Weather Observation in the Classroom

Whenever the weather would get even a tiny bit warmer in the spring, my daughter and I used to start looking for signs of spring like buds on the trees, grass turning green, the first bugs and little wildflowers.

One great way to bring those kinds of observations into the classroom or homeschool while building anticipation for spring is to take some time to observe the weather.

You can get as formal with this as you like. If you have a room with a window or easy access to outside, you can set up a weather station and observe different markers of the weather each day. You can keep a record of the temperature at a certain time of day (like always after lunch, for example) and what the weather is like so kids can compare over days and weeks.

Learn about clouds from What’s This Cloud, which gets really geeky but is good for older kids or teachers who want to brush up on their knowledge. You can also make cloud spotters and go on a cloud hunt to see what kinds of clouds you find.

These printable weather flash cards would be fun to have in a weather station in the classroom, or you can hang the one that represents the day’s weather on the board each day. This set comes from Easy Peasy Learners.

This is an old post with an explanation of how to make a weather chart but not a whole lot of instruction, but if you’re crafty you can figure out something similar to this one from Rowdy in Room 300 that includes the weather and a temperature gauge kids can use to label the day’s weather. Or use that as a jumping off point for making your own design. You could do it on a magnet board instead and use magnets instead of clips if you want, for example.

You can also use the calendar board weather printables from From ABCs to SATs to make your weather board. These include descriptions of the weather (foggy, rainy, sunny, etc.) as well as words about the temperature (hot, cold) and the season so you can show the correct one for the day (I think you need to sign up for emails to download).

I did a post earlier this year with activities and ideas for teaching the alphabet, but a lot or learning letters and recognizing them just has to do with seeing them and working with them a lot.

That means coloring, tracing, identifying things that start with different letters and more.

One way to reinforce the letters is through little activity books like these cute printable alphabet books from Life Over Cs.

These are available for free when you subscribe to her newsletter, and I’d say that’s well worth it if you have a little one (or a group of little ones!) working on the alphabet and letter recognition.

Each mini book includes a collection of things that start with that letter to color, color and read with words that start with the letter, tracing the letter, finding the letter in a grid and other coloring pages with objects that start with that letter.

These little books are super useful reinforcing the different letters and giving kids different activities related to the letters.

If you do a letter of the day or letter of the week you can use a new book for each one, and then keep the copies in your reading center or in a basket where kids can look at them again.

And of course you can add in all the other letter activities you like, go on a scavenger hunt for items that start with that letter, read alphabet books, practice writing letters in rice or with pompoms or playdough or whatever sensory activities you like.

You can grab the free printables when you enter you email address at Life Over Cs, and check out her other great alphabet resources and activities while you are over there.

Do you have favorite activities for teaching letters to kids? I’d love to hear about them!

[Photo: Life Over Cs]

Have you read?

Leave a Reply