Weather and Wiggly Worms

Weather Day:
Daily Question:  Ww  Do you what weather means?  We live in the atmosphere, an enormous ocean of air that surrounds our earth.  Weather is what is happening at the bottom of the atmosphere, driven by the heat of the sun.

 Check out our name writing!

Toys: Train Table, ABC Blocks, Lite Brites, and Tinker Toys

It was fun to see how the children joined up as spontaneous partners and played with the Lite Brites this morning.  Cute conversations overheard--what types of jokes they might play on April Fools (from Tuesday's lesson).  "Hey, you have a spider in your hair!"  "Teacher, I see some popcorn on your nose!" Etc.

 Ethan had fun making machines (cars) with Tinker Toys.

 Dade shows the other children how beautifully he signed his name on a Thank You card to teacher.  Sweet boy!

Snack: Cheese Sticks, Animal Crackers and Swedish Fish.

Circle Time: We talked about what is weather and made our own Storm!  We enjoyed listening to several stories about weather.  (See books in bold).

Activity:  W the Worm wiggles from Washington State to West Virginia each week.  Worm forgot to check the weather and had to wiggle "w/w/w" through wet mud.  Painting with chocolate pudding, repeat the W action (wiggle chest from side to side) and song.   

 Not all the children loved painting with pudding!

 Ethan enjoyed it!  He kept saying, "Oh Teacher!  This is making me hungry for choc-o-late pudding!"

 

 

Weather Songs:

• It's Raining, It's Pouring

• Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree

• If All the Raindrops Were Lemondrops and Gumdrops

Janeen Brady's songbook "I Have a Song for You

If All the Raindrops If all the raindrops were lemon drops and gumdrops

Oh, what a rain that would be!

Standing outside, with my mouth open wide

Singing La la la la, la la la, la la la, 

If all the raindrops were lemon drops and gumdrops

Oh, what a rain that would be!
 

If all the snowflakes were candy bars and milkshakes

Oh, what a snow that would be!

Standing outside, with my mouth open wide

Singing La la la la, la la la, la la la, 

If all the snowflakes were candy bars and milkshakes

Oh, what a snow that would be!
 

If all the sunbeams were bubble gum and ice cream

Oh, what a sun that would be!

Standing outside, with my mouth open wide

Singing La la la la, la la la, la la la,

If all the sunbeams were bubble gum and ice cream

Oh, what a sun that would be!

Our Class Rainstorm:  Our class simulated a rainstorm by patting pants (like rain)--slow than faster, some students snapped, some clicked their tongues, some students clapped, and some students hit shoes on the ground.  It was fun to listen to the storm we created with our hands and feet!

Weather Books:

Rain Drop Plop (Audio CD) by Wendy Cheyette Lewison and Pam Paparone

Chicken Soup with Rice; A Book of Months by Maurice Sundak.

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs by Judi & Ron Barrett

The Biggest Boy by Kevin Henkes and Nancy Tafuri

Weather by Seymour Simon

The Big Storm by Bruce Hiscock

The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats (DVD, Scholastic)

Sky Tree:  Seeing Science Through Art by Thomas Locker

Arty Facts: Weather and Art Activities (Crabtree Pub.)

 Water, Ice, and Steam (Rosen Real Readers) by Ira Wood

Nature's Fury: The Power of Weather (Parents Choice Award) Readers Digest Childrens

Weather Words: umbrella, snow, rain, rainbow, clouds, smog, fog, ice, rain coat, rain boots,  sun shine, sleet, blizzard, thunder, lightening, wind, kite, hurricane, tornado, tsunami,

Season Reveiw: Fall, Winter, Spring, Summer.

 

The weather has been "April Foolin'" us today!  First it was rainy, then sunny, then overcast, and then sunny again!  I Like how Kayson discovers this rain puddle and begins to splash.

What time is it Mr. Raindrop? This is a fun game to play outside. You can change the name to suit any theme. The children all line up against a wall or fence. And one child, Mr. Raindrop or the teacher faces away from the children, a good distance away from the children. The children yell, what time is it "Mr. Raindrop", Mr. Raindrop answers 1 o'clock, and the children all take one step toward Mr. Raindrop. The children yell again, what time is it "Mr. Raindrop", Mr. Raindrop answers (fill in the blank) o'clock, and the children all take same number of step toward Mr. Raindrop. This continues until all the children are very close to Mr. Raindrop, then Mr. Raindrop will answer it's midnight, and chases the children back to the fence or wall that they started at. The first person Mr. Raindrop touches will be the new Mr. Raindrop.

Freeze Tag with Jack Frost, Dade, and the Sunshine Fairy, Eleanor.  Frost "freezes" the children and Fairy "melts" them.

Look what we found Popping (blooming) in the back yard--an Apricot tree!