Desert Climate and Rainforest Climate, Read and Compare

Ask your child whether today's weather matches your town's usual weather for this month. After the desert and rainforest page, name one plant or animal that could not live in the other place and talk about why.

Compare rain, temperature and plants in a hot desert and a tropical rainforest on a chart. Tropical places are near the equator, the line around the middle of Earth. The directions on the page read: Read the passage. Then, turn the page and fill in the compare chart. On page 2: Fill in boxes 1 to 6 of the compare chart with words from the passage. Then, circle the letter of the best answer for question 7 and write the answers to questions 8 and 9 on the lines. The answer key covers the questions on page 2.

Yes, both. We made it for 3rd 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 climate vs weather. In class it runs well as independent work while you pull a small group. Print one copy or thirty, whichever the day needs.

These worksheets teach third graders that weather describes day-to-day atmospheric conditions, today it is sunny and warm, while climate describes the long-term pattern of conditions in a region, this desert is dry most of the year. Students classify examples, compare the climates of different regions, and begin to understand why scientists track climate data over decades rather than days.

Climate vs weather is typically introduced in Grade 3 during the weather and climate unit, usually after students have studied weather patterns and severe weather. At ages 8-9, students can grasp the timescale distinction when it is anchored to familiar examples: 'Rainy today' is weather. 'Seattle gets a lot of rain every year' is climate.

Look up the average monthly temperatures for your city and compare them to what the weather actually was this month. Ask your child: is today's weather the same as your climate? Use that real-data comparison to anchor the worksheet definitions before completing the classification activities. Connecting the concept to your own hometown makes the distinction immediately meaningful.

4 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 3rd Grade students, roughly ages 8-9. 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.