Rain gauges around the yard: the whole packet
Every sheet for your project, 9 pages, already filled in with your question, your levels and your units. One tap prints them all, in order.
Name ______________________ Fair day ____________
Question: Where does the most rain land: the open yard, under a tree or by the house?
My days, if the fair is 14 days away
| When | Job | Date | Done |
|---|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | 🧺 Gather what you need and print your sheets | ☐ | |
| Day 2 | 🧪 Do the test: the first try at every level | ☐ | |
| Days 3–8 | 🔁 Do it again until every level has its tries | ☐ | |
| Day 13 | ✏️ Find the middle numbers, draw the graph, write the conclusion | ☐ | |
| Day 14 | 🪧 Make the board | ☐ |
Count back from your fair day and write in each date. Fewer days than this? The jobs share days, in this order; nothing is skipped.
Dates from my teacher
- My question is due
- Testing starts
- My results table and graph are due
- My board is due
In this packet
- 🗓️ My project plan
- 💭 My hypothesis
- 🧺 Change, measure, keep the same
- 🪜 My steps
- 📊 My results
- 📓 My logbook
- ✅ My conclusion
- ✂️ Board titles to cut out
- 🏅 The judge's questions and my certificate
Name ______________________ Fair day ____________
Question: Where does the most rain land: the open yard, under a tree or by the house?
If I change where the rain gauge stands, then how much rain the gauge catches in a week will ________________, because _____________________________________________
| I CHANGE | I MEASURE | I KEEP THE SAME |
|---|---|---|
| Where the gauge stands: Open yard, Under a tree, By the house wall | how much rain the gauge catches in a week (mm) |
|
What I think will happen, in my own words:
- 1st–3rd grade: Keep it short and say it out loud first. A grown-up can write it down, as long as the words are yours.
- 4th–6th grade: Name every level (Open yard, Under a tree, By the house wall) and say which one will win. You'll work out the mean of your tries, so say it about the means.
- 7th grade and up: Say how much, and use a science idea for the because. Then plan a second test: stand a wide bowl and a narrow jar side by side in the open, and see whether the opening's size changes the depth.
Stuck on the because? Think about what is above each gauge, and which way the rain usually blows in.
Name ______________________ Fair day ____________
Question: Where does the most rain land: the open yard, under a tree or by the house?
I CHANGE
the independent variable
where the rain gauge stands
Levels: Open yard, Under a tree, By the house wall
I MEASURE
the dependent variable
how much rain the gauge catches in a week, in mm
I KEEP THE SAME
the controls
- the same kind of straight-sided jar for every gauge
- every gauge standing level on the ground
- reading them all at the same time each evening
3 levels × 3 tries at each = 9 tries in all. If anything you keep the same changes, you won't know which change made the difference.
What I need
- 🫙 A clear jar or tall glass: 9, all the same, with straight sides (plastic if you have them)
- 🩹 Masking tape, to mark lines
- ✏️ A pencil
- 📏 A ruler
Name ______________________ Fair day ____________
Question: Where does the most rain land: the open yard, under a tree or by the house?
Be safe: 🌳 Outside
- Pick a week when rain is forecast.
- Stand three jars in the open yard, three under a tree and three right by a wall of the house.
- Wedge each jar so it stands level and can't tip over.
- Every evening, stand a ruler in each jar and measure the water in millimetres.
- Write each number in your logbook, then pour the water out and put the jar back.
- Stay inside in a storm: read the jars once the thunder and lightning have stopped.
- At the end of the week, add up each jar's days.
- Find the mean for each spot and draw a bar graph.
Write each number in your results table the moment you measure it.
Name ______________________ Fair day ____________
Question: Where does the most rain land: the open yard, under a tree or by the house?
I changed: Where the gauge stands I measured: how much rain the gauge catches in a week (mm)
| Where the gauge stands | Try 1 (mm) | Try 2 (mm) | Try 3 (mm) | Mean |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Open yard | ||||
| Under a tree | ||||
| By the house wall |
MY GRAPH (a bar graph: where the gauge stands along the bottom, mm up the side)
What I noticed: ______________________________________________
Name ______________________ Fair day ____________
Question: Where does the most rain land: the open yard, under a tree or by the house?
| Date | What I did | What I saw | What I think |
|---|---|---|---|
Write something every day you work on it, even the days you only gather things. More days? The three-page logbook prints from peabody.kids/science-fair/templates/logbook.
Name ______________________ Fair day ____________
Question: Where does the most rain land: the open yard, under a tree or by the house?
My hypothesis was ☐ right ☐ partly right ☐ not right.
I know because my numbers show:
What surprised me, or what might have gone wrong (7th and up):
Next time I would test:
Idea: Change a second thing: stand a wide bowl and a narrow jar side by side in the open, and see whether the opening's size changes the depth.
Question: Where does the most rain land: the open yard, under a tree or by the house?
- What made you want to ask this question? Say something like: I wanted to know: where does the most rain land: the open yard, under a tree or by the house?
- What did you think would happen, and why? Say something like: I thought changing where the rain gauge stands would change how much rain the gauge catches in a week, and I wrote down why.
- What did you change, and what did you measure? Say something like: I changed where the rain gauge stands (Open yard, Under a tree, By the house wall) and measured how much rain the gauge catches in a week in mm.
- What did you keep the same, and why does that matter? Say something like: I kept the same kind of straight-sided jar for every gauge and every gauge standing level on the ground the same, so only where the rain gauge stands was different.
- How many times did you test it? Say something like: 3 times at each of my 3 levels, and I found the middle number.
- What did you find out? Show me in your numbers. Say something like: Look at my table: Open yard and By the house wall gave different numbers, and here's the pattern.
- Was your hypothesis right? How do you know? Say something like: My numbers show whether I was right, partly right or not, and I can show you where.
- Did anything go wrong, or surprise you? Say something like: One try was odd, so I did it again and wrote it in my logbook.
- If you did it again, what would you change or test next? Say something like: I'd change a second thing: stand a wide bowl and a narrow jar side by side in the open, and see whether the opening's size changes the depth.
🥽 Peabody Science Fair
Certificate of Real Science
This is to say that
______________________________
asked a real question, tested it 3 times at every level, and showed what they found at the science fair:
🌧️ Where does the most rain land: the open yard, under a tree or by the house?
Signed ______________________ Date ______________
Print on Letter paper at 100%. Dark mode on your screen still prints black on white. A teacher with a whole class? The class packet prints the same nine pages blank.
👨👩👧 For grown-ups and teachers: how much to help, the safety rules, and running a school fair. Science fair v0.16.1 · Checked .