Weather VS. Climate

According to Mark Twain, “climate is what we expect, weather is what we get.” Fifth grade has recently begun an investigation into weather and climate. Students compared and contrasted weather and climate in a lab investigation using M&M’s.

Each student was given a “fun size” bag of M&M’s. On the lab report, they were to choose 6 different types of weather to coincide with the different color of M&M. The next step was to choose one M&M randomly out of the bag (without looking) to represent that day’s weather. Students documented their “random” weekly weather report according to the colors of the M&M’s.

Obviously, weather predicting takes into account more than just M&M’s. Students were able to see how weather and climate work together, but also work independently of each other.