatures. Be sure no item is hot enough to cause burns. Provide thermometers of different kinds marked with both Celsius and Fahrenheit units. Allow students to use both standard and metric measuring tools. Focus on student exploration and experimentation rather than writing a list of right answers. Allow plenty of time for students to experience measuring the temperature of as many different items as possible.
Measure the temperature of a variety of objects around your class or home, such as the water in a fish bowl, soil around a potted plant, a pudding cup from a refrigerator or a lit lamp bulb. Also locate information about the temperature of different objects, such as the surface of the planet Neptune, the sun, the moon, boiling water, an ice cube and the human body. Create a list of these objects without the temperature listed. Also provide students with a list of the temperature measurements of all objects on a whiteboard or chart but do not list which object goes with the measurements; list only the measurement numbers and units on the chart. Place the group of objects that you measured in the sight of students. Ask students to study the objects listed. They then study the measurements on the chart and estimate which object goes with which measurement. Have students either write down answers or do the activity orally while you or a student chart the answers. Check student responses after students complete the activity. Reveal the correct measurements to students.
Upper elementary students face the challenge of converting Celsius and Fahrenheit degrees. The formula contains steps that are developmentally appropriate for kids in fourth grade and up. To convert, multiply the Celsius temperature by the fraction 9/5 or its decimal equivalent of 1.8, then add 32. To compute Fahrenheit to Celsius, teach kids to use the formula Fahrenheit degrees minus 32, multiplied by 5/9. Teach kids how to calculate the formula step by step. Provide plenty of practice converting Celsius to Fahrenheit by placing new temperatures to convert in a weekly learning center or daily morning work.
Give students practice solving word problems using temperature. Provide word problems to solve, such as calculating how much hotter it is in one city than in another. Students in upper grades can also work out temperature averages by, for example, looking at the noon temperature outside for a week, then calculating the average noon temperature. Use temperature problem-solving as morning warm-up work or as part of a daily problem-solving activity. Instruct students to write word problems that involve temperature. Then have their classmates attempt to solve them.