No two days are exactly alike. Each season brings different weather and each day new possibilities. Here's a way you can explore each season with your students.
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Alternatives might be to
- create a "permanent" calendar template on a classroom whiteboard and use markers to record the daily weather.
- set aside at home a calendar for the purpose of this activity.
- use Education World's printable coloring calendars so each student can keep a weather record.
Hang the thermometer outside your classroom window.
Each day at the same time take note of the weather. Draw a sun, cloud, or raindrops in the square for that day. Look at the thermometer and record the temperature for the day.
At the end of each month, count how many days it was sunny and how many days it rained. What was the highest temperature for the month? What was the lowest temperature? What was the range of temperatures?
Involve students in some of these extension activities:
Ask students: What is your favorite kind of weather? Do you like hot, hazy days of summer or do you like the brisk, cold days of winter?
The temperature outdoors affects how people feel and what they like to eat. Ask students: What would you bring to eat at the beach? What would you like to eat on a cold Sunday afternoon?
Here's a snack idea that is good any time of year: Spread a small square of date-nut bread with cream cheese. Add your favorite extras -- banana, raisins, or honey. Top with another square of bread. (Be prepared to offer an alternative snack for students who might have nut allergies.)
Crash! Bang!
Here's a fun thing to do while you are indoors during the next thunderstorm: When you see a streak of lightning, begin
counting seconds until you hear a thunder boom. Ask a grown-up to divide the seconds you counted by 5. That will tell
you how far away the storm is. For example, if you counted to 10, the storm is 2 miles away (10 divided by 5 is 2).
This activity is excerpted from Nancy Castaldo's Sunny Days and Starry Nights, which is published by Chicago Review Press. This lesson idea is one of more than 65 activities from Sunny Days and Starry Nights that are sure to inspire children as they discover and learn.
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Article by Nancy Castaldo
Education World®
Copyright © 2006 Education World
07/18/2006