I plan on spending 5 or 6 days on this subject and letter. There is so much to learn about our weather, we are progressing through our letters sooner than expected, so I am slowing things down as far as teaching each letter. Also, weather is getting nice outside, so I expect we will be spending more time outside playing (learning)!
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Circle Time: Morning learning songs. Introduce letter W and review letters A-V. Read "My W Book." Review #’s 1-20. Review the vowel song. Begin blending consonants vowels. Review money. Lately, I have been teaching the children some of the old-time songs and rhymes that I sung as a child. Thus far, we have learned "This Old Man," "Where is Thumpkin?", and "Hands On Shoulders," "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands. Teach "Jesus Loves Me," which every child should eventually know. I still sing it to myself occasionally-it's just a pretty and encouraging song! Teach songs/poems for Mother's Day Tea Party! Read "Weather" by Rena Kirkpatrick. This is a book I picked up at a Thrift Store, and it is very nice to teach with for Weather Week!
Bible: "Going Fishing!" from The Big Book of Bible Lessons for Crafty Kids: "Come, follow Me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." Matthew 4:19. Getting Crafty Fishing Game page 130. Play "Getting Active" game outdoors!
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Group Lesson: Clouds: (for teacher): If weather is nice, we will go outdoors for this lesson and take a blanket with us. When heat energy from the sun warms the earth's surface, the earth radiates this heat into the surrounding air. As this WARM air rises into the atmosphere, it cools and the water vapor it contains begins to condense into tiny water droplets, forming clouds. Clouds formed at the earth's surface are called fog.
For kids (http://www.ducksters.com/science/atmosphere.php): The earth is surrounded by a layer of gases called the atmosphere. The atmosphere is very important to life on Earth and does many things to help protect life and help life to survive.
A Big Blanket
The atmosphere protects Earth like a big blanket of insulation. It absorbs the heat from the Sun and keeps the heat inside the atmosphere helping the Earth to stay warm, called the Greenhouse Effect. It also keeps the overall temperature of the Earth fairly steady, especially between night and day. So we don't get too cold at night and too hot during the day. There is also a portion of the atmosphere ofOzone. Ozone helps to protect the earth from the Sun's radiation.
This big blanket also helps to form our weather patterns and climate. The weather keeps too much hot air from forming in one place and causes storms and rainfall. All of these things are important to life and the Earth's ecology.
Air
The atmosphere is the air that plants and animals breathe to survive. The atmosphere is made up of mostly nitrogen (78%) and oxygen (21%). There are lots of other gases that are part of the atmosphere, but in much smaller amounts. These include argon, carbon dioxide, neon, helium, hydrogen, and more. Oxygen is needed by animals to breathe and carbon dioxide is used by plant in photosynthesis.
Creating Water Vapor (From: Exploring Weather - Teacher Created Materials, Inc.): Place equal amounts of water into three cups (clear, plastic cups or jars). Add food coloring to each to tint the water. Mark the water level on each cup with permanent marker. Place one cup in direct sunlight, one in shady spot, and one indoors. Check the cups twice/d and note changes in water levels. Intro and discuss EVAPORATION. At which location did the water in the cup evaporate the quickest? Why? Conclude and explain that even though water vapor is a gaseous substance and cannot be seen, water is in the air around us.
Give each child a copy of Clouds booklet from edHelper.com, and discuss the various types of clouds that are formed: cumulus (big, white, puffy clouds seen on sunny day--great for seeing shapes); cirrus ( thin, curly, made of ice, sun shines through them); stratus (low, gray, often bring rain or snow); nimbus (dark, low, straight, cover whole sky, bring rain--also can be tall, puffy and bring storms). Each child will be given a booklet to color and take home at end of week.
Gross Motor/Phys.Ed: 1. Outdoor play if weather permits. Aerobics inside: I will put on some fun music and show the children some movements they can do for exercise: kicks, jumping jacks, side to sides, knee raises, hamstring curls--this is a little introduction to aerobics!
