We had so much fun doing this project. First of all, EVERY students in grades 4-8 who had parental permission worked in small groups to e-mail Uzbekistan, South Africa, Canada, Australia, Argentina, as well as Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Texas, Kentucky, Virginia, and Arizona. Forty groups e-mailed 40 different schools under our teacher's supervision. We heard from 20 schools. These are all posted in our hall so everyone can read them. We were so excited to not only learn about the weather, but also learn what students in our grades were learning and what they like to do for fun.

We did graph ALL of the schools who submitted information. We observed that the range in latitude was -37.9 to 48.34. Most schools participating were 40 degrees north or south of the equator. We were able to determine that the closer you are to the equator, the more sunlight you receive. The seasons and the tilt of the earth's axis, the wind patterns, cloud coverage are just a few of the factors that affect temperature. For example, we are 60 miles from Cleveland, OH and have the same latitude but our temperatures can vary about 30 degrees. Cleveland is near Lake Erie. They also have wind patterns that contribute to the difference in temperature. Ohio has unusual cloud coverage. This is a factor when comparing with other areas.

We are in Spring and so the sun is climbing and will reach its highest point in Summer. Because of this, the earth's axis of rotation allows for more of the sun's energy to be received in our area. Thus our temperatures are rising as the minutes of sunlight per day increase. We found that those closest to the equator receive a stronger Sun heating their surface and thus have higher temperatures all year round compared to those farther away.

We used many sites on the internet, our local and national weather stations, our local newspaper, and weather books to determine our findings. We also compared information with the schools we heard from. We concluded that the high temperatures are directly related to the amount of sunlight but that other factors mentioned above contribute also. Each participating student in grades 4-8 recorded the temperature at his/her lunch period on the day he/she e-mailed. Thus EVERYONE got to participate. Way to go, Mr. Koen!! Great learning fun!! SRS

E-mail: marsha.jankowski@neomin.org