3-ESS2-2: Describing Climates Around the World
Also called NGSS 3-ESS2-2 · Topic: Weather and Climate · Earth and Space Science
The Official Wording
Obtain and combine information to describe climates in different regions of the world.
NGSS Lead States, 2013 · Read it on nextgenscience.org · checked October 15, 2026
What 3-ESS2-2 Means in Plain English
Third graders gather information from books, maps, graphs and websites, then pull it together to describe the climate in different parts of the world. They compare places that are hot and dry, hot and wet, or cold for much of the year.
Climate means the usual weather over many years, not one day's forecast, and students describe it in everyday words like rainy, dry, warm or freezing. This builds on 3-ESS2-1 and leads to MS-ESS2-6, which explains what shapes a region's climate.
3-ESS2-2 I Can Statements
- I can explain the difference between weather and climate.
- I can find climate facts in more than one source.
- I can compare the climates of two places.
3-ESS2-2 Worked Example
A research task comparing three cities with very different climates.
How do the climates of Cairo, Singapore and Anchorage differ?
Set It Up: An atlas, library books on world weather, kid-safe websites with climate charts, and one fact card per city.
- Find each city in the atlas and note how close it is to the equator.Singapore near the equator, Anchorage far north
- Look up yearly rainfall for each city in two sources.Cairo: about 1 inch. Singapore: about 90 inches
- Look up typical summer and winter temperatures.Anchorage winter highs below freezing
- Check that two sources agree before writing a fact on the card.Facts confirmed
- Write one sentence describing each city's climate.Hot and dry, hot and wet, long cold winters
Cairo is hot and very dry, Singapore is hot and rainy all year, and Anchorage has long, freezing winters and cool summers.
Why it works: Climate is the long-term pattern of weather in a place, and it differs a lot depending on where on Earth the place is.
Common Mistakes with 3-ESS2-2
Using one day's weather as climate
“Anchorage was 70 degrees today, so it has a warm climate.”
Try this: Use yearly averages from charts or books. Climate describes years of weather, so one warm day says little about it.
Trusting a single source
Copying one website's number without checking
Try this: Find the same fact in a second source, like an atlas or library book, before adding it to the climate card.
Thinking all hot places are deserts
“Singapore is hot, so it must be dry.”
Try this: Compare the rainfall numbers. Some hot places get very little rain and others get heavy rain nearly every month.
Where 3-ESS2-2 Fits
Practice 3-ESS2-2
Quick Check
- What is the difference between weather and climate?
- Singapore is near the equator and gets lots of rain. How would you describe its climate?
- Why use more than one source when researching climate?