Name 	   Class 	    Date 	

4.1 Climate
Lesson Objectives
Differentiate between weather and climate.
Identify the factors that influence climate.

BUILD Vocabulary
A. The chart below shows the key terms in this lesson with their definitions. Complete the chart by writing a strategy to help you remember the meaning of each term. One has been done for you.

Term	Definition	How I’m Going to Remember the Meaning	
Climate	Average year-after-year patterns of temperature and precipitation		
Greenhouse effect	Situation in which heat is retained in Earth’s atmosphere due to accumulation of greenhouse gases		
Weather	Day-to-day conditions of Earth’s atmosphere	The television gives you the weather news each day because weather changes daily.	

B. As you work through this lesson, you may find these terms in the activities. When you need to write a key term or a definition, highlight the term or the definition.

BUILD Understanding
Preview Visuals Previewing a lesson's visuals can give you an idea about what you will learn. Visuals include photographs, charts, graphs, and diagrams. Before you read Lesson 1, preview the diagram of climate zones. Answer the questions below.
1. Explain what this diagram shows.

2. Write two questions you have about this diagram.

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Name 	   Class 	    Date 	

Factors That Affect Climate
The main factor that shapes our climate is solar energy that arrives as sunlight. Sunlight strikes different parts of Earth’s surface throughout the year because the Earth revolves on a tilted axis. Scientists have divided the Earth's surface into three main climate zones: polar, temperate, and tropical.

Label Earth’s main climate zones as temperate, tropical, or polar. You will use some terms more than once.
Answer the questions.
1. Which climate zone receives the most direct sunlight year-round? 	
	
2. Why are the polar zones colder than the other zones? 	

BUILD Connections
The Greenhouse Effect An analogy takes two things that seem to be different and shows how they can be similar. The analogy of a greenhouse can be used to explain how gases trap heat near Earth. 
1. How does the analogy of a greenhouse help you understand how these gases can trap heat near Earth?

	
	
2. Find a partner. Using the analogy, explain how the elimination of all greenhouse gases would affect Earth.

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