Seasons in two hemispheres: compare climate graphs in grades 4–5
What it is: a data activity for grades 4 and 5 where students graph average monthly temperatures for their own city and for a city in the Southern Hemisphere, such as Sydney, Australia. The lines go in opposite directions: when it is summer in one place, it is winter in the other. Students connect the pattern to the tilt of Earth's axis.
Time: about 40 minutes. Grade: 4th and 5th grade.
Materials: official monthly averages for both cities (U.S. city: NOAA's U.S. Climate Normals; Sydney: Australia's Bureau of Meteorology climate statistics), graph paper or a spreadsheet, two colored pencils, and a globe.
- Ask: "What is the weather like here in July? What about in January?"
- Give out the monthly average temperatures (or have students look them up on the two official sites).
- Students graph both cities on the same axes, months across the bottom, one color per city.
- Find the warmest and coldest month for each city. Ask: "What do you notice?"
- Use the globe and a lamp to show Earth's tilt: when the Northern Hemisphere leans toward the sun, it has summer, and the Southern Hemisphere has winter.
- Students write two sentences: what the graph shows, and why.
Differentiation: students who need support graph 4 months (January, April, July, October). Students who are ready add a city near the equator and describe how its line looks. English learners can use the words hemisphere, average, warmest and coldest.
Quick check: ask a student: if it is December in Sydney, what season is it there, and why?
Save this activity to your library so it is ready when you need it.
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About this resource
- Shared by
- @UpOnlyLearning · Curriculum team
- Posted
- Oct 31, 2026
- Type
- Lesson plan
- Grade
- Grades 3–5
- Subject
- Social studies
- Language
- English
- License
- Free for classroom, co-op and tutoring use. Please don't resell.