Today I broke the class into groups based on the 6 different climate regions of the United States. The different regions are Northeast, Northwest Pacific, Mid/South Pacific, Midwest, Southeast, and Southwest. The students will work as a group to conduct research about their assigned climate and will later give a group report to the class. The information they will be looking for is tracking the temperatures over the week, the temperature ranges during the year, the seasons, precipitation, sunny/cloudy and general information about the climate such as the sates that make up the region. They will have to show the class where the region is located on a map. This assignment is designed to help the students attain a deeper understanding of climate and weather. I want them to begin to see how different states and parts of the country have different weather at different times as well as activate their thinking of why this occurs. This will ensure that students put their "thinking caps" on to think outside of the box as well as build the cooperative and team building skills necessary to work with others. The research should be conducted from online resources to give the class an opportunity to become familiar with how to conduct research on the Internet as well as to pick out important information. I posted a link to a page of good resources the students can use to begin their research. At the end of the week each group will present in front of the class. While the group presents the other students are expected to take notes on a note sheet with questions that I will provide in order for everyone to learn about each climate.