Art/Fine Motor: Make a large cloud by gluing cotton balls to cloud template. Make large sun by coloring and cutting sun template/rays. Say poem:
Disappearing Act:
Sometimes,
On a sunny day,
The sun disappears...
It just goes away.
"Where did you go?
I wonder out loud,
And then it peeks out,
From behind a cloud.
Discussion about sun and clouds from: Page 5 of Exploring Weather - Teacher Created Materials, Inc.
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Day 2 W is for Weather Numbers Review Money Review
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Circle Time: Morning learning songs. Introduce letter W and review letters A-V. Read "My W Book." Review #’s 1-20. Review the vowel song. Begin blending consonants vowels. Review money. Lately, I have been teaching the children some of the old-time songs and rhymes that I sung as a child. Thus far, we have learned "This Old Man," "Where is Thumpkin?", and "Hands On Shoulders," "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands. Teach "Jesus Loves Me," which every child should eventually know. I still sing it to myself occasionally-it's just a pretty and encouraging song! Teach songs/poems for Mother's Day Tea Party! Read "City Storm" by Rebel Williams. Sing the words to the tune of "The Wheels on the Bus." See plans and discussions at end of book for further teaching material (safety in a storm; using instruments for storm sounds, etc.)This is a book I picked up at a Thrift Store, and it is very nice to teach with for Weather Week!
Bible: Read: "Heaven is for Real for little ones: I picked this up at Ollie's for $2.29.
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Group Lesson: Rain! 1. On a rainy day, show the children a measuring cup and explain that we are going to set the cup outside in the rain and see how much rain falls into the cup. At the end of the day, collect the jar, read measurement, and record. You could do this for every rainy day of the month and chart how much rain fell that month! 2. Additionally: bring the rain water inside and have the children observe the water through a magnifying glass. Ask if water appears clean. Tuck a coffee filter into the top of the jar. Fold the edges over the lip of the jar. Secure the filter to the jar with rubber band. Pour the rainwater into a second clean jar. Observe what collects on the filter. Help the children conclude that particles of dirt from substances like vehicle fumes and smoke collect in the clouds and pollute the rain. 3. Fill two oblong balloons with air and tie to close. Go to darkened room. Hold one balloon in each hand and rub the balloons back and forth over your clothing. Hold the balloons so they almost touch. Observe a small flash of light as (static) electricity jumps between balloons. If very quiet, you will also hear a faint crackle. Help students relate this flash to the lightning we experience during thunderstorms. Lightning is caused by the discharge of electricity in the atmosphere. If the balloons had been clouds, the flash would have been lightning. From Exploring Weather - Teacher Created Materials, Inc.).
Gross Motor/Phys.Ed: 1. Outdoor play if weather permits. Aerobics inside: I will put on some fun music and show the children some movements they can do for exercise: kicks, jumping jacks, side to sides, knee raises, hamstring curls--this is a little introduction to aerobics!
Art/Fine Motor: Rain Shapes (from: Exploring Weather - Teacher Created Materials, Inc.) Fill several spray bottles with water. Use food coloring to tint the water in each bottle a different color. Lauer a table with newspaper or place newspaper in bottom of large box. Provide children with cardboard shapes or actual objects. Have the children place a piece of white paper on the newspaper, lay an object or shape onto the white paper, and then use spray bottles to simulate rain over the objects and paper. When the object is removed, the children should be able to recognize and name the object by looking at the shape it created on the paper.
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Additional Activities with Rain: Rainy Day Story; Rainy Day Rhyme; Flip and Count Game; Sizing Raindrops (seriation); Puddle Jumps Activity Game; Balancing Act Game. From: Exploring Weather - Teacher Created Materials, Inc.
