Read a Weather Map Key

Start with something students can look at or think about: a photo, a short video, a jar on the windowsill, or a question like "what do you already know about weather forecasting?" Then let them work through it independently after a quick group example, checking in with a partner if they get stuck, keeping a word bank or anchor chart in view so the vocabulary stays available. When you review, ask students how they knew, and let them point to the part of the diagram or reading that told them. These weather forecasting worksheets work well as a lead in before an investigation, as a way to capture what students noticed afterward, or as review before an assessment.

Read a weather map and key for five towns and answer six questions. A map key tells what each symbol on a map means. The directions on the page read: Read the map and its key. Then, write the answer to each question on the line. The answer key shows every answer.

Yes, both. We made it for 2nd Grade weather and climate, and the page works the same whether it lands on a kitchen table or a center rotation. At home, most families go through it together and talk the answers out loud, and that talking is where most of the learning happens with weather forecasting. In class it runs well as independent work while you pull a small group. Print one copy or thirty, whichever the day needs.

Students learn that weather forecasts are based on data collection, pattern recognition, and scientific tools like weather satellites and radar. For 7-8 year olds, acting as meteorologists who record observations and make predictions builds both science process skills and enthusiasm for data-driven reasoning.

Weather forecasting is typically the culminating lesson in Grade 2 weather and climate units. It applies all the concepts children have learned, cloud types, temperature, precipitation, severe weather, to the real-world practice of predicting what comes next.

Watch a weather forecast together before working through the worksheets, and then check the next day whether the forecast was accurate. Discussing why forecasts are sometimes wrong introduces children to the concept of scientific uncertainty and the difference between prediction and certainty.

2 printable worksheets, all free to preview. Downloads are included with a ClassWeekly free trial, and every page prints on standard 8.5 x 11 paper.

These are written for 2nd Grade students, roughly ages 7-8. Many teachers also use them a grade up for review or a grade down as an extension, so use the preview to judge the fit for a particular child.

Yes. Each one shows the NGSS code it covers on its own page, so you can check the alignment yourself rather than taking our word for it.