Day 3 W is for Weather Numbers Review Money Review
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Circle Time: Morning learning songs. Introduce letter W and review letters A-V. Read "My W Book." Review #’s 1-20. Review the vowel song. Begin blending consonants vowels. Review money. Lately, I have been teaching the children some of the old-time songs and rhymes that I sung as a child. Thus far, we have learned "This Old Man," "Where is Thumpkin?", and "Hands On Shoulders," "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands. Teach "Jesus Loves Me," which every child should eventually know. I still sing it to myself occasionally-it's just a pretty and encouraging song! Teach songs/poems for Mother's Day Tea Party! Read "Snow" by Christopher Hernandez from Scholastic. For Teachers: When the temp falls to 32F, we experience frost, sleet, snow, ice. Frost: icy glaz on windows and grass caused by freezing of water vapor in the atmosphere; SLeet: frozen raindrops; Snow: frozen crystals of water; Ice: frozen Mass of water.
Bible: Read: from "Growing With Jesus" devotional and do coloring sheet "I can be a friend to someone no one likes." Discuss how KIND Jesus was and is, how powerful He was and is, and how much He loves you. Make this a happy thinking day!
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Group Lesson: 1. Making Frost from: Exploring Weather - Teacher Created Materials, Inc.- Fill a drinking glass with ice, sprinkle ice with a little salt, and stir. This combo of ice and salt pulls heat energy from the surrounding air. Water from the air will slowlu collect on the inside of the glass, and in time will harden to frost. If you scratch some of the frost away, does it reappear? Help the students understand that the process taking place within the glass is the same process that takes place on the earth. During the day, the earth absorbs heat from the sun. At night, the earth radiates this heat. When this warm vapor meets with colder air temps, frost forms. 2. Expanding Water: Have students place equal amounts of water in two plastic jars. Mark the water level on outside of each jar. Cover one jar and set aside; freeze the other overnight. Help students conclude that ice occupies more space than water and water expands when it freezes. 3. LIke a Rock: Let children place small rock in cup of water to soak overnight. Next day, have them remove the wet rock from the cup and place in a sealable plastic bag; place bag in freezer for several hours. Remove bag from freezer and let rock defrost in bag till ice melts and rock is room temp. Empty contents of bag onto a sheet of white paper. Observe any change in the rock. Are there fragments that have broken away from the rock. Help students conclude that expanding and contracting that takes place when water freezes and then melts can shatter rocks and produce small fragments from which soil develops. This is called FROST SHATTERING.
Gross Motor/Phys.Ed: 1. Outdoor play if weather permits. Aerobics inside: I will put on some fun music and show the children some movements they can do for exercise: kicks, jumping jacks, side to sides, knee raises, hamstring curls--this is a little introduction to aerobics!
Art/Fine Motor: Rain Shapes (from: Exploring Weather - Teacher Created Materials, Inc.) Snow Colors: Warm a clear jar with hot water and then fill it with boiling water. Add borax to the water (1 tbsp. at a time, and stir. Keep adding and stirring until the powder no longer disappears into the water, about 3 tbsp per cup of water. Stir in several drops of food coloring. Bend a pipe cleaner into any shape desired and tie one end of a string to the middle of a pencil. Holding the pencil, lower the pipe cleaner shape into the borax solution. Set the pencil down over the top of the jar to hold the pipe cleaner shape suspended in the solution. As the water cools and evaporates, the borax molecules will stick together on the pipe cleaner, creating crystals. Leave the crystals in a warm area, and watch them grow every day. Observe with a magnifying glass!
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Day 4 W is for Weather Numbers Review Money Review
Group Lesson: Wind (From: Exploring Weather - Teacher Created Materials, Inc) - For teachers: wind is air in motion. We cannot see the wind; we can see only the effects. WInd is caused by the constant rise and fall of warm and cold air, warmer air being lighter and cold air heavier. Most of our weather changes are caused by the wind as it spreads the sun's heat from warm areas to colder ones. Talk with students about how wind power can be strong or gentle, helpful or harmful. Read: "Wind" by Christopher Hernandez from Scholastic.
Art/Fine Motor: Making Pinwheels
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